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Earliest Human Societies
“Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.”
- Arnold J. Toynbee
HISTORY, in the strict sense, means a
systematic written record of the human past but most people do not use history in the strict sense.
They define the word history as whatever has happened in the past to humans. Humans have inhabited the Earth for a very long
time; present-day human beings have evolved over millions of years and the majority of that period is still a closed book to modern science.
Introduction
Every few years, new evidence is discovered that
extends the age of the genus Homo further back in time.
A human-like creature, or hominid, walked about in East Africa well over three million years ago by the latest reckoning. The oldest hominid generally accepted as such is “Lucy,”
a female whose fossilized bones were discovered in Ethiopia two decades ago.
Homo sapiens, “thinking man,” is much younger, however.
The modern variety of humans – the originator of all people now living – is apparently no more than about 50,000 years old.
Introduction
Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis)With a mixture of ape and human features – including long dangling arms but pelvic, spinal, foot, and leg bones suited to walking upright – slender
Lucy stood three and a half feet tall (107 cm).Recreations of her skull reveal an apelike head with a low and heavy
forehead, widely curving cheekbones, and a jutting jaw – as well as the brain size of a chimpanzee.
Definition of Terms
History is the systematic written record of what people have done in the past. In this context, the past can mean 10,000 years ago or
yesterday. History depends on memory; it is remembered activities.
Prehistory is whatever happened to people in the period prior to writing.
Historiography is the written-down form of history, as processed through an author’s brain and bias working on the raw materials he or she has found.
Definition of Terms
Culture is the human-created part of the environment, the “way of life” of a distinct group of humans interacting with one another. In prehistory, culture is often associated with
particular tools.
Civilization is a complex, developed culture usually associated with specific achievements such as agriculture, urban life, specialized labor, and a system of writing.
Definition of Terms
Archaeology is the study of prehistoric and/or historical cultures through examination of their artifacts (anything made by humans). The name means “the study of origins,” and is
derived from the Greek language.
Anthropology refers to the science that studies humans as a species rather than studying a special aspect of their activity. It’s name, too, is derived from the Greek language.
The very lengthy period extending from about
the appearance of the first hominids to about 8,000 B.C. is known as the Paleolithic Age, or Old Stone Age, so called because tools were made of stone and were still quite crude. Paleo meaning old; lithos meaning stone.
By the end of the Paleolithic Age, humans inhabited all the continents except Antarctica.
Paleolithic peoples were hunters and foragers, but life was not easy, and famine was always near at hand.
The Paleolithic Age
Paleolithic hunting and gathering was done in
groups. Success depended more on organization and
cooperation than on individual bravery or strength. The family was the basic social unit but it
typically included the extended family of uncles, aunts, in-laws, and other relatives other than the nuclear family. The nuclear family consists of the father, mother,
and children. A unit larger than the nuclear family was
necessary for protection but the total number able to live and hunt together was quite small – no more than forty or so.
The Paleolithic Age
Although conflicts frequently arose over
hunting grounds, water, theft, or other problems, the Paleolithic era saw less warfare than any time in later history. With so much open space capable of sustaining life
available, the weaker units probably just moved on when they were confronted with force or threats.
The Paleolithic Age
During the Paleolithic Age, both the physical
appearance of humans and their vital capacity to reason and plan changed considerably.
Evidence uncovered in East Africa and Europe indicates that some subspecies came to an evolutionary dead end. The best example of this is the Neanderthal Man,
who flourished in western Germany about 30,000 years ago and then disappeared as Homo sapiens began appearing in Europe.
Human Development
Shanidar 3A new study suggests that the Neanderthal was killed by a modern
human armed with an advanced projectile weapon.If confirmed, the Paleolithic “murder” would be the first compelling case for an anatomically modern human using a weapon against a
member of the extinct human species.
Studies show that the end of the last of
several Ice Ages coincided with the appearance of Homo sapiens throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
It is entirely possible that the pre-Homo sapiens inhabitants of Europe, such as Neanderthal Man, failed to adapt to the changed climate.
Human Development
During the Paleolithic Age, humans became
more upright and their skull changed shape to encompass a gradually enlarging brain. Their bodies grew less hairy and their arms shorter. Hip structure changed to allow a more erect
posture. Eyesight grew sharper and the sense of smell less
so. All these changes and many others were
adaptations that reflected both human’s changed physical environment and their increasing mastery and manipulation of that environment.
Human Development
The changed physical environment was
reflected in the substitution of semi-permanent shelter for the nomadism of an earlier day. By the late Paleolithic Age, groups were living in
caves, lean-tos, and other shelters for long periods of time, perhaps several months.
Where earlier groups rarely remained for more than a few weeks at a given locale, now they could stay in one place for several months to await the ripening of certain fruit or the migration of the animals.
Human Development
Even more important, the human’s ability to
master their physical environment was constantly increasing as they learned to make clothing for cold seasons, to kindle fire where and when it was needed, and to devise new tools for new tasks.
The earliest human artwork came in the late Paleolithic. Certain caves of southern France and Spain are
world famous for their lifelike portraits of deer and other animals.
Humans in the late Paleolithic Age were making rapid strides toward civilizations. This state would be reached in the next age – the
Neolithic Age.
Human Development
Lascaux Caves (southwestern France)In 1940, four teenagers accidentally stumbled upon a collection of
prehistoric paintings of extinct game, near Montignac, France.Archaeologists have dated the paintings to about 14,000 B.C.
Additionally, anthropologists believe the cave may have been used as a gathering place for hunting and religious ceremonies.
Although the Paleolithic Age saw notable
developments, it was in the Neolithic Age, or New Stone Age, that humans made the breakthrough to advanced culture and eventually civilization.
As we studied, Paleolithic groups were essentially nomadic and depended on either hunting, gathering, or on raising animal for food.
In the Neolithic Age, this situation changed – the gradual adoption of agriculture demanded a sedentary, or settled life. The beginnings of farming used to be called the
“Agriculture Revolution.”
The Neolithic Age
Gradually, hunting-herding as the primary
way to gain food gave way to sowing and harvesting. Some members of the group would hunt while
others raised some form of grain from wild grasses. This process generally took five to ten generations
or 200-400 years. With such a slow transition, is revolution the
appropriate term to describe the adoption of the agricultural lifestyle? Yes; because such adoption led to four
revolutionary changes in the long run.
Agricultural Revolution
First, agriculture meant that people settled
down permanently. One major result of agriculture was a steadily
expanding population that lived in permanent settlements.
Second, agriculture was the force behind creating the concept of “mine versus thine” – that is, privately owned property in land. Until farming became common, there was no
concept of private property; land, water, game, and fish belonged to all who needed them.
But once a group had labored hard to establish a productive farm, they wanted permanent possession.
Agricultural Revolution
Third, agriculture demanded the development of
systemized regulation to enforce the rights of one party over those of another when disputes arose over property. Codes of law, enforced by organized authority, governed
relations between individuals and groups so that security was established and the welfare of all was promoted; thus, the function of law.
Fourth, agriculture increased the specialization of labor. It made no sense for a Neolithic farmer to try to be a soldier or
carpenter as well as a food grower. Agriculture also led to an enlarged public role for
women in Neolithic society, a direct result of the fact that the very first farmers were probably women.
Agricultural Revolution
As early as 7,000 B.C., agriculture had
developed in at least four separate areas independent of outside influences: the Near East, Central America, northern China,
and West Africa. Slightly later, the first domesticated animals
were being raised as a part of village life. The raising of pigs, sheep, cattle, and goats for food
and fiber dates back as least as far as 4,000 B.C.
Agricultural Revolution
Several of the earliest civilizations developed
in the plains bordering on major rivers or in the valleys the rivers created. Not coincidental, four of the most important
civilizations, emerged in this way: Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates River), Egypt (Nile River), India (Indus River), and China (Yellow River).
The development of high civilization depended on intensive, productive agriculture and the development of agriculture depended in turn on the excellent soil and regular supply of water provided by the river.
Irrigation Civilizations
Beyond providing good crops and essential
water, rivers offer a sure and generally easy form of transport and communication, which allowed for inter-village trade.
These rivers had very different natures: The Tigris and Euphrates and the Yellow were as
destructive in their unpredictable flooding as the Nile and Indus were peaceful and friendly.
The Yellow River was so ruinous at times that its ancient name was the “sorrow of China.”
Irrigation Civilizations
The first metal used by humans is thought to have
been soft copper. When combined with lead and tin ores, copper becomes
the more useful bronze. Bronze has some advantages over copper:
It is harder (therefore more suitable for weaponry) and more resistant to weathering.
But it has several disadvantages when compared with other metals: It is relatively difficult to make, its weight is excessive for
many uses, and it cannot keep a fine edge for tools and weaponry.
Above all, bronze was difficult to obtain in the ancient world and very expensive.
Metal and Its Uses
The period when bronze art objects and bronze
weapons predominated in a given part of the world is called the Bronze Age.
In western Asia where civilizations first appeared, the Bronze Age extended from about 7,000 B.C. to about 1,500 B.C., when a major innovation in human technology made its first appearance: the smelting of iron.
The discovery of how to smelt and temper iron tools and weapons was a major turning point in the civilized development of every people, ushering in an Iron Age. Iron is the key metal of history.
Metal and Its Uses
Wherever it has come into common use, certain
advantages have occurred: Iron plowshares open areas to cultivation that
previously could not be tilled. Iron weapons and body armor give warfare a new
look. Iron tools enable new technical progress and
expanded production. Iron utensils were cheaper than other metals, last
longer, resist fiery heat, and do not easily shatter or lose their edge.
Iron ore is one of the more common metallic ores and it is found on or very near the Earth’s surface (unlike copper and lead).
Metal and Its Uses
