Time Period I

8000 BCE – 600 BCE

• Period 1 8000BCE-600BCE• Starts @ Neolithic Revolution• Before 8000 BCE homosapiens (us) Out of

Africa– Modern humans migrate after about 80,000 years

ago from Africa– Island hop across Indonesia into Australia by

40,000 years ago– Cross Bearing Strait into Americas circa 20,000

years ago

• Civilization (farming) leads to disease, women inequality (& shortness)

• 8000 BCE – Neolithic Revolution/Agricultural Revolution in Fertile Crescent (Mespotamia)

• First crops = wheat/barley in Middle East• Then rice/China, yams/AFR, maize/AME• Farming brings surplus of food– If your food and security…

• Domesticated animals start in Middle East– Lambs, goats, cows

• Only Llamas in South Am.• Farming begins independently in several areas– Especially American– Ag settlements (not civs)– Jericho 8000 BCE (Israel)– Chatel Huyuk 7000 BCE (Turkey)

• What is a civ?• Food surplus• Job specialization • Writing• Art• Trade• Stratification• Army• New Tech

• Metals during this time are very important• First Bronze (copper + tin)– 3000 BCE

• First Iron (among Hittites in Anatolian Peninsula)– 1300 BCE

• Themes• Environment altered by humans– Irrigation – Indus, Nile, Yellow all flood

• Developments from cultural interaction– Trade among empires

• As civilization progresses, woman’s status declines– Hunters/gatherers egalitarian

• River Valley Civs:• Mesopotamia• Flooding = angry gods• Open Geography = causing trouble, less stability• Sumer• Cuneiform = earliest known writing• Epic of Gilgamesh– Flood found in other stories

• Govs less centralized– City states

• Sumerian Advancements• Wheel, calendar, 60 base number system

• Babylonians take over Sumer• Code of Hammurabi – Diff rules for diff classes– Protection of property rights– Super strict– Gender inequality

• Mesopotamia, cont.• Polytheistic• ziggurats• Hammurabi’s Code• Cuneiform• Wheel• Gilgamesh

• Hittites bring iron to Mesopotamia • Diffusion – getting something from another

culture• Syncretism – merging cultural elements

• Major Mesopotamian cultures:• Sumer• Acadians• Babylon• Hittites• Assyrians• Persians

• Egypt• Nile predictable flooding– Less angry gods & focus on wonderful afterlife

• 3 kingdoms – old, middle, new• Pyramids in old• Interact w/ Nubians in middle (comparison of

artistic styles, religious symbols, & political legitimacy)

• More militaristic in new

• Pharaoh • Pyramids show social stratification • Priest in role of huge power support base

for royal power• Hieroglyphic writing• Papyrus = paper

Compare Zigs, Pyrs, Am pyrs

Compare Cuneiform, Herioglyphics, Mayan Glyphs

• Hatshepsut – women ruler– Then Egypt has more status for women than other

civs• Diffusion of bronze into Egypt from Hyksos

• Egyptian Highlights:• Polytheistic• Social Strat• Centralized (more than Meso)• Higher status for women• Pyramids• Hieroglyphics

• Indus (Pakistan) (N. India)– Cities: Mohenjo Daro, Harappa

• Indoor plumbing, peaceful• Social stratification evident, but less so than other

Bronze Age civs• Proof of long distance trade– Indus seals found in Mesopotamia

• Aryans migrate into N. India after Indus Civ’s collapse • Start Hinduism/Caste System Rig Veda (Indra the

Thunder-Wielder, etc.)

• China (Shang Dynasty) first• Oracle bones (& turtle shells)– Scratch questions in character writing, fire, get

answers from ancestors through cracking • Zhou (pronounced “Joe”) – Longest dynasty– Create Mandate of Heaven ideology• God gives emperor right to rule if he is good• Ancestor veneration of emperor’s ancestors is key• Maybe a justification to overthrow Shang?

• Exceptions to river valley rule• Americas – Olmec in Central America– Chavin in Peru

• Important groups• Indo-Europeans– Rode horses– Spread from C. Asia into other areas (Aryans)

• Bantu migrations (from 2000BCE)– Sub Saharan Africa– Spread their language, farming and iron

• Hebrews (first monotheists)• Phonecians – Phonetics (becomes modern alphabet)

• Religion in U1• Animism – “animating” giving objects spirits– Esp. relevant to Cent. Asia, Americas, & Sub-Sah Af.

• Hinduism• Judaism • Zoroastrianism – Battle b/t Good and evil starts here– Arguments for this was first monotheist religion– Good god/bad god maybe polytheistic – Maybe archetype for God/Devil