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Foundations of Early Civilization

The document summarizes the foundations of early civilizations from prehistory to 300 BC. It describes how historians study artifacts and remains to learn about prehistoric cultures before writing. The Neolithic Revolution saw the development of agriculture around 10,000 BC, allowing for permanent settlements and population growth. Early civilizations formed near rivers like the Tigris and Euphrates for farming and transportation. Writing, governments, organized religion, and cultural diffusion spread ideas between groups.

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464 views13 pages

Foundations of Early Civilization

The document summarizes the foundations of early civilizations from prehistory to 300 BC. It describes how historians study artifacts and remains to learn about prehistoric cultures before writing. The Neolithic Revolution saw the development of agriculture around 10,000 BC, allowing for permanent settlements and population growth. Early civilizations formed near rivers like the Tigris and Euphrates for farming and transportation. Writing, governments, organized religion, and cultural diffusion spread ideas between groups.

Uploaded by

alabangcollege
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Foundations of Civilization

Prehistory – 300 B.C.


-The time before humans
knew how to write

-Historians must learn


about these times by
studying artifacts

-Must figure out how


the se were used or
what they mean

-Historians don’t
always agree
 the study of how  culture – ways of life
people have (religion, values,
developed and family life, etc.)
societies have grown 
over time - every group of
people has their own
Absolute dating
Study of the – determining
remains of past the exact age of
human cultures something

Relative dating –
Can be fossils determining
(bones) or how old
artifacts something is
(buildings, tools, compared to
clothes, etc.) something else
-“Lucy” discovered by Donald
Johanson in Ethiopia
-Scientific -3 million years old
classification of
those who walk
-Mary and Louis Leakey discover
standing up
tools and bones at Olduvai Gorge in
(upright) on two
Tanzania
feet, includes
humans -approximately 2 million yrs.
old
-Earliest
hominids found
in Africa
The Neolithic Revolution
Paleolithic Period Neolithic Period
 (Old Stone Age) – 2 million  (New Stone Age) – 10,000
B.C. to 10,000 B.C. B.C. – 3000 B.C.
 the earliest humans were  people learned to farm, no
nomads – people who longer nomadic
travelled from place to place  developed permanent
in search of food. villages
 survived by  plants and animals were
hunting/gathering food domesticated (raised in a
 adapted to environment for controlled way that is best
food/shelter for humans)
 developed spoken language  calendars, weaving of cloth
 made tools and pottery all invented
-The first civilizations (organized social orders) were
near rivers
GOOD FOR:

 Farming
 Drinking
 Cleaning RESULTS:
 Fishing
 Transportation
 Created surpluses -
more food than
 Hunting (animals came necessary, stored for
to drink) the future
 populations could grow
and first cities appeared
 Not everyone had to  Governments created
produce food now to organize large
 Artisans (skilled groups of people
workers ) created  Used to build things
 Ex. Bricklayers, metal and produce more
workers, merchants, food
entertainers, soldiers  Religion also created
– usually polytheistic
(belief in more than 1
god)
 1st written set of laws
by Mesopotamians
(Hammurabi’s Code)
 -Cultural diffusion –
spreading of ideas/customs
-roads/bridges, from one group to other parts
irrigation systems of the world
(carrying water),
defensive walls, temples, -occurred due to trade,
palaces all built migration and/or war
-writing begins with -eventually city-states and
pictograms – drawing of
objects that look like empires would be created
what they represent
(hieroglyphics)
-scribes – people trained
to read/write, upper
class usually
-1st true writing called
cuneiform (by
Mesopotamians)

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