1/31/14 west civ class

From Prehistory to Civilization 3,000-1,200 B.C.

• Language, Religion, Art, Technology, Farming, Family Life, and Village originated in prehistoric times
• during 3,000 B.C. the earliest form of developments started
• By 1,200 B.C. civilizations came into existence with Egyptian and Mesopotamian traditions
• Temple of Anon- Constructed in 1600 B.C. near an Egyptian city, this is still the worlds largest religious building today
• Fossils indicate that the first form of humanlike species started in East Africa
• 200,000 years ago the first human species appeared
• Paleolithic Age (old stone age)- Era began with the first species of human, everything was centered around stone
• Neolithic Age (new stone age)- followed the old stone age, this is when new technology started to become more advanced and new tools were built, agriculture started to develop
• The Neolithic age was followed by the Bronze age (3,000-1,000 B.C.) and then the iron age (after 1000 B.C.)
• During the Paleolithic age people migrated with the climate and animals, men usually hunted while women took care of children
• Agriculture Revolution- humans began making settlements and stopped migrating, they grew food by farming and domesticated animals
• Because of the massive supply of food and quality food storage new jobs occurred in the villages (farmers, artisans, traders, priests..)
• Wealth and power differed between people in these settlements as well
• In 6,000 B.C. the first agriculture villages appeared
• Trends that made agriculture to occur: new environmental conditions( planet got warmer), new development of techniques for domesticating plants and animals arose
• Religion also started in civilizations so people could worship Gods and nature and express their ideas
• Polytheism- The belief in more than one God
• There was also an even bigger difference in men and women labor, men worked harder while women just took care of children
• In 3,500 B.C. The earliest known civilizations arose

 



1/28/14 west civ class

              We continued to talk more about the Sumerians today in class and about how they made settlements more detailed and easier to live in. The Sumerians made one of the worlds first calendars based on the moon, they also divided the time into what we use still today (60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in a hour). As their settlements grew bigger the people started new religions so they could express their ideas. Pantheon of Sumerian Gods and Goddesses emerged with many deities representing the natural elements. Stories were told, like the first surviving epic we discovered was the Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh" which told of a great flood. Also because of so many people living in these settlements the first series of written laws were formed. The most oldest set of laws was "Hammurabi's Code" made by king Hammurabi of Babylon. His laws were based off "an eye for an eye" and would seem very strange in todays for society. For some examples:

1. Anyone who steals a child is killed (14)
2. If a mans wife has caused her husband to be killed, the woman shall be impaled (153)
3. If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be cut off

   I find these laws to be very harsh and way too extreme. One of these laws isn't even a crime and the other two shouldn't be punishable by death. People should only have to go to jail for those crimes, that's why I think Hammurabi should have created jails so he could keep his people from dying out. I'm surprised that he wasn't the one who created jails because he has very large amount of very strict laws.

1/27/14 west civ class

        Today in class we learned a lot about the prehistoric era, which happened before people started writing things down. 200,000 years ago human species roamed the earth during this era. There are two main ages in the prehistoric era, the Paleolithic Age (old stone age) and the Neolithic Age (new stone age). During the old stone age everything was based around stone while during the new stone age the development of new tools were created starting the first glimpse of agriculture. People migrated wherever the animals and food supply went. Another major point in prehistory was the agriculture revolution, this is when people started settling down instead of migrating. The people made settlements centered around farming and started to domesticate animals. Because of this, population increased because there was better care for children and new technology was invented like the wheel and plow. One of the first settlements that started this whole revolution was the city of Sumer, it occupied the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (fertile crescent). Sumerians invented the first form of writing (cuneiform) they also had better food storage which allowed diversity in professions: priests, tradesman, artisans, farmers.......