World Civ Unit 2 Study Guide

26,000 - 23,000 years ago

When did the coldest part of the last ice age come?

• slow global warming/planet defrosting

• rising sea levels

• more vegetation

• increased human population

What were the effects of the ice age ending?

20,000 years ago

Around when did the ice age end?

northern Siberia, Europe, and North America

Where did vegetation first start to grow back after the Ice Age?

Younger Dryas

the last cold/dry spell in the Northern Hemisphere. Between 12,900 and 11,700 BCE. Was the coldest around the North Atlantic, especially in Europe.

Holocene

an 11,700 year long period of STABLE climate. Cold winters were reduced after the Younger Dryas. Climate stability made it easier to settle.

Around 6000 BCE in Pacific coastal regions. Specifically in 6000 BCE, people settled along salmon rivers in wester North America.

Where and when were the first permanent settlements?

Jomon Culture

• emerged around 7000 BCE

• settled on the Pacific coast of east-central Japan

• were ripe with many foods (fish, acorns, chestnuts)

• deer hunting

• one of the first inventors of pottery

Gobekli Tepe

• southeast Turkey, emerged around 9000 BCE

• built monumental stone buildings

• religious site found near trade routes in Anatolia, comprised of animal bones and stone

• by 7000 BCE, the site was abandoned, we are not sure why

Ukraine

Where were mammoth hunters primarily found?

• ate mammoths and made shelter from them

• had no social class

• settled along mammoth migration routes

What did mammoth hunters do?

Mammoth huts from 15,000 years ago along the Dnieper River in Ukraine.

What could have been history’s first villages?

Magdalenian Culture

• semi-sedentary

• reindeer hunters, intercepted reindeer’s seasonal migration, got food from reindeer

• left remains in France, Poland, & Portugal

• more time to create art and rituals

• wealth and classes

• class of mobile traders

• property

What did sedentary life allow for?

By sowing certain seeds in order to harvest more plants with desired characteristics for many years.

How were plants domesticated?

Breeding certain animals to achieve offspring with desired characteristics.

How were animals domesticated?

dogs

What animal was the first to really be domesticated?

In Eurasia, around 15,000 years ago. They aided in hunting and gave humans warning of attackers. Over time, genetic selection occurred.

How, when, and where were dogs domesticated?

cereal crops

wheat, barley, oats, millet, rice

• developed over centuries

• appeared in the Levant (western edge of Fertile Crescent), modern day Turkey

• conditions became more favorable after the Ice Age

• settled populations took it up and grew faster than mobile ones

What were the origins of farming?

intelligence and climate

What triggered farming?

Pigs, cattle, sheep, & goats, 11,000-7,000 BCE, Mesopotamia

What were the first animals domesticated?

settlement sizes grew, houses went from oval to rectangle

How did the culture change around this time?

7000 BCE, used for storing grain and liquids

When was pottery developed and what was it used for?

China Agriculture

• started around 7000 BCE

• entirely independent of the developments in the Levant

• 2 transitions - Yangzi and Huang He basins

• Pre-farming, people developed boiling and steaming in pots, as well as making storage of rice and millet easy

Yangzi Valley

• people here domesticated rice around 7000 BCE

• the first communities substantially dependent on rice farming appeared here

Huang He Valley

• domesticated millet around 7000 BCE

• domesticated soybeans around 6000 BCE

• had great soil for crops IF it rained

• it it DIDN’T rain, starvation was a threat

• chickens and pigs domesticated by 4500 BCE - 2nd domestication of pigs in SW Asia

• also used pottery for boiling, steaming, and storing

sugarcane, bananas, and root crops around 5000 BCE

used swidden - farming for a few season in one spot, then moving to a different spot nearby

What did New Guinea domesticate? What type of farming did they use?

• sedentary villages and pottery proceeded farming,

• evidence of farming dates back to 2500 BCE,

• pigs and chickens were important domesticated animals,

• rice was central crop

What happened on the Southeast Asian mainland?

7000 BCE

When did people in South Asia take up wheat farming?

6000 BCE

When did people in South Asia take up rice farming?

African Agriculture

• domesticated cattle around 6000 BCE

• unlike other regions, plant domestication came AFTER animal domestication

• chief crops were millet, sorghum, and dry rice in 3000 BCE

teff - 1000 BCE or before

What was an important crop for Ethiopia?

Sahara

• was a “green environment” from 8000 - 4500 BCE

• early humans of this region became sedentary hunters and fishers

• climate changed forced people out of this region when it began to dry out in 4500 BCE

Agriculture in the Americas

• animals weren’t apart of the transition to farming here

• began with horticulture in Colombia around 9000 BCE

• manioc was a reliable food source here

• maize began in Western Mexico

• people built ceremonious mounds in North America

• cereal culture of the Fertile Crescent

• rice culture of China

• maize and beans culture of Mesoamerica

What were the 3 main farming systems?

millet and sorghum

crops of Africa?

teff

main crop of Ethiopia?

potatoes

main crop of the Andes?

manioc

main crop of Amazionia?

• gathered in hunter-forager society

• probably had the most knowledge in plants

• likely led to the first agriculture technologies by sowing seeds

What role did women play in agriculture?

• infectious disease - got from animals and spread them

• environmental change - ruined some landscapes

What were the effects of expansion by displacement?

farmers displacing foragers through violence

What was expansion by discplacement?

spreading the idea of domestication from one person to the next

What was expansion by imitation?

• increased population density by 10-100x

• malnutrition - people become unhealthier

• diseases - contact w/ fecal fertilizers 😜 exposed people to diseases

• women and children were affected the worst

What were the effects of farming?

• self-domestication and gracialization (we got smaller and weaker)

• human selection for docility (we changed to endure numbing routines and social subordination)

• onset of energy revolution (increased energy available in human communities)

• farming familes became a social unit (mobile bands of 30-80 ppl —> settles families)

• institution of daily routines (wakin up in the morning, thinking about so many things, i just wish things would get better)

What were the human impacts of farming?

• religion - emphasis on fertility

• diversity - new architecture styles, art, tools, and wepaons

• heightened social stratification

What were the cultural impacts of farming?

transition into sedentism and agriculture

What was a major turning point for humanity?

• population growth

• worse health

• new religious directions

• new cultural expressions

What were the effects of agriculture?

12,000 - 8,000 years ago

When were the coldest years of the Ice Age?

• The Sahara and hills helped block invaders.

• The had very predictable flooding.

Why did Egypt have more geological advantages than Mesopotamia?

15,000 years ago

When did humans domesticate dogs?

• diseases

• malnutrition

• property disputes

• invaders

What were the bad effects of settlement?

Mesopotamia and Egypt (i looked this up)

Where is archaeological evidence of early trade routes found?

Gobekli Tepe (i think)

Evidence of early religious practice in Mesopotamia region?