From Hunting and Gathering to Civilizations, 2.5 Million–1000 B.C.E.: Origins
PART I
From Hunting and Gathering to Civilizations, 2.5 million–1000 B.C.E.: Origins
Overview. The first human beings appeared in east Africa over two million years ago. Gradually humans developed a more erect stance and greater brain capacity. Early humans lived by hunting and gathering. The most advanced human species, Homo sapiens sapiens, migrated from Africa into the Middle East, then into Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Over time, they learned to fashion tools and weapons from stone, bone, and wood, and were, therefore, able to move away from hunting-and-gathering practices to form larger groups. The beginnings of agriculture, about 10,000 B.C.E., were based on improved tools during the New Stone Age (Neolithic). The development of agriculture was a radical change in humans’ way of life. By providing a dependable source of food, people could stay in one place, develop toolmaking technologies using metals, and, by increasing agricultural output, free individuals to specialize in other kinds of work. More elaborate political and cultural forms slowly emerged. Civilization emerged in five different regions. While focusing on the agricultural revolution, we must not lose sight of the many areas in which other systems prevailed. Hunting-and-gathering was not only a different economic system, it brought with it differences in gender relations, daily life, and social complexity.
Big Concepts. Each of the key phases of the long period of early human history (2.5 million B.C.E.—1000 B.C.E.) can be characterized by a central topic or Big Concept. The first of these is the development of human hunting skills, the adaptation of those skills to the shift geography and climate of the Ice Age, and the patterns of human migration. The second Big Concept is the rise of agriculture and the changes in technology associated with the Neolithic revolution (9000 B.C.E. and 4000 B.C.E.). These changes set in motion the agricultural phase of human experience that
From Hunting and Gathering to Civilizations, 2.5 million–1000 B.C.E.: Origins
Overview. The first human beings appeared in east Africa over two million years ago. Gradually humans developed a more erect stance and greater brain capacity. Early humans lived by hunting and gathering. The most advanced human species, Homo sapiens sapiens, migrated from Africa into the Middle East, then into Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Over time, they learned to fashion tools and weapons from stone, bone, and wood, and were, therefore, able to move away from hunting-and-gathering practices to form larger groups. The beginnings of agriculture, about 10,000 B.C.E., were based on improved tools during the New Stone Age (Neolithic). The development of agriculture was a radical change in humans’ way of life. By providing a dependable source of food, people could stay in one place, develop toolmaking technologies using metals, and, by increasing agricultural output, free individuals to specialize in other kinds of work. More elaborate political and cultural forms slowly emerged. Civilization emerged in five different regions. While focusing on the agricultural revolution, we must not lose sight of the many areas in which other systems prevailed. Hunting-and-gathering was not only a different economic system, it brought with it differences in gender relations, daily life, and social complexity.
Big Concepts. Each of the key phases of the long period of early human history (2.5 million B.C.E.—1000 B.C.E.) can be characterized by a central topic or Big Concept. The first of these is the development of human hunting skills, the adaptation of those skills to the shift geography and climate of the Ice Age, and the patterns of human migration. The second Big Concept is the rise of agriculture and the changes in technology associated with the Neolithic revolution (9000 B.C.E. and 4000 B.C.E.). These changes set in motion the agricultural phase of human experience that