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27 January 2009 WANDERERS AND SETTLERS DEFINING “WESTERN CIVILIZATION” Western – Or the “West,” may have multiple meanings. The term is often associated with particular geographical, historical, religious, economic, political, cultural, etc. contexts (i.e. Europe/U.S.A., Rome/Greece, Christian, capitalist, monarchies/democracies, classical music/blue jeans/McDonald’s). Civilization – has a political, economic, social, religious/intellectual, cultural system (but is often associated with “loaded” terms like progress, advanced state, development, superior sense of self and collective identity) History – an account of past events, often written (can be oral/memory), that does more than just relay “facts” (names/dates/places) by attempting to given cause/effect relationships (the how and why) WESTERN CIVILIZATION Economic system Social system Political system Religious/Intellectual system Cultural system How do these things define civilization? AFRICAN GENESIS AS ETHNOGRAPHICAL HISTORY Ethnography - The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures. Early hominids had: 1) bipedalism 2) very large brain 3) human larynx Did climate changes spur human “evolution?” Homo habilis – 2 to 3 million years ago Homo erectus – 1.8 million years ago HOMO SAPIENS Between 160,000 and 200,000 years ago About 40,000 years ago, the first “modern” human began to appear A new species, began displacing old human populations and spread from Africa to the Americas, Australia and the Arctic As challenges emerged they went through minor evolutionary changes in order to adapt THE STONE AND ICE AGES The appearance of the first “man-made” stone tools around 2 million years ago to the introduction of metal tools around 5,000 years ago is called the Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age) Periodic cold climate changes, known as ice ages, occurred frequently considering the expanse of time. The last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago DURING THE ICE AGE How might an Ice Age speed up social evolutions? Climate change forced humans into small, highly mobile bands creating the “hunter/gatherer” society as did the genderization of roles create better efficiency Because of the nomadic lifestyle, hunter/gatherers did not spend lots of energy on housing “PRE-HISTORY” TO 4,000 B.C.E. Prehistoric human societies existed at the mercy of environment and the constant search for food Development of hunter/gatherer societies Groups maintained their own territory; didn’t roam randomly Develop early trade patterns Tools for luxury goods like shells for jewelry Technological development Better weapons Fire Early Religious systems Ritual disfigurement of the deceased Burial rituals—do they believe in an afterlife? Hierarchy? CULTURE AND COMMUNITY Early communities organized around kinship and “marriage” Staying put led to greater “advances” in “arts,” “sciences,” and “religious developments” VENUS OF WILLENDORF 24,000-22,000 B.C.E. THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION Neolithic means “New Stone Age” Discovery of agriculture and the domestication of animals Called the Neolithic Revolution (10,000 – c. 4,000 B.C.E.) From nomadic existences to settled life Strong relationship between cultivating crops and population increase First animal to be domesticated: sheep, 8500 B.C.E. Led to gender-based division of labor and emergence of social hierarchy Invention of irrigation (~6,500 B.C.E.) facilitated the establishment of settled agricultural communities in the Fertile Crescent ÇATALHÖYÜK, A NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT ÇATALHÖYÜK NEOLITHIC POLITICAL ORGANIZATION The Earliest Monarchies Absolutism Essential duties: symbolic father Dynasty building peace-keeper Legal systems warrior NEOLITHIC POLITICAL ORGANIZATION Polytheistic Religion Gods and goddesses representing earthly and celestial elements Priest figures celebrated gods with ceremony Communal feasts to celebrate gods Early calendars built around polytheistic religion SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF CIVILIZATION Famine/insufficient nutrition Plague Division of labor Gender Social War class THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION Neolithic means “New Stone Age” Discovery of agriculture and the domestication of animals Called the Neolithic Revolution (10,000 – c. 4,000 B.C.E.) From nomadic existences to settled life Strong relationship between cultivating crops and population increase First animal to be domesticated: sheep, 8500 B.C.E. Led to gender-based division of labor and emergence of social hierarchy Invention of irrigation (~6,500 B.C.E.) facilitated the establishment of settled agricultural communities in the Fertile Crescent MESOPOTAMIA ~4,000 – 1,000 B.C.E. Most historians trace the origins of “western civilization” to the land area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Mesopotamia=land between the rivers. Geography allowed for the cultivation of surplus foods and so the Sumerians and Babylonians built large cities near the two rivers THE FIRST ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS Mesopotamia, 4000-1000 B.C.E. Includes Sumer, Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and Babylonia Egypt, Canaanites, Hebrews, 3050-1000 B.C.E. Hittites, Minoans, Mycenaeans, 2200-1000 B.C.E. Greek Dark Age, 1000-750 B.C.E. WHY IS MESOPOTAMIA IMPORTANT? The “West’s” first large-scale societal structure and system Developed the wheel, writing, complex math, complex metal working (bronze), and the first empire (Akkad) What “cultural” developments arose from Mesopotamia? What of ourselves can we recognize in this society? THE KEY TO WESTERN HISTORY Writing (and so history) began in Sumer Cuneiform (wedgeshaped) written language Pictographic Increasingly intricate and abstract Expertise required Leads to advances in math, science, engineering, metallurgy, etc. CITIES, KINGS AND TRADE Mesopotamia made up of small city-states Agricultural expansion led to political centralization Power in Mesopotamia held by king and religious elites ~2,350 B.C.E., Sargon, ruler of Akkad, was the first to unite the small city-states into one kingdom – Sumer (southern) The Akkad kings toppled by the Babylonians ~ 2,000 B.C.E. HAMMURABI AND THE FIRST LEGAL CODE SUMERIAN SOCIETY 4 Main social distinctions in Mesopotamia Nobles Free Clients of the nobility Commoners Slaves (society was not, however, organized on the foundations of slavery) Society was generally organized around religion pleasing of gods and goddesses The temple (ziggurat) was the meeting place and temple ZIGGURAT AT UR THOUGHT AND RELIGION Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic gods and goddesses representing almost everything in the cosmos Gods and goddesses were human, with supernatural powers, particularly in regards to the natural world Such religious ideas spawned efforts to create myths about the origins of the world The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian creation story IN SUMMARY Environment determined much of development possibilities Power and authority centralized and out of this comes elite class and social hierarchies Emergence of large-scale empires In this period Civilization then defined by urban settlements, religious cultural foundations, writing, diversified agricultural economy, organized political structures Such organization (political, social, and economic) appears in a form that seems to typify much of western civilization through the pre-modern era (until 1789 A.D. or C.E.) THE GIFT OF THE NILE The most important geographical feature of Egypt is the Nile River regular flooding of the Nile provided irrigation and fertilization for Egyptian agriculture, many natural resources to exploit, making Egyptians more self-sufficient (perhaps isolated, to some extent) than the Mesopotamians Egyptian society unified by the Nile religion, ideology, daily ritual, based on the idea that the Nile was a “gift” from the gods THE NILE RIVER DIVINE KINGSHIP Early Political unity of Egyptian communities into a larger “Egypt” is called the Old Kingdom (~3,0002,000 B.C.E.) Further centralization of Egyptian authority in the form of pharaohship during the Middle Kingdom period (~2,000-1,500 B.C.E.) Egypt would later be characterized by imperial expansion during the period of the New Kingdom (~1,600-1,200 B.C.E.) DIVINE KINGSHIP Egyptians developed complex ideas about the afterlife The pharaoh was the “king” of Egypt rooted in the natural world with emphasis on cycles (i.e. regular flooding of the Nile). Evidence for this: great tombs and pyramids a “god” on earth (the son of the sun-god Re), the chief priest the embodiment of “Egypt” (as state, geographical entity, etc.) the focal point of religion and politics All of Egypt belonged to the king and everyone served him Power reflected in the structure of the tombs and pyramids A royal administration kept track of Egypt’s natural resources and controlled Egypt’s economy EGYPTIAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE Maat – authorized order of the universe (truth, balance, order, law, morality, justice) The Egyptians have advanced writing system—hieroglyphics used it to communicate in various forms (not just a religious function, or learned only by elite scribes) the basis of advances in chemistry, medicine, mathematics, engineering and architecture A heterogeneous population, the Egyptians were divided into 3 broad groups: King and high-level officials at the top Low-level officials, priests, professionals, artisans, and wealthy farmers in the middle Peasants, who made up the bulk of the population, at the bottom (slavery existed, but was not foundational for the Egyptian economy) EGYPTIAN DECLINE Invasion from Africa and the Near East shattered Egyptian power The spread of Egyptian culture came not from its own imperial ambitions Libyans in the north and the Nubians to the south rather from the borrowing/embracing of Egyptian ideas by invaders Egypt never recovered, never really re-unified under the kind of power displayed during the Old and New Kingdoms The decline led to the success of other societies Phoenicians, Syrians and Hebrews and the prosperity of smaller, independent city-states that fragmented out of the Egyptian Empire’s dissolution
