Winnie Liang UGC 111 Professor David Buell Lecture 1 Categorizing the Past Prehistory vs History Dependent upon historical texts ie Written sources Prehistory The Stone Age Paleolithic Old Stone Age Mesolithic Middle Stone Age Neolithic New Stone Age Chalcolithic Copper Age Bronze Age Dependent on technological inventions Hominid bipedal primate Bipedal walking on two feet Homo erectus walker runner VS Australopithecus afarensis walker tree climber Australopithecus afarensis bigger hip structure smaller brain less intelligent Ca 4 2 5 million years ago Remains found in Great Rift Valley Fossil Footprints from Laetoli walked on volcanic ash found tools Ca 3 5 million years ago Mary Leakey 1913 1996 Homo Habilis handy human 2 33 1 4 million years ago marks Paleolithic era Stone tools butchering suggests greater intelligence Homo erectus upright human Ca 1 8 million 300 000 years ago Better communication because they are able to use various voices migrated to North Africa and beyond China Indonesia Spain Germany Tools such as Paleolithic hand axes from quartz hard stone Tools were found in creeks islands through boat transportation Homo Sapiens thinking humans Appeared 250 000 years ago Larger brains conscious thoughts Symbolic language Religion science and philosophy Specialized tools stones bones etc for hunting weaving harvesting bows atlatl U shaped piece of wood used to launch arrows Tools etc allowed them to migrate further Australia North America Neanderthal 150 000 years ago First discovered in the Neander Valley in Germany Have brains the size of modern humans and used tools ex Spears Understood culture ex Shanidar Cave Iraq Neanderthan cave burial Graves with artifacts bones tools flowers for next life Conceptual thinking of an after life Interacted with Homo Sapiens Sapiens through DNA analysis Humans possess Neanderthal genes The Paleolithic Period Old Stone Age Begins with the earliest use of stone tools ie Australopithecus Small groups of bands hunters gatherers Diet plants and meat from game sometimes scavenged Development of culture shared behavior beliefs values and symbols Imitation from one generation to the next Possible quiz question Define culture Jewelry painting on caves Ex Cueva de los Manos Cave of the Hands Santa Cruz Argentina Used tube to blow pigment shows they are right handed Ex Lascaus Caves Southern France ca 15 000 BC Depicts hundreds of animals like lions deers bisons horses antelopes humans in cave wall painting Abstract symbols might depict stars Might be a star chart might be for navigation and predicting seasons Knowing seasons are important for gathering plants and animals Might show particularly a record for good hunt Sympathetic magic depicting this could show a successful hunt Representation of humans stick figures with masked heads Could be Shamins religious figures and show trances the Shamins went into Ex The Woman of Venus of Wiltendort ca 24 000 22 000 BC Anthropomorphic possesses human characteristics ie Shape form etc This sculpture has legs arms head with hair or hat Exaggerated sexual characteristics large breasts 10 15 cm there are thousands of these sculptures statues Could be an example of sympathetic magic ensures fertility Could be used as idols The Kung San South Africa Hunting gathering preparing next meals living in one place The Neolithic Period The Holocene ca 15 000 years ago to the present Warmer wetter climate Agricultural or Neolithic Revolution Domestication selective breeding of plants and animals to serve human needs Larger particular plants and animals durable to prevent diseases Oat barley wheat to serve human beings Selectively bred domestication Agricultural Revolution Domestication selective breeding of plants and animals to serve human needs Fertile Crescent ca 9 000 BC People have to live near their fields so they stayed together Population grew developed towns and villages because of sources Domestication spread to other parts of the world Greece China Britain New World People migrate because low on sources Renewable source yogurt cheese moving things Main source meat Dibble stick vs plow Dibble stick used to poke holes in grounds and put seeds more labor intensive Plow good for agriculture less labor and much easier Animals for milk cheese yogurt wool and traction Greater surpluses of food Free time craft specializations and technological innovations ex Pottery Trade Social Hierarchies Acquiring social power controlling people and making rules Rich vs poor Burials some people are buried with weapons and jewelry while some are not shows rank hierarchy Villages of 10 000 individuals Ex In Turkey Catalhoyuk Village ca 7500 5700 BC No doors in these houses but ladders to the top Food scarcer social hierarchy developing leads to conflict with humans These houses were to ensure protection from thieves humans Dumping sentiments to the side clean houses Painting murals on walls shrines built to worship Owners of houses wanted to remain with ancestors Obsidian found copper smelt uses of metal shown Lesson 2 Mesopotamia Review Australopithecus 4 25 million years ago Laetoli Rift Valley Homo Habilis 2 33 1 4 million years ago Homo Erectus 1 8 million 300 000 million years ago Neanderthals 150 000 30 000 years ago Shanidar Cave Iraq The Neolithic Period The Holocene ca 15 000 years ago to the present Warmer wetter climate Agricultural or Neolithic Revolution Domestication selective breeding of plants and animals to serve human needs Animals for milk cheese and yogurt wool and traction ie The plow Greater surpluses of food Free time craft specialization and technological innovations Catalhoyuk houses with entrances on the roof Mesopotamia the Land Between Two Rivers The Tigris and the Euphrates Mes Metal Pot Water Iraq Iran Syria Turkey Situated in the Fertile Crescent Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded leaves river silts onto the plains while resulted in fertile area Irrigation Canal a cut in the land with water Makes soil moist and provides water for the fields Area eventually become overworked and lost agricultural potential because of humans influence Important Cities Uruk Ur Akkad Babylon 3 000 BC Villages with 40 000 50 000 people which serves as social and economical purpose Cities and city states Religious political economic and cultural centers Separate and distinguished from hinterlands ie Rural areas City state political system that consists of an independent city which has sovereignty authority over a