PrehistoryNeolitic Revolution

Traits of Civilization

Early Humans

Prehistory-3500 BC

Prehistory:Before written records

Prehistory-3500 BC

Prehistory:Before written records

Understanding Prehistory

• Archaeology: the study of past societies through an analysis of what people have left behind

•artifacts: tools, pottery, paintings, weapons, buildings, and other items of early people

Anthropologist: studies culture – uses artifacts and

fossils to determine how people lived their lives

• Culture: Unique way of life of a people

Early Stages of Development

Stage 1 - Hominid:

• the earliest human-like creatures that walked upright

Stage 2 – Homo Erectus: “upright human being”

• More & larger tools

• Learned to use fire

• First to leave Africa & move into Europe & Asia

Stage 3 – Homo Sapiens: “wise human being”

• Neanderthals – first found in Neander Valley in Germany - first people to bury their dead

• Homo Sapiens Sapiens – first humans who looked like us

The Paleolithic Age

•Old Stone Age

•Used simple stone tools

Lifestyle•Nomads – moved from place to place following the animal migration & vegetation cycles

Major advances• Mastery of fire

• Art – cave drawings

The polychrome painting above, of a "cow and a horse," is a paleolithic cave painting from the caves at Lascaux, in

the Dordogne region of France. 

-- 15,000 BCE

The Neolithic Revolution and the Rise of Civilization

NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION:

The shift from hunting of animals and gathering of food to the keeping of animals and the growing of food on a regular basis that occurred around 8000 B.C.

Neolithic = Greek for “new stone”

Consequences of the Neolithic Revolution:

• Organized communities

• Trading of goods

• Systematic agriculture

• Population explosion

Civilization: a complex culture in

which large numbers of people share a number of

common elements

6 Characteristics of Civilization

1. Cities 2. Government3. Religion4. Social Structure5. Writing6. Art

1. The Rise of Cities• First developed in river valleys

where people could carry on large-scale farming to feed large populations

2. Government• Growing population, need to

maintain food supply, and build walls for defense led to organization of the government

• Organize & regulate human activity

• monarchs

3. Religion• Developed to explain the workings

of nature and the fact of their own existence

• Priests – power by divine authority & led rituals to gain the favor of the gods

4. Social Structure

• Middle Class farmers, artisans, and

craftspeople

Slaves

Upper Class --priests, government officials, and

warriors

5. Writing• Scribes kept

records

• Records developed into literature

6. Art• Temples built for worship & burial

• Paintings & Sculptures – developed to portray gods & goddesses or natural forces