Chapter 1: First Peoples; First Farmers
Page Numbers: Paper 2-48/Online 81-129
(Includes the Part One: First Things First Introduction)
Which group of hominids first migrated out of Africa? What did they “invent”/discover?
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What kinds of tools did early homo sapiens use?
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How has humankind collected food and lived for the majority of its existence?
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What does the word Paleolithic mean? And why do we label ancient hunter-gatherers as Paleolithic peoples?
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What was the “enormous transformation” of the Agricultural/Neolithic Revolution?
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How and why do we study history before civilization?
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What is the “Out of Africa” theory and what was the sequence of that human migration?
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What geographical changes were brought with the last Ice Age? How did that affect human migration and settlement? How did it affect the way people lived?
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What sorts of records were left behind by Paleolithic peoples in Eurasia?
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Why did the peoples of Australia maintain a more traditional way of life than the rest of the world? When did that change?
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What is the Dreamtime and what does that tell us about the early peoples of Australia?
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How did the first human beings get to the Americas?
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What is Clovis Culture and what does it tell us about peoples in early America?
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What were some of the last places inhabited by humans? How did that happen?
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What two huge differences occurred during and as a result of these migrations that would shape the geographical and social landscape of the newly inhabited places?
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Describe Paleolithic societies…
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What does the book mean by “egalitarian societies”? Which of the 5 Themes does this fit into? In what ways were these societies egalitarian?
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What shift in historical thinking has happened over the years due to the study of contemporary Paleolithic societies?
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In what ways and for what reasons have Paleolithic peoples altered their natural environment?
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Why don’t we know much about Paleolithic religion?
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What are Venus figurines? What kinds of clues does this give us about Paleolithic peoples?
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What other religious views might Paleolithic peoples have held?
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What changes around 25,000 years ago marked a shift in the lives of Paleolithic peoples?
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Why did some Paleolithic peoples abandon earlier, more nomadic ways and begin to live a more settled life?
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What other changes accompanied this “settling down” transition?
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What is Agriculture and in what ways did it transform all of human life?
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How do Agriculture and Domestication go hand-in-hand?
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What does the book mean by “separately and independently” in regards to the agricultural transition?
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How did global climate change accelerate this global transition?
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Look at the map on the next two pages…Notice all the places where agriculture and pastoralism first arose…What surprises you? What were you already aware of? What products/animals used are you already familiar with? What are some you haven’t heard of?
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What does the book mean when it says “the kind of Agricultural Revolution that unfolded in particular places depended very much on what happened to be available locally”?
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What is the Fertile Crescent, where is it and what benefits did it have?
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What sort of achievements were made in the Fertile Crescent?
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What feature was “missing” from the development of agriculture/domestication in the Americas? What did that mean for the lifestyle of the people there?
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What other element of the Americas made agriculture and related innovations difficult to spread from place to place?
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How was Agriculture spread? What else went along with it?
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What is the importance of the Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa?
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What areas maintained a hunting-gathering lifestyle even after the advent of agriculture?
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What are some of the drawbacks of the agricultural lifestyle and living in settled communities?
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What important “explosion” happened as a result of permanent villages and an agricultural lifestyle? Give some examples…
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Explain how beer and wine were both a blessing and a curse to the history of humankind?
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What is Animal Husbandry? Why was it used almost exclusively in some places?
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Why was Animal Husbandry less extensively used in the Americas?
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What happened when nomadic herders ran into their farming neighbors?
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Describe Çatalhöyük…
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How did Agricultural Village Societies maintain relative egalitarianism?
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How is a Chiefdom different from an Agricultural Village Society?
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Give and describe an example of a Chiefdom mentioned in the book…
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What distinctions would Agriculture as a whole bring upon human life and subsequent societies/civilizations?
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What modern arguments have been made that have romanticized the Paleolithic Lifestyle?
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