The Rise of Civilizations/Neolithic Revolution

The Rise of Civilizations/Neolithic Revolution

TimelineBC= Before Christ, it is sometimes expressed as BCEAD= Year of our lord0 AD is the year that Jesus was bornTimeline Continued14,000 B.C.______________0AD_____________2012AD

Numbers get bigger the further away from 0 Ad you getQuizWhat year happened first: 76 BC or 300 BC

1000 AD or 12oo AD? 2000 BC or or 200 AD?

How many years ago was 8000 BC?Development of Tools/specializationThe Stone Age- simple stone tools, some hunter gather societies never advanced past the Stone AgeBronze Age- Specialization in agricultural societies allowed people to begin making bronze tools. Approximately 4000 B.C.Iron Age- Development of Iron required more technological sophistication but was a huge advantage for societies. Approximately 1300 B.C.The Neolithic RevolutionThe Neolithic Revolution began approximately 14,000 years agoThis refers to the development of agriculture and the shift from hunting and gathering societies to agricultural societies.Agriculture developed in a number of places at different timesAgriculture began in the Fertile CrescentFertile Crescent

Advantages of the Fertile CrescentLots of SunshineNile, Tigris, Euphrates, and Jordan rivers provide constant H20Wheat, Barely, Peas, Cows, and Horses grew naturally in the regionThe Fertile Crescent CivilizationsAgriculture in the Fertile Crescent led to the development of the worlds first civilizationsSumer in MesopotamiaEgypt along the Nile RiverThe Indus Valley CivilizationCivilizationsHistorians usually define civilizations as having the following: Government Social Structure ( upper and middle classes) Large public building projects Specialization, many different jobsMesopotamia (The Land Between the Rivers)The worlds first civilization was Sumer in Mesopotamia.Mesopotamia is a part of the Fertile Crescent (Present day Iraq)Civilization developed between the Tigris and Euphrates River

Mesopotamia

VocabularyHunter/Gatherer- Groups of people that depend on hunting and gathering materials from nature to surviveNomad- Group of people that move seasonallyAgriculture- Growing or raising foodSpecialization of Labor- People specializing for their jobs/ Not everybody in society producing foodDomestication- Turning a wild animal/plant into something used and bred by humans.Irrigation- A system designed to bring water to a farmers cropsNomad

Irrigation

Big QuestionsWhat advantages do agricultural societies have over hunter-gather societies?Why did the development of agriculture lead to the development of governments?Why was the development of governments an advantage for early societies?The Neolithic RevolutionThe Neolithic Revolution refers to the development of agricultureChange from hunter/gather societies to agricultural societiesThis was one of the most important changes in historyThe Development of AgricultureAgriculture developed independently in a number of different spots at different times (Fertile Crescent, China, Mesoamerica) The first place to develop agriculture was the Fertile Crescent Approximately 8,000 BCE

Advantages of being an agricultural societyA better food supply than hunting and gatheringHaving more food allows more people to live/larger populations

Advantages of being an agricultural society cont.Agricultural societies developed the worlds first townsTowns had defensive walls around them

Specialization of laborAgriculture allowed for specialization of laborFarmers could produce enough food for other people to specialize at other jobs/More efficientExamples: Soldiers, traders, government workers, builders, toolmakers

The Development of GovernmentsSpecialization of labor/Agriculture allowed for the development of the worlds first governmentsEnough food was produced for government workers to focus on ruling the society, not making food for themselves

The advantages of governmentsOrganization for large building projects: Defensive walls, irrigation projectsOrganization for armiesLawswriting

Geographic advantages of Europe/Central AsiaAgriculture developed firstLarge number of food plants and animalsNo barriers to trading with other regions/This allowed technology and domestic animals to move to other regions

Domestic plants and animalsPlantsFertile Crescent- wheat, barley, peas, lentilsChina- riceAmericas- Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans Africa-Sorghum, coffeeAustralia-noneAnimalsFertile Crescent- Cows, sheep, horsesChina- Pigs, chickensAmericas- llamas, turkeys, guinea pigsAfrica-noneAustralia-noneBarriers to trade

Trade between Europe and AsiaNothing prevented Europeans and Asians from trading with each otherHuge advantage for these groupsDomestic animals and plants moved between the groups. Ex. Pigs and chickens from China to EuropeTechnology increased with trade between the groups. Ex. Gunpowder in china being used for guns in Europe.Barriers to trade in other areasThe Sahara desert cuts North Africa off from South AfricaPanamanian jungle cuts the Mayan civilization off from the Inca civilization in the AmericasLittle to no trading occurredLittle to no transferring of technologyBarriers to trade

Lack of technologyThe Maya created a wheel that was only used as a toyTechnology was never passed to other groups in the Americas that could use it

MesopotamiaUnit QuestionHow do the domestic plants and animals that a society had access to affect which societies became dominant over other societies?

MesopotamiaThe land between the riversPart of the Fertile CrescentLocated in what is now IraqThe first civilizations began in Mesopotamia

Fertile CrescentSumerFrequently called the worlds first civilizationA handful of large cities in Mesopotamia banded together to create the civilizationUr is thought to be the oldest major city in Sumer Ur

ZigguratsThe center of Sumerian Cities was the ZigguratZiggurats were large religious temples

QuestionWhat can you assume about Sumerian Civilization because they built Ziggurats?Sumerian writingCuneiform/ The worlds first writing systemSymbols cut into clay, the clay was then baked

Writing SystemsWriting has only been invented independently in a few locationsFertile Crescent, China, Central America

Writing systems contWriting systems were originally developed to keep track of taxes for the governmentCuneiform was the worlds first writing system

Pictographic Writing SystemsThe earliest writing systems were all pictographicUsed pictures as a symbol for individual wordsCould have thousands of symbols for each language

ChallengeI would love to see a white holiday season this yearCould you please take the trash outAlphabetsUse symbols for individual soundsDo not use symbols for whole wordsPhoenicians invented the worlds first alphabetCalled the phonetic alphabetThe Phoenicians were an ancient group in the Fertile Crescent

Alphabets

The Phoenicians traded with the ancient Greeks who modified the alphabetThe Greeks traded with the Romans, who modified the Greek alphabet into what we use todayQuestionsWhy is writing an important development for civilizations?Why was the phonetic alphabet an advantage over pictographic forms of writing?Egypt

The gift of the Nile

Gift of the Nile continued

Gift of the NileThe Nile river gave Egypt constant water for farmingEvery spring the river flooded. After the floods receded a new layer of fertile dirt was left behind for farmingThe river gave transportation to carry things by boat through all of EgyptEgypts Semi-isolationThe cataracts of the Nile stopped boats/invaders from moving down river to attack EgyptDeserts to both sides protected Egypt from invading armiesThere was a small amount of trade between Egypt and the rest of the Fertile Crescent that allowed technology to be exchangedEgyptian religionEgyptians worshipped between 800-1000 GodsRa the sun god was the main God worshippedPyramids and temples were all built for the Pharoes and other important people to go to for an after lifeEgyptians had a huge class of priests that were very influential in running the countryMummification for important people

JudaismMonotheistic Religions

Question of the dayWhy was the development of the Jewish religion an important event for the modern world?How was the Jewish religion different than the other religions of the Fertile CrescentWhat is Monotheism? What is Polytheism?Monotheism, PolytheismMonotheism- Believing in one GodPolytheism- Believing in more than one GodUse any resource available to youMesopotamianReligionEgyptian ReligionJudaismPolytheistic/MonotheisticAfter lifeRole of priests in societyJudaism Judaism developed in what is now Israel, a part of the Fertile CrescentApproximately 1,200-1000 BCE

Judaism/Christianity/IslamJudaism was the worlds first Monotheistic ReligionsChristianity and Islam developed from JudaismToday, half of the world considers themselves to be one of these religions

The Ten CommandmentsThe Jewish Religion developed the Ten CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments are a major influence on morality in our societyQuestion of the dayWhy was the development of the Jewish religion an important event for the modern world?How was the Jewish religion different than the other religions of the Fertile Crescent (Two examples)What is Monotheism? What is Polytheism?Question of the DayWhat advantages do agricultural societies have over hunter/gather societies?

Big Unit Question How do the domestic plants and animals that a society had access to affect which societies became dominant over other societies?Ex: Why did Europeans conquer the Native Americans and not Vice Versa? Why did Europeans make Africans slaves and not Vice Versa?

New GuineaDense jungle along the coast, Hunter/GatherersMountain Valleys in the interior of the island have agricultural societiesAgricultural societies grow taro and bananas