From+Hunter-Gatherers+to+Civilization

1. **Define civilization**
 * Civilization is a type of society with a centralized government, technological feats, and a stable economy.
 * Red is for revisions: The textbook's definition for civilization requires that societies have an substantive economic surplus to form division of labor, social classes, and a centralized government.
 * Civilizations: Do they pass?
 * Mesopotamia (Sumer, Assyria, Babylon): Empire, city-states, kings, artisans, administrators -- Pass
 * Egypt -- Empire, pharaohs, administrators, slaves, artisans, farmers -- Pass
 * China -- Dynasties, lucrative trade, merchants, bureaucrats -- Pass
 * India - Revisit this.

2. **Espirit Chart on Neolithic Revolution** Green for main ideas: The Neolithic Revolution was primarily a social revolution. || Patriarchal civilizations and monarchies || The Neolithic Revolution was also a technological innovation period that mainly promoted agricultural based developments. ||
 * E || * Provided the base for a more complex bartering/goods system
 * Expanded the limited trade of nomadic hunter-gatherers ||
 * S || * Development of agriculture led to permanent settlements which increased world population.
 * Farming was resisted because it was difficult and tedious, but many people converted to farming societies because it provided a stable food supply.
 * Blue for emphasis: Surplus grains provided the impetus for the development of specialized occupations, e.g. artisans, administrators, metallurgist, etc
 * increased stratification, especially between the nobility and lower classes
 * With city-states, the social schisms were greatly increased between nobility and commoners
 * Women take a lesser role in social life.
 * People lived in higher population density
 * P || * Men assumed all political leadership
 * City states
 * A king as the supreme leader alongside a theocratic government that helped perform religious ceremonies, regulated the economy, and provided a court system in the interests of justice
 * Empires
 * Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians
 * Land was controlled by three parties, the king, the upper class, and the priest.
 * Pharaohs exercised immense power
 * I || * Settled people interacted with hunter-gatherers.
 * The diseases that settled people eventually built an immunity devastated the hunter-gatherers ||
 * R || * Deities devoted to agriculture
 * Grandiose religious buildings
 * Sumerian Ziggurats ||
 * I || * Our abilities to make and manipulate tools depends directly on what stone age ancestors learned about physical matter. ||
 * T || * Advent of pottery and metallurgy
 * Farming development in the Middle East because of the new tools.
 * The first potter’s wheel came to existence around 6000 B.C.E
 * Metal work was extremely useful to agriculture and herding societies.
 * By 9000 B.C.E, animals started to be domesticated in the middle east
 * Cuneiform; first written language

3. **Espirit Chart on Assyria** Prosperous self-efficient and trading empire || Central ruler, dynastic, regional alliances || War faring state that controlled Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt; greatly influenced the culture of the western world || Lack of popular religion (Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, etc.) || Growing sophistication among Mesopotamian ancient cultures ||
 * E || * Farming
 * Mining
 * Forestry
 * Slavery
 * Controlled Mediterranean trade routes
 * Brutal taxing of the conquered areas
 * "Karums"
 * Trading colonies in Anatolia (Asia Minor) that traded lead, tin, and textiles for Anatolian precious metals
 * S || * Mainly small villages, a few large cities that were centers of trade and crafting
 * Small amounts of slavery ||
 * P || * Empire ruled by a monarch government
 * On the top was the king who only answered to his royal court
 * Primogeniture of the throne
 * Divided into areas with local rulers who paid tribute to the king and provided soldiers
 * Began around 1810 BCE with King Shamsi-Adad
 * Up to 70 provinces under Sargon II
 * Under King Tiglath-Pileser III (around 745 BCE), the power of the king was increased, an army was formed and exile from homeland to another region of the empire began
 * I || * Part of the Sumer-Akkadian Empire around 2300 BCE
 * Influx of Amorites (a group of Semitic Arabs) around 2000 BCE
 * Colonizes part of the Asia Minor around 1850 BCE
 * Controlled from the Zagros Mountains to the Mediterranean at one point
 * Annexed by Hammurabi (Babylon) in 1760 BCE
 * Annexed by Mitanni (short-lived Mesopotamian) civilization around 1500 BCE
 * Conquered Babylon
 * Conquered Memphis, Egypt's capital, in 689 BCE
 * Egypt followed in 671 BCE
 * R || * Religion varied with the ruler
 * Ashurism was practiced until 256 CE
 * Succeeded by Christianity
 * Pagan beliefs; deities to certain aspects of nature
 * Ziggurats
 * I || * Languages
 * cuneiform alphabet inscribed onto clay tablets until 750 BCE
 * Ancient Assyrian/Akkadian
 * Assyrian Aramaic script on parchment
 * Humble homes and massive, grand castles and towering temples
 * Murals (wall carving) and sculpting
 * Winged genie figures
 * Document cylinders
 * T || * Primarily mud bricks, but there were stone bricks
 * Parchment paper
 * Innovative military techniques
 * Infantry, calvary, archer divisions
 * Battering Ram, Chariots, Ladders, Bronze Armory
 * 360 degrees in a circle
 * Longitude and Latitude
 * Possibilities of telescopic tools ||

4. **APPARTS Chart on Hammurabi's Code**
 * **Author** || The creator was the Babylonian King Hammurabi during the 19th century BCE. Hammurabi's Code is one of the earliest written set of laws. Other near east societies had developed law codes, so Hammurabi could of wanted to make his own code to settle his empire's judicial disputes since the king was a judge. ||
 * ** Place ** || It was created in the ancient Mesopotamian empire of Babylon during 1800-1750 BCE. The text was not found by modern archaeologists until 1901 CE. ||
 * ** Prior Knowledge ** || Babylon was one of the strongest and most influential civilization in Mesopotamia. Hammurabi's code was written after three other codes: Code of Ur-Nammu, Sumerian (city of Ur) law code around 2050 BCE; the Laws of Eshnunna, another Sumerian law code, around 1930 BCE; and the Codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin, a Babylonian city, around 1870 BC. ||
 * ** Audience ** || The intended audience are for people inclined to levy charges in order to inhibit justice and the peace. Nearly every law has a penalty, an aspect of an eye for an eye. For most of the cases, the penalty is"that man shall be put to death" while other cases require retribution in the form of silver or physical harm. People who read this will be less likely to charge people unless they had substantial proof. ||
 * ** Reason for Creation ** || The purpose of the document is to introduce penalties for certain acts so that people can not freely do what may harm the peace of the civilization. The laws remove offenders from their society and prevents people from taking advantage of one another. Murderers, thieves and other undesirable folk are sentenced to "death" while false accusers and unjust men -- e.g. merchants who prospered and tried to trap investors in a vicious cycle of debt -- were penalized for any evil deeds in the form of payments, confiscation, and physical harm. ||
 * ** The Main Idea ** || For the interests of justice, laws shall be placed with extreme penalties in order to assure that the laws themselves are not abused and peace and justice are maintained. If you have a judicial dispute the guilty and will have to pay a fine, face physical punishment, or be put to death. If you levy a case that is unjust, you shall be the one declared and the penalties extend to you. ||
 * ** Significance ** || After combining into city-states or larger scale organizations of civilizations, conduct, and the correct perception of it, varied. Society, especially in infancy, was threatened by anarchy since set rules were not established. The development of law could indicate the necessity of preserving the state and maintaining relative peace within society. ||
 * What can you tell from the Hammurabic Code about the social and family structure of Mesopotamia?**
 * There was plenty of social turmoil. Fights and murder/manslaughter was common, thievery was prevalent, and money sharking was a major concern. In the family, infidelity and adultery was an issue and men had an added importance over women.
 * What is the relationship between law and trade?**
 * The economy was primarily a laissez-faire capitalism, people traded with minimal government supervision. If someone tried to exploit the system by trying to avoid payments or raising interests beyond the government set levels, they would be punished by the government.
 * Why did agricultural civilizations such as Babylon insist on harsh punishments for crimes?**
 * Societies had yet to create buildings to house criminals and reform them. The only way for a perpetrator to learn was through harsh punishments. Also, Babylonia was partially a war culture, they believed in an eye for an eye - that two wrongs make a right.
 * What religious and magical beliefs does the document suggest?**
 * People believed in supernatural forces and illegal sorcery.

5.**Chapter 1: From Human Prehistory to the Early Civilization Key Terms** As the precedent, many of the innovations of ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures can be seen in later civilzations in nearby areas. ||
 * **Neolithic Revolution** || The advent of agriculture and drastic increase of pastoralism (domestication of animals)
 * Permitted human societies to settle down in one set location, thus creating new economic, political, and religious goals and activities.
 * Social stratification
 * The success of farming allowed several people to branch of into specialties like administrators, artisans, merchants, etc.
 * Metallurgy of copper and bronze
 * New Innovations
 * Basket-making and pottery
 * Potter's wheel
 * Meteorology
 * Allowed the world population to increase exponentially so that people began to live in high population densities.
 * Destroyed the hunter-gatherer lifestyle ; agriculture replaced hunting and foraging as the primary form of subsistence and disease from the sedentary population obliterated the unaccustomed nomads.
 * Settling down in different geographical and demographic locations also lead to variance in culture
 * Led to the development of separate civilizations and the interchanges between them that constitutes most of the prehistoric development. ||
 * **Bronze Age** || The era of human existence when bronze, an alloy made mainly of copper, replaced stone as the primary element in tools. Copper was the first experience of metalworking with humans, back around 4000 BCE, followed by bronze and widespread metalworking by 3000 BCE. However, throughout the world, some cultures still relied on stone tools; the metallurgy of bronze was spread from the Middle East to parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Metallurgy created an atmosphere of innovation : metal tools allowed better farming, warfare and hunting, and woodworking for example. ||
 * **Catal Hüyük** || An unusually large Neolithic, Mesopotamian village founded in 7000 BCE that has been an archeological hot spot. Catal Hüyük was an self-dependent village; nearly everything they used was produced in their community and interactions with other villages were to ensure peace, not profit. Large cities like Catal Hüyük became dominating forces that ruled over nearby smaller villages. This began the evolution of political families, military forces, and monarchies. ||
 * **Civilization**
 * This is important REGARDLESS. ** || * Societies with enough economic surplus to form divisions of labor and a social hierarchy with significant stratification.
 * Some scholars desire the civilizations have a system of states instead of family or tribal ties.
 * Civilizations produced:
 * 1) Effective political units capable of ruling large regions
 * 2) Cities that allowed for the rapid exchange of ideas and many elaborate artistic and intellectual developments, like cuneiform, written language.
 * 3) Firmer caste divisions
 * 4) Greater schisms between the rulers and subjects
 * 5) More war-like/violent cultures
 * 6) Greater gender inequalities
 * Patriarchal society
 * 1) Larger populations
 * 2) Environmental impacts
 * Deforestation
 * Land Erosion
 * Flooding
 * "Started" around 3500 BCE in the Middle East, Egypt, Northwestern India, and Northern China in river valleys ||
 * **Ziggurats** || Monumental religious temples that was dedicated to the patron god of the Sumerian city. Sumerians believed in supernatural forces, so they researched astronomy and practiced art forms that adorned buildings with artwork dedicated to the gods. Polytheism manifested itself in prayers, offerings, and rituals. The Sumerian practices and beliefs can be found within the Old Testament and the Quran. ||
 * **City States** || This was the unit of political structure in Mesopotamia and later civilizations like Rome and Greece.
 * A monarch ruled with a "mandate of heaven" philosophy
 * The monarch had several responsibilities
 * Regulate religion, taxes/economy, judicial systems, military expenditures,
 * Under him were the nobles and priesthood
 * Together (the king, nobles and priests), they controlled most of the land that was worked on by slaves, prisoners of war
 * Slaves could earn money and buy their freedom
 * There was also a court system/judicial system ||
 * **Sumerians** || * They were the first civilization in Mesopotamia.
 * They inherited ideas like metalworking, pottery, the wheel, and irrigation and created stable city-states.
 * In the city-states, social stratification quickly occurred as scribes, merchants, artisans, priests, a king, etc. established themselves.
 * Developments within Sumer depended heavily on politics and religion
 * cuneiform was used as a system of accountancy
 * Statues, frescoes, and other artworks dedicated to deities decorated the houses of cities
 * The ziggurat in the center of every city-state was one of the largest and most elaborate structures
 * Sumerian beliefs in supernatural forces also led them to study astronomy and develop systems to integrate their observations into their lives
 * Prospered from the use of wheeled charts, fertilizers and silver currency
 * Fell to Akkadians who continued their culture
 * Akkadians fell to the Babylonians
 * Sumerian discoveries and beliefs are then integrated into the lives of future civilizations; religions return to Sumerian beliefs for some aspects of their own beliefs and the foundations for many ideas are Sumerian in origins.
 * **Hammurabi** || King of Babylonia who introduced one of the earliest and well-known codes of law. He united Mesopotamia under his rule from about 1800 to 1750 BCE. ||
 * **Huanghe** || The Yellow River in China that allowed civilization to develop in China. Though the prehistory of China exists in myth, there are accepted facts: China began as an organized state that developed via irrigation of the river valley. By 2000 BCE, the Chinese developed an intellectual culture: horse riding, pottery making, bronze metallurgy, working with coal, ideographic symbols as literature, astronomy, music, etc. The Shang dynasty ruled at 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE; the Zhou dynasty succeeded. Most of the Shang's ideas were continued on by the Zhou, refer to the classical China chapter for better insight. ||
 * **Indus River** || A river in India that permitted urban civilizations like Harappa and Mohenjo Daro to establish themselves by 2500 BCE. They had trade with Mesopotamian societies, but they developed their own art forms and literature. Harappan writings have yet to be deciphered and turmoil within their civilization provided doubt to the nature of their civilization. It is certain that they were affected by Indo-European migrants. ||

During the Paleolithic Era (2.5 million years ago to 14000 BCE), humans spread around the globe as hunting and gathering societies and retained that lifestyle until around 9000 BCE. During the Mesolithic Era (12000-8000 BCE), humans improved tool manipulation, experienced a population increase, and increasingly less nomadic. During the Neolithic Revolution, civilization replaced hunting and gathering tribes with the advent of agriculture. Agriculture brought many changes: settlements, a drastic population increase, increased pastoralism, and cultural (political, economic, and social patterns) diversification. Within these settlements, social stratification -- the rise of specialized occupations and the schism between commoner farmers and nobler workers -- occurred, new technology and innovations to support agriculture -- basket-weaving, pottery, meteorology, etc.-- were developed. During the Bronze Age (3000 BCE - ?), bronze metallurgy greatly increased the effectiveness of tools and it spread throughout the Eurasian world.
 * Summary:**

Many early civilizations began in agricultural societies situated in river valleys. Villages, societies of hundreds of peoples, were established for stability and defense, and some of them rose to dominate other communities. Some villages developed a leadership position in which tribal or family ties governed politics, while others became small cities that housed a kingship -- a quality adopted by most civilizations. In civilizations, the intellectual community thrived and many inventions, like written language, the wheel, structures of government, etc., helped the development of humanity. Various small cultures created local identity (for example monotheistic Judaism), which interacted with one another via trade, war, and domination.

Civilizations began around 35000 BCE in four main areas: the Middle East, Egypt, northwest India, and northern China. In Mesopotamia, the first civilization Sumer contributed greatly to world history by innovating literature, religion, science, art and political structure. They centered around monarchical, capitalist city-states with formal codes of law and introduced currency to the world. In Egypt, Pharaohs governed the monarchical, socialist empire. The Egyptian empire spread down the Nile and had a lasting impact on later Mediterranean and African cultures. China developed along the Yellow River and despite its isolation, the Chinese had produced many innovations like horseback riding, pottery, bronze metallurgy, and even iron metallurgy by 1000 BCE. The Chinese were ruled by emperors beginning with the Shang dynasty in 1500 BC and continues to the Zhou around 1000 BCE