Stone Age 1 000 000 BC Hunting and Gathering Food Supply was provided by nature Self awareness a desire to control the natural environment Cave Paintings Hunting Magic People would hope that they would successfully hunt Based on Stone Tool Technology Fertility Magic Human Fertility and Animal Fertility o Pastoralism Pastoralists These people would move around and look New Stone Age 8000 BC Domestication of Animals for places to farm Domestication of Plants o Agriculture Agriculturalists o Near East Fertile Crescent o Mesopotamia Tigris and Euphrates River o Egypt Nile River Agriculture o Cultural Diffusion Independent Development around the world The development was spread from one group to another o Results of Agriculture Sedentary Life People were allowed to stay in one place Expandable food supply creation of food wealth Expansion of Population Villages started appearing Mobilization of Labor Force Social Organizations Downsides Less variable diet diseases soil exhaustion Things begin to drastically change in the Fertile Crescent area especially near the river deltas o Population increases o Villages turn into cities which leads to urbanization Civilization 3000 BC o Urbanization Cities o Agricultural Economy o Large Population o Specialization of the Labor Force Farming is the main basis o Writing o Metal Technology Only a small part of places became civilized Bronze 85 Copper 15 Tin First Period of Civilization o Bronze Age 3000 BC 1200BC River Valleys especially big ones Agricultural Economy Large Populations Occurred in Egypt Mesopotamia India China Mesopotamia Sumeria Consisted of 10 15 city states with about 50 000 people in each state o They were independent o Disunified Each state was its own country o Temple States with a primary focus on religion o Each had a Ziggurat It was at the center of each state and the god stayed at the top to protect the state Only priests were allowed to go to the top and see the God o Cuneiform Writing Each syllable had its own symbol Wrote on Clay Cuneiform Flood Story about God warning a man of a flood o Political Disunity Cultural Unity o Social Structure The God Priest King Ruled as a representative of the God Nobles Priests Peasant Farmers Slaves Slaves were a valid member of society Soldiers Specialized Workers Sumerian Religion o Do God s work Gods are arbitrary People had been created by the o Pessimism They expected that bad stuff was going to happen Floods gods just to do gods work being attacked etc o View of afterlife After you died you would go down to this dark cave be dressed in feathers and eat dirt o Creation of Order Neurotic Compulsive o Anthropomorphic Deities Gods Gods looked just like people An 60 God of Outerspace Enlil 50 Storm God Enki 40 Water God Nanna or Sin 30 Moon God Utu or Shamash 20 Sun God Inanna or Ishtar 15 Fertility God o Ikenography symbols are used to identify things Conventions in artwork show what something means because people can t read o Votive Statues and cult objects placed in temple to make sure that the God would be looking after you Pastoralists o They lived between the Syrian and Arabian Deserts o Commonly known as the Semitic People o They would interact in various ways with the people who lived in the river valley o Could only get things that they didn t have by either doing raid or trade with the people of the river valleys o Cultural assimilation occurred when these pastoralists interacted with those in the river valley o Spread of Civilization Agriculture Sumerian Writing System o Cycles of invasion followed by cultural assimilation When one group becomes assimilated they could also be invaded by another group of new people o Semitic Peoples Akkadians Became civilized Took up agriculture Sargon of Akkad 2350 BC concurred the other Sumerian cities and established the Akkadian Empire This is known as the 1st Near Eastern Empire o An empire is formed when group of people establishes itself over another group of people usually through military force Can also be formed through the spread of cultural values o Most empires were not successful because they used to much force etc Sargon dies and his empire disintegrates Mesopotamia returns to its normal state of disunity More invasions start to occur by the Semitic Peoples o Amorites 2000 BC Assyrians Babylonians Cultural Assimilation o Sumerian Writing o Marduk Enlil Hammurabi 1750 BC Old Babylonian Empire 1750 1650 This is the 2nd Near Eastern Empire Established using a mixture of diplomacy and military force o Hammurabi creates unity from disunity o Standard Weights talent mina shekel These were used in market places Talent 60 pounds 60 minas in a talent and 60 shekels in a mina o Astronomy 360 days per year Babylonians were known for astronomy o Law Code known as Hammurabi s Code Everyone under the empire had to follow all of these laws Hammurabi received the code from Shamash Kings always ruled as representatives of the Gods Created the code so that the strong would not harm the weak Nobles free persons and slaves had rights under the law Dealt with prices property business and marriage Prisons did not exist Many of the punishments given to people were death The empire collapsed after Hammurabi died Mesopotamia went back to its old condition of invasion and disunity o Indo European Peoples North Spoke versions of the same language They went to Greece Hittites moved to Turkey and Aryans moved into Iran in 2000 BC A group known as the Kassites moved into Mesopotamia in 1550 BC They assimilated very quickly The only thing that they kept is their names Egypt Many Similarities and Differences between Egypt and Mesopotamia o Mesopotamians constantly feared of being invaded or attacked o Egypt is isolated and is secure from invasions o People in Egypt had an optimistic view Predictable Floods Fertile Lands Isolation security from invasion Reflected in religion Gods will look after them Bronze Age occurred during 3000BC Divided into Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt o The Sahara Desert surrounds Upper Egypt Named the Two Lands or the Black Lands because of very rich soil o Egypt had the richest soil in the Ancient World The Nile would flood every year resulting in predictable floods o The entire land was irrigated in order to get water from the Nile into the farmland o The Nile River served as a highway for water transportation Divided into Nomes counties o 42 Nomes in total Unification of Egypt o Occurred during 3000 BC o Narmur was the first Pharaoh