GE 1: Historical Antecedents in Science & Tech

Study Notes

Marked by the extensive use of bronze, an alloy primarily made from copper and tin.
Smelting involved extracting metal from ores and combining copper with tin to create bronze.

Advancing Knowledge: Scientific research and innovations enhance understanding of the natural world.
Driving Economic Development: Key to promoting economic growth, innovation, and global competitiveness.
Improving Health and Medicine: Advances lead to better healthcare, disease prevention, and medical treatments.
Enhancing Communication: Technology fosters global communication and information sharing.
Addressing Environmental Challenges: Solutions include renewable energy and sustainable resource management.
Enabling Social Transformation: Technological advancements shape societal norms and cultural interactions.

Cuneiform Writing:
- Earliest writing system using word pictures and triangular symbols inscribed on clay.
- Key for record-keeping and historical documentation.
Uruk City:
- Recognized as the world’s first true city, built with mud or clay mixed with reeds.
- Houses and walls constructed from sunbaked bricks.
The Great Ziggurat of Ur:
- Known as the "Mountain of God," a sacred site accessible only to priests.
- Features intricate architecture and serves religious purposes.
Irrigation and Dikes:
- Developed to meet food demands by bringing water to farmlands.
- Essential for controlling river flooding, classified as significant engineering works.

Characterized by the predominance of stone tools used for survival.
Absence of metal tools defines this prehistoric era.
Tool Types:
- Hand Axe: Used for butchering, digging, chopping wood, and processing vegetation.
- Chopper: Versatile tool for extracting meat and marrow from large animals.
- Scrapers: Employed for working with animal hides and bones, including hair removal.
- Microliths: Small, hafted stone tools developed during the Mesolithic due to environmental changes.

Sailboats: Enhanced transportation and trade, facilitating exploration of distant lands.
Wheel: Initially designed for agricultural tasks rather than transportation; enables efficient grain milling.
Plow: Transformed human activity from gathering to cultivating crops, leading to increased food production.
Roads: Built for faster travel, using similar technology to sunbaked bricks and incorporating materials like asphalt (bitumen) for rainwater control.