my notes for this class for anyone who might find them useful.

957 Pages·2017·15.67 MB·English

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Lecture I: Course Introduction

Definitions: complex society involving classes, state organization, specialization of labor,
urbanism, concentration of surpluses, literacy, monumental building, long-distance trade,
arithmetic, geometry and astronomy

Differences between culture and civilization
Historic vs. pre-historic societies and cultures
Literate and pre-literate: modes of thought
Different peoples-different civilizations
Environment and response
Isolation and modes of thought
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Lecture 2: Human Evolution

Questions about the text: Why was Homo habilis important? When and where so most
scientists believe Homo sapiens first emerged? What roles did women play in the Paleolithic
Age? What were the main changes that happened in the Neolithic Age? What do we think
may have been the significance of the female statuettes found at Çatal Hüyuk and other
Neolithic sites?

Lecture topics:
Evidence for evolution
Tracing features which lead toward modern humans
Origins of humanity
Australopithecus afarensis
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens neanderthalis
Cro-Magnon (Old Stone Age)
Evidence of culture
Religion
Art

Earth’s age: 6 billion years?
Beginnings of animal life 500 million years ago

When do humans appear?

(cid:0) start with Timeline

evidence for evolution: fossil and genetic
humans share 98% of their genetic material with the great African apes
Preponderance of “junk” DNA reflects random processes of evolution
small numbers explain “missing links”
timing: many methods, correlation crucial
nevertheless many filled in

seeds and bones, diet
pollens help give time of year

(cid:0) map of Rift Valley button PJM-9
importance of Rift Valley, East Africa,
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania,

(cid:0) Physical Difference menu

(cid:0) Three skulls 114-57
Three Hominid skulls from East Africa. Left to right: Afarensis (Lucy), Homo Erectus, Homo
Sapiens.
Brain size more than tripled during the 3.0-million-year period of human evolution represented
by this trio of skulls.
1. Australopithecus afarensis 3.0-million-year-old composite skull
cranial capacity=400 cubic centimenters
2. Homo erectus (center), evolved some 1.6 million years ago
average brain volume of 850 cc.
3. Modern Homo sapiens (right) arose some 100,000 years ago
brain averages 1,360 cc.
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(cid:0) Hands - chimp, gorilla, human 106-48.hands
2. Hand (opposable thumb)
(cid:0) Human-gorilla structural comparison 114-89
3. Erect Posture & Bipedalism
changes in spine
foramen magnum (hole where spinal column merges with brain, moved to allow upright
posture,
pelvis,
foot
(cid:0) faces
4. Face: jaw & teeth, facial angle, chin, eyes
chimpanzee vs. human
flat face
larger jaw for speech
whites around pupil make for expressiveness
Note: DON’T CLICK! NO PICTURE for the next one
5. Throat: larynx (larger, differently positioned, enables speech)
(cid:0) Australopithicine nuclear family 106-47
6. Heat diffusion capabilities
hairlessness major adaptation, sweat glands, can work, run for long periods without heat
exhaustion

(cid:0) male & female skulls 123-79
7. Sexual characterstics
Sexual dimorphism
disappearance of estrus
Note: DON’T CLICK! NO PICTURE for the next one
8. Neoteny
retention of juvenile characteristics
retardation of the maturation process, allows for brain growth, learning
(cid:0) Click each species name in turn
(cid:0) 3.5 million year-old footprints from Laetoli, Kenya
Fossil footprints show that hominids walked upright over 3 million years ago
(cid:0) Background: Australopithicus afarensis reconstruction, showing they walked upright. Essentially
human skeleton, with ape-like skull. 114-56
In early Pleistocene=Paleolithic (old stone age), over a million years ago, Australopithecines in
East Africa whose only survival advantages lay in their dexterity and intelligence began to make
tools out of stone, wood, and bone
(cid:0) Comparison of female Australopithecus afarensis and Homo sapiens skeletons 114-63
Lucy skeleton was only 3’ 8” tall; males nearly twice as large as females (at least 13 specimens
found)
(cid:0) Back to Timeline
(cid:0) Choose Austrolopithecus Africanus, click
(cid:0) Australopiticus africanus with weapon 106-1
note that early reconstructions feature males, weapons
(cid:0) Australopithicine nuclear family - (heat diffusion) 106-47
Same slide as earlier, for heat diffusion
more recent reconstruction emphasizes family
note child clinging to father
but may or may not have been our ancestors
the Leakeys think not
(cid:0) Back to Index
(cid:0) Austalopithecus robustus
A powerfully built hominid, probably not an ancestor of humanity
but may have competed with them
Strong but not as skilled, victimized by large cats
(cid:0) Homo habilis
first true human species: 2.2 to 1.6 million years ago
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earliest member of the genus Homo
classified in 1964 by Louis Leakey
Specimens have been found in Olduvai Garge in Tanzania and in deposits from Lake Turkana in
Kenya.
(cid:0) Homo habilis skull 106-13
the oldest complete skull of early man
(cid:0) Full length skeleton - Homo Habilis 114-62
Recovered fossil bones assembled into the skeleton of a 1.65 million-year-old Homo erectus boy,
the most complete remains of an early human ever found.
approximately 12-years-old
a surprising five feet, four inches
males were still much larger than females
(cid:0) early stone tools 124-77
Olduwan stone tools (c. 2,300,000 B.P.), with a hammer to give them scale
(cid:0) Hide-slitting w/flake PJM-6
Crude chipped stone tools surprisingly effective
(cid:0) Homo habilis: hunter or scavenger? 106-44
Recent research suggests large animals were not hunted by humans until much later,
that these people lived largely through scavenging dead animals
not particularly ferocious
(cid:0) back to Timeline
(cid:0) Homo erectus
(cid:0) Run Homo Erectus Population animation
1.6 to 0.4 million years ago
Africa, Europe, China, Indonesia
his is the first species of humans to be represented by fossil remains outside of Africa
Tool-maker
(cid:0) skull 106-49-2
tools, bones, skull
Large-brained (900 - 1200 cc)
fifty per cent increase in brain size over Homo habilis.
(cid:0) male H. erectus with hand-axe 106-41
Reconstruction influenced by Raymond Dart
menacing male
used simple tools, but they did not improve over time
(cid:0) Discovery of fire 106-27
used fire.
(cid:0) H. erectus reconstructed skulls 106-19
series showing progressively flattened face
(cid:0) [D] bands homo erectus - Java man - hunting and gathering 106-21
as with all early humans, gathering more important than hunting,
women major contributors to food supply
(cid:0) Happy erectus PJM-5
propaganda painting from Taiyuan museum showing homo erectus claim
claim the first humans Chinese
Idyllic scene of men home from the hunt
but other evidence suggests cannibalism
Abundant use of fire in China at Choukoutien, near Beijing, 500,000 years ago
Use of fire, clearly common 200,000-300,000 years ago
(cid:0) return to index
(cid:0) Homo Sapiens (archaic)
pop-up only
400,000 to 30,000 years ago; Africa, Europe, Asia
shows continued growth of brain size, loss of bony brow ridges
somewhat more sophisticated tools, evidence of elements of human culture.
The old stone age occupied 99% of hominid history
(cid:0) Homo sapiens neanderthalis
@ 130,000 to 30,000 years ago
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Europe and Near East.
First fossil discovered in 1856
now known through remains of over 100 individuals.
Perhaps evolved in response to the ice age
(cid:0) skull 106-51
At first glance, Neanderthal skulls seem primitive, heavy, and crude, like Homo erectus, but
Neanderthals were as large-brained as modern humans--although the configuration of parts in
the brain is differently developed (the speech areas are not as developed and the forebrain is
smaller).
Growth in intelligence demanded larger skulls, which meant more prolonged childhood, females
nurturing young most of their lives, sex role division, social organization
(cid:0) Neanderthal withered arm PJM-58
important because it shows handicapped individuals could live to maturity,
must have been cared for, perhaps to mid-forties
(cid:0) group, cave entrance 106-25
(cid:0) Neanderthal women, distribution of food 114-100
More recent reconstruction
woman distributing food
emphasis on family life
(cid:0) Neanderthal pit trap - rhino 106-45
Hunted using pit traps, also stampeding wild horses over cliffs
Shift from the vegetarian diet of their ancestors contributed valuable protein to their diet,
encouraged selection for speed, cunning, skill

Neanderthal sites show the first evidence of burial of dead with various ritual objects, possibly
indicating complex religious beliefs;
No Neanderthal remains have yet been found in sites younger than 35,000 years ago--
about the time that fully modern human hunters, Cro-Magnon Man, enter Europe.
disappearance of Neanderthals was sudden
(cid:0) back to index
appears connected with the intrusion of fully modern humans into Europe
(cid:0) Homo Sapiens Sapiens
(cid:0) run Homo sapiens population animation
Human beings virtually identical anatomically with ourselves appeared about 30,000 or 40,000
years ago at the latest;
some evidence, particularly the genetic evidence of modern human populations, suggests their
appearance over 100,000 years ago in Africa.
(cid:0) Omo 1 skull 114-86
c. 130,000 B.P.
one of the earliest known examples of a modern human skull, completely modern.
below, a bola made of rope with stone weights (6 cm diameter) covered with rawhide.
The hunter whirls the bola over the head and throws it at game animals.
The weights wrap the rope around the legs of the game and bring it to the ground.
Flake tools c. 70,000 B. P.(cid:0)
(cid:0) three skeletons 106-15 (cid:0)
approximately 26,000 years before present
The male skulls were adorned with circles of arctic fox and wolf teeth and ivory bands
In the center is an individual of undetermined sex who had spinal scoliosis, an asymmetrical
skull and an underdeveloped right leg.
A male on the left, a stake apparently driven into his hip, reaches toward red ochre on the ground
(cid:0) burial of mammoth hunters 106-35
artist’s conception of burial in Czechoslovakia
Red ochre is being scattered over the body
which will then be covered with a mammoth's shoulder blade

1from the Howieson's Poort tradition, including two points, one chipped on both sides
2Multiple burial in a pit grave from Dolni Vestonice, discovered in 1986. Larger male lies face down. The
find is carbon-dated to approximately 26,000 years before present.
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(cid:0) Lascaux - man, bull, bird White-48
c. 15,000-10,000 B.C.
probably hunting aids
(cid:0) Cro-Magnon hunting group 106-38
Hunting encouraged social organization
territoriality, vulnerability of individuals also led to complex social systems
(cid:0) Cro-Magnon hunting group 106-30
(cid:0) mammoth PJM-1
(cid:0) Ivory needles (fitted clothes) PJM-2
Invention of sewing made possible warm clothing, migration to cooler climates, like Europe,
during Pleistocene, including the ice ages, last of which was 10,000 years ago
(cid:0) spear thrower with carved horses 89-14
sideways, with delicate carving
(cid:0) Magdalenian necklace (Dentalium, bear, & inc. lion) PJM-3
animal teeth necklace
(cid:0) Lascaux, people in painted cave, ceremony by fire light 106-33
artist’s reconstruction of Lascaux, ceremony, artist at work in background
(cid:0) Lascaux, Chinese horse 65-14
horses eaten, not ridden until much later
some stampeded over cliffs
(cid:0) Bison painting 12,000 years bp 106-39
one of the masterpieces of cave painting, great sense of form, action, power
(cid:0) Cave of the bull, Lascaux 65-15
photograph of cave interior
(cid:0) Detail of black bull, Lascaux 65-17
(cid:0) carved objects, female head, horse, bull 114-101
marvelous sculpture, Magdalenian
Simplified features of head make it look “modern”
(cid:0) bas relief Venus with horn 114-65
wide-hipped, heavy-breasted woman
(cid:0)"Venus" figures NG-Venus
upper right, the famous Venus of Willendorf
(cid:0)"shaman figure, animal costume 114-68
copied from wall painting
suggestion that this technique was used for hunting
(cid:0)"human figure with lion's head, 32,000 bp; Hohlenstein, Germany 106-16
(cid:0)"oldest human portrait, mammoth ivory 106-14
(cid:0) "human handprint 106-54

30,000 years ago first representative cave art
20,000 years ago emigration to New World
18,000 years ago Magdelenian (decorative arts, cave paintings: Altamira, etc.) and Mousterian
cultures
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Lecture 3: The Agricultural Revolution

Reading: 7-15
(cid:0) Cartridge: The Agricultural Revolution

Lecture Topics:
Hunter-Gatherers
Neolithic Revolution
Pastoralism
Impact on Environment
Agricultural Technology
major crops
major tools
flooding, irrigation
women in agriculture
evolution of the pottery kiln
the wheel
Early towns:
Jericho (Israel)
Çatal Hüyük (Turkey)
Ban-p’o (China)
Comparison of Eastern and Western Hemispheres
Social Differentiation

Agricultural revolution and change
(cid:0) starts with spinning earth, logo
Freeze globe and point to Mesopotamia
here’s where civilization began
(cid:0) color chart of beginning of agriculture
left hand end of bars indictes beginning of agriculture in each area
black line indicates beginning of civilization
(cid:0) modes of life button
Neolithic: 8000 BCE in Near East
(cid:0) Hunters, northern tundra of Eurasia 106-29
duck hunting
Early humans: hunting and gathering
(cid:0) Khoi-san—Hunter Gatherers from South Africa 114-03-2
note flimsy dwellings, low impact on environment
(cid:0) Lower Mesopotamia - swamp villages 114-7
Causes of agricultural revolution still uncertain
(cid:0) Run animation: Glacial Retreat
Retreat of the glaciers (see map on p. 8 of Greaves)
(cid:0) Run animation: Climate Change
Note Syrian desert barrier, Zagros mountains to the East, taller than the Rockies
spread of oak forests which produced edible nuts, fruits, wild cereal
grasses, good territory for pasture
Pastoralism—
Between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE various groups learned how to domesticate sheep, dogs, goats,
cattle, pigs and cultivate ancestors of wheat and barley; timing varied, always mixed with
hunting, driven by need for protein
(cid:0) Shepherd and Flock E-84
donkeys, camels (later)
sheep, goats— developed much later, c. 3,000 BCE (herding, as
opposed to a few domesticated animals per farmer)
Increased density from agricultural productivity
(cid:0) Herding, Africa 114-46
temporary enclosure made of sticks
Agriculture
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Rice cultivated in China and Thailand by 7,000 BCE
Independent development of agriculture in southeast Asia based on root crops
Einkorn & emmer, ancestors of all modern wheat, originated in the Near East
change proceeded at different paces in different areas
Invented axes, hoes, and sickles: the distinctive neolithic tools
At first, slash and burn agriculture
(cid:0) Modes of Life chart modes
• Hunting & Gathering • Agriculture
• semi-nomadic existence • sedentism
• small bands (25-250) communal, no privacy • expanding population
• seasonal migration • permanent living sites
• wide variety of food sources (typically 350 plant • replaces diversity with monocultures
varieties)
• exploits territory extensively • exploits intensively
• security through diversity • security through specialization
• small (portable) tool kit • tool kit, technology expand exponentially

by 6000 settled farming villages throughout various areas of the Near East
(cid:0) Run animation: Village Sites
Agriculture means need for enclosures, permanent homes, defences, walls
(cid:0) Jericho location & Ancient mounds of Jericho PJM-46.PJM-67
one of oldest permanent sites, important trading site.
(cid:0) Jericho in PPNA times reconstruction w/ wall PJM-61
Located in an oasis in the Jordan desert north of the Dead Sea
a large settlement of scattered huts surrounded by wall, ditch, stone tower
Walls are sixteen feet wide at the base, 20 feet high.
no monumental architecture, but some shrines
(cid:0) Jericho walls E-01
A neolithic tower inside the ancient walls of Jericho. c.8000 BCE
Tower is 30 feet tall.
7,000 BCE, Jericho destroyed, new city built with square houses, streets
(cid:0) Reed Hut - Iraq 114-103
seen earlier in slide from southern Iraq

(cid:0) Village, Catal Hüyük 114-87
Discussed on p. 11 of Greaves.
6500-5500, in Turkey (Konya plain in southern Anatolia)
Compact, emphasis on enclosure.
no streets, access through roofs.
largest ancient village.
In all ancient villages peasants go out to fields, live in villages
much more impressive art than in Jericho, great wealth
traders in obsidian (black volcanic glass), made sharp cutting edges
evidence of social classes (rich and poor houses, burials)
(cid:0) Catal Huyuk Shrine (bull's heads) PJM-42
Many rooms seem to be shrines
(cid:0) Samarra pots 89-29
Pottery developed, possible only in settled villages: too fragile for migrants, widespread
by 6,000 BCE
pottery not developed in New World until 2,000 BCE, gourds too handy?
(cid:0) Domestication Menu
(cid:0) Grain
wile einkorn wheat
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emmer wheat
wild barley
(cid:0) Maize corn
Farming in mesoamerica, 5,000 BCE
developed early on so that it can’t sow itself, clings to ear
(cid:0) Animals
wild pig, Bezoar goat, urial sheep, auroch bull
(cid:0) Peace standard of Ur - domestic animals 85-26
roughly 4500 years ago
(cid:0) Inspecting cattle, Egypt, 18th dynasty 59-11
(cid:0) Ploughing with camel 114-39
(cid:0) Impact on Environment menu,
impact on environment
(cid:0) Tendencies of System Chart tendencies
Hunting & Gathering=stability
Agriculture=instability, dynamic change
(cid:0) Impact on Environment chart impact
Hunting & Gathering: uses existing resources
Agriculture: alters environment physically and genetically
Hunting & gathering: low impact
Agriculture: high impact—which is potentially deleterious
(cid:0) Cattle at Well - Africa A-30
animals tend to denude landscape, cause erosion
(cid:0) Effects of erosion - western Turkey 114-98, shows retreating shoreline as soil is washed down from the
deforested hills
(cid:0) Composite, Terraces in China 114-01, one solution to erosion problem, highly labor-intensive
(cid:0) Terraces in China 114-02, The landscape becomes almost totally transformed.
As arable land becomes scarce, even very rugged terrain is exploited.
(cid:0) Inca terraces- Macchu Picchu 80-8, in Peru, c. 1500
(cid:0) Technology menu:
(cid:0) Ploughing, Egypt, Middle Kingdom sculpture 59-10
model of team plowing
(cid:0) Nile in flood 114-107
natural flooding at first, no systematic irrigation works until 1500 years of Egyptian civilization
have passed.
first systematically developed in Mesopotamia
(cid:0) Neolithic ax, hoe,sickle Anatolia 114-104
note animal teeth set in sickle
(cid:0) harvesting wheat, Egypt, New kingdom 114-113
notice toothed sickle
(cid:0) harvesting wheat by hand, Nile valley 114-111
little changed today
(cid:0) Women in wheat harvest 114-30
in almost all agricultural societies, women work in the fields,
although sometime segregated by task
(cid:0) Threshing grain 114-44
Again, note women working along with the men
(cid:0) Tomb painting of Harvest, 18th Dynasty 114-108
(cid:0) Threshing grain 67-10
animal-drawn thresher, wind-blown winnowing in background
(cid:0) Neolithic women grinding grain, Europe 114-6
(cid:0) Egyptian stone quern E-07
Egyptian sculpture of a man grinding grain, about 2500 B.C.
(cid:0) Baking bread 67-12
oven is basically an enclosed campfire
typical simple clay oven, found all over the world
baking flat bread
(cid:0) Early pottery kiln 114-04
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leads to pottery kiln, where clay rather than bread dough is baked
(cid:0) Earliest way of making pottery 54-27
hand-formed
also coil pottery
(cid:0) Neolithic pottery - susa 4th mill BC 89-28
(cid:0) man with pottery wheel 125-39
pottery wheel before 4,000 BCE
(cid:0) Terra cotta wheeled vehicle, Sumer 53-62
pottery wheel leads to wheeled vehicles
(cid:0) Model of Oxcart, Mohenjo Daro 62-7
toy wheeled vehicles found in Mexico, but not used because of lack of large draft animals
(cid:0) weaving in a primitive loom, Europe 114-5
(cid:0) Nile river shipping ag products 67-11
sailing boats developed toward end of neolithic
(cid:0) Craft specializations which emerge with civilizations 53-51
Egyptian painting of many crafts
Population expanded
Perhaps also in Americas, east Asia, west Africa
Banpo (Pan-p’o), Xian Province: a neolithic settlement in China
(cid:0) Ban P’o Village Painting P251
5th millennium BCE advanced farming economy
(cid:0) Ban P’o model PB-1, note surrounding defensive ditch
200-300 people
raised millet, pigs, goats, dogs; gathering still important
hazelnuts, pine nuts, hackberry seeds found in abundance, snail & claim shells
one area for housing, another for pottery making, another for burial
graves centered around women, richer grave goods in women’s graves— status?
(cid:0) Reconstructed Ban-p'o house PB2, daub & wattle construction, baked with fire
cellar storehouses
(cid:0) Fish totem bowl from Ban-p'o PB-3
(cid:0) Ban-p'o pottery P250, kiln-fired pottery
from Kan-Ku, Kansu Province: first representation of a dragon, on an amphora unearthed in
1958, late 3rd millennium BCE
Improved tools, polished
weaving, sewing
Discovery of metals: copper, gold, silver, mostly decorative, easy to mine
Contrast Eastern Hemisphere vs. Western
Corn (maize) much more productive than wheat, no tie to rainy
season, long harvest season, same for dried beans, squash, gourds: did not
lead to same degree or organization, discipline; trade not as urgent, no
invention of wheel
(cid:0) Mezo-American village life - ceramic 56-13
(cid:0) Aztec “floating gardens” 46-10
(cid:0) Switch to social organization card
Differentiation in society: rulers, peasants, beginning of class system, end of egalitarian hunter
existence
(cid:0) Social Organization/Control menu, Social Organization/Control chart
Hunting & Gathering Agriculture
• communal life • private life, property increasing
• little specialization in social or economic • social and economic specialization
roles
• gender roles (?) • gender-specific roles
• relatively egalitarian • social hierarchy emerges
• cultural/tech information is widely diffused • cult/tech information expands and becomes
a form of property
• custom, tradition rule •coercion becomes necessary
(cid:0) Social Pyramid animation, Ensi is priestly king, emphasis on worshipfulness, Lugal is
Akkadian military ruler, emphasis on might, authority