1. Unit 1—Foundations

2. Neolithic Revolution. We begin at about 8,000 BC
when village life began in the New Stone Age. . . Also known as the
Neolithic Revolution.
NEW STONE AGE

3. A TOTALLY new way of living:
From
Hunter-Gatherers
to Agriculture

4. INVENTION OF AGRICULTURE
Mesopotamians first to engage in agriculture
Around 8000 BC
Cereal crops
Wheat
Barley
Herd animals
Sheep
Goats
Woman probably first farmer
Grain-collecting then noticed that stored wild grain could be grown on purpose

5. Life Before Agriculture Life After Agriculture Food Supply Shelter
Social Structure
(government & religion included)
Art & Innovation
Specialization
Language

6. Life Before Agriculture Food Supply
Food gatherers as opposed to food producers
Nomadic – roaming existence
As the food in an area was consumed, man moved on, looking for another food supply
Followed the migration patterns of the herds.
Nomadic may not be a term that familiar to all students – particularly ELL students. Be sure to review it’s meaning and describe in detail if necessary.
Additional questions you might want to ask about this life:
What would someone’s life be like, living as a nomad?
What kind of stability is there in a nomadic life?
What kind of things could you do, not do

7. Life Before Agriculture Shelter
Nomadic people live on what the environment can provide, such as caves.
Temporary shelters made of wood and hides.

8. Life Before Agriculture Social Structure
Social Structure was based on the family.
A group of families is called a clan.

9. Life Before Agriculture Art & Innovation
Some drawings and art work have been found.
Lascaux Cave Painting in France
Primitive weapons and tools
Sewing needles
Use of fire
Your Textbook will more than likely have pictures of the Lascaux Cave Paintings. Also, you may wish to search the internet for pictures you can insert onto the slides.

10. Life Before Agriculture Specialization
Subsistence lifestyle dictated that the number one priority for all family members was to find food.

11. Life Before Agriculture Language
Only verbal communication was used. Symbols were used to mark places of importance.

12. Development of Agriculture
As man learns to farm, he is able to settle in one place and able to acquire more things.
Although known as a revolution, these changes occurred independently throughout the world over the course of several thousand years.

13. Life After Agriculture Food Supply – Sedentary Farmers
Food Producing: planted, tended, harvested, and stored crops.
Domesticated animals are used for food and as beasts of burden.
Hunting supplemented the food supply.

14. Life After Agriculture Food Supply – Nomadic Pastoralists
Developed in areas where the climate limited growing crops.
Nomadic pastoralists move with their herds to new feeding areas.
Often a means of facilitating communication between sedentary farming societies.

15. Life After Agriculture Shelter
Use of mud bricks as building material
Eventually stones were used, leading to rock being quarried and cut for building.
Villages located near fields and other reliable food sources. (rivers/sea)
Picture of early Neolithic shelters may be found at

16. Life After Agriculture Social Structure
Complex social structures developed which involved when many clans began living in close proximity.
Gender separation:
Men farmed, herded, and hunted
Women did jobs near the home: child-rearing, food preparation, etc.
Religion is believed to have been developed to explain the forces of nature
Governments developed to organize activities.
One Neolithic city in India is thought to have had a population of 6, 000 residents.

17. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Originally ruled by council of elders
Authority moved to single leader
Close-knit society
Communal granaries, ovens, and fields
Private property limited to personal possessions

18. Life After Agriculture Art & Innovation
Carving and statuary, complex tools such as advances in weapons, plows pulled by animals, building techniques, cloth making and weaving
Architecture and building for religious or common use

19. POSSESSIONS Needs of agriculture and stability Clay pottery
Woven baskets
Woolen and linen clothing
Sophisticated tools and weapons
Plow

20. Life After Agriculture Specialization
People begin to specialize in various tasks: (tool maker), stone cutter, potter, basket weaving, early metallurgy.
Regional resources are gathered and traded.

21. Life After Agriculture Language
Development of pictographic languages (Egyptian Hieroglyphic) or written language.
Developed to keep records concerning food storage & trade.

22. RESULTS OF AGRICULTURE
Required intensification of group organization
Neolithic farmers lived in settlements
Ranged from 150 (Jarmo) to 2000 (Jericho)

23. OUTSIDE CONTACTS Neolithic communities had links
Walls indicate some fearful
Others were more peaceful
Obsidian and turquoise in Jericho from several 100’s of miles away
Either gifts or received in trade
Jericho

24. Origins and Spread of Agriculture

25. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Self-actualization
(self-knowledge,
fulfillment of
personal potential)
Esteem
(autonomy, achievement, recognition)
Social
(belonging, affection)
Safety
(security, protection from harm)
Physiological
(Hunger, thirst, shelter)
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

26. What does it mean to be civilized?
Historians have determined 6 characteristics of civilization:
Cities
Organized central governments
Complex religions
Social classes
Job specialization and the arts
Writing

27. Cities Rivers provided: Rivers provided challenges:
water supply
transportation
food supply from animals
Rivers provided challenges:
flooding
irrigation
Required organized, mass labor (corvee)
Construction and repair of canals and irrigation ditches
Euphrates River

28. Organized Central Governments
Central authority needed to control:
Labor
Storage of grain
Dispersion of foodstuffs among population
Early governments first led by priests
Later controlled by warrior chiefs or kings

29. Organized Central Governments
Governments became more complex as new responsibilities arose such as:
tax collecting
law making
handling public works projects
organizing systems of defense

30. Complex Religions Generally polytheistic
Many gods represented natural forces
Others controlled human activities
Priests and worshippers tried to gain gods’ favor through complex rituals and sacrifice
Directed by unquestionable ruling class of priests
King regarded as a god or as a god’s agent

31. Complex Religions
Temples often built to honor specific gods and goddesses
Mayan temple
Egyptian temple
Mesopotamian ziggurat

32. Social Classes People ranked according to their profession Chief
Priests
Nobles
Wealthy merchants
Artisans
Peasants/farmers
Slaves
Egyptian social structure

33. Social Classes
Priestly class is part of the beginning of social differentiation
Class structure based on specialization of labor
Generated class differences
Priests (“We talk to god, you don’t.)
Aristocrats/warriors (“We have weapons, you don’t.”)
Common people (“I guess we work...?”)
Slaves (“Uh, oh!!!”)

34. Job Specialization and the Arts
Artisans specialized in various jobs, such as:
Bricklayers
Blacksmiths
Production of luxuries (Things You Don’t Really Need)
Metal technology

35. Job Specialization and the Arts
Created great architecture and art
monumental architecture
pyramids, ziggurats, big cities
huge temples and associated structures to fill the needs of a god-oriented state
under the control of the priestly class

36. Writing Probably first used by priests
Earliest writing used pictograms
Chinese calligraphy
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Mesopotamian cuneiform

37. Writing Symbols later added to represent words and then sounds
Scribes were specially trained to read, write, and record information
Religion
Trade
Government

38. UNIQUENESS OF CIVILIZATION
Civilization was not simply next inevitable step from Neolithic Age
Many peoples remained at simple food-raising stage for thousands of years—without developing any sort of civilization
Only five locations developed civilizations entirely on their own
China
Indus River Valley
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Central America and Peru