User:Atcovi/HIS 111-A26: World Civilization Pre-1500 CE (SP23)/Ch 1

Evolution as potrayed by Darwinism.

Ch 1

 * 300,000 yrs - 12,000 yrs: Hunter and gatherers | domesticating crops and animals & pastoral life is what leds human out of this stage.

Early Beginnings

 * New fossil evidence shows that homo sapiens may have emerged much earlier (>200,000yrs) & in a different part of Africa. "Present-day" humans left Africa 100,000yrs to 50,000yrs ago. Ability to make tools, speak coherently and settle in certain agricultural environments is what led to different communities.

- Universe: 13.8 billion years

- Earth: 4.5 billion years

- Earliest life forms: 3.8 billion years

- African apes: 23 million years

Gorillas, chimpanzees & humans. Natural selection & adaptive progress. Humans came from hominims, who adapted bipadelism and were smarter (and were able to deal with dynamic environmental shifts).

Climate changes lead to expansions of savannas/contractions of forests. The bidepaling, opposable thumbed hominims left these environments and were able to carry their young better and hide from predators with increased ease.

Early Hominims
Hominims originated from Africa. Diversity took place by different hominims living in separate areas and developing. They coexisted (hence some reproduced with each other) but most would not survive to this day.

Homo Habilis

 * Olduvai George, Tanzania (1950s - Louis and Marey Leakey) - Dear Boy

These hominids were built different. Dear Boy was bipedal + larger brain and was skilled in creativity (using larger tools) and passing on successful techniques to offspring. Similar to australopithecines.

Homo Erectus
1.8 mil yrs ago

Larger brains, use of fire (heat, protection, increased brain growth, cooking food, status for control), travel long distances = increased chance of survival. Spent more time with children, therefore transmission of skills/knowledge increased + parents spent more time with their offspring.

Allomothering = Women helped each other in raising children

Widespread Migration
Migration took place into the Asias 1-2mil yrs ago because of extreme climate (which formed land bridges). They went from China all the way to Europe. See Java Man & Peking Man, who both possessed bigger brains

Homo Sapiens
315k yrs ago: + brain, + dexterious, + agility. Harsher, dryer climate supported homo sapiens more and helped them to move out of the African continent.

China's Shandingdong Man


 * 18k years ago
 * Development of distinct cultures: burial, tools (bone needle)

Homo sapiens followed the mastodons as their meat was hitting, dung could be used for fuel/buildings & bones as tools. 16k years ago, the travel from Beringia to North America took place. 8k years ago, ice bridges arised and cut off connections between Asia & North America - with a boat trip being the last of the travels.

Homo sapiens ended up replacing their genetic cousins (Neanderthals [which they bred with] & Denisovans [larger skeletal frame; able to survive in the Tibetan regions due to interbreeding with Homo sapiens]) as they better coped with hostile meterological environments. Neanderthals interacted with Cro-Magnons, a form of homo sapiens.

Early Life
The homo sapiens shared certain characteristics with other hominims in terms of hunting & gathering. Language and distinct cultural differences is what put the sapiens up top. 100k years ago is when language became revolutionary as it allowed us to communicate and exchange knowledge. As humans spread about the Earth, 19 language groups were formed (including Indo-Hittite).

Phonemes will play a difference. 50+ phonemes for humans and only 12 for primates. "Clicking noises" in Tanzanian and Southern African languages indicate the early language used.

Hunting and gathering became the norm until 12k years ago. San hunters in Africa live like this. Women's role were higher in this type of society. Relaxing was big during this way of life.

Drawing
Art was an important way of enganging with their community & kin identity and convey stories/knowledge/myths. Depictions of humans following game [for example] weren't necessarily for decoration, but to identity humans with hunting or may have been used during rituals (w:Shamanism).

Sculptures were made from bones & stones (w:Venus of Willendorf), usually depicting animals & women (representing fertility).

Music (flute around 35,000 years ago, creating harmonic sounds).

Art, overall, was a method for homo sapiens to express themselves.

Global Agricultural Revolution
Began 10,000 BCE, domesticated animals & plants --> + populatrion

Humans started following the lifestyle of settled agriculture, meaning they labored on the same plot of land for more than one growing cycle, and pastoralism (movement of domesticated animals to different pastores through the year). 9000 BCE Southern Asia is when we saw this take place.

Dogs were first domesticated (33k yrs ago), then sheep and goat (Zagros Mountain area) - humans were able to extract more meat from animals. Pigs and cattle joined the crew soon.

Pastoralism

 * Transhumant herding - Move a little bit (transhumanence): Especially good for mountain valleys, trade developed with agricultural villages (meat/dairy products for maufactured goods).
 * Nomadic pastoralism - North of agr. zone of southern Eurasia: horses became dominant and a source of strength, wealth and power (to lead the herd). No fixed homes in order to satisfy the herds.

Larger populations --> + controlling plants and animals.

Fertile Crescent
Agricultural revolutions took place around the world--differences occured due to climate, geography, and pre-existing social organizations. The Fertile Crescent, a place of rich soils & regular rainfall, was the sight of the domestication of goats, sheep, pigs, cattle & camels and the cultivation of wheat and barely.

Asia
In Eastern Asia, the Yellow & Yangzi River valleys were the sight of rice and millet domestication. The grains itself, tools to cultivate and the knowledge behind this process led to more societies growing and thriving.

African Agricultural Revolution
2 millenia before the agricultural revolution in the Mediterranean, it is theorized that the African agricultural revolution took place in the "Sahel area". This area became populated with farmers and herders. This area was lush and was perfect for plants and animals. Sorghum (cereal grass) was key. Africans from this area carried farming techniques to Western Africa (yams) & Ethopia (ensete = banana). They may have migrated due to global warming.

Americas
Flora and fauna was different in the Americas. Tools began in the Tehuacan Valley (6700 BCE) while plant domestication took place in 5000 BCE. Villages & pottery making took place later while fishing was fundamental.

8000 BCE was the beginning of crop experimentation, which eventually yield corn (took 5k years), maize and squash. Legumes and grains replaced the need for the domestication of animals. Communities were not close-knit like in Europe.

Europe
Borrowed ideas from the outside to domesticate animals (sheep, goat, cattle). The Greeks and the Balkans along the Danube and Rhine rivers were the first to do so.

Two agriculture and village life in EU developed here:


 * Northern rim of Med. Sea
 * Greece, the Balkans, Danube & Rhine river valleys

Wheat and barely were supreme.

Social Dubs

 * Specialized jobs in villages/social hierarchy

Example of villages:


 * Wadi en-Natuf (Jerusalem), 12500 BCE
 * Eastern Anatolia (buildings)
 * Catal Huyuk (honeycomb shaped settlement)
 * >5500 BCE, Mesopotamia --> irrigation systems, stratified community, nepotism & favoritism

The Genders
Divisons between the genders began once the "hunter and gatherer" lifestyle eroded and the role of women diminished in percieved value. The men were relied on to execute and perform harsh manual labor. Patriarchy started spreading.

Conclusion

 * African hominins evolved from other primates, leading to new genera such as Australopithecus and Homo.
 * Climate change and adaptation led to the spread of successive generations of hominins out of Africa.
 * Homo sapiens with larger brains moved out of Africa beginning around 180,000 years ago.
 * Greater adaptive skills allowed them to survive during further climate change.
 * As they adapted over time, they formed communities of hunters and gatherers.
 * Changes in climate in some places in the world led to the embrace of settled agriculture.
 * Settled farm communities varied in what they grew and which animals were domesticated, but the emergence of the social hierarchy and inequality was uniform.