Western Civ Chapter 1

Neolithic Age (class)

"New Stone" Shift to settled agriculture coincided with advances in stone tool technology. agriculture allowed for population increase since they were less dependent on nature and "cheap calories" could feed more people. Chipping and grinding allowed for greater precision. Animals like sheep and goats and crops like wheat and barley were domesticated and then moved to other areas. The deliberate planting and cultivation of crops first developed in the hilly regions of the Near East where rainfall was plentiful and wheat and barley grew abundantly in the wild. This plus domestication of animals=revolution of life. "The Agricultural Revolution" Instead of tracking animals and gathering food over great distances, settled patterns of life, villages of over two to three hundred people now, Jericho had 2,000 inhabitants and mud baked, city walls six feet high in 8,000 BC. The egalitarian social structure of the hunting band transforms into a settled ruling elite in farming villages that possessed wealth and wielded power. Pottery allowed for the storage, movement, and cooking of food. Cloth was made from flax and wool. Circular huts for two people were turned into square houses all the same size. This showed that all the people had the same amount of money. Shift of nomadic way of life to settles way of life, and shift from hunter gatherer to agriculture. Jared Diamond wrote a novel called "Guns Germs and Steel" which was about his research on food production and animal husbandry of this time. 2 larger settlement developed during this time that were not like the rest. One was catalhoyuk. The people lived so close together that they didn't have doors and used ladders to climb through the roof. They had many decorations such has animal heads and paintings. The second was Neolithic Jericho which was surrounded by a stone wall with a tower. They had no pottery but had plastered skulls of their dead. These two towns show the complexity of this age.

Paleolithic (class)

(Old Stone Age) The Paleolithic Society was from 3 million years ago in East Africa to 8,000 BC when in parts of the Near East, people discovered how to farm. This was the earliest use of stone tools. The Paleolithic people were hunters, fishers and gatherers. They did not produce food. They used tools made from stone and wood. The Paleolithic people learned how to make and control fire. Fire was later used for the transition from stone to metal tools. This allowed them to cook food and have more active hours due to the light. They acquired a language and used it to pass on what they had learned. These people depended on nature for food. They were vulnerable to beasts and natural disasters. Religion and magic appeared during this time. Their religion was called sympathetic magic. This was a fear of nature and an attempt to control nature. Art from this time shows division of labor by sex. (Hunting, fishing, fighting vs. gatherers, making of clothes) Art also shows trying to "tame" animals and shows a display of sympathetic magic. The cave art also demonstrates their fear of nature. People were buried which shows that Paleolithic people believe in an afterlife. Developed spoken language, use and control of fire (500,000 BC), developed stone tool making. (30,000-12,000 BC) the use of sympathetic magic (i.e. the belief that something done to an image of an animal or person will produce the same effect on the being itself) as found in caves, where they tried to tame animals through this magic, in Altamira, Spain and Lascaux, France.

Cuneiform

A writing system developed by the Sumerians (modern day Iraq). It is the first known language that used the same picture and sounds for different meanings. What started out as pictures representing numbers and goods in business transactions eventually became "stylized pictures" pressed with a stylus into wet clay that made wedged shaped impressions. The Sumerians used a wedge-shaped cut reed stylus to write on clay tablets. The tablets were then baked or dried. At first only a few elements of a sentence were written down merely to remind the person of what they already knew. Later it turned into writing down full sentences to teach others. Cuneiform had several thousands of characters. It emphasized language and literature, accounting, legal practice, math and geometry. The ability to read and write however was restricted to the elite. Math developed and there were different numerals for counting.

Civilization (class)

Civilization is a form of culture that arose 5,000 years ago in the Near East (Mesopotamia and Egypt), later in the Far East (China and India). Civilization began in cities, which were larger and more complex in their social structure than the Neolithic villages. Increased food production allowed urban inhabitants to diversify their occupations into nonagricultural spheres: invention of full time merchants, craftsmen, bureaucrats, and priests. The defining characteristics are: a) Urbanism b) Technology c) Industrial d) Social change e) New methods of symbolic communication f) Long distance trade

Pharaoh (class)

Comes from the Egyptian word for "great house." The Pharaoh was a king who was also God. The political system in Egypt was centered around this type of "God King." The God-king self administered Egypt according to set principles. The main one was, "Maat" was an ideal of order, justice, truth. In turn, the gods preserved the equilibrium of the state and ensured the King's continued power. This can be compared to how the priest Kind ruled other Mesopotamian States. The Pharaoh divinely brings the annul Nile floods and the priest kings of Mesopotamia intercedes for the gods on their behalf. If he acted infallibly, the welfare of the Egyptian people was guaranteed and protected.

Culture

Defined as the way of living built up by a group of people and passed on from generation to generation. Culture is learned not inherited which permits rapid adaptation to changing conditions. Culture allows for the spread of humanity to all lands. Culture Includes: a) Behaviors- courtship/child bearing b) Material things- tools, clothes, shelter c) Ideas and Institutions and Beliefs d) Language- Helps transmit culture

Phoenicians (class)

Descendants of the Canaanites and other people of Syria-Palestine especially those who lived along the coast. Lived in the promised land before the Israelites. The Phoenicians played a role in Mediterranean trade, sailing to ports. Because they were traders they needed a quick language to communicate. They founded colonies, such as Carthage, throughout the Mediterranean as far West as Spain. They were seafaring and trading people, circumnavigated the coast of Africa, made it to the British Isles. The Phoenicians graduated from a pictorial language to the alphabet. However, this alphabet had no vowels. They invented the first alphabet using the Sumerian script. An alphabet is a non-pictorial system of writing. It is the Phoenician alphabet, as modified by the Greeks and Romans, that eventually makes its way to Western Europe. The Greeks adopted this Phoenician version of the Canaanite alphabet. Phoenician colonies were important sites for transmission of culture.

Homo Sapiens (class)

Meaning, "Wise Man." The scientific name for a type of human species, our own species. Emerged 200,000 years ago. Developed in East Africa, spread throughout Africa, Europe and Asia. Earliest remains of fully modern humans date back to 90,000 years ago. Erect and tool using. Evolved over time via natural selection.

Ten lost tribes

The Israelites who were scattered and lost to history when the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. Patriarch Abraham came from Ur to Canaanites in the 13th century B.C.E from Egypt led by Moses, conquered Canaan. Sons of Solomon could not maintain unity and split. The rise of the great empires brought disaster to the Israelites. The northern kingdom (Israel) fell to the Assyrians and it people (the 10 lost tribes) were scattered and lost forever. Only the kingdoms of Judah remained. When the Israelites conquered Canaan, a united kingdom was established but peaked under the ruling of David and Solomon. Split into Israel (north) and Judah (south).

Lower Egypt (class)

The Nile Delta. (The broad triangular area, named by the Greeks after their letter "Delta"). Formed by the Nile as it branches out to empty in the Mediterranean. It had "black land," which was the fertile land along the Nile and "red land," which was the plateaus and cliffs bordering the valley

Bronze Age (class)

The bronze age is the name given to the earliest civilized era and during this time someone discovered how to form bronze so because of this archaeologists coined the term the bronze age. The term reflects the importance of the metal bronze, tin and copper, for weapons and tools. Bronze was a stronger and more useful material created by the combination of tin and copper. A modern shifted occurred in the Mesopotamia region, this was associated with the growth of towns alongside villages. This created a hierarchy of larger and smaller settlements. The towns that grew to be more urban developed metal tools. This era was marked with urbanism, technological advances, social change, long-distance trade, and new forms of communication.

Hieroglyphics (class)

The complicated writing script of ancient Egypt that combined picture writing with pictographs and sound signs. Writing appeared around 3,000 B.C. probably from Mesopotamia. Hieroglyphics was a highly sophisticated writing system involving hundreds of symbols that remained relatively constant for 3,000 years. The texts were written horizontally from right to left but could be written left to right or vertically. Cursive was used for business documents and literary texts. Hieroglyphics were written on papyri and limestone flakes. Only a small fraction of these survived and most of the texts that did survive are incomplete.

Mesopotamia (class)

The dawn of civilization and the first river valley. Located in modern day Iraq. Because not everyone needed to make food, nonagricultural vocations were established. Writing was used that had been invented by the Sumerians. Religion and political systems were established, as well as an integration of the two. Mesopotamia was unstable. It was divided into two ecological zones of modern Baghdad. In the south, irrigation was vital and it had high yields. In the north, there were rainfall and wells and there were low yields. However, there was more land in the north. Sumerians founded the oldest city during the 4th millennium B.C.E. in Sumer. By 3,000 B.C.E Urnk was the city largest in the world. The people of Urnk put language into writing. Akkadin Empire conquered Sumerian city states. They had a large Geographical conquest. When this empire fells the Sumerian city states came back. In Sumeria, literature flourished, epic poems were written. Sumerian people worshiped many Gods. They were visualized in human form with human needs and weaknesses. The human race was created to serve the Gods. This is where the Bronze age occurred. All of Mesopotamia was eventually conquered by the Persians.

Monotheism (class)

The greatest contribution of the Jews is monotheism. This is the belief in one universal God. The creator and ruler of the universe. The Hebrews practiced ethical monotheism. They believed that God is a moral being, and the Hebrews viewed themselves as chosen people. Jerusalem is the holiest site for Christians/Jews.

Upper Egypt (class)

The part of Egypt that runs from the delta to the Sudanese boarder. Because of the Nile people could have no faming skills and still be able to farm. The Nile deposited fertile soil when it overflowed onto the bank. Lower and Upper Egypt began as independent kingdoms and were unified in 3150 B.C. Unification was vital because it allowed for the entire valley to benefit from an unimpeded distribution of resources. The old kingdom is famous for burial sites, pyramids, and the sphinx. The pharaoh was known as a God-king. In the middle kingdom the pharaoh had less power and there was less building. The New kingdom is famous for its military advances.

Nomes

Upper and lower Egypt were divided into nomes or districts. Each district was governed by a monarch, or governor, and his local officials. Kings could also appoint royal officials to oversee groups of nomes or to supervise landholdings through Egypt.