AP World History: Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution is characterized by several major developments

• Agriculture

• Pastoralism

• Specialization of labor

• towns and cities

• governments

• religions

• technological innovations

Hunter-foragers gave up their nomadic way of life to stay in one place and take up agriculture

• People found they had a surplus of food, more than they needed for themselves

• Early farmers domesticated crops, the natural diversity of plants in a region decreased, and with that came reductions in the diversity of insects and animals that depended on the other crops

• Diets of people less diversified, overall the farmers’ diets lacked the variety of full-time hunter-forager

• People began to tame wild animals so they could be brought up to live with humans (domestication)

• Domestication: employed dogs to assist with hunting and to provide warnings about the approach of dangerous animals, domesticated animals provided labor or food

• Nomadic pastoralism, based on people moving herds of animals from pasture to pasture, they were mobile, they controlled their food supply, made the shift away from hunting-foraging hoping to create a more dependable food supply themselves, affected the environment dramatically

• Pastoralists have played an important role in spreading ideas and trading goods among people

• The growth of agriculture and pastoralism reduce plant and animal diversity

• For the first time in history, workers were free to focus on tasks other than producing food

• Specialization of labor

• The surplus of food and goods, combined with the need for religious ceremonies and a rudimentary system of taxation, led to the invention of writing.

• The development of writing marked the transition from prehistory to history.

• The food surplus encouraged both growth in population and an opportunity to do work not related to producing food

• Social Stratification: Some people accumulated wealth in the form of jewelry and other coveted items by building larger and better-decorated houses

• the elite were men

• The surplus of food also led to the creation of governmental institutions

• The leaders of farming communities and towns developed the earliest forms of government

• As people tried to persuade the spirits of nature to help with their crops and herds, religious ceremonies became more elaborate

• The Hebrews emerged under the new leadership of Abraham, they were among the first religious groups to be monotheistic

• Zoroastrianism, which focused on the eternal battle between two forces, one good and one evil

• Most people learned about new technology through trade, war, or other forms of contact with other societies

  • Invented waterproof clay pots

  • improved on the drilling stick, creating a plow

  • The development of the wheel with an axle revolutionized transportation and trade

The Sumerians (Mesopotamia)

• Geography of Mesopotamia presented numerous agricultural benefits

• The water a fertile soil of Mesopotamia, combined with a warm climate, provided the resources the Neolithic people who lived in the region needed to begin farming

• Sumerians built cities, canals, and dams

• The first complex governments arose to coordinate these tasks

• City-States, the first rulers were the city states’ priests

• To defend themselves, they built massive stone walls around their cities and organized armies

• Religion and politics were blended in Sumerian civilization (Kings were also high priests)

• This practice increased social stability, since the king was perceives as being a direct link between the people and the gods.

Sumerian Religion

• The people of Sumer were polytheistic

• Believed that the gods controlled the natural forces around them

• Sumerians made offerings and prayed that the gods would cause the rivers to flood at the right times for growing crops

• Satisfying the gods was very important to Sumerians

• Constructed monumental architecture that was religious (Temples, altars, large stepped pyramids (ziggurats)

• Believed that the gods punished humans in this life for bad behavior

• did not believe in reward or punishment after death

Economy/Trade

• Sumerians learned to farm the land intensely

• As a result, they were able to produce an agricultural surplus

• Division of Labor, engaged in work other than producing food

• Agricultural surplus allowed them to trade extensively

• Major trade goods included gold from Egypt and tin from Persia

• Trade items were used by artisans to create impressive and ornate sculptures and jewelry, which most had a religious significance

Social Structure

• Became more specialized at their work, and distinctions between classes became sharper

• A new class of nobles and wealthy landowners joined priests and kings at the top of society

• Hired workers made up the lower class, bottom were slaves

• 40 percent of the people living in Sumerian cities may have been slaves

• Upper-class Sumerian women enjoyed some freedom

  • they could own property

  • have incomes separate from those of their husbands

  • Only their boys attended school

  • Girls were educated at home

  • All marriages were arranged by men

Cultural and Scientific Contributions

• They created the world’s first writing system, called cuneiform

• Development of a complex writing system required the emergence of a separate class of people who were skilled at cuneiform (scribes)

• Made advances in technology, including carts and metal plows, sundials, 12 month calendar, Sumerian number system

Sumerian Decline

• attracted other groups who wanted to control the region

• The Sumerian city-states fell to invaders around 2300 BCE

• The culture they developed became the core and foundation of later empires in the region

The Babylonian Empire

• The bow gave its first users an advantage over rivals

• Persian people now Iran invaded and took control of Mesopotamia

• The most powerful king was Hammurabi

  • abolished local governments and appointed officials who were responsible only to him

  • Reorganized the tax structure

  • The taxes were used primarily to maintain irrigation canals to improve agricultural productivity

  • The code of Hammurabi, 282 laws carved into stone monuments

  • The main purpose was to protect people’s rights, the punishment should fit the crime

  • System of justice, was not as violent or unpredictable as the retribution people often carried out when they felt injured

  • He brought greater stability and justice to society

Society and Culture

• Patriarchal

• Women enjoyed more rights than Sumer women

  • could be merchants, traders, and even scribes

  • Marriages were arranged by parents

  • could leave her husband if he was cruel, although she could not divorce him

  • if she did leave him she could take her property with her

Advancements

• they devised a lunar calendar

Ancient Egypt

Introduction of Agriculture and Pastoralism

• Began to practice agriculture and pastoralism

• Domesticated animals

• Egyptian civilization became the core and foundation of later ways of life in the Mediterranean world

• Dug irrigation canals to spread the floodwaters and increase the amount of land they could farm

Transportation, Trade, and Geography

• Wind blows south through the Nile Valley from the Mediterranean Sea, this allowed early Egyptians to use the Nile River for transportation and trade

• They not only traded locally but traded through the region of northeast Africa, traders engages in interregional trade with Mesopotamia.

• The dry lands to the west and east provided natural barriers against attacks

Government

• The need to work together to feed this larger population cause local chiefs to emerge

• King Menes united the two kingdoms (Upper and Lower Egypt), a turning point in Egyptian History

Old Kingdom

• Began developing a strong central government

• Theocrats, rulers holding both religious and political power

• Undertake extensive building projects, including the famous pyramids

• They supported great efforts to preserve and honor their bodies after death

• Each pharaoh’s body was preserved as a mummy and placed in a pyramid with jewelry and other items for use in the afterlife.

• All land belonged to the pharaoh, over time, these lands and positions began to be passed from father to son

• As the noble class grew stronger, some of them began to challenge the authority of the pharaohs

• The pharaoh’s power was weakened by drought, which resulted in famine and starvation which led to civil unrest

• Ultimately, this led to the collapse of the Old Kingdom

• For more than 100 years, civil wars swept Egypt as nobles competed for power and the throne

Middle Kingdom

• Pharaohs had a different approach, to encourage loyalty, they had statues and other art created that pictured them as wise and caring protectors of the people

• They were part of a great renewal in art, religion, and literature

• Temples to the Gods were built during this period

• Expanded their country’s borders

• Huge irrigation projects that increased the size of Egypt’s farmlands

• Ended after an invasion

• Technology (horse-drawn carriages and bows and arrows) used to defeat Egyptians

New Kingdom

• Ramses built more temples ad erected more statues than any other pharaoh

• Although he made peace with the attacking Hittites, his successors lacked his power and skills

• After his death, Egypt began a long period of decline

• Egypt did not gain its independence until modern times

Social Hierarchy

• Complex

• Except slaves, all classes of people were equal under the law, but Egypt’s class system was very rigid

• Difficult to advance from one class to a higher one

• Egyptian women had more rights and freedom than most ancient women

  • They could own property, make contracts, divorce and pursue legal disputes in court

  • Most women were not educated

  • Usually did not take part in government and had little political power

Religion

• Polytheistic

• People believed that the god was present in objects. They prayed and made offerings to the god to win the god’s favor and protection

• Believed in life after death

• believed the body must be preserved for the dead to have an afterlife

• Mummification, only the rich could afford

Culture

• Stable culture developed over time

• Culture remained largely intact, even when Egypt was ruled by outsiders

• Invaders often adopted aspects of Egyptian culture

Writing

• Hieroglyphics

• They mashed papyrus and used its fibers to create a type of paper

• Wrote on the inside walls of tombs of the mummified dead to tell stories of the dead

Scientific Contribution

• developed a number system based on 10 that was very much like the system we use today

• their knowledge of geometry helped them to build the pyramids and to restore the boundaries of fields after a flooding of the Nile

• Developed a calendar based on a year that contained 365 days

• Created to tack the stars for religious purposes and to monitor the flooding of the Nile

• The practice of mummification led to much knowledge of the human body, Egyptian physicians were able to set broken broken bones, amputate limbs, and stitch up wounds

Indus Valley Civilizations

• developed near water and became the core and foundation of later civilizations in the region

• Written Language: Pictographs

• Archaeological remains reveal evidence of an advanced civilization with divisions of labor

• Social Hierarchy existed (we know this because the foundations of homes in the Harappa’s center were found to be varying in sizes

• Cities must have had sophisticated technology and urban planning

Agriculture and the Environment

• providing ample amount of food to these urban areas

• traded by sea and land

• Environmental degradation, caused the gradual decline and eventual disappearance of the Harappan and Mohenjo-Daro civilizations

• Deforestation cause the soil to erode

• Floods could have destroyed their cities as well as the cities remains. Earthquakes are considered to be another possibility

Aryan Migrations and Interactions

• The nomadic, pastoral Aryans brought the first horses into India

• Aryan settlements and culture spread east along the Ganges river and its surrounding Plains

• Each Aryan tribe was divided into clans

• the people had no central government

• Eventually, most of them settled in villages and began to farm, intermingling with the native people

• Poor transportation made trade difficult

• Early trade was by barter- a system which one thing is exchanged for another

• Use of silver and copper coins led to an increase in trade and in the number craftspeople and merchants

Language

• Sanskrit, sacred language

• Developed a writing system

• also had a commonly used tongue which would evolve into Hindi

• Sanskrit shares traits with Latin, another Indo-European Language

Religion

• The Vedas, a collection of Aryan religious hymns, poems, and songs

• proper priestly behavior, which included performing several daily routines honoring the gods

• Upanishads, a collection of religious thought that illuminated several new religious concepts: brahma, dharma, karma, moksha

• Brahma is an overarching, universal soil that connects all creatures on Earth

• One must try to escape a cycle of life and death and join the universal soul, brahma

• One must perform righteous duties and deeds, known as one dharma. Dharma determines one’s karma, or fate, in the next life

• A person who performs good deeds throughout life, is believe to have good karma, which in turn may help his or her soul in a future life

• Soul’s ultimate goal should be to maintain Moksha, or eternal peace and unity with brahma

• Believers can attain moksha through intense meditation and the casting odd of worldly pleasures

• The Upanishads is a foundational text for the set of religious beliefs that later became known as Hinduism

China’s First Civilization

• Two geographical features protected China from invasion, The Gobi Desert in the west and the Himalayas, in the southwest

• The first silk production also began around this time period, people wove fine silk cloth from the threads of silkworms, which fed on the leaves of the region’s mulberry trees

• Villages along the Huang He were sometimes attacked by nomadic people who lived in the nearby hills

• Yu brought order to the region, he organized projects to build roads to encourage trade, create ditches to control flooding, and drain swamps to create farmland

• Organized region’s villages into zones for defense and placed each zone under a local leader who reported to him

• This is how the Xia Dynasty began

• There was no writing system at the time

The Shang Dynasty

• Tang

• Shang rulers conquered neighboring peoples, establishing an empire

• Shang kings wielded tremendous economic and religious power

Economy, Technology, and Trade

• primarily based on agriculture

• Bronze technology

• Shang rulers controlled the copper and tin mines in China, they kept a monopoly over the production of bronze in the country

• Their nobles waged frequent wars on enemies in side and outside the empire, capturing prisoners who were then enslaved or slaughtered as sacrifices to the gods

Religion

• The Shang were polytheistic

• Believed that several different gods controlled the forces of nature

• Efforts to communicate with the gods produced the earliest known examples of writing from the Shang period

• Ancestor Veneration, offerings to their ancestors hoping to win their favor because they believed that the spirits of ancestors could speak to the gods for them

• There was no organized priesthood in ancient China

• When a king or noble died, some of his servants and pets were killed so they could travel with him to the next world

Cultural and Scientific Contributions

• Pictographs

• Chinese writing system was complicated an only scribes could read and write

• The writing system is the forerunner of the script used by Chinese today

• calendar had 12 alternating months of 29 and 30 days

• Shang artisans created bronze castings, ivory carvings, silk garments, and white clay pottery

• Chinese musical instruments, drums, bells, stone chimes, ocarina

End of Shang Dynasty

• The Shang dynasty became weaker, and a miliary man names Wu raised an army and challenged Shang rule

Zhou Dynasty

• longest dynasty in Chinese history

• Known as China’s first golden age

• Success resulted from the kings’ abilities to centralize and hold power, bringing stability to the region

• Introduction of a concept called the Mandate of Heaven

  • Idea that just ruler’s power was bestowed by the gods

  • invasions or natural events were often taken as signs that a ruler no longer had the Mandate of Heaven

  • The overthrow of rulers has been justified by the charge that a particular ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven

Government

• the kingdom divided into many regions, each under control of relatives or loyal friends who owed allegiance to the king

• Much like city-states

• Zhou kings made alliances with kings who rules territory along their borders

• These alliances helped to shield the empire from invasion by nomadic peoples from the north and west

• Created the basics of feudalism, which would reappear in many cultures later in history

• Governmental system broke down over time as regional authorities began to assert themselves

• Regional rulers grabbed centers that produced iron and bronze weapons, which were sometimes then used against the Zhou rulers and each other

Trade and Agriculture

• Internal trade expanded and there was some foreign trade

• Chinese money was in the form of copper coins

• Development of iron technology changed Chinese agriculture

• Iron tools allowed the Chinese to build dikes, reservoirs, and irrigation canals to better control their water supply

• More food was able to be produced with iron tools which resulted in a steady population growth

• Citizens had a devote a number of days of labor each year to work on roads, canals, and other local projects

Urbanization

• The trade among the regions led to growth of towns and some cities

Zhou Achievements

• large number of technological achievements

• Zhou military benefited from the invention of the crossbow and the iron sword, armies began using mounted cavalry in this period

• Farmers developed plows and improved irrigation systems in order to better exploit the water of the Huang he and Yangtze rivers

• Roads were improved which bolstered trade and brought increased contact with outsiders

Decline of the Zhou Dynasty

• The Zhou kings had begun to lose control

• Uprisings by local leaders combined with invasions from the west combined to weaken the central government

• Zhou kings had little power outside their own city-state

• Other states of the Zhou Kingdom fought among themselves for control