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Chapter 1
From the origins of agriculture to the first
river-valley civilizations
8000-1500 B.C.E.
Before Civilization
 Human life before 8000 b.c.e.
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Exact date of first humans is debatable (6-8 million years
ago)
Humans=bipedalism (walking on 2 legs), opposable thumbs
and a large brain.
Paleolithic age (70,000 years ago to 8000 b.c.e.)
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Humans inhabited all the continents (except Antarctica)
Survived by hunting and gathering
Traveled in small groups (nomads)
Did not develop a sense of property ownership
No organized government structure
Division of labor was based on sex
Use of tools and weaving of cloth (26,000 years ago)
Knowledge of natural environment (edible v. poisonous
plants)
Cave art and religion based on natural phenomena
The Neolithic (agricultural)
Revolution
 Refers to the changeover from food gathering
to food producing that serves as a “marker”
event to begin the foundations period.
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Not a single event, but a process (probably
brought about food shortage due to climate
changes)
Middle east has earliest evidence of
agriculture.
Agriculture spread through cultural diffusion,
but also rose as an independent invention.
This revolution included the domestication of
animals for food and work
The Neolithic Revolution as a
“Marker Event”
 Agriculture brought great change:
 People settled down
 Private property
 Division of Labor
 Social Inequality (landowners v. peasant)
 Gender Inequality-male superior physical strength
gave them advantage. Women’s contribution was no
longer central to the survival of the village.
 Importance of surplus
 Religious changes- from spirits to gods with human
characteristics (polytheism)
 3 craft industry emerged: pottery, metallurgy, & textiles
Earliest Civilizations
 What are indicators of a civilization?
 Cities that serve as administrative centers
 A political system based on the control of a
defined territory
 Highly specialized occupations
 Clear social class distinctions
 Long-distance trade
 Organized writing system
 Monumental buildings and major advances in
science and the arts
Cultural Hearths
 Areas where civilization first began that
spread the ideas, innovations, and ideologies
that culturally transformed the world.
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Mesopotamian cultural hearth
Nile Valley cultural hearth
Indus Valley cultural hearth
East Asian cultural hearth
Cultural hearths in the Americas:
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Olmec and Chavin
Mesopotamia “Land between two rivers”
 Developed during 4th Millennium B.C.E.
 Writing developed by 3500 B.C.E.
 Governments by 3000B.C.E.
 Cities grew along the Tigris and Euphrates River
 Because of location in the Middle East it became a
“crossroads”
 Two main groups settled here: Semites and
Sumerians
 They built competing city-states that engaged in
unceasing warfare
 Sumerians were the dominant group
Mesopotamia: economic development
 Majority were farmers, herders, or workers
directly associated with agriculture
 About 5% lived in cities and did not grow their
own food
 People involved in trade…traded food
 Most people in cities were craft men, scribes
(read/writing) or worked to ensure a reliable
water source
 Many were slaves that did the worst jobs
Mesopotamia: political development
 Before 2300 B.C.E. city states were
theocracies (governed by gods or priests)
 Constant warfare gave the “warrior king”
increased power
 A Semitic group led by Sargon the Great
conquered the area and founded the
Akkadian Empire
 Sargon and his descendents assumed
responsibility for temples, city defenses,
irrigation channels, and system of justice
 The Akkadian Empire lasted a little over a
century
Mesopotamia: political development
 After Akkadian Empire:
 1700s B.C.E. Hammurabi led the
Babylonians to conquer
Mesopotamia
 1500s B.C.E. Hittites conquered
Mesopotamia
 900s B.C.E. Assyrians conquered it
 500s B.C.E. New Babylonians come
to power
Mesopotamia: political development
 Marker Event
 Hammurabi’s
Code
 First known
written law code
 Used by judges
to punish crimes
based on a
standard set of
rules
Mesopotamia:
Social Distinctions
 Hammurabi’s Code identified 3 distinct
classes:
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Free land owners: royal family, priests,
warriors, high gov. officials, merchants and
some craftsmen and shopkeepers.
Dependent farmers and craftsmen: worked for
free a land owners
Slaves: did domestic work and less desirable
jobs. They were prisoners of war or debtors.
They could win their freedom. Identified by
haircut, which could be changed when freed.
Mesopotamia:
Social Distinctions
 Women lost social standing and freedom with
the spread of agriculture:
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Food surplus made large families possible and
tied women to the home.
Women could own property, control their
dowries, and participate in trade, but men
control political and religious life.
Their status decline over time. In later
Mesopotamian history, men are allowed to
take other wives.
Mesopotamia:
Cultural Characteristics
 “Marker Event” about 3500 B.C.E.: the
Sumerian invention of writing.
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Earliest writing evolved from pictures of objects
on clay cylinder seals to symbols and
eventually into phonetic elements baked on
clay tablets and written with a wedge-shaped
stick-cuneiform.
It was difficult to learn so scribes had power
and status.
Epic of Gilgamesh: story that explored
human friendship, relations with gods, and
meaning of life & death (included story of the
great flood — continuity over time)
Mesopotamia:
Religious Beliefs
 Mesopotamians believed that gods interfered
in human affairs and they must pleased the
gods to survive. They were associated with
forces of nature.
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Each city had its own principal god and a main
temple at the center of city, usually zigguratsbrick pyramids with ramps and stairs.
Priest had high standing and passed their
positions/knowledge to their sons
Priests preformed rituals, provided music,
exorcised evil spirits, and interpreted dreams.
Afterlife was full of suffering.
Indus Valley Civilization
 Agriculture had developed
by 5000 B.C.E. and villages
and towns by 3000 B.C.E.
in what is now Pakistan
 Its origin remains a
mystery.
 The area around the Indus
River was lush and fertile
and was formed from water
running from Himalayas
and Hindu Kush
 Mountains provided some
protection from invasion,
but passes where
discovered early by Aryans.
Harappa
Mohenjo-Daro
Indus Valley Civilization: Economic Characteristics
 Advanced agricultural system
 Many animals were domesticated
 Abundant crops allowed job specialization in
the cities. Craftsmen appear to have been
inferior to those in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
 2 large cities have been discovered –
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
 They were centers of trade with China,
Southeast Asia, southern India, Afghanistan
and Mesopotamia.
Indus Valley Civilization: Political Development
 Very little is known about the
political system:
 Construction
of cities suggest a
well-organized government
 Streets, fortifications, large
granaries and sewage system
were probably controlled by
governments.
Indus Valley Civilization: Society & Culture
 Evidence (size and sophistication of
dwellings) suggest that there were clear
social classes.
 Little is known about its religion. They had
a number of gods and goddesses.
 Few artistic evidence: few fertility figurines
 They had a writing system found in seals,
but archeologists have had little success in
deciphering them.
Decline of Indus Valley Civilization
 Indus valley cities were abandoned around
1900 B.C.E. (reasons are uncertain). Decline
is gradual, with Mohenjo-Daro abandoned
around 1200 B.C.E. and Harappa somewhat
later.
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Theories:
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Systems failure: breakdown of econ., political
and social systems
Earthquake, flood, or ecological changes
Large population put stress on environment