1. Human Life in the Era of Hunters and Gatherers
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

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

3. The Neolithic Revolution – 8000 to 3500 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

4. The Spread of Agriculture

5. Create your own Civilization
Get into a group of 4
2 people: work on creating a map of their tribe set in the Paleolithic era
Pick one area of the world
What physical features are around?
Show your migration path, correspond with the seasons
2 people: work on a page paper describing the tribe
Name the tribe
What kinds of social structure?
What is the division of labor?
What kinds of tools do you use?
How are you meeting survival needs?
How many people?

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

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

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

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

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

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

12. Egypt and Mesopotamia Compared
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

13. 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

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

15. The Eastern Mediterranean, c. 1100 B.C.E.

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

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