SNAPSHOT
- Nomadic hunting-foraging bands slowly migrated several miles per year from East Africa to habitable locations
- Animistic spiritual beliefs among nomadic cultures.
- Relatively egalitarian nomadic hunting-foraging bands
The above map was created using the geographic references from this era in the AP World History curriculum. Every geographic reference for this unit appears on this map.
Key Concept 1.1 Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
1. Archeological evidence indicates that during the Paleolithic Era, hunting-foraging bands of humans gradually migrated from their origin in East Africa to Eurasia, Australia and the Americas, adapting their technology and cultures to new climate regions (AP World History Standards).
What is the evidence that explains the earliest history of humans and the plant?
Humans first appeared on Earth during the Paleolithic Era. The evidence of burial grounds, as well as stone tools and other items explains this. They show a general migration path from Africa outwards. These tools show that the groups were hunter-foragers and nomadic.
What is the evidence that explains the earliest history of humans and the plant?
Humans first appeared on Earth during the Paleolithic Era. The evidence of burial grounds, as well as stone tools and other items explains this. They show a general migration path from Africa outwards. These tools show that the groups were hunter-foragers and nomadic.
Early humans were mobile and creative in adapting to different geographical settings from savanna to desert to Ice Age tundra. By making an analogy with modern hunterforager societies, anthropologists infer that these bands were relatively egalitarian. Humans also developed varied and sophisticated technologies.
The Earliest Humans Video
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A. Fire was used for hunting, foraging and for protection from predators and cold environment.
Early Humans Used Fire Video
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B. Wider range of human tools developed, adapted for different environments - tropics to tundra.
C. Socio-economic structures focused on small kinship (extended families) groups of nomadic hunting-foraging bands relatively egalitarian(men and women of equal status) that could make what they needed to survive. However, not all groups were self-sufficient; they exchanged people, ideas, and goods.
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Key Concept 1.2 Neolithic(Agricultural) Revolution and Early Agricultural Urban Societies
In response to warming climates at the end of the last Ice Age, from about 10,000 years ago, some groups adapted to the environment in new ways, while others remained hunter-foragers. Settled agriculture appeared in several different parts of the world. The switch to agriculture created a more reliable, but not necessarily more diversified, food supply. Agriculturalists also had a massive impact on the environment through intensive cultivation of selected plants to the exclusion of others, through the construction of irrigation systems, and through the use of domesticated animals for food and for labor. Populations increased; family groups gave way to village life and, later, to urban life with all its complexity. Patriarchy and forced labor systems developed, giving elite men concentrated power over most of the other people in their societies. Pastoralism emerged in arts of Africa and Eurasia. Pastoral peoples domesticated animals and led their herds around grazing ranges. Like agriculturalists, pastoralists tended to be more socially stratified than hunter-foragers. Because pastoralists were mobile, they rarely accumulated large amounts of material possessions, which would have been a hindrance when they changed grazing areas. The pastoralists’ mobility allowed them to become an important conduit for technological change as they interacted with settled populations.
1. Beginning about 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution led to the development of new and more complex economic and social systems.
- Possibly as a response to climatic change, permanent agricultural villages emerged first in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Agriculture emerged at different times in Mesopotamia, the Nile River Valley and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indus River Valley, the Yellow River or Huang He Valley, Papua New Guinea, Mesoamerica (Middle America), and the Andes Mountains in South America..
The Agricultural Revolution: Crash Course World History
Indus Valley Civilization Crash Course Video
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Mesopotamian Civilization Crash Course Video
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Ancient Egypt Civilization Crash Course Video
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- Pastoralism (herding) developed at various sites in the grasslands of Afro-Eurasia.
- Various staple crops or animals were domesticated in various core regions, depending on available local flora and fauna.
- Agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clear land and create water control and irrigation systems needed for growing crops.
- These agricultural practices drastically impacted environment i.e when Pastoralists grazed large herds of animals on fragile grasslands soil erosion took place(overgrazed), irrigation led to salinization.
2. Agriculture and pastoralism/herding began to transform (change) human societies.
The Story of Farming Video
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- Pastoralism and agriculture led to more reliable and abundant food supplies, which increased the population.
- Surpluses of food and other goods led to specialization of labor, including new classes of artisans and warriors, and the development of elites (rich, influential and powerful)
- Technological innovations led to improvements in agricultural production, trade, and transportation
- Required examples of improvements in agricultural production, trade, and transportation ( Pottery, Plow, Woven textiles, Mettulargy, Wheels and Wheeled Vehicles).
The Story of Bronze Movie
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Bronze, a durable new metal mixed from copper and tin, was highly sought after in the ancient world.
- In both pastoralist and agrarian societies, elite groups accumulated wealth, creating more hierarchical (rigid social -economic classes) and social structures (systems) and promoted patriarchy (male dominance).
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Key Concept 1.3 Development and Interaction of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies
From about 5,000 years ago, urban societies developed, laying the foundations for the first civilizations. The term civilization is normally used to designate large societies with cities and powerful states. While there were many differences between civilizations, they also shared important features. They all produced agricultural surpluses that permitted significant specialization of labor. All civilizations contained cities and generated complex institutions, such as political bureaucracies, armies, and religious hierarchies. They also featured clearly stratified social hierarchies and organized long-distance trading relationships. Economic exchanges intensified within and between civilizations, as well as with nomadic pastoralists. As populations grew, competition for surplus resources, especially food, led to greater social stratification, specialization of labor, increased trade, more complex systems of government and religion, and the development of record keeping. As civilizations expanded, they had to balance their need for more resources with environmental constraints such as the danger of undermining soil fertility. Finally, the accumulation of wealth in settled communities spurred warfare between communities and/or with pastoralists; this violence drove the development of new technologies of war and urban defense.
1. Core and foundational civilizations developed in a variety of geographical and environmental settings where agriculture flourished.
- Students should be able to identify the location of all of the following required examples of core and foundational civilizations on the world map (Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys, Egypt in the Nile River Valley, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus River Valley,Shang in the Yellow River or Huang He Valley, Olmecs in Mesoamerica, Chavín in Andean South America)
2. First State (larger political units) emerged within core civilizations.
A. States were powerful new systems of rule mobilized surplus labor and resources over large areas. Rulers were often believed to be divine or have divine support, and or military support (sources of political power)
A. States were powerful new systems of rule mobilized surplus labor and resources over large areas. Rulers were often believed to be divine or have divine support, and or military support (sources of political power)
B. Most successful states conquered others and expanded - key factors: greater access to resources (example Hittites access to iron), larger food surplus and resulting larger population.
C. Early examples of state expansion and empire building: Mesopotamia, Babylonia, AND Nile Valley.
D. Nomadic pastoralists (hunters-foragers) often developed and dessimated (spread) new weapons and modes/ types of transportation ( chariots, horseback riding) that transformed warfare in agrarian civilizations.
D. Nomadic pastoralists (hunters-foragers) often developed and dessimated (spread) new weapons and modes/ types of transportation ( chariots, horseback riding) that transformed warfare in agrarian civilizations.
hittites.pdf | |
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3. Culture played a significant role in unifying states through : laws, language, literature, religion, myths, and monumental art.
The Story of Building the Great Pyramid Video
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A. Early complex urban cultures( civilizations) developed monumental architecture and urban planning. One example; ziggurats, pyramids, temples, defensive wall, streets and roads, OR sewage and water systems.
B. Both political and religious elites (rich and influential) promoted arts and artisanship (craftsmanship)
C.Systems of record keeping arose independently in all early civilizations and subsequently were diffused (spread to other areas)(Cuneiform, Hieroglyphs, Pictographs, Alphabets, Quipu)
literature_of_antiquity.pdf | |
File Size: | 1053 kb |
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Story of Early Writing Video
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D. States developed legal codes, including the Code of Hammurabi, that reflected the existance of hierarchy (socio-economic classes) and helped governments rule over people.
E. New religious beliefs developed in this period continued to have strong influences in later periods.
Examples - Vedic religion, Hebrew monastheism, AND Zoroastrianism
Examples - Vedic religion, Hebrew monastheism, AND Zoroastrianism
F. Trade expanded throughout this period from local to regional and transregional (between regions), with civilizations exchanging goods, cultural ideas, and technology. Required examples: between Egypt and Nubia and between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
G. Social and gender hierarchies intensified as states expanded and cities multiplied.
H. Literature was also a reflection of culture. (Epic of Gilgamesh, Rig Veda, Book of the Dead)
H. Literature was also a reflection of culture. (Epic of Gilgamesh, Rig Veda, Book of the Dead)
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CONTINUITIES
(what generally stayed the same during much of the time period)
- Many nomadic groups continued to remain nomadic - often believing in animism
- Early core, foundational civilizations (cultural hearths)
- Both trade and conflict between settled and nomadic cultures
- Some religious beliefs continued to have strong influences in later periods.