Today’s Standard

SSWH1 The student will analyze the origins, structures, and interactions of complex societies in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean from 3500 BCE to 500 BCE.

Essential Question: How and where did humans originate the concept of civilization?

The Earliest HumansOutcome: Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

1.  Setting the Stage: Who are we?a. Evidence suggests humans could be much older than originally

thought

b. Scientists use artifacts to search for answers

c. Artifact: human made objects like tools and jewelry

d. Unfortunately, prehistory can leave more questions than answers

e. Prehistory: time before the invention of writing

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

f. Important: The story is not complete and there are many questions left to answer

g. Two prevailing ideas (you will not be forced to pick a side):

i. Creation: Idea that a higher power put humans on earth

ii. Evolution: Theory that humans evolved from another being

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

2. Interesting Evidence Found in Africaa. Anthropologists (people who study culture) and paleontologists

(people who study fossils) attempt to use artifacts and fossils to understand early human’s culture

b. Culture: a people’s unique way of life

Lucy

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

c. Lucyi. Unusually complete skeleton of female hominid

ii. Hominid: being that walks upright on two legs

iii. Discovered by Donald Johanson in 1974 in Africa

iv. Named after Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”

v. Dated to be 3.5 million years old

Laetoli Footprints

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

d. Laetoli Footprintsi. Two hominid footprints preserved in volcanic ash in

Africa

ii. Found by anthropologist Mary Leaky in 1978

iii. Dated to be 3.6 million years old

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

e. Neither Lucy nor the Laetoli footprints were made by actual humans

f. Other beings such as Cro-Magnons, homo erectus, & Neatherthals walked the earth before we did

g. No link to these beings has been made; “missing link”

Migration out of Africa

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

3. Humans Migratea. Humans are known as homo sapiens which means “wise men” due to

brain size

b. Eventually homo erectus & homo sapiens migrated out of Africa

c. Early humans were nomads or highly mobile people who move from place to place foraging, or searching for new sources of food

d. All early humans were also hunter-gathererse. Hunter-gatherers: those whose food supply depended on hunting

animals and collecting plant foods

f. Estimates show they started leaving Africa around 125,000 years ago

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

g. Settled in Europe 33,000 years ago, China 67,000 years ago, Australia 38,000 years ago, North America 12,000 years ago, and South America 12- 33,000 years ago

h. We know this due to similar stone tool artifacts found in different regions that date to roughly the same time period

i. Shows that early humans used technology: applying knowledge, tools, and inventions to meet their needs

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

j. Why did they leave Africa?i. Competition with other humans

ii. Following animal herds

iii. Human curiosity

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

4. Agriculture Changes Everything!a. Early nomadic humans lived in bands of 25-70 people

b. Around 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution began: the beginning of farming

c. It started accidentally when some women scattered seeds near a campsite and noticed crops growing there when they came back next season

d. Rising temperatures worldwide provided longer growing seasons

e. Farming produces more food than hunting or gathering

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

f. More food means a higher population, thus more labor

g. Due to labor and farming methods, permanent settlements developed

h. Permanent settlements turn into villages, villages turn into cities, cities turn into civilizations

i. Once you reach a certain population, you can begin specialization

j. Specialization: the development of skills in a specific kind of work (other than farming)

Human Migration & Beginning of Agriculture

k. Slash & burn farming was used (cut a field and burn it for nutrients)

l. Domestication or taming of animals began as well

Coming Up Next…!

m. Eventually all of this led to the creation of the first civilization on Earth in Mesopotamia called Sumer

Characteristics of Civilizations

1. Organized governments

2. Religion

3. Jobs

4. Social Classes

5. Art and Architecture

6. Public Works

7. Writing