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Toward Civilization. Understanding Our Past. How Do We Know Prehistory- The long period of time before people invented systems of writing. 5,000 years ago some people in different parts of the world began to keep written records → The beginning of recorded history. Evidence From the Past
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Understanding Our Past • How Do We Know • Prehistory- The long period of time before people invented systems of writing. • 5,000 years ago some people in different parts of the world began to keep written records → The beginning of recorded history
Evidence From the Past • Archaeologists- Scientists who find and analyze the physical remains left by early people • Bone Fragments • Artifacts- tools and weapons, pottery, clothing or jewelry • Archaeology- Is a branch of Anthropology- The study of humans and the societies they created • Draw conclusions about beliefs, values, & activities of our ancestors.
Archeologists at work • Devised many useful techniques • Digging→ Further down they dig, the older the remains • Discovered how early people developed technology- skills and tools people use to meet their basic needs • Made detailed maps, locating every artifact they find
Technology and the Past • Modern technology helps interpret findings • Computers used to sort data • Aerial photography can reveal patterns of how people used the land • Radioactivity can determine the age of objects
Historians Reconstruct The Past • Historians- study how people lived in the past, but rely more on written evidence, ie, letters & tax records • Historical detection • Historians look for evidence to determine how reliable information is. • They often write about specific people from the past
Geography and History • Geography is the study of people, their environments and the resources available to them • Five themes of Geography • Location • Place • Human-Environment Interaction • Movement • Region
Location- Tells where a place is on the surface of the earth • Latitude- Measures distance North and South of the Equator • Longitude - Measures distance East and West of the Prime Medidian (imaginary line that runs North and South of Greenwich, England). • i.e. City of Seoul, South Korea is at 37⁰N latitude & 127 ⁰E longitude…..These numbers are the exact location
Relative Location- Where one place is located in relation to another. • i.e. Ancient Athens, was located on the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, near Egypt. • Place- Physical features and human characteristics • Physical Features- Land forms, body of water, climate, soil quality, resources, plant and animal life • Characteristics- Where most people live, economic activities, religious beliefs and languages
Human Enviornment Interaction-People are shaped by the place where they live • i.e. Early farmers used water from rivers to irrigate their crops • Movement- of people goods and ideas. Key link between geography and history • Nomads followed herds of deer, moved because of climate changes, traders carried goods
Region- geographers divide the world into many types of regions. • Some regions are based on physical features • Regions can also be defined by political, economic, or cultural features
Dawn of History • Hunters and Gathers- Historians call the earliest period of human history the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Age • First tool makers, 10,000 BC • African Beginnings- 1959, Mary and Louis Leakey found pieces of bone embedded in Ancient rock at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania • Found the bone belonged to early human
1974, Donald Johanson found part of humanlike skeleton in Ethiopia. • Named his find “Lucy” after a Beatles song • Evidence shows the earliest humans came from East Africa • Their descendents later migrated east to Europe.
Nomads on the Move- Paleolithic people lived in small hunting and food gathering bands, about 20 to 30 people • Everyone contributed to feeding the group • Men hunted and fished • Women cared for children, gathered fruit, nuts, shellfish • Nomads-People moved from place to place as they followed animals and ripened fruit • People depended on the environment • Made simple tools and weapons • At some point developed a spoken language
EnvironmentalChanges • People faced severe challengesfrom the weather • During several ice ages the earth cooled • Thick glaciers -Sheets of ice that spread across parts of Asia, Europe, and North America • Paleolithic people invented clothing • EarlyReligion and Art • 30,000 years ago people began to leave evidence of their beliefs in the spiritual world • World was full of spirits especially those of the animals they hunted • Painted pictures were in the caves they lived in • Began to make statues
Belief in the Afterlife- People began to bury their dead with great care • Left dead with tools, weapons and other needed goods • First Farmers • 11,000 yrs, ago nomadic herds learned to farm • Change from nomadic to settled farming began New Stone Age or Neolithic Age
Planting Seeds- • Neolithic Agricultural Revolution- the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement • Domesticating Animals • People learned to domesticate or tame animals that they once hunted. • People became food producers for the first time
Skara Brae, Neolithic Village • 5000 yrs, ago village in Scotland • Entire area was equal to the size of three classrooms • Each house was similar, people were equal in social class • People planted barley in fielded and tended animals • Farmers had workshops and developed specific jobs
Changing Ways of Life • Village leaders • People owned more possessions • New Technology • Learned to harvest at proper times • Civilizations emerged
Beginnings of Civilization • Eight Features of Civilization • Cities • Well-Organized Central Governments • Complex Religions • Job Specifications • Social Classes • Arts and Architecture • Public Works • Writing
Rise of Cities • Farmers began cultivating fertile lands along river valleys and producing a surplus of goods • More food → More people → village became a city • River valley Civilizations • City Rose in: • Tigris and Euphrates, Middle East • Nile River, Egypt • Indus River, India • Yellow River, China
Floods spread silt across the valley, renewing the soil, keeping it fertile • Rivers gave regular water supply and a means for travel and trade • Challenges • Farmers had to control the floods • Early farmers worked together to build dykes, canals, and carve irrigation ditches • Civilizations in Americas • Aztecs and Incas emerged in the highlands of Mexico and Peru (Not near rivers) • Began as religious centers
Organized Governments • As cities grew they needed to maintain a steady food supply • At first priests had greatest power, warrior kings eventually became hereditary leaders, father → son • “Right to rule” came from the Gods • Rulers issued laws, collected taxes, organized defense • Royal officials enforced laws • Bureaucracies- system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials
Complex Religions • Polytheistic- Belief in many gods • Sun gods, river gods • Developed complex rituals, ceremonies for gods • Job Specifications and Social Classes • Urban people made new crafts, one person couldn’t be skilled at everything • Skilled artisans- (skilled craft workers) made pottery, metal working, weaponry, bricklayers
Social Ranking- People ranked according to jobs • Arts, Architecture & Public Works • Expressed beliefs of the people • Statues of gods and goddesses, temple wall paintings • Government projects to make roads, irrigation systems, defense walls
Writing • Began in temples • Pictograms- Words represented by pictures • Became more complex, only specially trained people, scribes, learned to read and write • Spread of Civilizations • Rulers gained more power, conquered cities • City-states- A political unit that included a city and its surrounding lands and villages
First Empires • rulers conquered many city and villages, creating empires- group of cities or states controlled by one ruler • Interactions with Nomadic people • Nomads tended cattle on steppes- less fertile, sparse dry grasslands • Had to keep moving heard because of poor water • City people got along with nomads for political, economic or military matters • At times had conflicts Cultural Diffusion- The spread of ideas, customs and technologies from one people to another