Changes Brought About by the Neolithic Revolution

Changes brought about by the Neolithic Revolution

During the Neolithic Revolution, some people learned to farm and domesticate animals – this radical change in food production occurred in several different locations around the worldcirca 8000 B.C.E.
The Neolithic Revolution allowed individuals to settle and establish permanent settlements – farmers were NOT nomadic – and class divisions developed as some individuals were more successful at food production than others and now settled, individuals could store more wealth and goods
All of the following changes to human societies were brought about by the Neolithic Revolution: reliable food supplies increased, job specialization occurred, and the distinction between nomads and settled people became important
However, women and men did NOT grow to have more equal status – in fact, patriarchy or male dominance developed as a result of the Neolithic Revolution as men were typically farmers and male work was seen as more valuable

Locations of earliest river valley civilizations

The Neolithic Revolution led to the development of civilizations – civilizations are complex societies with class divisions or class systems, organized government, generally writing systems, and of course, cities
Most of the earliest civilizations developed inriver valleys in warm, dry climates
This is not surprising as rivers provide water for farming and irrigation – and thus, it is generally easier to farm near a river than away from a river
The four river valley civilizations were located in Mesopotamia – the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in present-day Iraq – the Nile River Valley in Egypt, the Indus River Valley in the Indian subcontinent, and the Huang He River in China
Civilizations have distinctly different settlement patterns from ordinary societies –the word civilization is sometimes defined as “a word that simply means ‘living in cities’” – compared with other societies, civilizations have a more complex political structure, namely the state and state societies are more stratified in that there is a greater difference among social classes

Origins of agriculture

Most experts believe that agriculture first originated in the Middle East but also began later as independent invention in many other areas around the world
Yes, the Neolithic Revolution occurred independently in a number of sites around the world but the first region to experience a Neolithic Revolution was most likely found in the Middle East or Southwest Asia
The Neolithic Revolution occurred first in the so-called “Fertile Crescent” or Mesopotamia in what is now modern Iraq but it also occurred independently at later dates in China, the Americas and possibly in parts of Africa and New Guinea
Agriculture then diffused from these locations to other lands
Yet its earliest expression was more than likely in the Middle East

Status of women with rise of agriculture

One common effect of the process of agricultural settlements developing into civilizations was that the status of women fell

Before agriculture, men were hunters and women were gatherers but they both contributed to the survival of the community and both were valued even though men may have had more power
With the rise of agriculture, many changes occurred – including the role of men – men now became farmers and their labor was seen as more valuable
In addition, women could now have more children – hunters and gatherers move and thus, have few babies – babies must be carried and each adult can only carry one child at a time in a nomadic migration – but settled mothers can have many babies
Women became associated with the home and child-rearing and the very important work they did was viewed as inferior – thus, patriarchy or male dominance developed

Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia – Comparisons

Both had polytheistic (many gods) religions
Both had written languages – cuneiform in Mesopotamia and hieroglyphics in Ancient Egypt
Both were river valley civilizations – Ancient Mesopotamia had the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and Ancient Egypt had the Nile River
There were differences too – Ancient Egypt was politically unified and Ancient Mesopotamia had city-states
The Nile flooded regularly and predictably and the Tigris and Euphrates flooded violently and unpredictably

Mandate of Heaven

The Mandate of Heaven was the Chinese belief that the gods gave the emperor and his family (dynasty: a ruling family) the right to rule or the mandate to rule but the gods could remove the mandate if the ruler ruled poorly
It was clear that an emperor had lost the Mandate of Heaven when too many devastating floods, famines, or wars occurred
A corrupt or incompetent ruler – a ruler who could not provide for his people in difficult times – had lost the Mandate of Heaven and the people could rebel
The Mandate of Heaven justified rebellion
One of the most important political legacies of the Zhou Dynasty in Ancient China is the Mandate of Heaven – the idea of the Mandate of Heaven was established by the Zhou
When the Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty (China’s first known or archaeologically proven dynasty), the Zhou claimed the Mandate of Heaven – they argued that it was their right to overthrow the dynasty and proclaim a new dynasty because the Shang had lost the Mandate and the gods had given the Mandate to the Zhou

Characteristics of Hominids

Any of a family of erect bipedal primate mammals that includes recent humans together with extinct ancestral and related forms and in some recent classifications the gorilla, chimpanzee, and orangutan
The earliest hominids and their descendants were more advanced than earlier primates because of their bipedalism, large brain, and larynx
Bipedal means using two legs for walking or walking upright
A large brain allowed hominids to make tools and adapt to diverse environments and a larynx allows for speech
So, hominids were more advanced but they did NOT use agriculture – it would take thousands of years before the Neolithic Revolution occurred

Characteristics of Hunting and Gathering Societies

Hunters and gatherers are nomads – they are mobile – moving from place to place in search of food
Hunters and gatherers have a little specialization of labor – specialization means performing different jobs and yes, men hunt and women gather and thus, there is a little specialization of labor
Hunters and gatherers do NOT have widespread specialization of labor – widespread would mean a lot of different jobs
Hunters and gatherers have limited trade
Hunters and gatherers have a subsistence lifestyle – meaning that they have the resources necessary to survive but do not accumulate extra or surplus resources

Characteristics of Civilization

A civilization is a complex society
A common trait of early civilizations is urban life – the word “civilization” comes from the Latin word for city: “civis” – thanks to food surpluses, cities developed
Another trait of early civilization was monument building – whether pyramids or ziggurats – in civilization, monuments were built
Formal state structures – this too was a common trait of early civilizations – government departments or bureaucracy
Writing is a common trait of early civilizations – think hieroglyphics or ziggurats
But nomadism was NOT a common trait of early civilizations – nomads do not build cities because nomads move and to invest time and energy into the building of a structure that will be abandoned makes no sense

Sumerians

The Sumerians are generally credited with founding Mesopotamian civilizations in the Tigris-Euphrates river valley
Sometime around 4000 B.C.E., ancient Sumerian culture emerged on a sun-scorched floodplain along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southern Iraq
These enigmatic Mesopotamians are best known for inventing cuneiform script – the world’s oldest extant writing system
The Sumerians lived in city-states; each city had its own government and surrounding farmland but all cities shared the Sumerian culture – however, Sumerian city-states were frequently at war with one another
Major Sumerian city-states included Eridu, Ur, Nippur, Lagash and Kish, but one of the oldest and most sprawling was Uruk, a thriving trading hub that boasted six miles of defensive walls and a population of between 40,000 and 80,000
One of the crowning achievements of Mesopotamian literature is the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” a 3,000-line poem that follows the adventures of a Sumerian king as he battles a forest monster and quests after the secret of eternal life

Hammurabi’s Law Code

One of the earliest and most complete ancient legal codes or law code was proclaimed by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who reigned from 1792 to 1750 B.C.E. – Hammurabi expanded the city-state of Babylon along the Euphrates River to unite all of southern Mesopotamia
His code, a collection of 282 laws and standards, stipulated rules for commercial interactions and set fines and punishments to meet the requirements of justice
One of the main innovative ideas in Hammurabi's law code was that was a consistent set of regulations should govern society
Hammurabi’s Code also had class division – in that rich and poor people were punished differently
This early written law code clearly stated the rules and punishments and could be harsh at times

King Menes of Ancient Egypt

In 3100 B.C.E., the history of Egypt is said to have begun when King Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt
For almost 30 centuries – from its unification around 3100 B.C. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.E. – ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world
Around 3400 B.C.E., two separate kingdoms were established: the Red Land to the north, based in the Nile River and the White Land in the south – a southern king, Scorpion, made the first attempts to conquer the northern kingdom around 3200 B.C.E. buta century later, King Menes would subdue the north and unify the country, becoming the first king of the first dynasty
King Menes founded the capital of ancient Egypt at White Walls (later known as Memphis), in the north, near the apex of the Nile River delta.
Most ancient Egyptians were farmers living in small villages, and agriculture (largely wheat and barley) formed the economic base of the Egyptian state – the annual flooding of the great Nile River provided the necessary irrigation and fertilization each year

Gilgamesh

The “Epic of Gilgamesh” is a poem that follows the adventures of a Sumerian king as he battles a forest monster and quests after the secret of eternal life.
Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, was two-thirds god and one-third man and he built magnificent ziggurats, or temple towers, surrounded his city with high walls, and laid out its orchards and fields – he was physically beautiful, immensely strong, and very wise but he was very cruel
The gods heard his subjects’ pleas and decided to keep Gilgamesh in check by creating a wild man named Enkidu, who was as magnificent as Gilgamesh – Enkidu became Gilgamesh’s great friend, and Gilgamesh’s heart was shattered when Enkidu died of an illness inflicted by the gods
Gilgamesh then goes in search of immortality
But Gilgamesh learns that he can’t live forever but that humankind will – now he sees that the city he had repudiated in his grief and terror is a magnificent, enduring achievement – the closest thing to immortality to which a mortal can aspire
Thus, Gilgamesh was a king of the city-state of Uruk, a hero in a popular Mesopotamian epic, a warrior in conflict with the city of Kish and a legendary loyal friend of Enkidu

Huang He River Valley Civilization

The Huang He River Valley Civilization was an early river valley civilization that developed in the greatest state of isolation from the others
The Tigris-Euphrates River Valley Civilization, the Nile River Valley Civilization and the Indus River Valley Civilization had contact with other civilizations
Since their homeland was largely devoid of timber, stone and minerals, the Sumerians in the Tigris-Euphrates river valley were forced to create one of history’s earliest trade networks over both land and sea
Sumerian merchants undertook months-long journeys to Anatolia and Lebanon to gather cedar wood and to Oman and the Indus Valley for gold and gemstones
The Sumerians were particularly fond of lapis lazuli –a blue-colored precious stone used in art and jewelry – and there is evidence that they may have roamed as far as Afghanistan to get it.

Characteristics of Pastoralism

Pastoralists are herders; they raise livestock
Pastoral societies are based on herding but NOT farming
Pastoralism affected early social development in that herding societies tended to migrate frequently, and thus civilization took longer to emerge
Yes, pastoralists are nomadic because animals must graze and grazing requires mobility and movement
In pastoral societies, women generally had more rights than in agricultural societies because when women must move, their status is generally a bit higher – women cannot be secluded and out of public view

New Stone Age

Another term for the Neolithic Age is the New Stone Age
The Neolithic Age or New Stone Age was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding and dependence on domesticated plants or animals
It was also characterized by settlement in permanent villages and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving
The Neolithic Age is followed the Paleolithic Period or age of chipped-stone tools and preceded the Bronze Age or early period of metal tools
The Neolithic Age was a revolutionary period in human and societal development

Role of Oceans in History

Oceans can separate nations or bring nations together
Oceans have, at times, kept societies apart – the Mongols tried to conquer Japan twice but the seas made it difficult and the Mongols failed twice – waters surrounding a land can make conquest or contact difficult thereby separating lands
Yet oceans have served as an effective means of transport – the Indian Ocean was a region of great trading – sailors used monsoon winds that predictably blew in one direction half of the year and the other direction the other half of the year to trade – the Indian Ocean trading network connected East Africa, Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia
Yes, oceans have stimulated the emergence of networks of trade, technology transfer, and cultural exchange
And by using oceans, humans could travel completely around the world by the sixteenth century C.E. – in the 1500s, Ferdinand Magellan’s crew successfully circumnavigated the world

Role of Women in Hunting and Gathering Societies

Women were very important in hunting and gathering societies as they provided many of the community’s calories – gathering was a bit more reliable than hunting in that sometimes the hunter is not successful
In fact, some historians think the more accurate term is gathering and hunting societies because women were vital for the survival of hunting and gathering societies
As in hunter-gatherer societies of the recent past, men likely hunted large animals while women gathered small game and plants, enabling a more efficient use of available food sources and when small game and plant foods were scarce, women and older children were often involved in other vital activities, such as producing clothing and shelter
Yes, women in hunting and gathering societies probably contributed more toward the subsistence of the group than did males
Women were vital for the survival of the group even though men tended to hold more power – these communities were more egalitarian when it came to gender
The social and economic status of women was highest in hunting and gathering communities

The Near East

The Near East is a rather ethnocentric term because it suggest that it is east of Europe but near to Europe
The Near East refers to the Middle East or Southwest Asia
The Middle East is another ethnocentric term for this region because it is from a European perspective; therefore it is more accurate to refer to the region as Southwest Asia
The countries of Southwest Asia are nations like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Israel
The Near East was one of the earliest sites of agriculture
Wheat and barley were the grains associated with the development of sedentary agriculture in the Near East

Hominid Development

Australopithecines, Homo habilis, Cro-Magnon, and Homo sapiens sapiens – that correctly outlines the order of hominid development
Of course, it does not outline every hominid but Australopithecines existed before Homo habilis and Homo habilis lived before Cro-Magnon and Cro-Magnon lived before Homo sapiens sapiens
Australopithecus afarensis is the well-known “Lucy” excavated in Ethiopia and dated to ca. 3.2 million years ago – she was small in stature and lightweight as well
Australopithecus afarensis is important because it has been found in East and South Africa about 2.6 million years ago – it was bipedal (walking upright on two legs) most of the time although it is possible that it spent some time in trees if for no other reason than to escape predators
The species that you and all other living human beings on this planet belong to is Homo sapiens – during a time of dramatic climate change 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and like other early humans that were living at this time, they gathered and hunted food, and developed behaviors that helped them respond to the challenges of survival in diverse environments

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