THE EMERGENCE OF MAN AND PRE-HISTORY
History
:1. Greek: Historia - learning by inquiry; knowledge or information obtained by inquiry.
a. Man's record of what he has done on earth.
b. A narrative of what man has learned.
c. Edward Hallet Carr: an unending dialogue between the present and the past.
Question: How has the past affected us?
d. Ideal: to find the facts and interpret them. (We look at the past through our own eyes.)
Ethnocentrism: the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own group and culture. A tendency to view alien groups or cultures in terms of one's own.
Objectivity of an Historian: decisions, analysis not affected by personal feelings or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased.
2. Why Study History?
a. Debt to Other Peoples
Political and Economic Ideology.
Interdependence of Nations.
Attitudes: analyze - separate fact from opinion.
b. Racial and Ethnic Heritage.
c. Lessons from the Past.
i.e. Santayana: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it."
d. Skills: interpret -- analyze.
3. Time and Dating:
a. Categorizing human societies according to the tools and implements each made and used.
i.e. Artifacts: anything made with human skill.
1.) Stone Age:
* Paleolithic: 1,000,000 - 8,000 BC (500,000 - 10,000 B.C.)
* Mesolithic: 8,000 - 6,000 BC
* Neolithic: 6,000 - 4,000 BC (10,000 -3,500 B.C.)
2.) Bronze Age: began in the fourth millenium BC (An alloy of copper and tin.) * 4,000 - 1,000 BC
3.) Iron Age: starting ca. 1,000 BC or possibly 1,500 BC
b. Pre-Historic Period: period prior to 4,000 BC in which man left no written record.
Historic Period: written record of man since 4,000 BC
1.) Ancient History: 4,000 BC to AD 500
2.) Medieval History: AD 500 to AD 1500
3.) Modern History: AD 1500 to the present.
c. Designation of Years.
1.) Modern:
BC/AD. (Anno Domini)
CE - Common Era
BCE - Before The Common Era
2.) Significant Events/Natural Disasters
3.) Greeks: Olympiads/Rulers
4.) Romans:
AUC: Ab Urbe Condita
In the Consulship of -Consulibus Cicerone et Antonio
d. How can we date historical evidence?
1.) Carbon 14 Testing: to determine how much Carbon 14 has decayed in an object.
* "The greater the decay, the older the object."
* It can date objects up to 40,000 years old.
2.) Amino Acid Racemization: it can date items up to one million years old.
3.) Potassium Argon Method: Used to calculate the age of volcanic rock and thereby the age of any item preserved in stone (i.e. fossils).
4.) Writing, printing, type of ink, type of paper.
4. An Historian:
a. Interpreter: interpretation comes through the knowledge of our own experience. * explain and translate.
b. Ideal: to discover the facts and interpret them.
Hypothesis:
Is history static?
c. Sources of History:
1.) Primary Source: extant reports, documents, artifacts, and clues that were contemporary with a past event.
* a written record or story of one who has seen or taken part in an event.
2.) Secondary Source: writings based on a primary source.
* Source material may disagree.
FOR A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF MAN'S PAST SOCIAL SCIENCES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED.
* The study of society and social behavior -- it deals with people.
1. Government: laws by which the community lives. The relationship of the individual to the rest of society.
2. Economics: deals with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services; or the material welfare of mankind.
* simply, the way people make a living and their standard of living.
3. Geography: deals with the physical features of the earth we live on.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES: the way people act and why they act the way they do.
* Culture: way of life of a specific group of people (i.e. customs, ideas.)
1. Anthropology: deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, racial characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of mankind.
* Simply, the study of the origin of man and his cultural development.
2. Sociology: the study of the origin, development, organization, and functioning of human society.
* Simply, the study of how men live in communities and the kind of groups they form.
(Matriarchal or Patriarchal Societies)
3. Archaeology: the study of early man's remains.
a. Three Part Task
1.) Discover a site or area where early people might have lived.
2.) Excavate or dig at the site to uncover artifacts.
3.) Analyze the artifacts and draw conclusions about people who made them.
b. Bones of early man: size and appearance.
c. Bones of animals found near him.
d. Weapons, tools and other utensils found with man.
OLD STONE AGE OR PALEOLITHIC:
1. Paleolithic Man lived in East Africa, China, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.
2. Nomadic: people fishing, hunting and gathering plants.
3. Social Structure: groups of related families joined to form small hunting bands numbering about thirty people.
4. Belief: man developed a spoken language, learned how to control fire.
Tools: chipped stone, usually flint.
5. Ice Age: climate over the past one and half million years.
a. Four Times: the Polar Ice Cap moved south and joined forming Glaciers (i.e. North America, Europe, and Asia).
b. Each Glacial Period lasted between 10,000 to 50,000 years.
c. All four periods are known as the Ice Age.
d. Today ice covers only 1/12 of the earth's surface.
e. Third Glacial Period: ice covered 1/3 of the earth's surface -- most of North America, Europe and Asia.
6. Effects of the Ice Age:
a. Forced the movement of man and animals to warmer climates.
b. Some animals became extinct -- the movement of glaciers changed the surface of the earth.
c. The Southern Hemisphere received large amounts of rainfall.
1.) Rivers and lakes rose.
2.) Inland seas were formed.
3.) Desert areas began to produce vegetation and support life.
d. The Sea level dropped 200 to 400 feet.
1.) As a result of the amount of water frozen into the ice cap.
2.) Underwater ridges were uncovered -- forming land bridges joining some continents and islands.
e. Inter Glacial Periods: melting of ice allowed man to move northward again.
f. Fourth Glacial Period ended between 10,000 and 25,000 years ago.
PALEOLITHIC MAN
1. Earliest Man - Homo Habilis
a. In East Africa ca. 500,000 to 1.75 million years ago.
b. Great Rift Valley of East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania). I.e. the Olduvai Gorge
c. East Africa Man: south of Lake Victoria
1.) Little resemblance to modern man.
2.) Walked erect and had physical characteristics of modern man.
3.) Believed: he used stone and wood as tools and weapons.
d. Lived much like animals - hunted and gathered berries and roots for food (some refer to him as Near Man).
e. What Separates Man from Animals?
1.) Erect Posture: use of hands for hunting and defense.
2.) Speech to give and receive information.
3.) Size of Brain: the ability to reason and make use of the information he had learned.
2. Java Man and Peking Man:
a. Middle of the Ice Age: lived from 500,000 to 750,000 years ago.
b. Discovered in two separated areas.
* Island of Java off the coast of Southeast Asia.
* In a cave near Peking, China.
c. Complete skeletons have not been found.
1.) No artifacts found with Java Man.
2.) Peking Man:
Artifacts: stones with natural shapes; chipped pieces of stone/use of fire.
3. Neanderthal Man:
a. Discovered in caves in Germany in a gorge known as Neanderthal.
b. Lived: 70,000 - 40,000 BC
c. Better tools and the use of fire.
d. Distinction: buried their dead and buried tools, weapons, and food with them.
Concept of Life After Death: basic to the development of religion.
e. Disappearance of Neanderthal Man - we do not know why.
4. Cro-Magnon Man:
a. Appeared around 40,000 BC after the disappearance of Neanderthal Man.
b. Moved into Europe: perhaps from Africa or Asia.
1.) Able to adapt better: stronger and more intelligent.
2.) Better tools and weapons.
c. Named: from a cave in Southern France where he was discovered.
1.) Fourth Glacial Period - the icecap extended south into Europe.
2.) Remains of plants and animals that only lived in cold climates.
d. Know more about him than any other Pre-Historic Man (i.e. artifacts).
1.) Drew and painted on the walls in their caves.
2.) Clay and limestone statues of animals -- carved figures on bones and antlers.
e. Most similar to modern man - disappeared by the end of the Old Stone Age.
5. Modern Man (Homo Sapiens):
a. Appeared on earth ca. 40,000 years ago.
b. Their brain about three times the size of the earliest near man.
c. Process of evolution difficult since the more primitive Neanderthal Man lived at the same time.
d. Differences to Earlier Men:
1.) Teeth were smaller.
2.) Brow was higher and jaws were less massive.
3.) Brain was larger: cortex, which apparently controls memory and foresight, was greatly enlarged.
e. Tools were more sophisticated.
1.) First tools of bone.
2.) Tools for making tools with multiple parts.
f. ca. 20,000 years ago crossed from Eastern Asia into Alaska.
RACE: a group of people who have common physical features.
FEATURES:
1. Skin Color.
2. Shape of the head.
3. Form and color of the hair.
4. Shape of the nose and lips.
5. Shape of the eyes.
6. Torso: the physical body.
Skin: Most obvious feature.
1. Pigment: melanin, present in all human beings.
2. Albinos: have no melanin at all.
3. Darker the skin is - the greater is the amount of melanin.
4. The amount of melanin varies - scientists have established 36 color variations from white to black.
MAJOR RACES OF MAN:
1. Mongoloid
2. Caucasoid
3. Negroid
MONGOLOIDS: the most numerous and are usually identified by their slant eyes, straight hair, olive skin color.
CAUCASOID: nearly white in skin color and often have wavy hair.
NEGROID: black or brown in skin color with tightly curled hair.
* Characteristics vary between races (some maintain there are no true races).
* Don't confuse Race with religion, nationality, and language group.
ORIGIN OF RACES:
1. Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
a. The genus Homo, to which man and higher apes belong, evolved originally from a common ancestor.
b. Explanation: Race was a process of gradual evolution.
2. Early man developed physical features that enabled him to live in the climate and environment in which he found himself.
i.e. Natural Selection
a. Accounts for the dark skin of the Negroid race -- to adapt to the rays of the tropical sun.
b. Facial features of the Mongoloids - to protect eyes, nose, and sinuses against extreme cold.
3. How did the change occur: "Mutation" -- an accidental change in the genes.
Gene: is the basic biological unit, which determines the physical features that we all have.
"Dominance": that change will then become a dominant (permanent) change in the genetic structure.
* Alternative Theories (Creationism)
SPREAD OF MANKIND: Theories
1. Man probably originated in Africa. (or)
2. Man like creatures appeared at several places on the earth at the same time.
MIGRATION:
1. World Island: Great Rift Theory (continents separating from one another).
2. Land Bridges during the Ice Age.
MIDDLE STONE AGE: MESOLITHIC AGE
1. Period: 8,000 - 6,000 BC
2. Large forests appeared and larger animals became extinct.
3. Smaller animals became the basis of man's food supply.
4. Stone tools were much smaller.
Improvements:
a. Bow and arrow developed.
b. Fish hooks; fish spears and harpoons from bone and antlers.
c. Handle for the ax -- able to build dugout canoes -- man could fish in deeper water.
5. Domesticated goats and dogs.
THE NEW STONE AGE OR NEOLITHIC AGE: 6,000 - 4,000 BC
1. Growth and development of Agriculture -- led to the development of a new technology.
Technology: tools and skills people use to meet their basic needs.
a. During the Old and Middle Stone Ages, stone had been chipped to fashion tools and weapons.
b. New Stone Age: by using a flat piece of sandstone, man could polish stone to a fine, sharp edge.
2. Innovations - Changes:
a. Hoes were made of granite, a hard stone that could be sharpened.
b. With the development of weaving, man learned to make cloth from wool and flax.
c. Man made baskets for the storage of grain, nets for fishing, and fire hardened pottery for cooking.
d. Developed the wheel, and the sail, and the use of metals.
* Potter's Wheels - able to make better pots and vessels.
* Metals: first copper and then bronze (these inventions were in use in most areas by 3,000 BC).
3. Agriculture: Greatest Achievement of the Neolithic Age.
* The Neolithic Revolution: the movement or shift from food hunting or gathering to food producing.
a. Allowed man to settle down in permanent homes.
b. Ability to provide a surplus food source -- leading to a division of labor and eventually commerce.
c. These factors eventually led to the creation of government.
RIVER VALLEYS:
1. The Nile River
2. The Tigris and Euphrates - Southwest Asia
3. The Indus - Northwest India (Pakistan)
4. The Yellow - Northern China
River Valleys: Characteristics
a. Annual Floods -- i.e. silt (farming).
b. Source of food: fish and wild game.
c. Rivers as highways: on which people and goods could travel.
CIVILIZATION: an advanced form of culture characterized by advanced forms of government, a division of labor, complex technology (i.e. use of metals etc.), and some form of writing.
Use of Metals: Probably Accidental
Terms:
1. Metallurgy: the science of separating metals from their ore and forming alloys.
Smelting: the melting of one ore to extract metals.
2. Alloy: a mixture of two or more metals.
3. Casting: to form an object by pouring metal in a fluid state into a mold and allowing it to harden.
The Bronze Age:
1. The use of copper had begun in what is now Iran about 4500 BC
* By 2500 BC it (metallurgy) was practiced in Eastern Europe.
2. Originally a luxury item; not used for domestic tools until after 2500 BC
3. Limitation of Copper: soft and difficult to form into a mold -- could not form a sharp edge or be used for heavy work.
4. Copper was replaced by bronze, an alloy of copper and tin.
a. Nile; Tigris and Euphrates: ca. 3,000 BC
b. Wide spread use: ca. 2,000 BC
5. The transition to bronze is viewed as one of the fundamental changes in human existence.
a. Man could cope with his environment more effectively.
b. Plows (more durable) could be built to work the soil -- allowing settlement to become more permanent.
c. Regular long distance trade appeared (need for bronze).
d. Warrior aristocrats whose possession of the new metal identified them as an elite.
Iron Age:
* In greater abundance and found in more locations.
1. In general use ca. 1,000 BC
2. Harder and more durable than bronze.
3. The Hittites in Asia Minor were the first to make extensive use of Iron.
* The Hittite Empire lasted to 1200 BC (ca. 450 years).
4. Then the knowledge of ironwork soon spread throughout the Fertile Crescent and Egypt.
Government:
1. Need to control and conserve floodwaters.
2. Irrigation Systems were built to channel water to their crops during the dry season.
* "Group cooperation became a necessity."
3. A central authority had to oversee the planning, building, and repair, and the supervision of the actual work.
DIVISION OF LABOR:
1. Cities are regarded as essential to civilization, for only among a large concentration of people can there be a division of labor.
2. Definition: many people take part in the production of goods and the performance of services -- they decide their tasks.
3. Improved farming resulted in a food surplus that could support non-farmers.
Importance - it allowed man to concentrate on other activities.
a. Trade and Commerce: helped to develop a system of counting.
1.) Need for products that you could not produce yourself.
2.) It also allowed for the spreading of ideas and knowledge.
b. Artisans (skilled workers) could concentrate on crafts such as building and manufacturing.
BARTER ECONOMY: a system of exchanging one set of goods or services for another.
c. Religious Leaders or Priests -- religious beliefs of most river valley civilizations had to with controlling the water supply and insuring good crops.
1.) Polytheistic and animistic.
2.) Originally a Theocracy -- religious leaders were also political leaders.
TECHNOLOGY:
1. Use of Metals.
2. Trade in raw materials for bronze production was an important factor in the growth of commerce.
3. Development of the wheel and use with oxen and horses (work animals).
4. Potter's Wheel: allowed craftsmen to make pottery better and faster.
5. The Calendar:
a. Change in seasons: i.e. importance to farming.
b. Flood to Flood = a year.
c. Moon to Moon = a month.
Lunar Month: 29 1/2 days (354 days in a year).
Problem: 364 1/4 days in a year.
WRITING:
1. Government and Commerce created a need for improved communication and record keeping.
2. Priests: probably the first to develop marks or pictures, which evolved into a system of writing.
a. Temples became the schools of ancient civilizations.
b. Scribes - select few that learned how to read and write.
3. Evolutionary Process:
a. Pictogram: a picture representing a thing.
b. Ideogram: a picture representing an idea.
c. Phonogram: a sign standing for a sound, usually a syllable.
d. Alphabet: a sign representing a single consonant or vowel.