First Civilizations and Empires

• This unit focuses on the first civilizations and empires from prehistory to A.D. 500.
• Human survival depended on hunting, fishing, and gathering in a often hostile environment.
• Human beings learned to cultivate food crops and food production increased.
• Population began growing, people lived in cities, formed governments, and developed writing and art.
• Historians call this process the beginning of civilization.

First Humans

• Chapter one will focus on the first humans in prehistory-3500 B.C.

What is Civilization?

• Cave paintings from 17,000 years ago in Lascaux, France illustrate animals hunted during the Ice Age.
• Images give glimpses into the life of early humans.

Before History

• Scientists use artifacts and fossils to learn about early humans.
• Historians create pictures of the past using documents, written records, or biological evidence.
• Prehistory is the time before the development of writing.

Archaeology and Anthropology

• Archaeology is the study of past societies through analysis of what people left behind.
• Archaeologists dig up and examine artifacts like tools, weapons, art, and buildings
• Anthropology is the study of human life and culture, including clothing, social organization, and values.
• Anthropologists study artifacts and human fossils to determine the everyday lives of ancient peoples.
• Fossils are rocklike remains of biological organisms.
• Archaeologists and anthropologists excavate land at sites around the globe to uncover fossils, cities, and other objects.
• Remains give scientists understanding of ancient societies, social structures, and military structures
• Analyzing bones, skins, and seeds helps scientists learn the diets and activities of early people.
• Radiocarbon dating helps determine the age of human fossils and artifacts and objects can be determined up to 50,000 years.
• Living things absorb radioactive carbon (C-14).
• After death, living things loses C-14 at a slow pace.
• Thermoluminescence measures the light given off by electrons in the soil around fossils and artifacts.

Archaeological Finds

• Homo sapiens neanderthalensis was discovered in 1856 by Johann Fuhlrott.
• Homo erectus was founded in 1960 by Leakey team.
• Homo habilis was discovered in 1960 by Leakey team.
• Lucy was discovered in 1974 by Johanson team.
• Laetoli footprints were discovered in 1978 by Leakey team.
• Cave paintings were discovered in 1879 by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola and his daughter.
• French children would discover additional cave paintings in 1940
• Homo sapiens sapiens in 1974 probably descended from the Africa “out of Africa theory”.

Early Development

• Humans can be identified to have changed using remains and technology.
• Hominids are humanlike creatures that walked upright.
• The earliest hominids lived in Africa for million years and slowly changing over time.
• The Leakey family spent their entire lives in search for clues on early human life and society.
• Australopithecus, or "southern ape" flourished in eastern and southern Africa, according to scientists.
• Homo habilis, meaning “handy human,” may have used stone tools.
• Homo erectus, "upright human,” existed from 1.8 million to 100,000 years ago and had arms and legs in modern proportion.
• Homo sapiens, “wise human," showed rapid brain growth and mastered fire.
• Neanderthals lived between 100,000 B.C. and 30,000 B.C. in Europe and Turkey.
• Homo sapiens sapiens are the first to have an anatomy similar to people today and the "out-of-Africa" or replacement theory.
• By 30,000 B.C., Homo sapiens sapiens had replaced the Neanderthals.

The Paleolithic Age

• Early humans used fire, simple tools, and adapted to survive.
• Paleolithic Age is the early period of human history from 2,500,000 to 10,000 B.C.
• Paleolithic is Greek for "old stone."
• Humans followed animal migrations and vegetation cycles called nomads.
• Nomads would move from place to place to survive.
• Archaeologists and anthropologists think these nomads probably lived in small groups of twenty or thirty.
• The main job of Paleolithic peoples was finding enough to eat.
• Men and women were responsible for finding food and ensuring the survival of later generations.
• Women collected berries, nuts, roots, and grains.
• Men hunted herds of large animals.
• Groups of Paleolithic people lived in caves or made structures of wood, sticks, and animal hides.
• Homo erectus first learned to make fires.

Use of Fire

• Paleolithic people used fire for warmth and light.
• Systematic use of fire dates back some 500,000 years ago.
• Paleolithic hunters developed better tools and the invention of the spear that made hunting animals easier.
• Invention of the bow and arrow
• Harpoons and fishhooks made of bone increased the catch of fish.

The Ice Ages

• Providing fire for heat was especially important during Ice Age conditions.
• The last Ice Age was 100,000 B.C to 8000 B.C.
• Ice sheets covered parts of Europe, Asia, and North America.

Creating Art

• Art existed during the Paleolithic Age
• Cave near Lascaux in southern France uprooted reveals the cave and paintings inside.
• French children playing nearby soon found the cave and the paintings inside.
• Art carbon dating at chauvet cave shows the works were nearly twice as old as lascaux and altamira discoveries.

Social Hitory

Early Housing

• What a house looks like has much to do with where it is located, when it was built, and what materials were available.
• Zhoukoudianzhen Cave, in China, shows evidence of use from around 700,000 to around 200,000 years ago.
• Pincevent, in modern-day France, shows how early humans lived in northern Europe at the end of the Ice Age, around 13,000 years ago.
• And Çatalhüyük, in modern-day Turkey, was an early farming village from 6700 to 5700 в.с.
• Before around 8000 в.с., early humans were nomads who lived in temporary settlements.
• They moved every season, migrating with the animals they hunted. Early humans used caves for shelter.
• If they lived in a place without rock outcroppings, they made their homes out of available
• materials.
• The remains of 40 Homo erectus men, women, and children were found in the Zhoukoudianzhen cave

SECTION 2

The Neolithic Revolution

• The transition of humans from nomadic hunters to city dwellers is a major turning point in history.
• Although the development of civilization was gradual, historians can pinpoint the beginning of this change.
• This Neolithic Revolution was a revolutionary change caused by dramatic effort.
• The Neolithic Revolution occurred in the Neolithic Age, from 8000 to 4000 B.C.
• People shifted from hunting animals and gathering food to keeping animals and growing regular food called systematic agriculture.

The Growing of Crops

• Between 8000 and 5000 B.C., systematic agriculture developed.
• The first crops grew in Southwest Asia, wheat and barley.
• Crops where domesticated pigs, cows, goats, and sheep by 8000 B.C.
• Farming spread to Europe.
• Mesoamericans grew beans, squash, and maize

Neolithic Farming Villages

• Farming villages appeared in Europe, India, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica.
• Jericho, in Palestine, was in existence by 8000 B.C.
• Çatalhüyük in modern Turkey.
• As artisans became more skilled, they made more refined tools.
• The change to systematic agriculture had consequences for how men and women related to one another.
• Men became more active in farming

Cities

• The first civilizations developed in river valleys for large-scale farming.
• As farming became abundant, more people lived in the city.
• The growth of governments was necessary.
• Monarchs led governments that organized armies to protect their populations and made laws.
• Religions explain forces of nature and their roles in the world. important to the community's success.
• The priestly and leader class would supervise rituals aimed at pleasing gods.
• Rulers claimed their power derived from divine approval.
• A new social structure based on economic power emerged.

Social Structure

• Rulers and priests, government officials, and warriors dominated society.
• Farmers, artisans, and craftspeople existed below.
• Slavers were the class at the very bottom.
• Significant artistic
• The Incas in Peru relied on trained memory experts to keep track of their important matters.