Chapter 1 The Peopling of the World World History

Chapter 1

The Peopling of the World

World History

Standard 1: The student will analyze the

origins, structures, and interactions of complex societies in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean from 3500 BCE to 500 BCE.

Elements SSWH1d: Describe the early trading networks in the Eastern

Mediterranean ; include the impact Phoenicians had on the Mediterranean World.

SSWH1e: Explain the development and importance of writing; include cuneiform, hieroglyphics, and the Phoenician alphabet.

Let’s Preview the Chapter

In this Chapter you will learn about the origins,

development and achievements of early human beings. Human existence will be characterized from prehistory through the present. You will be introduced to basic themes that reveal patterns and connections among historical events throughout the ages.

What have you read or seen about early humans?

“The Clan of the Cave Bear”


Turn to pages 2 and 3 in your textbook. Observe

the map. As early humans spread out over the world, they

adapted to each environment they encountered. As time progressed, they learned to use natural resources. Study the timeline and map. Where in Africa did human life began?

The earliest people came up with new ideas and inventions in order to survive. As people began to live in settlements, they continued to develop new technology to control the environment. Early humans began to migrate about 1.8 million years ago. Early humans began to migrate about 1.8 million years ago. What paths did these migrations take?


Early humans hunted animals and gathered wild plant foods

for 3 to 4 million years. Then about 10,000 years ago, they learned to tame animals and to plant crops. Gradually more complex economies developed. Early settlement sites often were near rivers. Why might they have been located there?

Timeline Discussion What part might stone have played in the lives of early

humans? Based on the images included in the timeline, what

types of evidence do scientists have of early humans appearance and activities?

How much time elapsed between the emergence of the first hominids and Homo erectus?

What can you infer from the gold bull associated with the city of Ur?


Artifact – a human made object such as a

tool or piece of jewelry. These objects often give clues to how people lived, dressed, how they worked and worshipped.

Section 1 Vocabulary

Culture – a people’s unique way of life. Usually culture is learned by what

archaeologists find in their digs of ancient places. These findings are often used to re-create a picture of early people’s cultural behavior.

Culture is the way of life of a group of people. It includes common practices of a society, its shared understandings, and its social organization.


Hominid – a human being characterized as

walking upright. Examples of hominids are: australopithecines,

who closely resemble humans beings. The footprints of this species’ footprints provided striking evidence about human origins.

Hominids were able to walk upright and had an opposable thumb.


Australopithecines

4 Million to 1 Million B.C. – small brain Southern/Eastern Africa 1st Humanlike creature to walk upright

Homo habilis

2.5 – 1.5 million B. C. – East Africa Brain a bit bigger – 1st to make stone tools

Homo erectus

1.6 million – 30,000 B. C. – Africa, Asia, Europe – Brain size 1000 cm cubed

Homo sapiens

Modern Human – means “wise men” – larger brain

Neanderthal

200,000 – 30,000 B. C. – Europe/Southwest Asia – 1st to have burial rituals

Cro-Magnon

40,000 – 8,000 B. C. – Europe – brain 1400 cm cubed – fully modern humans

Created art

Paleolithic Age - The earlier and longest part of the

Stone Age which is called the Old Stone Age. This time period lasted from about 2.5 million to 8000

B.C.

Neolithic Age – The last part of the Stone Age which is called the New Stone Age.

This time period lasted from 8000 B.C. to 3000 B.C. People who lived during this period learned to polish

stone tools, make pottery, grow crops, and raise animals.


Paleolithic Age

2.5 Million – 8,000 B. C. “Old Stone Age” Invention of tools, mastery of fire, and

development of language

Homo Habilis – new hominids that appeared

just before australopithecines vanished in East Africa around 2.5 million years ago.

Homo Habilis means “man with skill”. Lewis and Mary Leakey found the first of

this type of human in East Africa in Olduvai Gorge.

The Leakey’s believed these humans used tools made of lava to cut meat and crack open bones.


Homo Erectus – hominids which appeared

1.6 million years before homo habilis vanished in East Africa.

Homo Erectus means “upright man”. It is believed this species of human was a

more intelligent and adaptable one than homo habilis.

This species was intelligent enough to develop technology to become skillful hunters and invented sophisticated tools for scraping, digging and cutting.


Homo Erectus also became the first species

to use the skill of migration from Africa as far away as India, China and Southeast Asia and Europe.

This species was the first to use fire. This species may have even been the first to

develop a spoken language.


Homo Sapiens – humans who eventually

developed into homo sapiens, the species name for modern humans.

Homo Sapiens means “wise men”. They had larger brains. Scientists have classified Neaderthals and Cro-

Magnons as early homo sapiens.


Neanderthal – found in the Neander Valley in

Germany. These people had heavily slanted brows, well

developed muscles and thick bones. These people lived between 200,000 to

30,000 years ago. These people tried to control and explain their

environments. They developed religious beliefs and performed rituals. They even held funerals.


Cro-Magnon – appeared about 40,000 years

ago. They were a group of prehistoric humans.

They are identical to modern humans. They were strong and only grew as tall as 5 and ½ feet in height.

They were superior hunters which made survival easy.

They had an advanced spoken language which may have given them a slight edge on the Neanderthals.


Section 1 Study Question

Early people needed to provide food and shelter for themselves and their families and protect themselves from predators.

Tools such as the dagger would help them hunt animals. The axe would enable them to chop wood to build fires and shelters. Containers would allow them to store water. A backpack would provide a means of transporting essential items.

Section 1 Study Questions

Archaeologists face the challenge of locating places to conduct their dig. They look for promising dig sites.

They also have to spend a great deal of time sifting through large amounts of dirt to find remains.


Anthropologists study culture. Culture is a people’s unique way of life .

This is the way of life for a group of people.

People are not born knowing culture, instead they must learn culture.

Culture is learned in two ways: By observing and imitating the behavior

of people in society. People in society directly teach culture

to those who need to learn through spoken or written language.


The creation of language to plan, communicate, and work cooperatively.

They also created fire. They learned the skill to make

sophisticated tools.


The footprints provided clues about human prehistory and evidence that the earliest hominids may have lived in Africa.

Homo Sapiens were called “wise men” because of the size of their brains.

Cro-Magnons, rather than Neanderthals became the ancestors of modern humans because Cro-Magnons were more successful at adapting to their environments.


Neanderthals were similar to people today because they tried to control and explain their environments.

They developed religious beliefs and performed rituals.

They conducted funeral services.

Nomad – men and women of the “Old

Stone Age”. They were highly mobile people who moved from place to place foraging or searching for new sources of food.

Hunter-gatherer – a nomadic person whose food supply depends on hunting animals and collecting plant foods.


Slash & Burn Farming – the cutting

down of trees or grasses and burning them to clear a field for farming.

The ashes that remain are used as a fertilizer for the soil.

Farmers plant crops for one or two years in these fields and then move to another area of land. After several years, trees and grass grow back and other farmers repeat the process of slashing and burning.


Domestication – the taming of animals

such as horses, dogs, pigs, and goats. This was a slow process that came slowly to

humans. Early humans may have driven herds of

animals in small rocky ravines to be slaughtered which eventually led to humans driving animal herds into human-made enclosures.

Farmers were then able to keep animals as a constant source of food and gradually tamed them.


Neolithic Revolution – agricultural

revolution. This was a far reaching change in

human life resulting from the beginnings of farming.

The shift from food-gathering to food-producing culture represents one of the great breakthroughs in history.


Once hunter-gatherers used up the

available food, they would have to find new sources or ways of gathering food such as: making spears that could be thrown longer distances and digging sticks to dig deeply rooted plants from the ground.

Tools helped people to meet their survival needs efficiently, leaving time to develop artistic expression.

Artistic expressions included: Necklaces of seashells, lion teeth and bear claws adorned both men and women. Polished mammoth tusks were made into beads, small carved sculptures of animals.


The advantages of domestication of

animals offered the Neolithic people a readily available source of meat and labor.

The development of agriculture lead to the establishment of villages with a stable, stationary source of food. Larger groups of people could settle in an area offering each other cooperation and protection.


The advantages of farming and

herding over hunting and gathering supplied a steadier and constant food supply.

It was a safer way to obtain food.

Provided a more stable way of life.

Gave people more leisure time.


Civilization – a complex culture with five

characteristics. Advanced cities Specialized workers Complex institutions Record keeping Advanced technology


Specialization – the development

of skills in a specific kind of work. An abundant food supply allowed some people to become experts at the jobs besides farming.

Artisan – a skilled worker who makes goods by hand.


Institution – a long lasting pattern of

organization in a community. Complex institutions consisted of

government, religion, and the economy. As institutions became more complex

there was a need to keep records.


Scribes – professional record

keepers. Most early civilizations developed

a system of writing. Cuneiform – an invented system

of writing meaning “wedged-shaped” that consisted of pictographs or symbols of objects.


Bronze Age – a period which refers to the

time when people began using bronze, rather than copper and stone to fashion tools and weapons.

This age started in the city of Ur in Sumer around 3000 B.C.


Barter – the way of trading goods and

services without money. Coins are not used to make purchases

because money had not yet been invented.

Merchants did know however how many pots of grain it took for a farmer to buy a bottle of wine.


Ziggurat – a massive, pyramid-shaped

temple which means “mountain of god” that serves as the religious center of civilizations.

The outer parts of a ziggurat has a flight of about 100 mud brick stairs that lead to the top.

At the peak of the ziggurat, priests perform rituals to worship the city god or sheep to sacrifice.

The temple also houses storage areas for grains, woven fabrics and gems, which were offerings to the gods.


An increase in population complicated

social relationships by: Creating more opportunities for conflict. Creating a need for more definition of

roles and cooperation.


Religious rituals served in the lives

of early village people by providing them with a sense of belonging and a sense of control over the environment.

Cities were essential in the growth of civilization because they were the birthplaces of civilizations. Cities are the centers of trade for most civilizations.


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Chapter 1 The Peopling of the World World History