1. EARLY HUMANS KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

2. hunting-foraging bands
Before the development of agriculture, early humans lived in small bands that were often related to each other.
They hunted game and collected plants, nuts, seeds, roots and berries for food.
Technology – bows and arrows, Clovis points (large stone arrowheads) and spears
Religion - animism

3. Neolithic Revolutions
Agriculture developed first the Middle East around 8,000 B.C. and later in other RVCs.
Hunter-foragers settled in areas with water and good soil where they could farm and lived in villages.
Irrigation developed. Animals such as dogs, cats, cattle and horses were domesticated to aid with hunting, transportation, agriculture or to be part of the food supply.
Closer contact with animals increased disease exchange between animals and people.

4. River Valley Civilizations
First places where the Neolithic Revolutions occurred.
Civilization means “city” and these civilizations built the first buildings made of stone or brick and placed them together to form villages which grew into larger cities

5. First River Valley Civilizations
Mesopotamia in the Middle East
Nile Valley in North Africa (Egypt)
Indus River Valley in South Asia
Shang on the Yellow and Huang He River Valley in East Asia

6. Pastoralism
Some people settled into villages and cities and domesticated animals. Others remained on the move. These people were pastoralists.
Since they remained on the move with their herds, they spread information about other groups and technology. These peoples are considered to be “agents of change”.
Pastoralists emerged in Europe, Africa and Asia around the same time as Neolithic Revolution.
One example of modern day pastoralists is the Mongols of East Asia.

7. Urbanization
Small villages grew into larger cities which became centers of government, trade and religion.
Specialization of jobs (labor) developed such as scribes or merchants.
Social levels developed such as elites and slaves.
Gender roles developed such as the expectation that men would join the military and be government leaders and women would fulfill domestic roles such as cooking, sewing and child-rearing.

8. Urbanization (con’t)
Counting and writing systems developed and began in cities as a way of keeping records of stored food and other goods.
Mesopotamia had one of the earliest writing systems – cuneiform. They built monumental architecture in the form of pyramid-like structures called ziggurats.
Early cities in Eurasia included Sumer in Mesopotamia, Catal Huyuk in Turkey, and Mohenjo Daro and Harappa in South Asia’s Indus River Valley. In the America’s, the Olmec civilization developed cities in Mesoamerica by 1600 BCE. The Chavin civilization developed along the coast of modern-day Peru and had built urban centers by 900 BCE.

9. Early Empires
Over time, more cities developed in the RVCs and were united under one ruler or king who claimed his power came from the gods.
The Babylonians in Mesopotamia were one early empire that conquered rival cities by force and put them under one code of law. An important example of a Babylonian law code was the Code of Hammurabi written about 1750 BCE.
The Egyptians built a huge empire along the Nile River that stretched south to modern Sudan and north to the Mediterranean coast, west to modern Libya and northeast into modern Lebanon.

10. Animism/Polytheism
Animism - The earliest-known form of religion which sees gods in nature such as worshipping the sun. It was popular among hunter-forager bands.
Polytheism – Belief in many gods, It differs from animism in that the gods of polytheism have specific names and duties. The Greek god Apollo for example, was the god “in charge” of the sun.

11. Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in one god. The Hebrews of Southwest Asia practiced one of the earliest known monotheistic religions called Judaism. This set them apart from their neighbors and made them unique in early history.
Another early monotheistic faith from Persia and Central Asia was Zoroastrianism.