Introduction to Humanities

Humanities is the study of how people process and document the human experience.

Subjects that fall under the humanities umbrella include philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history, and language.

Culture vs. Civilization

  • Culture or Civilization. Which came first?

    • Culture came first, we have evidence of human culture dating back to 28,000 yrs ago. The first seeds of civilization weren’t planted until around 10,000 yrs ago.

  • In order to be called "civilized'“ societies must posses most or all of the following characteristics:

    • Some form of urban life involving the construction of permanent settlements.

    • A system of gov.

    • The development of distinct social classes.

    • Tools and specialized goods production skills.

    • Written communication.

    • Shared system of religious beliefs.

Prehistoric Cultural Periods

  • They’re called prehistoric cultural period bc they come before the time of written history.

  • These cultural periods were named for the material that was important for them at the time.

  • The five prehistoric cultural periods:

    1. Paleolithic (Old stone age)

    2. Mesolithic (Middle stone age)

    3. Neolithic (New stone age)

    4. Bronze age

    5. Iron age

  • The first world civilization emerged during the bronze age.

Paleolithic Period (7 million - 10,000 BCE)

  • Human were hunters and gathers. This meant there were no permeant dwellings therefore they lived in caves.

  • Strictly verbal forms of communication.

  • Expressed themselves through fertility figurines and cave paintings

  • Ceremonial burial with personal objects in the grave (Neanderthal Germany)

Mesolithic Period/Middle Stone Age (10,000 - 8,000 BCE)

  • Relatively short period of time.

  • Main characteristic of this period was the development of agriculture which led to an awareness of seasonal changes(stones circles in Turkey dating from 9000 BCE/Stonehenge)

Neolithic Period/New Stone Age (8,000 - 3,000 BCE)

  • World’s first primitive settlements along rivers (the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Nile)

  • War is profitable for the first time in human history bc of stores of food and figthing over settled land.

  • Creation and use of pottery.

The Bronze Age (3,000 - 1,000 BCE)

  • Development of the world’s first civilizations (Mesopotamia and Egypt, followed by India, China, Minoan, and Mycenaean.)

  • Mesopotamia(mostly modern Iraq and a little bit of Iran)/ Minoan and the Mycenaean(the first two European civilizations.

  • Written communication (Mesopotamians-cuneiform, hieroglyphs.)

  • Organized religion (hierarchy of priests, understood rituals and ceremonies, and religious texts.)

  • Tools and specialized skills

  • Gov.

  • Use of bronze for weapons

The Iron Age(1,000 - 800 BCE)

  • Use of Iron for weapons

  • Imperialism