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READINGS SEMINAR IN HUMANITIES 1

LECTURE # 1

INTRODUCTION: FOUNDATIONS OF CIVILIZATION

BY

DR. KWAKU OSEI-AKOM

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010


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DISCOVERING PREHISTORY

According to scientists, our planet is about 4.5 billion years old but the near-human or proto-humans creature (hominids) first appeared on the planet

between ten and five 5 million years ago, probably in eastern and southernAfrica.

The human journey on earth began long before written records.

Scientists use many sources to learn about the past. Among the mostimportant of the sources are written records such as inscriptions, letters, diaries,and newspapers.

Written records have existed for only 5,000 or 6,000 years

Scholars use the termprehistory to describe the long period before writingwas invented

To learn about prehistory, scholars use unwritten records such as buildings,pottery, and bones


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The StudyofPrehistory

Evidence from pre-history is of special interest to archeologists -

scientists who find and analyze objects left by early people.

These objects, called artifacts, include anything shaped by human beings,such as buildings, pottery, and weapons.

Anthropologists use artifacts and bone fragments to study the wayspeople organize societies

Other scientists are also interested in prehistory. e.g., geologists often findfossils, evidence of plant or animal life preserved in rock. Fossils show the

types of plants and animals that existed in a particular time.

Like detectives, archeologists piece together what they and other scientistsdiscover to form a picture of the past. As new evidence is uncovered, the

picture change


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Stone Age Peoples

In their search for prehistoric artifacts, archaeologists have uncovered many stone

axes and arrow tips.

As a result, scholars use the term StoneAge to describe the prehistoric period

of time when people used simple stone tools.

Stone Age also describes a way of life in which people rely on such stone tools.

The Stone Age is often divided into the Old Stone Age and theNew Stone Age.

The Old Age may have begun as early as 500,000 B.C.E. It lasted to about 10,

000 B.C.E.

The New Stone Age lasted from about 10,000 B.C.E. to about 3,500 B.C.E.


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The Old StoneAge

Archaeologists have found remains and artifacts of Old stone Age people inmany parts of the world, including East Africa, China, Southeast Asia, Europe,

the Middle East, and the Americas

Based on their findings, scientists have begun to construct a picture of life inthe Old Stone Age

Old Stone Age people lived by fishing, hunting and gathering plants that grewwild.

They were nomads, people who moved in search of food. For example, theywould follow herds of animals. Or if wild berries and nuts became scarce in anarea, they would migrate to another area where food was plentiful.

A simple social structure developed during the Old Stone Age. Groups ofrelated families joined to form small hunting bands.

They built no permanent shelters. Instead, they camped in caves or slept understructures made of branches and grass.


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While some hunted, others stayed near the camp to gather wild food andcare for the young.

There is evidence that during the Old Stone Age people developed spokenlanguages and learned how to control fire.

With spoken language, hunters could organize hunts of large animals.

Fire provided light and warmth, protection against wild animals, and heatfor cooking food.

Old Stone Age people made simple tools such as hand axes and choppers.The earliest tools were pieces of flint, a hard stone, chipped to produce a

sharp cutting edge.

Later, people made stone and bone tools for more specialized uses. Thesetools included needles, skin scrapers, harpoons, fishhooks, arrowheads andspear points.


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Some scholars suggest that during the Old Stone Age people accepted

basic religious beliefs. For example, they think that cave paintings made by

prehistoric hunters had a religious meaning

Perhaps the hunters believed that drawing the animals could help them in

the hunt.

Changesin the Environment

The date often used to indicate the end of the Old Stone Age, about 10,000

B.C.E. It also marks the end of the last ice age.

Scientists think the earth has experienced four iceagesover millions of

years.

During the last ice age, thick sheets of ice, calledglaciers, spread out from

the polar regions.


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In North America, glaciers stretched as far south as the middle of present

day U.S.A. Glaciers covered much of northern Europe and parts of Asia.

According to scientific theory, much of the worlds water was frozenduring the last ice age.

As a result, ocean levels dropped, and land areas today covered with water

were exposed.

A land bridge may have connected North America and Asia where the

Bering Sea is today.

Some scientists think that about 25,000 years ago people from Asia

followed herds of wild animals across the land bridge into North America.

When the glaciers melted, the level of the ocean rose. The land bridge

disappeared, and the people in North America were cut off from Asia.


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The end of the last ice age caused dramatic changes in local climates

around the world

Deserts appeared where lush plants had grown, and warm weatherbrought new plants to life in formerly frigid areas.

The new climate patterns contributed to a change in the way people

lived a change so profound that scholars often called it a revolution.

This revolution marked the beginning of the New Stone Age.


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The New Stone Age

Between 10,000 B.C.E. and 3500 B.C.E. people in parts of the world

gradually stopped hunting and gathering food and became farmers.

They domesticated, or tamed, wild animals such as dogs, sheep, and goats

and began to grow grain and vegetables for food.

Scholars speculate that women were the farmers in many of these early

societies and that men hunted.

In the New Stone Age, agriculture developed in many places. Anthropologists

have generally concluded that it began in the Middle East

People grew crops that were suited to the local soil and climate. In the

Middle East and Africa, for example, they grew wheat, barley, and oats.


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They grew rice and root crops such as yams in Asia. Beans, squash, and

maize, or corn, were grown in the Americas.

The agricultural revolution, or the change from hunting or gathering foodto growing food, had a far reaching effect on the way people lived.

Since people no longer had to move in search of food, they formed

permanent settlements, or villages.

They built homes, and property became important. Even so, not everyone

abandoned the nomadic way of life

Some people remained hunters and gatherers. Others established a stable

way of life as herders of sheep, cattle and goats.

In farming villages, people had to cooperate in many ways. The heads of

each family probably met to make decisions about planting and harvesting.


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As villages grew, a chieftain and a council elders assumed the task of

making decisions

Increasingly, people relied on these leaders to settle disputes over issuessuch as land ownership. This issue had not come up among nomadic people,

who did not own land.

According to archeologists, New Stone Age farmers believed that spirits,or gods, controlled the forces of nature. Since floods and droughts meant

starvation or death, farmers took care to keep the spirits happy.

Technologyofthe New Stone Age

The growth of a farming economy led to the development of new

technology, that is, tools and skills people use to meet their basic needs.

To turn over the soil, people fashioned sturdy hoes from granite, a hard

stone that could be sharpened.


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They also invented weaving. When they learned to make cloth from wooland flax, New Stone Age people no longer had to slaughter their animals forhides.

They made baskets for storing grain, nets for fishing, and fire hardenedpottery for cooking.

Towards the end of the New Stone Age, several new developments greatly

changed the way people lived. For example, farmers began to use animalssuch as the ox to pull plows instead of pulling the plow themselves.

As a result, farmers could plow more land and reap larger harvests, whichsupported growing population.

Other important developments included the invention of the wheel and thesail and the use of metal.

Wheeled carts gradually replaced wooden sleds, making transportationeasier.


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The invention of the potters wheel meant that people could make better pots andother vessels.

The sail improved transportation on water and longer voyages possible

In addition, people in the late Neolithic Age began to use metal as well as stonefor tools and weapons.

They first used copper. Then they discovered that copper combined with tin

formed a harder metal, calledBronze.

By 3000 B.C.E., each of these inventions was being used in some parts of theworld. However, they were not invented everywhere at the same time.

Most appeared first in the middle East. Some were not used in other places forthousands of years.

People used the inventions of the New Stone Age to build more complex societiescalled civilization


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EmergenceofCivilization

Early civilizations did not just appear over night. They gradually

developed in different parts of the world.

Simple farming settlements grew into large cities by the end of the

Neolithic Age, about 3500 B.C.E

This urban revolution marked the beginning of civilization. In fact, the

word civilization comes from the Latin root civitas, meaning city.

The development of cities was only one characteristic of earlycivilizations.

Other characteristics included complex religions and governments,

specialized skills and occupations, social classes, and methods of keeping

records.


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GrowthofCities

The earliest cities appeared in four great river valleys. Cities may have

emerged as early as 6000 B.C.E. in the valley of the Tigris and Euphratesrivers in western Asia.

Other cities developed in the valleys of the Nile River in North Africa, the

Indus River in South Asia, and the Yellow River in

East Asia.

Conditions in the river valleys favored the development of cities. For

example, fertile soil in the valleys made a surplus of food possible.

When the rivers flooded, the water left deposited silt, a soil rich in

minerals, made the especially fertile.

Flood waters also brought needed moisture to the land, and people used

river water for irrigation during dry periods.


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In addition, the rivers contained plentiful fish and attracted animals, two

additional sources of food.

Finally, the rivers served as transportation arteries, which allowed peopletrade for goods.

With food surpluses, the populations of the farming settlements increased,

and villages grew into cities.

Some early cities had as many as half a million residents. City dwellers

undertook major projects such as clearing new farmland and building vast

irrigation systems as well as constructing temples, palaces, and walls for

defense.

Because such projects required organization and leadership, they

contributed to the development of governments.


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Religionand Government

In the early cities, government and religion were closely related.

Like the people of the New Stone Age, city dwellers were polytheistic

that is, they worshipped many gods.

They believed that gods and goddesses controlled the forces of nature. Itwas, therefore, important to them to win the gods favor in order to prevent

disaster.

Only priests knew the rituals to influence the gods.T

hus they gainedenormous power.

Priests probably headed the government as priest-kings. The form of

government in which priests serve as kings is called theocracy.


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Gradually, successful military leaders began to replace the priest-kings as

rulers . These leaders may have emerged as a result of warfare over scarce

resources.

Military rulers had clear responsibilities. They shared the priests task of

keeping the gods friendly, and were responsible for defending their cities

against enemies.

They acted as judges, made laws, and appointed officials to keep order.

They also supervised building and irrigation projects.

To support the temple and pay for vast construction projects, city dwellers

had to contribute a portion of their labor or their harvests to thegovernment.

This payment represents the earliest system of taxation by government.


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The Economyand Society

The innovations in technology of the late New Stone Age were important

to city dwellers.

Bronze came into such widespread use for vessels, tools, and weapons that

historians have often called the period of early civilization the Bronze

Age.

Important social and economic changes also occurred during the Bronze

Age.

Specializedskillsandoccupations

The new technology often required special skills. As a result, specialized

occupations gradually developed.


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Skilled workers called artisans hammered out plows, scythes, helmets, and

swords.

Jewelers shaped precious metals into charms and necklaces

Sculptors, potters, painters, priests, and government officials acquired

specialized skills and knowledge.

The food surplus, an important characteristic of early civilizations, also

contributed to the development of occupations.

Because of the surplus, some people did not have to farm. Rather, they

could trade products or labor for the food they needed. For example, a potter

might trade a clay cooking vessel to a farmer for grain.

The system of exchanging one set of goods or services for anotherbarter

economy.


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Social Classes

As a city grew, a more complex social structure emerged. The social

structure defined a persons place in society.

At the top of the structure was the priest-king or king . Below the priest-

king or king was a class of priests and nobles.

Nobles generally based their power and wealth on owning large amounts

of land. Being a noble was hereditary that is, the children of nobles were

also nobles.

In some cities, government officials and wealthy merchants formed the

class below the nobility.

Artisans and small traders ranked next, followed by the largest class, made

up of peasant farmers and workers.


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At the bottom of the social structure were slaves. Slaves were men,

women, and children who had been taken captive in war or who were

enslaved to pay their debts.

In early civilizations, people generally could not move from one social

class to another.

Children usually learned a trade from their parents and so tended to stay in

the same occupation.

Keeping Records

Some historians consider keeping records one of the most important

characteristics of civilization

Most ancient peoples developed writing in order to keep accurate records.


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Priests were probably the first to start writing by making the marks or

drawing the pictures that eventually evolved into systems of writing.

They needed precise information about how and when to performceremonies.

Temples became the schools of ancient civilizations. Priests taught only a

select few secrets of writing.

A young man who mastered the difficult task of learning to read and write

was called a scribe.

Scribes worked in the rules service, in the temples, or in the homes of

wealthy merchants.

Rulers depended on scribes to keep track of taxes, property deeds, treaties,

and marriage documents.


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Merchants needed copies of business contracts and records of debts.

Writing was more than keeping of records. It became the means of passing

the wisdom and learning of one generation on to the next.

ContactsAmong Early Civilizations

Although the first river valley civilizations appear to have developedindependently, they did have some contact with one another.

Trade, warfare, and migration helped spread ideas and products from one

city to another and from one civilization to another.

For example, city dwellers along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers traded

with people in other parts of the Middle East for timber, metal, and stone.


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Warfare sometimes destroyed elements of a civilization, but it also helpedspread ideas.

When a highly civilized people conquered a region, the conquered peopleoften absorbed ideas from the conquerors

In addition, migrating people exchanged skills with people theyencountered

In early civilizations, people absorbed or adapted only those ideas thatseemed to suit their own way of life.

From this process, distinct patterns of culture developed that were passed

on to future generations. Culture is the customs, ideas, and ways of life of agroup of people.

Ancient civilizations of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa developedtraditions that still influence large parts of the world.

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