LO1 notes

From Prehistory to civilization - 3000-1200 B.C.
Lo1 - trace the key developments of prehistory, from the emergence of our  human ancestors to the beginning of village life

"Language, Religion, Art, Technology, Farming, Family Life, and Village Communities -- all these basic features of human existence originated in prehistoric times"

• Prehistory - the period before history was recorded through written documents
• the earliest development led around 3000 b.c. to the rise of the first civilizations - those of Mesopotamia and Egypt
• in 1200 b.c. there came into existence an international region of civilization with many traditions of Mesopotamia and Egypt
• The temple of Amon - constructed around 1600 b.c. near the Egyptian city of Thebes is the worlds largest religious building
• over hundreds of thousands of years, new species evolved that gradually took on the various physical features and mental capacities that are unique to the human race

"if we reduce the time since the first human like species appeared (about 2.5 mil years ago) to the period of a 24 hour day, the 5,000 year era of civilization takes up less than the last 3 minutes"

1. 2.5 mil years before present - appearance of human like species
2.  200,000-150,000 B.P.  - scientists have traced our genetic ancestry to a "Scientific Eve" living in Africa
3. 50,000 B.P.- scientists theorize that humans began migrating out of Africa at this time
4. 8,000 - 4,000 B.C. - agricultural revolution
5. 3,500 - 3,000 B.C. - rise of first civilization in Mesopotamia and Egypt
6. 2,400 B.C. - Sumer falls to Sargon of Akkad; Sumerian civilization continues under a succession of foreign rulers
7. 1,600 B.C. - The Hittites dominate Anatolia 
8. 1,100 B.C. - End of New Kingdom in Egypt; Egyptian civilization continues under a secession of foreign rulers

Paleolithic Age - the earliest (and longest) prehistoric era; when humans used simple stone tools

Neolithic Age - period of human history characterized by advances in stone tool-making and beginnings of agriculture 

Agricultural Revolution - the shift from hunting and gathering food to a more settled way of life based on farming and hearing that occurred between 8,000 and 4,000 B.C. in Asia, northern Africa, Europe and other parts of the world

Trends that contributed to the beginning of agriculture:

• new environmental conditions 
• the development of techniques for domestic plants
• ... domestic animals

Polytheism - the belief of many gods and goddesses

"Over many generations, the life of village communities and families came to be regulated by complex systems of tradition, customs, and authority, of which the law and government of civilized societies would ultimately grow"