Early Civilisations

Homo sapiens sapiens by 10,000 B.C.E. –Larger brain, tools, weapons Paleolithic –Hunter Gatherers  Family groups  nomadic –Gender division of labor  Men: hunting, fishing, defense  Women: gathering, making medicine –Spread from Africa Human Life in the Era of Hunters and Gatherers

The Spread of Human Populations, c. 10,000 B.C.E.

Plants and animals domesticated Towns/cities Social Differentiation –Specialized jobs –Regional trade –Women lose political/economic roles Causes? Maybe climatic shifts Alternatives –Hunting-and-gathering persists –Pastoralism – nomadic herding people The Neolithic Revolution – 8000 to 3500 B.C.E.

The Spread of Agriculture

A.Jericho –Jordan River  Cultivation of wheat, barley  Brick houses B.Çatal Hüyük –Southern Turkey  Large complex  Shrines The First Towns: Seedbeds of Civilization

All civilizations –Cities, food surplus, social structure, religion, government, writing* First civilization develops in Mesopotamia Mesopotamia

Sumerians c 4000 B.C.E. – Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers –Irrigation for farming Political and Social Organization –City-States – state religion & god –Kings –Priests –Slaves Mesopotamia

Culture and Religion –Writing  Cuneiform: stylus on clay tablets –Gilgamesh – first epic story –Astronomy –Numeric system –Ziggurats – central monumental buildings –Wheel, plow Mesopotamia

The Akkadian Empire (1 st empire) –Sargon I The Babylonian Empire –Hammurabi  Law Code – “eye for an eye” Mesopotamia

–Civilization emerges by 3200 B.C.E.  No city ‑ states! Egypt is centralized –Government  Pharaoh – theocracy (religious government)  Bureaucracy – nonelected government officials –Hieroglyphic alphabet  Pictograms  Papyrus –Religion  polytheistic  Belief in afterlife Egypt

Differences –City-states v. centralized –Greater trade/contact in Mesopotamia –Greater technology Mesopotamia –Women had higher status in Egypt Similarities –Stratified society –Astronomy and mathematics –Patriarchal societies - Men dominate Egypt and Mesopotamia Compared

India Indus River valley - modern-day Pakistan Two major cities –Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro –Indoor plumbing –Grid system –Writing (still a mystery) Collapsed under invasion and natural disasters

China Huanghe (Yellow) River valley Most isolated river valley civilization Pottery, iron, writing Shang dynasty Oracle bones Mythic history

The Eastern Mediterranean, c B.C.E.

Hebrews –Modern Israel area –Semitic –Yahweh - monotheistic  Torah – holy book  The first Abrahamic faith The Mediterranean Region

Phoenicians –Middle Eastern coast –City-states –Alphabet –Colonization along the Mediterranean  To Atlantic, Iberia, Britain The Mediterranean Region