1. Toward Civilization

2. Understanding Our Past
How Do We Know
Prehistory- The long period of time before people invented systems of writing.
5,000 years ago some people in different parts of the world began to keep written records → The beginning of recorded history

3. Evidence From the Past
Archaeologists- Scientists who find and analyze the physical remains left by early people
Bone Fragments
Artifacts- tools and weapons, pottery, clothing or jewelry
Archaeology- Is a branch of Anthropology- The study of humans and the societies they created
Draw conclusions about beliefs, values, & activities of our ancestors.

4. Archeologists at work Devised many useful techniques
Digging→ Further down they dig, the older the remains
Discovered how early people developed technology- skills and tools people use to meet their basic needs
Made detailed maps, locating every artifact they find

5. Technology and the Past
Modern technology helps interpret findings
Computers used to sort data
Aerial photography can reveal patterns of how people used the land
Radioactivity can determine the age of objects

6. Historians Reconstruct The Past
Historians- study how people lived in the past, but rely more on written evidence, ie, letters & tax records
Historical detection
Historians look for evidence to determine how reliable information is.
They often write about specific people from the past

7. Geography and History
Geography is the study of people, their environments and the resources available to them
Five themes of Geography
Location
Place
Human-Environment Interaction
Movement
Region

8. Location- Tells where a place is on the surface of the earth
Latitude- Measures distance North and South of the Equator
Longitude - Measures distance East and West of the Prime Medidian (imaginary line that runs North and South of Greenwich, England).
i.e. City of Seoul, South Korea is at 37⁰N latitude & 127 ⁰E longitude…..These numbers are the exact location

9. Place- Physical features and human characteristics
Relative Location- Where one place is located in relation to another.
i.e. Ancient Athens, was located on the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, near Egypt.
Place- Physical features and human characteristics
Physical Features- Land forms, body of water, climate, soil quality, resources, plant and animal life
Characteristics Where most people live, economic activities, religious beliefs and languages

10. Human Enviornment Interaction-People are shaped by the place where they live
i.e. Early farmers used water from rivers to irrigate their crops
Movement- of people goods and ideas. Key link between geography and history
Nomads followed herds of deer, moved because of climate changes, traders carried goods

11. Region- geographers divide the world into many types of regions.
Some regions are based on physical features
Regions can also be defined by political, economic, or cultural features

12. Dawn of History
Hunters and Gathers- Historians call the earliest period of human history the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Age
First tool makers, 10,000 BC
African Beginnings- 1959, Mary and Louis Leakey found pieces of bone embedded in Ancient rock at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Found the bone belonged to early human

13. 1974, Donald Johanson found part of humanlike skeleton in Ethiopia.
Named his find “Lucy” after a Beatles song
Evidence shows the earliest humans came from East Africa
Their descendents later migrated east to Europe.

14. Nomads on the Move- Paleolithic people lived in small hunting and food gathering bands, about 20 to 30 people
Everyone contributed to feeding the group
Men hunted and fished
Women cared for children, gathered fruit, nuts, shellfish
Nomads-People moved from place to place as they followed animals and ripened fruit
People depended on the environment
Made simple tools and weapons
At some point developed a spoken language

15. Environmental Changes
People faced severe challenges from the weather
During several ice ages the earth cooled
Thick glaciers -Sheets of ice that spread across parts of Asia, Europe, and North America
Paleolithic people invented clothing
Early Religion and Art
30,000 years ago people began to leave evidence of their beliefs in the spiritual world
World was full of spirits especially those of the animals they hunted
Painted pictures were in the caves they lived in
Began to make statues

18. Belief in the Afterlife- People began to bury their dead with great care
Left dead with tools, weapons and other needed goods
First Farmers
11,000 yrs, ago nomadic herds learned to farm
Change from nomadic to settled farming began New Stone Age or Neolithic Age

19. Domesticating Animals
Planting Seeds-
Neolithic Agricultural Revolution- the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement
Domesticating Animals
People learned to domesticate or tame animals that they once hunted.
People became food producers for the first time

20. Skara Brae, Neolithic Village
5000 yrs, ago village in Scotland
Entire area was equal to the size of three classrooms
Each house was similar, people were equal in social class
People planted barley in fielded and tended animals
Farmers had workshops and developed specific jobs

21. Changing Ways of Life Village leaders People owned more possessions
New Technology
Learned to harvest at proper times
Civilizations emerged

22. Beginnings of Civilization
Eight Features of Civilization
Cities
Well-Organized Central Governments
Complex Religions
Job Specifications
Social Classes
Arts and Architecture
Public Works
Writing

23. Rise of Cities
Farmers began cultivating fertile lands along river valleys and producing a surplus of goods
More food → More people → village became a city
River valley Civilizations
City Rose in:
Tigris and Euphrates, Middle East
Nile River, Egypt
Indus River, India
Yellow River, China

24. Civilizations in Americas
Floods spread silt across the valley, renewing the soil, keeping it fertile
Rivers gave regular water supply and a means for travel and trade
Challenges
Farmers had to control the floods
Early farmers worked together to build dykes, canals, and carve irrigation ditches
Civilizations in Americas
Aztecs and Incas emerged in the highlands of Mexico and Peru (Not near rivers)
Began as religious centers

25. Organized Governments
As cities grew they needed to maintain a steady food supply
At first priests had greatest power, warrior kings eventually became hereditary leaders, father → son
“Right to rule” came from the Gods
Rulers issued laws, collected taxes, organized defense
Royal officials enforced laws
Bureaucracies- system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials

26. Job Specifications and Social Classes
Complex Religions
Polytheistic- Belief in many gods
Sun gods, river gods
Developed complex rituals, ceremonies for gods
Job Specifications and Social Classes
Urban people made new crafts, one person couldn’t be skilled at everything
Skilled artisans- (skilled craft workers) made pottery, metal working, weaponry, bricklayers

27. Arts, Architecture & Public Works
Social Ranking- People ranked according to jobs
Arts, Architecture & Public Works
Expressed beliefs of the people
Statues of gods and goddesses, temple wall paintings
Government projects to make roads, irrigation systems, defense walls
Priests and Nobles
Wealthy Merchants
Artisans and Soldiers
Peasants
Slaves

28. Spread of Civilizations
Writing
Began in temples
Pictograms- Words represented by pictures
Became more complex, only specially trained people, scribes, learned to read and write
Spread of Civilizations
Rulers gained more power, conquered cities
City-states- A political unit that included a city and its surrounding lands and villages

29. Interactions with Nomadic people
First Empires
rulers conquered many city and villages, creating empires- group of cities or states controlled by one ruler
Interactions with Nomadic people
Nomads tended cattle on steppes- less fertile, sparse dry grasslands
Had to keep moving heard because of poor water
City people got along with nomads for political, economic or military matters
At times had conflicts
Cultural Diffusion- The spread of ideas, customs and technologies from one people to another