Prehistory to Sumer – Study Notes

The Prologue to Graphic Design

• Establish a clear understanding of the pre historic development in writing.
• Understand and identify methods and techniques.
• Understand the styles of writing and recognize changes that revolutionized the different eras.

The Prehistoric Ages: How Humans Lived Before Written Records

• Timeframe and scope:
  • Humans lived on Earth without a written record for roughly $2.5 \times 10^6 \text{ years}$, leaving behind other remains and artifacts.
  • Earth’s beginnings trace back to about $4.5 \times 10^9 \text{ years}$ ago, but human evolution covers only a tiny fraction of that history.
• Chronology:
  • The Prehistoric Period roughly spans from $2.5 \times 10^6 \text{ years ago}$ to $1200 \text{ B.C.}$ (dates vary by region).
• Archaeological periods within the Prehistoric Ages:
  • Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age.
• Major developments across this span:
  • From tool invention for hunting to advances in food production and agriculture.
  • Early examples of art and religion.
  • A period of great transformation leading up to written records.

The Stone Age

• The Stone Age is divided into three periods:
  • Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
  • Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
  • Neolithic (New Stone Age)
• Markers of the era:
  • Use of tools by early human ancestors (evolved around $3.0 \times 10^5 \text{ B.C.}$).
  • Transformation from hunting-and-gathering to farming and food production.
  • Coexistence with now-extinct hominins such as Neanderthals and Denisovans.
• The Stone Age timeline snippet:
  • Paleolithic: roughly $2.5 \times 10^6 \text{ B.C.}$ to $1.0 \times 10^4 \text{ B.C.}$.
  • Mesolithic: around $1.0 \times 10^4 \text{ B.C.}$ to $8.0 \times 10^3 \text{ B.C.}$.
  • Neolithic: roughly $8.0 \times 10^3 \text{ B.C.}$ to $3.0 \times 10^3 \text{ B.C.}$.
• Homo sapiens’ development during this era:
  • Early humans used basic stone and bone tools; crude stone axes for hunting birds and animals.
  • Cooking prey with controlled fire; hunting large mammals (e.g., woolly mammoths, deer, bison).
  • Fishing and gathering berries, fruits, and nuts.
  • Expansion of tool use and technology to support subsistence and shelter.
• Hominin relatives:
  • Lived alongside Neanderthals and Denisovans during the Paleolithic.

Paleolithic Period

• Lifestyle and shelter:
  • Lived in caves, simple huts, or tepees.
  • Hunters and gatherers with mobile or semi-nomadic patterns.
• Technology:
  • Basic stone and bone tools; crude axes used for hunting.
• Subsistence:
  • Hunting of birds and wild animals; gathering plant foods.
• Fire:
  • Controlled use of fire to cook meat and process resources.
• Early art:
  • Paleolithic people were among the first to leave behind art.
  • Used mixtures of minerals, ochres, burnt bone meal, charcoal with water, blood, animal fats, and tree saps to etch humans, animals, and signs.
  • Also carved small figurines from stone, clay, bones, and antlers.
• End of Paleolithic:
  • End of the last Ice Age caused climate change and rising sea levels, contributing to mammal extinctions and human migration.

Mesolithic Period

• Timeframe: roughly $1.0 \times 10^4 \text{ B.C.}$ to $8.0 \times 10^3 \text{ B.C.}$.
• Tooling:
  • Small, refined stone tools; polished variants.
  • Tools with points attached to antlers, bone, or wood for spears and arrows.
• Lifestyle:
  • Nomadic or semi-nomadic camps near rivers and water sources.
• Agriculture:
  • Introduction of agriculture during this period, enabling more permanent settlements.

Neolithic Period

• Transition: roughly $8.0 \times 10^3 \text{ B.C.}$ to $3.0 \times 10^3 \text{ B.C.}$
• Key shifts:
  • Shift from hunter-gatherer to agriculture and food production.
  • Domestication of animals; cultivation of cereal grains.
• Tools and technology:
  • Polished hand axes; adzes used for ploughing and tilling the land.
• Settlement patterns:
  • Settlements established in plains; rise of more permanent villages.
• Cultural advances:
  • Developments in farming, home construction, and art (pottery, sewing, weaving).

The Bronze Age

• Timeframe: roughly $3{,}000 \text{ B.C.}$ to $1{,}300 \text{ B.C.}$
• Metalworking advances:
  • Discovery of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin).
  • Bronze replaced stone for tools and weapons.
• Technological innovations:
  • Ox-drawn plow and the wheel.
• Architecture and art:
  • Inventions of the potter’s wheel; textiles (wool clothing like skirts, kilts, tunics, cloaks).
  • Dwellings evolved into roundhouses with circular stone walls and thatched or turf roofs; hearths present.
  • Growth of villages and cities.
• Governance, religion, and writing:
  • Organized government, law, warfare, and beginnings of religion.
  • Early writing in the era, including Egyptian hieroglyphs and petroglyphs (rock engravings).
  • Earliest written accounts are dated to this era, signaling the onset of more complex record-keeping.

The Iron Age

• Timeframe: roughly $1{,}300 \text{ B.C.}$ to $9{,}00 \text{ B.C.}$
• Iron technology:
  • Discovery and forging of iron; iron initially valued as more precious than gold.
  • Wrought iron was later supplanted by steel with advances in smelting.
• Architecture and urban planning:
  • Mass production of steel tools and weapons; four-room houses; stables; hill forts; royal palaces and temples.
  • Early city planning with organized streets and water systems.
• Culture and writing:
  • Agriculture, art, and religion become more sophisticated.
  • Writing systems and written documentation, including alphabets, begin to emerge, ushering in the Early Historical Period.

Sumerian Civilization

• Geographic and political context:
  • The people known as Sumerians controlled the area by $3{,}000 \text{ B.C.}$.
  • Located in the Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
  • City-states included Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Kish, Ur, and the very first true city, Uruk.
• Cultural significance:
  • Sumerians are credited with innovations in language, governance, and architecture;
  • They are considered the creators of civilization as understood by modern humans.
• Historical trajectory:
  • Sumerian control lasted for a short period before the Babylonians took charge in $2004 \text{ B.C.}$.

Sumerian Civilization Details

• Early settlement and Ubaid culture:
  • Sumer was first settled between $4500 \text{ B.C.}$ and $4000 \text{ B.C.}$, with earlier movements preceding this period.
• Ubaid contributions:
  • Farming and cattle-raising; weaving; carpentry and pottery; beer production.
  • Villages and towns organized around Ubaid farming communities.
• Notable ruler:
  • Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, rose to prominence around $2700 \text{ B.C.}$.

The Sumerian Language

• Longevity and origins:
  • The Sumerian language is the oldest linguistic record, appearing around $3100 \text{ B.C.}$ and dominating Mesopotamia for about $1{,}000 \text{ years}$.
  • It was largely replaced by Akkadian around $2000 \text{ B.C.}$ but persisted as a written language in cuneiform for another approximately $2{,}000 \text{ years}$.
• Significance of writing:
  • Writing enabled meticulous record-keeping from rulers to farmers and ranchers.
• Oldest laws:
  • The oldest written laws date back to $2400 \text{ B.C.}$ in Ebla with the Code of Er-Nammu inscribed on tablets.

Sumerian Daily Life and Pictographs

• Daily-life drawings and signs:
  • Sumerians drew objects from daily life: head, cows, fish, birds, sun.
  • They illustrated ideas like eating, speaking, and working using abstract symbols and combinations.
• Complexity of early pictographs:
  • Early pictograms were complex; MacKay (1995) described that each object could convey abstract ideas or idea combinations.
• Sign meanings and composition:
  • Carving began with combination signs to represent multiple meanings.
  • Example: carving of mountain symbols with a woman depicted “woman slavery” in some interpretations.
• Legal texts:
  • Code of Er-Nammu referenced earlier in this section as part of early Sumerian law traditions.

The Sumerian Writing System and Cuneiform

• Ideograms and sound-signs:
  • Sumerian writing involved ideograms: symbols that represent ideas without words.
  • Ideograms simplified the system; a symbol could denote a concept or object.
• From ideograms to phonetics:
  • Carving or symbol sketches could also represent sounds; the system evolved to encode phonetic values.
• Development and symbol count:
  • Over roughly $500 \text{ years}$, the writing system developed into cuneiform with about $200 \text{ symbols}$.
• Timeline of writing:
  • By $3000 \text{ B.C.}$, Sumerians had developed an overall writing system.
• Cuneiform origins and expansion:
  • Cuneiform appeared as far back as $4000 \text{ B.C.}$ in pictographic tablets, later adapted to Akkadian and expanded beyond Mesopotamia starting around $3000 \text{ B.C.}$

The Mesopotamian Region and Inventions

• Quote to note:
  • "The people of Sumer had an unusual flair for technological invention." (ALIYO)
• Mesopotamia geography and name:
  • Mesopotamia means between the rivers; formed from words meso (between) and potamos (river).
  • In the present day, the region includes parts of Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, and Syria.

Mesopotamian Glory and Decline

• Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon:
  • The glory of Mesopotamian civilization peaked during the long reign of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon; Babylon became the richest city in the world.
• Decline and succession:
  • The Mesopotamian region gradually perished as it came under the influence of Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Mesopotamian Cylinder Seals

• Purpose and use:
  • Cylinder seals provided a forgery-proof method for sealing documents and proving authenticity; acted as a personal trademark.
  • In use for over $3000 \text{ years}$, these cylinders bore images and writing etched into their surfaces.

Cylinder Seal Characteristics

• Form and wear:
  • Cylinders could be worn on a string around the neck or wrist via a hollow perforation.
• Significance:
  • Prized as ornaments and status symbols; served as unique personal symbols.
• Practical use:
  • Used to seal damp clay on doors when occupants were away, among other sealing tasks.

Cylinder Seal Design Evolution

• Early engraving themes:
  • Early engravings depicted kings, cattle, and mythic creatures.
• Later engraving themes:
  • The seal owner was often depicted; a man fighting a battle or killing a wild animal could be shown, reflecting status or identity.

Closing Notes

• The arc from prehistoric to early civilizations shows a progression from tool-making and art to sophisticated writing, governance, and urban planning.
• Writing emerges as a transformative technology enabling administration, culture, and history to be recorded across civilizations.

References to Illustrative Artifacts

• Cave paintings cited:
  • Lascaux, France: Cow and horse cave painting dated to around $1.5 \times 10^4 \text{ B.C.}$ (approximately $15{,}000 \text{ B.C.}$).
  • Bhimbetka Caves, central India: examples noted as significant across eras of the Stone Age.

Note on Visual Examples Requested (Page 7)

• Task: Find three cave painting examples across every Stone Age era with locations and painting names.
• Example listed: Lascaux, France — Cow and horse painting dated to $1.5 \times 10^4 \text{ B.C.}$ (about $15{,}000 \text{ B.C.}$).

End of Notes