The Rise of Civilizations/Neolithic Revolution

1. The Rise of Civilizations/Neolithic Revolution

2. Timeline • BC= Before Christ, it is sometimes expressed as BCE • AD= Year of our lord • 0 AD is the year that Jesus was born

3. Timeline Continued • 14,000 B.C.______________0AD_____________2012AD • Numbers get bigger the further away from 0 Ad you get

4. Quiz • What year happened first: 76 BC or 300 BC • 1000 AD or 12oo AD? • 2000 BC or or 200 AD? How many years ago was 8000 BC?

5. Development of Tools/specialization • The Stone Age- simple stone tools, some hunter gather societies never advanced past the Stone Age • Bronze Age- Specialization in agricultural societies allowed people to begin making bronze tools. Approximately 4000 B.C. • Iron Age- Development of Iron required more technological sophistication but was a huge advantage for societies. Approximately 1300 B.C.

6. The Neolithic Revolution • The Neolithic Revolution began approximately 14,000 years ago • This refers to the development of agriculture and the shift from hunting and gathering societies to agricultural societies. • Agriculture developed in a number of places at different times • Agriculture began in the “Fertile Crescent

7. Fertile Crescent

8. Advantages of the Fertile Crescent • Lots of Sunshine • Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, and Jordan rivers provide constant H20 • Wheat, Barely, Peas, Cows, and Horses grew naturally in the region

9. The Fertile Crescent Civilizations • Agriculture in the Fertile Crescent led to the development of the world’s first civilizations • Sumer in Mesopotamia • Egypt along the Nile River • The Indus Valley Civilization

10. Civilizations • Historians usually define civilizations as having the following: Government Social Structure ( upper and middle classes) Large public building projects Specialization, many different jobs

11. Mesopotamia (The Land Between the Rivers) • The world’s first civilization was Sumer in Mesopotamia. • Mesopotamia is a part of the Fertile Crescent (Present day Iraq) • Civilization developed between the Tigris and Euphrates River

12. Mesopotamia

13. Vocabulary • Hunter/Gatherer- Groups of people that depend on hunting and gathering materials from nature to survive • Nomad- Group of people that move seasonally • Agriculture- Growing or raising food • Specialization of Labor- People specializing for their jobs/ Not everybody in society producing food • Domestication- Turning a wild animal/plant into something used and bred by humans. • Irrigation- A system designed to bring water to a farmers crops

14. Nomad

15. Irrigation

16. Big Questions • What advantages do agricultural societies have over hunter-gather societies? • Why did the development of agriculture lead to the development of governments? • Why was the development of governments an advantage for early societies?

17. The Neolithic Revolution • The Neolithic Revolution refers to the development of agriculture • Change from hunter/gather societies to agricultural societies • This was one of the most important changes in history

18. The Development of Agriculture • Agriculture developed independently in a number of different spots at different times (Fertile Crescent, China, Mesoamerica) •The first place to develop agriculture was the “Fertile Crescent” Approximately 8,000 BCE

20. Advantages of being an agricultural society • A better food supply than hunting and gathering • Having more food allows more people to live/larger populations

21. Advantages of being an agricultural society cont. • Agricultural societies developed the world’s first towns • Towns had defensive walls around them

22. Specialization of labor • Agriculture allowed for specialization of labor • Farmers could produce enough food for other people to specialize at other jobs/More efficient • Examples: Soldiers, traders, government workers, builders, toolmakers

23. The Development of Governments • Specialization of labor/Agriculture allowed for the development of the world’s first governments • Enough food was produced for government workers to focus on ruling the society, not making food for themselves

24. The advantages of governments • Organization for large building projects: Defensive walls, irrigation projects • Organization for armies • Laws • writing

25. Geographic advantages of Europe/Central Asia Agriculture developed first Large number of food plants and animals No barriers to trading with other regions/This allowed technology and domestic animals to move to other regions

27. Domestic plants and animals • Plants • Fertile Crescent- wheat, barley, peas, lentils • China- rice • Americas- Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans • Africa-Sorghum, coffee • Australia-none • Animals • Fertile Crescent- Cows, sheep, horses • China- Pigs, chickens • Americas- llamas, turkeys, guinea pigs • Africa-none • Australia-none

28. Barriers to trade

29. Trade between Europe and Asia • Nothing prevented Europeans and Asians from trading with each other • Huge advantage for these groups • Domestic animals and plants moved between the groups. Ex. Pigs and chickens from China to Europe • Technology increased with trade between the groups. Ex. Gunpowder in china being used for guns in Europe.

30. Barriers to trade in other areas • The Sahara desert cuts North Africa off from South Africa • Panamanian jungle cuts the Mayan civilization off from the Inca civilization in the Americas • Little to no trading occurred • Little to no transferring of technology

31. Barriers to trade

32. Lack of technology • The Maya created a wheel that was only used as a toy • Technology was never passed to other groups in the Americas that could use it

33. Mesopotamia

34. Unit Question • How do the domestic plants and animals that a society had access to affect which societies became dominant over other societies?

35. Mesopotamia • “The land between the rivers” • Part of the Fertile Crescent • Located in what is now Iraq • The first civilizations began in Mesopotamia

36. Fertile Crescent

37. Sumer • Frequently called the world’s first civilization • A handful of large cities in Mesopotamia banded together to create the civilization • Ur is thought to be the oldest major city in Sumer

38. Ur

39. Ziggurats • The center of Sumerian Cities was the Ziggurat • Ziggurats were large religious temples

42. Question • What can you assume about Sumerian Civilization because they built Ziggurats?

43. Sumerian writing • Cuneiform/ The world’s first writing system • Symbols cut into clay, the clay was then baked

46. Writing Systems Writing has only been invented independently in a few locations Fertile Crescent, China, Central America

47. Writing systems cont • Writing systems were originally developed to keep track of taxes for the government • Cuneiform was the world’s first writing system

48. Pictographic Writing Systems • The earliest writing systems were all pictographic • Used pictures as a symbol for individual words • Could have thousands of symbols for each language

49. Challenge • I would love to see a white holiday season this year • Could you please take the trash out

50. Alphabets • Use symbols for individual sounds • Do not use symbols for whole words • Phoenicians invented the world’s first alphabet • Called the phonetic alphabet • The Phoenicians were an ancient group in the Fertile Crescent