Chapter One
The First Civilizations
Agenda
Daily Journal Chapter One, Section One Notes Section One Vocabulary
Daily Journal (Day One)
What do you view as the greatest human achievement? Please explain why you believe this achievement is the most significant in history.
Daily Journal (Day Two)
What do you think prehistoric people thought about the world around them? What did they think when they saw the moon? The sun? The stars? Do you think they believed in God?
Daily Journal (Day Three)
Why do you think it took so long for people to settle down? Do you think living a nomadic lifestyle dumbed down prehistoric humans? Why or why not?
Chapter One Preview
Section One: Early Humans Section Two: Mesopotamian Civilizations Section Three: The First Empires
Section One: Early Humans
The Main Idea: Paleolithic people adapted to their environment and invented many tools to help them survive. Focus: What do you view as the greatest human achievement? Sending people to the moon, perhaps, or inventing the computer? Read to learn about the accomplishments of people during the Paleolithic Age.
BackgroundHow did Homo Sapiens Come About? What is PREHISTORY?
How Do We Know Our History?
History or the story of humans in the past. It tells what they did and what happened to them. Historians are people who study and write about the human past. History began about 5,500 years ago when people first began to write.
The story of people begins in prehistorythe time before people developed writing. Tools of Discovery: In prehistory, the time before the discovery of writing, how do we know what we know about the earliest form of people? Lets list our answers here!
We know what we know because of the things they left behind. Archaeologists hunt for evidence buried in the ground where settlements might once have been.
They study artifactsweapons, tools, and other things made by humans.
They also look for fossilstraces of plants or animals that have been preserved in rock. Anthropologists focus on human society. They study how humans developed and how they related to one another.
Historians call the early period of human history the Stone Age. The name comes from the fact that people during this time used stone to make tools and weapons.
The earliest part of the period is the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Paleolithic means old stone in the Greek language. Paleolithic times began roughly 2.5 million years ago and lasted until around 8000 B.C.
(Found this online! Filled with typos. Please ignore. ;-) )
Cave Paintings that Rock
Spain 40,000 years old.
France 30,000 years old
Argentina 13,000 years old
Who Were the HunterGatherers?
Nomads: people who regularly move from place to place. They travel in groups of 30 or so. It was safer and a better way to find food.
What were the roles of men vs. women?
Early Humans
Adapted to their environment How do you think these early people looked in warm climates? Cold climates?
The Ice Age
Fire was key to the survival of Paleolithic people during the Ice Ages. These were long periods of extreme cold. The Ice Age began about 100,000 BC and ended around 8000 BC. Thick ice sheets covered parts of Europe, Asia, and North America.
Language, Art, and Religion
Spoken language was developed during the Paleolithic time. Early people expressed themselves not only in words but in art. Tools were invented during this time. Technologytools and methods to help humans perform tasks.
Neolithic Age
After the last Ice Age ended, people began to change their way of life. They began to domesticate animals. Domesticate meant they tamed animals for human consumption. In other words...
Neolithic Age
Animals proved meat, milk, and wool. They also carried goods and pulled carts. In addition, people learned how to grow food. For the first time EVER, people could stay in one place to grow grains and vegetables. Gradually, farming replaced hunting and gathering.
Neolithic Age
This change in the way people lived marked the beginning of the Neolithic Age, or New Stone Age. Lets recap...
Why Was Farming Important?
Historians call the changes in the Neolithic Age the farming revolution. What comes to mind when you hear the word revolution?
Why Was Farming Important?
The word revolution refers to changes that greatly affect many areas of life. Some consider this revolution the most important in human history. Farming DID NOT begin in one region and spread. People in different parts of the world discovered how to grow crops at about the same time.
The Growth of Villages
People who farmed could settle in one place. They began to live in villages where they built permanent homes. During the Neolithic Age, villages were started in Europe, India, Egypt, China, and Mexico.
