1. Before History
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2. Before History
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3. Prehistory
 What is “history”?
 Documentation
 Written records
 Archaeological discovery
 Requisite human presence (or “natural” history)
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4. Development of Hominids
 Animals adapt themselves to environment
 Hominids adapt environment to themselves
 Use of tools
 Language
 Complex cooperative social structures
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5. Later Hominids
 Homo Erectus, “upright man”
 Larger brain capacity (1000 cc), improved tool use,
control of fire
 Homo Sapiens, “consciously thinking human”
 Largest brain, esp. frontal regions
 most sophisticated tools and social organization
 Migrations of Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens
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6. Global spread of hominids and Homo
sapiens
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7. The Natural Environment
 By 13,000 BCE Homo sapiens in every
inhabitable part of the world
 Archaeological finds:
 Sophisticated tools
 Choppers, scrapers, axes, knives, bows, arrows
 Cave and hut like dwellings
 Use of fire, animal skins
 Hunted several mammal species to extinction
 Climactic change may have accelerated process
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8. Paleolithic Era (“Old Stone Age”)
 Evidence:
 Archaeological finds
 Extrapolation from modern hunter-gatherer societies
(anthropologists)
 Nomadic existence precludes advanced
civilization
 Groups of 30-50
 Division of labor along gender lines
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9. Relative Social Equality
 Nomadic culture precludes accumulation of land-
based wealth
 More likely determinants of status: age, hunting skill,
fertility, personality
 Possible gender equality related to food production
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10. Forming the Complex Society
 Basic developments:
 Hunting and Foraging
 Agriculture
 Complex Society
 Key issue: surplus capital (food and human
resources)
 Major development of first complex societies
3500 BCE – 500 BCE
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11. Paleolithic Settlements
 Natufian society (13,000 BCE...)
 Modern Israel and Jordan
 Wild wheat, herding
 Jomon society (10,000-300 BCE)
 Japan
 Wild buckwheat, fishing
 Chinook society (3,000 BCE - 1850’s CE!!)
 Pacific Northwest
 Berries, acorns, salmon runs
 Groups of 1000 or more
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12. Creativity of Homo sapiens
 Constructed flexible languages for communication of
complex ideas (collective learning)
 Increased variety of tools – stone blades, spear throwers,
sewing needles, barbed harpoons
 Fabricated ornamental beads, necklaces and bracelets
 The bow and arrow – a dramatic improvement in humans
power over nature
 “Venus” figurines (fertility)
 Cave paintings (34,000 BCE-12,000BCE)
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13. Neolithic Era (“New Stone Age”)
 Distinction in tool production
 Chipped vs. polished
 Men: herding animals rather than hunting
 Women: nurtured vegetation rather than foraging
 Spread of Agriculture
 Slash-and-and burn techniques, cultivation of crops,
domestication of animals
 Exhaustion of soil promotes migration
 Transport of crops from one region to another
 More of a transition than a revolution (approx.
12,000-5,000BCE)
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14. Origins and early spread of
agriculture
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15. Major Turning point for humans...
 Went from food gatherers to food producers
 gather in bigger numbers (adv?/disadv?)
 less migration than earlier ages
 specialization of labor (not everyone needed to farm)
 dramatic population growth (see next slide)
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16. Agriculture and Population Growth
100
75
50 Population (millions)
West
North
25
0
3000 BCE 2000 BCE 1000 BCE 500 BCE
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17. Early Agricultural Society
 Emergence of villages and towns
 Discoveries at Çatal Hüyük – a prominent village
located in Turkey, occupied 7250-5400 BCE
 Pots, baskets, textiles, leather, stone, metal tools, wood
carvings, carpets, beads, and jewelry
 Development of crafts –pottery (7,000 BCE),
metallurgy (6,000 BCE - beginning of “Bronze
Age), and textile production (6,000BCE)
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18. Social Distinctions
 Accumulation of landed wealth initiates
development of social classes
 Individuals could trade surplus food for valuable
items
 Archaeological evidence in variety of household
decorations, goods buried with deceased members
of society at Çatal Hüyük
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19. Neolithic Culture
 Farmers closely observed the natural world – an
early kind of applied science
 Elements of natural environment essential for
functioning
 Archaeological evidence of religious worship:
thousands of clay figurines, drawings on pots, tool
decorations, other ritual objects
 Fertility: Venus figurines
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20. Beginnings of Urbanization
 Jericho: concentration of wealth, building a wall
 8,000 BCE oasis in present-day Israel/2,000 residents
 Craft specialization
 Some trade (salt and obsidian)
 Social stratification
 Governance
 Development of the city – a gradual process
 larger & more complex than villages
 influenced political, economic, and cultural life of large
regions
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