General (1-1, 1-2)

• use “complex societies” instead of “civilization”
• first humans lives were nasty, brutish, and short
• “Big History”
  • look at history from a bigger picture, focus less on the details, understand perspective
  • more than written records
  • David Christian (SDSU); Annales School (French, Braudel)
• Big Bang Theory
  • creation myths are human coping mechanisms
• Evolution
  • Hominids/Australopithecines
    • East Africa
  • Homoerectus
    • upright humans migrate to Eurasia
  • Homosapiens
    • 250,000 years ago
    • branched into 2: Neanderthal, Homosapien Sapiens
• Neanderthal FAILED
  • stone tools
  • animal skin
  • buried dead—->belief in afterlife?
• Homosapien Sapiens
  • migrated
  • more intellectually intensive, analytical
• Paleo Age
  • 2.5 million BCE to 10000 BCE
  • “Old Stone Age”
  • nomadic
  • starts off with small groups (20 -30)
  • BEFORE patriarchy—–>matriarchal society then
  • Settlements
    
    • Eastern Medd
    • Jomon (Central Japan)
    • Chinook (Pacific Northwest)
    • all three harvested
• Neolithic Transition
  
  • Gradual transition, from hunter gatherer to sedentary agro
  • Neolithic Age 10000 BCE – 4000 BCE
  • stone tools progress and refine
  • agro society
    • slash /burn swidden
      • required movement since s/b (unecofriendly) uses land once =====> expansion of peoples

**1-2

“world history -the integration of peoples, processes that defy national borders: reproduction, migration (diasphoric communities)

• Neolithic Transition Cont.
  • brought about animal husbandry, beasts of burden/ draft animals
  • regular food acquisition
  • Long Term Implications
    • settlement in villages
      • building for storage, shelters
    • storing food
    • exchange and trade
    • specialization
      • division of labor====>event record keepers ====> language, writing system
    • division of gender roles
      • men– agro, herding
      • women– domestic
        
      • patriarchal shift also seen in political structures
• Agriculture & Human Migration
  • Wheat: SW Asia—->Persia, S Asia, N China
  • Rice: S China—-> SE Asia, Ganges River Valley
  • Sorghum: Africa—-> India
  • Bananas: SE Asia—-> Indian Ocean
  • Maize: C Amer, SW US, E US
  • movement of crops represents movement of people, trade.
    
• Global Population Explosion
  • exponential growth, doubles every 1000 years
• Note: 4000 BCE: copper + tin = Bronze Age (3000-1200)
  • Iron Age follows (metal working becomes important)
  • 1st complex societies fall with the transition from B to I
• Bronze Age
  • 1st complex societies
    • core urban cities, centers
    • common philosophical, cultural, religious beliefs
    • political, military apparatuses
    • social class system (caste)
    • writing systems
    • architectural, artistic creativity
    • accumulation of capital, material wealth
    • generally autocratic leader, “one man rule”
    • charismatic authority, divine right
      

Tags: EQ 7