Unit 0 – Development of Civilizations

Step 1 –
The Rise of
Mankind
 Beginnings of Mankind

• Homo Sapiens appear

around 250,000 years ago.
• Early humans formed
groups of hunter-gatherers
(foragers) to get food to
survive.
• Everyone worked to
survive.
• Nomadic- groups migrate
(move from place to place)
when food supplies run low.
 Early Man (250,000-10,000 BCE)
• Crafted tools to adapt to environments:
• Stone, bone, antler, wood materials.
• Axes, spears, arrows, fishing poles.
• Clothing made from animals to survive.
• Some groups were not able to survive
on their own, exchanged peoples and
ideas.
• Most societies were egalitarian- equal
social roles between men and women.
• Early period called the Paleolithic (Old
Stone Age)
Human Migration Starting 100,000 Years
Ago
Changes from the Ice Age Ending (11,000
Years Ago)

• Climate becomes warmer,

wetter.
• Larger mammals and
other hominids go
extinct.
• Increase in wild plant life
and habitable regions.
• First animal
domesticated (tamed
and kept as a pet), the
wolf.
 The Neolithic Revolution (9,000-3,500
BCE)

• Humans begin to learn how to

domesticate (cultivate for
food) plants.
• Humans develop a sedentary
(non-migratory) lifestyle to
grow plants.
• Some humans become
pastoral nomads- raising
livestock but migrating with
their animals.
• Often clash and fight with
sedentary farmers.
 Emerging Changes

Food surplus reduced amount of

humans needed to work.
Humans begin to specialize-
work on different tasks they are
good at.
Pottery, art, building
homes, weapons.
Kilns for pottery eventually used
to work metals and create metal
tools and weapons.
Bronze tools and weapons
become dominant beginning the
Bronze Age.
First Towns Develop

Çatal Hüyük Jericho

(Modern Turkey) (Modern Israel)
relatively egalitarian---no evidence of
labor specialization or gender distinction
First
First settled:
settled:
c. 7000BCE c. 7000BCE
 Advanced Civilization: The Next
Step?

• By 3500BCE, relatively
large, advanced
preliterate societies
develop along Indus,
Huang He, Nile, and
Tigris & Euphrates
Rivers.

• As societies grow in size

and need, sedentary
human beings are again
Step 2 – The
Development
of Civilization
The six characteristics of civilization
1. Advanced cities
population size (10,000s)
trade/ administrative centers
religious centers
2. Specialized Workers

• Lived in cities, fed by surplus food

• Artisans, shopkeepers, soldiers,
officials, rulers, priests
3. Social Classes

Rulers
and
priests

nobles

Artisans and Invert

these two
merchants if talking
about
China
farmers

Slaves
4. Complex Institutions
the long- lasting patterns of
organization
• Government
• Religion
• Education
• military
5.Recordkeeping/writing

Keep track of events, time, business

transactions, religious rituals
6. Advanced
technology
• Monumental
architecture
• Art, public works
• New tools
Technological Advancements
Wheeled Vehicles
•Save labor, allow transport of large loads and
enhance trade

Potters Wheel (c.6000BCE)

•Allows the construction of more durable clay
vessels and artwork

Irrigation & Driven Plows

•Allow further increase of food production,
encourages pop. growth
 Role of Women “Great Leap
Sideways”

• Women generally lost status

under male-dominated,
patriarchal systems.

• Women were limited in

vocation,
• Planting, weeding, harvesting,
grinding – fossil evidence

• Women may have lacked the

• same social rights as men.
 Early Human Impact on the
Environment
• Deforestation in places
where copper, bronze, and
salt were produced.

• Erosion and flooding where

agriculture disturbed soil
and natural vegetation.

• Selective extinction of large

land animals and weed
plants due to hunting &
Costs & Advantages of
Agriculture
Advantages Costs
Steady food supplies Heavily dependent
on certain food crops
Greater populations (failure = starvation)

Disease from close

Leads to organized
societies capable of contact with animals,
supporting additional humans, & waste
vocations (soldiers,
managers, etc.) Reduced mobility
 Step 3 – The
Development of
River Valley
Civilizations
 River Valley Civilizations
The discovery of farming during the
Neolithic Revolution allowed nomadic
people to settle into civilizations
The world’s first civilizations
all began in river valleys
The first civilization
began in an area known
as Mesopotamia
 Mesopotamia means
Thethe
“land between Tigris and Euphrates
rivers” & is Rivers
flooded
often called the once
“Fertile per year, leaving
Crescent”
behind of
or as the “Cradle fertile soil ideal for farming
Civilization”
 The first civilization developed
in the Fertile Crescent: Sumer

But, surrounding deserts & the lack of natural

barriers attracted outsiders to Mesopotamia
made the Sumerians vulnerable to attack
Ancient Egypt
 China began along the Yellow (Huang He)
& Yangtze Rivers in the North China Plain;
Only 10% of China is suitable for farming

The Yellow River flooding was

unpredictable & was called “China’s
Sorrow” because its floods often
destroyed entire villages
The Indus River
Valley (India)