Chapter Two NotesOutline on pages 62-76

Notes

I. The Social Variation in the Age of Agriculture

A.  Pastoral Societies 

 

1.  Some regions relied much more heavily on animals, because farming was difficult or impossible there2.  Pastoral nomads emerged in central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Sahara desert, parts of eastern and southern Africa 3.  relied on different animals in different regions 

 

a. horses were domesticated by 4000 b.c.e.; encouraged the spread of pastoral peoples on Central Asian steppesb.  domesticated camels allowed human life in the inner Asian, Arabian, and Saharan deserts

4.  no pastoral societies emerged in the AmericasB.  Agricultural Village Societies 

 

1.  Most characteristic form of early agricultural societies, like Banpoor Jericho2.  Maintenance of equality and freedom (no kings, chiefs, bureaucrats, aristocrats) 3.  the case of Çatalhüyük, in southern Turkey 

 

a. population: several thousandb.  Dead buried under their houses c.  No streets; people moved around on rooftops d.  Many specialized crafts, but little sign of inherited social inequality e.  no indication of male or female dominance   i.  men hunted; women were involved in agriculture

4.  village-based agricultural societies were usually organized by kinship, group, or lineage

 a. performed the functions of governmentb.  the Tiv of central Nigeria organized nearly a million people this way in the late nineteenth century

5.  sometimes modest social/economic inequality developed

  a. elders could win privilegesb.  control of female reproductive powers

C.  Chiefdoms

 

1.  Chiefs, unlike kings, usually rely on generosity, ritual status, or charisma to govern, not force2.  Chiefdoms emerged in Mesopotamia sometime after 6000 b.c.e. 3.  Anthropologists have studied recent chiefdoms in the Pacific islands 4.  Chiefdoms such as Cahokia emerged in North America 5. distinction between elite and commoner was first established   a.  based on birth, not age or achievement

II. Reflections: The Legacies of AgricultureA.  Agriculture is a recent development in world history.

  1.  Was an adaptation to the unique conditions of the latest interglacial period2.  has radically transformed human life and life on the planet  more generally

B.  One species, Homo sapiens, was given growing power over other animals and plants.

C.  Agriculture also gave some people the power to dominate others.

Documents Overview1. Considering the Evidence: Agricultural Village Societies

a. The Agricultural Revolution was the most significant turning point in mankind before the Industrial Revolution

i. It created “Civilization” breakthrough – the earliest cities – and state-based societies of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, Peru, and many more

ii. However, it wasn’t as fast in places like the Middle East and Northeastern Africa. It took thousands of years

iii. Cities, empires, written languages, and pronounced social inequalities are the basic characteristics of a Civilization.

b. The earliest civilizations are far gone in history, b/c of no written languages at the time. i. We focus on – the Germanic neighbors of the Roman Empire during the C.E. first

century, the Gikuyu people of East Africa in the early twentieth century, and the Taino of the Caribbean islands during the sixteenth century.

Document 2.1: Germanic Peoples of Central Europe1. Germanic-speaking people occupied much of Central Europe north of the Roman Empire, but were

never a single “nation” but a collection of clans, chiefdoms, and tribes. a. They were looked upon the Romans as barbarians.

i. They feared their military and admired it howeverb. They were famously recorded and described by Tacitus (56-117 C.E.), a well-known historian

and Roman official. i. He relied on documents and interviews by soldiers and merchants who lived in their

region.1. Never visited their lands

Tacitus: Germania (First Century C.E.)1. Tacitus wrote a lot about Germany, from history to geography. 2. The Germans are an unmixed race, like none buy themselves.

a. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, and huge frames, fit only for sudden exertion. b. They choose their kings by birth, and generals by merit. c. Believed that sex has a certain sanctity and prescience.

3. They worshiped Mercurya. Gave human sacrifices to him even.

4. Germans lived scattered a. Made everything out of wood; timber.

5. They wrap themselves in cloak attire. 6. Strict marriage code

a. One wifeb. Wife is reminded not to go into war, and let men fight for her

7. Adultery is few in their societies a. Those who do are shaved bald, put on the streets by husband and struts around naked and

shaved bald.

8. The law was very equal and settled through friendship and kinsmana. Homicide would be settled with a few cattle/sheep and the family would proudly accept it

and the satisfaction is accepted greatly.

Document 2.2: Social Organization among the Gikuyu1. The Gikuyu occupied the central Kenya in East Africa

a. Agricultural, iron-working, and Bantu-speaking people who were part of the British Empire during the late nineteenth century

2. They were known as Stateless societies, for they did not organize themselves in a large scalea. They did however developed into age-sets to facilitate social integration and political

decision making. i. Age-sets were groups of men who were initiated at the same time and then rose

collectively through a series of age-grades or ranks over the course of their lives. ii. The age-set system is a well gendered division of labor first described by Jomo

Kenyatta, a well-known nationalist leader in Kenya in the colonial days and the country’s first African President.

3. The Gikuyu embraced a positive life to counterbalance the negative images the British had of their “barbaric” and savage ways.

Jomo Kenyatta: Facing Mount Kenya1. This is from Jomo Kenyatta’s writing describing the Gikuyu’s ways from his eyes.2. The occupation among the Gikuyu were livestock and agriculture.

a. Raised sheep, cattle, and goats. 3. Each man had a wife or wives who had their own economic unit.

a. This unit was strengthened by the gender division age-set groups4. Most of the duties fell on men, while women did most indoor work and partially some other random

jobs5. Marriage of the Gikuyu said that a man can have as many wives as he pleased.

a. They saw the larger the family, the better it was for the tribe and him. b. Provides that all women must be under the protection of a man

i. All women were married in their teens/early 20s. 6. The age-set did remarkable things like bind the men of the country. 7. Talks about something about circumcising ;)

a. There was certain stages to manhoodi. Circumcision

ii. Warriorhoodiii. Marriage iv. Council of Peace

1. When a man has reached an old enough age to have a child that can be circumcised, after that he is given sacred leaves and a staff of office. Signifies he is now a peaceful man.

a. He no longer has to fight anymore, etc. v. They then reach the most honored when they become elders and then are seen as

high priests, or “holy men”. All ceremonies are now in their hands

Document 2.3: Religion in a Caribbean Chiefdom 1. Christopher Columbus discovered an agricultural people known as the Taino inhabiting the islands of

Hispaniola (modern Haiti and Dominican Republic), Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. 2. These people were organized by chiefs into village communities.

a. Had many class distinctions. i. Chiefs, warriors, artists, and religious people enjoyed higher living than most other

mundane people. 3. Among Christopher Columbus’s arrival, most of them had perished due to the old world diseases

and Spanish brutes. 4. Among them were a Dominican priest Bartolomé de Las Casas (1474-1566).

a. His writing contained Spanish actions in the Americas as well as informed description of the Taino people.

Bartolomé de Las Casas: Apologetic History of the Indies (1566)1. The Taino’s believed in one true god, and they called him Yocahu Vagua Maorocoti.

a. They were primarily catholic b. God’s mother was Atabexc. Brother was Guaca

2. Had good luck statues called Zemis, and believed that it gave them water and wind and sun and other things to survive.

a. These statue/idols were made of wood and others of stone. 3. Priests were called behiques

a. People believed that they spoke to those statuesb. They were physicians for the people too. c. They held three stones to help the people

i. One had the power to favor their sown landsii. Second for women to have good fortune in childbirth

iii. Third to have water and good rains when they had need of them4. Usually harvested the fields in the season and gathered bread made of roots, sweet potatoes, yams,

and corn. They donated a portion of it almost like first fruits, giving thanks for the benefits they have received.

a. They would put them in the great house of the lord called caney and they offered and dedicated it to the zemi.

5. They used a hallucinogenic drug used in religious ceremonies called Cohoba. a. They would take it on low benches called duhos and inhale it through the nostrils (get high

as hell)