Exhaustive Guide to Early Humans and the Beginning of Civilisation

Foundations and Study of Early Human History

• Early human history encompasses the extensive period before the development of writing, reconstructed primarily through archaeological evidence.
• Written languages emerged at different times globally. One of the earliest systems belongs to the Sindhu–Sarasvatĩ (Indus Valley or Harappan) Civilisation. This script, known as Sindhu lipi, remains undeciphered and is characterized as pictographic.
• Deciphered early writing systems include the Sumerian cuneiform (Mesopotamia) and Egyptian hieroglyphics, both flourishing approximately $5000$ years ago, marking the start of the historical period.
• The Brahmi script appeared around $400\text{ BCE}$ in southern India and the Ganga Valley. It was later formalized by Emperor AŖhoka in the $3\text{rd century BCE}$.

Biological and Cultural Evolution

• Evolution is categorized into two main processes:
  • Biological Evolution: The gradual physical and genetic progression of ancestors known as australopithecines (derived from australis meaning 'southern' and pithecus meaning 'primates') into modern human beings, Homo sapiens.
  • Cultural Evolution: The process of adaptation to surroundings during the Quaternary Period (the last $26\text{ lakh years}$, or $2,600,000$ years). This involved the development of tools, techniques, and technology to survive changing environments.
• A significant transition occurred as humans moved from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to agriculture and food production. The ability to produce surplus goods established the foundation for civilisation.

Temporal Divisions of Human History

• History is divided into two major phases based on the invention of writing:
  • Before Writing ($3\text{ million years ago}$ to $5000\text{ years ago}$): Accounts for more than $99\%$ of human history. Reconstruction relies on material objects (artefacts) like tools. The thoughts and ideas of people are difficult to interpret, and dating is only approximate.
  • After Writing (The last $5000\text{ years}$ to present): Accounts for less than $1\%$ of human history. Sources include both material remains and written literature, which provide names, specific events, and social/cultural details. Dating is relatively accurate due to documented records of events like coronations and wars.

The Dispersal of Human Ancestors

• Hominins: A group including modern humans and early human-like ancestors characterized as tool makers. Stone tools, described as 'extra-corporal limbs', appeared around $3.3\text{ million years ago}$.
• Evolutionary Origins: Primary human evolution occurred in Africa.
• Migration Waves:
  • First Wave ($\sim 2\text{ million years ago}$): Homo erectus (upright/bipedal) moved out of Africa using stone tools like handaxes and cleavers. Evidence is found across Asia and Europe.
  • Second Wave ($\sim 125,000\text{ years ago}$): Homo sapiens (modern humans), who evolved in Africa around $300,000\text{ years ago}$, began migrating and eventually spread globally.
• Specific Ancestors:
  • Homo habilis (handy man): Lived in Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania and Kenya) $2$ to $6\text{ million years ago}$; created chopper stone tools.
  • Homo erectus: Lived in Eastern African Rift Valley $\sim 2\text{ million years ago}$; invented handaxes and cleavers.
  • Homo neanderthalensis: Lived in Europe and Southwest Asia until $\sim 40,000\text{ years ago}$; made Middle Palaeolithic flake tools.

Periods in Early Human History

• Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age): Characterized by a hunting-gathering lifestyle and simple stone tools.
• Mesolithic: A transitional phase using microlithic (tiny stone) tools.
• Neolithic (New Stone Age): Defined by the 'Neolithic Revolution' involving a shift to agriculture, animal domestication, settled life, and polished stone tools.
• Chalcolithic (Copper and Stone Age): Marked by the use of copper alongside stone tools and early metallurgy (extraction/shaping of metal).
• Bronze Age: Involves bronze metallurgy (alloying copper and tin), expansion of trade, towns, and early civilisations.
• Iron Age: Defined by widespread iron metallurgy (smelting iron), leading to stronger tools, weapons, and advanced societies.

Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Developments in India

• Palaeolithic Settlements: Oldest settlements date to $2\text{ million years ago}$. Key sites include Attirampakkam (Tamil Nadu, $1.5$–$1.7\text{ million years ago}$) and Isampur (Karnataka, $1.2\text{ million years ago}$). Tools were made from quartzite and limestone.
• Tool Use: Handaxes, cleavers, scrapers, and choppers were used for butchering meat, digging tubers, scraping skin, and extracting marrow from bones.
• Advancements: Development of projectile points (borers/scrapers), the bow and arrow, and microblade tools. Humans began decorating cave walls, using body pigments, and creating beads from shell, bone, and stone.
• Mesolithic Transition ($\sim 12,000\text{ years ago}$): A warmer climate led to expanded forests and grasslands. Microlithic tools were used to gather aquatic food and fish. This period saw the first population explosion. Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh) is a major site for Mesolithic cave art.

The Neolithic Revolution and the Indian Subcontinent

• Features: Domestication of plants and animals, development of tools for food processing (querns), and earthenware pottery.
• Mehrgarh: Located on the Bolan River (present-day Pakistan), it is the oldest Neolithic site in the subcontinent ($7000\text{ BCE}$).
  • Structure: Sun-dried brick houses and granaries.
  • Agriculture: Cultivation of wheat and barley; raising sheep, goats, and zebu humped bulls.
  • Ornaments: Lapis lazuli, carnelian, and shells.
  • Transition: Became a Chalcolithic site by $4000\text{ BCE}$ with the production of copper objects.

The Sindhu–Sarasvatĩ Civilisation

• Chronology:
  • Pre-Harappan Phase (Bhirrana and Kunal): $7000$ to $5500\text{ BCE}$.
  • Early Harappan Phase: Flourished from $4000\text{ BCE}$; featured regional pottery, perimeter walls, and early use of seals.
  • Mature Harappan (Urban Phase): $2600$ to $1900\text{ BCE}$.
  • Late Harappan: $1900$ to $1300\text{ BCE}$.
• Economy and Craft: Crafts included pottery, shell work, and semi-precious stone bead production (found at Harappa, Kunal, and Datrana). Advanced trade was supported by a standard system of weights:
  • Binary multiples for small units: $1$, $2$, $4$, $8$, $16$, etc.
  • Multiples of ten for larger denominations.
• Agriculture: Fields at Kalibangan show horizontal and vertical furrows, indicating double-cropping (Rabi and Kharif) practised as early as $5000$ years ago.

Mesopotamian Civilisation

• Geography: Known as the "land in between" (Greek), located between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the 'Fertile Crescent'. Modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, parts of Turkey, and Iran.
• Chronology: Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian city-states emerged from $3500\text{ BCE}$.
• Sumerians:
  • Innovation: Developed dam/canal irrigation, used mud and burnt bricks.
  • Architecture: Built Ziggurats, stepped pyramid-shaped temples that served as social and economic hubs. Entry was restricted to the ruling class (priests/priestesses).
  • Writing: Invented Cuneiform ($\sim 3200\text{ BCE}$), a wedge-shaped script pressed into clay using a stylus.
  • Technology: Invented the wheeled cart, sailboat, $60\text{-minute hour}$, $60\text{-second minute}$, and $360\text{-degree circle}$.
• Akkadians: Emerged in $2334\text{ BCE}$ under King Sargon. Established a dynastic empire. Trade records mention Meluhha (identified as the Sindhu–Sarasvatĩ civilisation), Dilmun (Bahrain), and Magan (Oman).
• Assyrians: Dominant northern power until $1700\text{ BCE}$.
• Babylonians: Gained power from $1900\text{ BCE}$. King Hammurabi ($1792\text{ BCE}$) issued the Code of Hammurabi, a foundational model for legal systems.

Egyptian Civilisation

• Geography: Flourished along the Nile River. Egyptians called their land 'Kemet' (the black) after the fertile black soil. Divided into Lower Egypt (north) and Upper Egypt (south).
• Writing and Records:
  • Hieroglyphics were deciphered using the Rosetta Stone (found in $1799$ by Pierre Bouchard, deciphered in $1822$ by Jean-Franois Champollion).
  • Papyrus: Paper made from the papyrus plant used to store stories, cures (Papyrus Ebers), and fables.
• Structure of Society:
  • Hierarchy: Pharaoh at the top, followed by officials/priests, free landholders/artisans, and serfs/slaves at the bottom.
  • Women: Enjoyed rights to property and business (e.g., Queen Cleopatra).
• Religion and Afterlife: Mummification involved preserving the body (removing organs except the heart) for the 'ka' (spiritual double). Burial evolved from mastabas to pyramids, such as the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.
• Science: Developed a $365\text{-day calendar}$ ($12\text{ months} \times 30\text{ days} + 5\text{ extra days}$) based on the rising of the star Sirius.

Chinese Civilisation

• Geography: Developed along the Huang He (Yellow River) and Yangtze River starting around $7000\text{ BCE}$.
• Dynasties:
  • Shang ($1600$–$1046\text{ BCE}$) and Zhou ($1046$–$256\text{ BCE}$): Bronze Age dynasties.
  • Qin ($221$–$206\text{ BCE}$): Credited with unifying China; origin of the name 'China'.
  • Han ($206\text{ BCE}$–$220\text{ CE}$): Iron Age dynasty.
• Writing: Logographic script (symbols represent words, not sounds). Earliest information comes from 'oracles' — symbols carved on animal bones/shells and heated to foretell the future via cracks.
• Governance: Introduced civil services through public examinations in archery, music, and calculations. Zhou rulers were kings-priests appointed by heaven.
• Inventions and Trade:
  • Silk: Developed in the Neolithic period ($4000$–$3000\text{ BCE}$) and became a major trade item (the 'Silk Route') during the Han dynasty.
  • Craft: Specialized in jade ritual objects and bronze ritual vessels.
  • Protection: The Great Wall of China, begun in $680\text{ BCE}$ to protect against nomads, was expanded until the $17\text{th century CE}$.
  • Economy: First to introduce paper currency and a metal-based money economy ($5\text{th century BCE}$).

Questions & Discussion

• Life after farming: Did life become easier or more challenging? (Reasons include food security vs. labor intensity).
• Environment: What opportunities and challenges do river valleys offer early farming communities?
• Historical Classification: Why do historians use terms like Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age? (Reflects technological progress based on materials used).
• Neolithic Life: Imagining a day as a Neolithic farmer vs. a hunter-gatherer.
• Deciphering Scripts: How would our understanding of Harappa change if the script was deciphered?
• Comparing Civilisations: Comparison of social hierarchies in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China.
• Innovation: Identifying a single innovation from early civilisations that permanently changed the world.
• Hammurabi's Code: Discussions on the fairness of early legal systems across different social sections.