1. Early Peoples to
Neolithic Revolution
Paleolithic hunter-gatherer
• Characterize THREE elements of the lifestyle
of the Paleolithic hunter-gatherer group. For
each element, explain WHY it probably was
that way.
• Explain the typical beliefs of animists and
offer a hypothesis to explain how these
beliefs connect with their lifestyle.
Present
Paleolithic hunter-gatherer
• 99% of human history
• Tools = stone, bone,
wood
• Low pop. Density (1/sq
mi)
• Nomadic
• Extensive leisure time
• Rugged existence
Hunter-Gatherers
• Small nomadic
bands, clans,
tribes; Follow
animal herds for
food and
seasonal plants
Hunter-Gatherers
• Culture:
animistic,
antagonistic to
strangers,
generally males
hunt and females
forage, relatively
egalitarian
society
Hunter-Gatherers
• rarely surplus food, and
since they are nomadic
little ability to store any
surplus. Thus independent
leaders, bureaucrats, or
artisans are rarely
supported by huntergathering societies
Hunter-Gatherers
• What was the technological status of
hunter-gatherers?
– Minimal, usually stone-age tools; limited
to what could carry
– Everyone in the hunter-gatherer society
is master of their technology.
Hunter-Gatherers
• What limited the population size of
hunter-gatherer tribes?
– One acre of land that is farmed can
support sixty to a hundred more people
than one that is left uncultivated
– Infanticide; elderly leave the tribe
Hunter-Gatherers
• Characterize the belief system of
hunter-gatherers.
– animistic
• How did the diet and nutrition of
hunter-gatherers differ from early
farmers?
Hunter-Gatherers
• How does the
workload of a
hunter-gatherer
compare to
farmers?
– About 3 hours a day
average – Huntergatherers have a lot
more free time than
we do
Hunter-Gatherers
• What physical characteristics of humans are best
adapted to Paleolithic life?
– gene pool has changed little since 35,000 years ago
– from a genetic standpoint, current humans are still late
Paleolithic pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers
– Strong cravings for salts and fats
– Physical differences bt. Males and females
– “ADD”
Neolithic Revolution
3500 BCE – Sumer
3000 BCE - Egypt
Neolithic Revolution
• “Neo” = new “lithic” = stone [age]
• Revolution = farming
• Nothing since this time more revolutionized
human life
• Shift from H-G to farming was gradual and
not uniform around globe
• Earliest = “fertile crescent” (modern Iraq) –
8000 BC
Neolithic Revolution cont’d
• Limitations:
plants that could
be domesticated,
animals available
for domestication
Neolithic
• Fertile Crescent:
majority of
modern cereals
and grains from
this stock; more
animals here
could be
domesticated
(dogs, pigs,
camels, horses)
Neolithic
• North America:
limited plant
availability, no
large mammals
(hunted to
extinction by first
human
immigrants)
Neolithic Revolution cont’d
• Villages become more permanent as farmers
stick by to protect their crops and livestock
• Farming » Change belief systems
– Regard for animal spirits and lunar cycles
replaced by sun worship and concept of after-life
• Farming » Technology
– Tools (ex. Plow)
– Dwellings
Neolithic Revolution cont’d
• Farmers can
support
specialized
professions
because of food
surplus: warriors,
priests,
bureaucrats
Neolithic
• Farmers develop
higher levels of
technology:
bronze, iron,
steel, writing
Neolithic
• Farming communities
develop immunity to
diseases caught from
livestock with which
live (Pizarro captures
Incan emperor
Atahualpa with small
band and smallpox
wipes out natives) .
Who started it?
• Who do you think (and who do
you think most Anthropologists
think) started farming?
– Maybe females, because they were
most involved with plants and such?
– Could this be connected to the fact
the females have been mostly
responsible for medicines in history?
Mother Goddess
• Why do you think the
earliest Neolithic myths
viewed a mother
goddess as superior
force?
• What celestial bodies
do you think are usually
associated with the
female? The male?
NEW Ideas of the Neolithic
• Ownership,
property
• Warfare
• Religion
• Calendars
• Mathematics
• Writing
Neolithic Revolution
•
Explain why farming
developed in early river
civilizations and how
farming leads to
civilization.
•
Describe any FOUR
elements of the typical
early river civilizations.
Early Civilizations
Compare and contrast
any THREE elements
(economy,
government, beliefs,
writing, technology,
legal systems, ) of the
civilizations
Mesopotamia and
Egypt.
Mesopotamia
Government
• Priest-king
• City-state
– Ur
– Uruk
– Eridu
• Ziggurat
• Sacrifice
• God/goddess
• "templecommunities" – a
class of priestbureaucrats
controlling the
political and
economical life of
the city in the
name of the city
gods
Economy
• Agriculture
– surrounding land of each citystate - individual tracts,
irrigated w/ system of canals
and dams.
– wheat and barley
• Trade
– transportation of textiles and
crops by Sumerian merchants
to other lands,
– exchanged for stone, metals,
and timber.
– traded to other Sumerians or
used to fabricate jewelry,
tools, and weapons to be
traded later.
Beliefs
• Polytheistic
– An – sky
– Enlil - storms
– Marduk
– Tiamat
– Enki
• After-life
• Deal-making
Technology
• Mathematics (60based)
• Calendar
• Chariot
• Wheel – potter’s
wheel (mass
production)
• Bronze!!
• plow
• Water control
methods
– Sluice
– Dam
– Canal
– Irrigation
First Law Code
• Contrast the Code of
Hammurabi to the
American concept of
justice.
• Code of Hammurabi
– C. 1790 BCE
– Babylon
Egypt
Economy
• Agriculture
• Trade –
merchants for
temple estates
• Bureaucracy
• Planned
economy!
Government
• Pharaoh
– “god-king”
– Inherited
• Theocracy
– Priests
– Vizier
– Etc.
• Click to edit Master text style
– Second level
– Third level
• Fourth level
– Fifth level
Beliefs
Click to edit Master text styles
– Second level
– Third level
• Fourth level
– Fifth level
Technology
Bantu Migration
• Explain the
causes and
effects of the
Bantu migrations
(500 BCE).