Hist 100 World Civilization I Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer Upper Iowa University

Lecture 1 Written Sources and Prehistory Writing Generally, but by no means exclusively historians rely on written sources Letters, journals, diaries, memoirs, newspapers, government documents, etc. Prehistory Refers to history before writing systems or survival of written records In order to understand the human experience before writing, historians have to be creative with sources

Lecture 1 Sources for Prehistory So what sources do historians use to understand prehistory? Archeology Biggest single source for understanding prehistory This discipline deals with the recovery and analysis of human artifacts Study of Human Remains Well-preserved remains found in receding glaciers, peat bogs, etc. Even bones yield forensic clues and artifacts Language Reveals relationships between people Analysis of DNA is beginning to yield similar clues So what do they reveal?

Lecture 1 Out of Africa Scholars agree that the ancestors of homo sapiens originated on the African continent, although they continue to be debate when human ancestors left Africa, and the timing and route of their arrival at various locations around the globe.

Lecture 1 Paleolithic Age (1) Paleolithic: means “Old Stone Age”: about 400,000- 7,000 BCE Humans began using stone tools During this period humans were primarily “hunter- gatherers” Human subsistence came partly from hunting other animals However, substantial subsistence also came from gathering wild nuts, berries, seed, roots, etc. Exact balance between hunting and gathering depended on area Hunting Gathering

Lecture 1 Paleolithic Age (2) Nomadic lifestyle Because they were hunter- gatherers, Paleolithic people tended to move according to seasonal food availability Population Size Food availability tended to limit the size of hunter- gatherer bands to people Gender roles Men in Paleolithic groups tended to hunt Women tended to be gatherers and responsible for child care

Lecture 1 Paleolithic Age (3) Family Although nuclear family existed in the Paleolithic period, extended family was more important than today Nature of Life Short, Nasty, Brutish Many dangers both from the natural world and other people Positives Beginnings of art and culture More balanced diet often than Neolithic farmers

Lecture 1 Neolithic Period Neolithic: means “New Stone Age”: about 7,000-3,000 BCE Humans continued to use stone tools But now they lived in settled communities and practiced agriculture The emergence of settled lifestyles was gradual and certainly not inevitable There are still societies today that exist nomadically as hunter-gatherers Neolithic Tools Artist’s Conception of a Neolithic village

Lecture 1 Rise of Agriculture The rise of settled life in the Neolithic period made possible by agriculture Agriculture: the tending and manipulation by humans of certain plant species Probably began by necessity as certain persons were forced out of more favorable areas for hunter-gathering The survivors learned that by manipulation of the environment, favorable plant species (i.e., food sources) could be encouraged Seems to have occurred roughly simultaneously at different spots around the world

Lecture 1 Results of the Agricultural “Revolution” Agriculture produced a surplus of food This development allowed persons to specialize in non- agricultural occupations Some serving the needs of farmers, others increasingly not directly related to agriculture Rise of social differentiation: usually based on occupation Rise of social rank: based on the perceived prestige of an occupation Rise of trade: had existed prior to agriculture, but the volume of trade increased, especially long-distance trade Neolithic jewelry

Lecture 1 Rise of Civilization Agriculture also was a necessary prerequisite for the rise of civilization Characteristics of civilization Specialization of a substantial part of workforce away from agriculture The emergence of cities, with large and dense populations who did not make their living from agriculture Emergence of a managerial elite that: 1) kept order; protected the population; 2) collected taxes to support these functions Emergence of writing: made complex record keeping possible, which is a prerequisite of civilization