Unit 2 – Unit Two – Before Civilization
Human Evolution. Human migration. The Agricultural Revolution. Early Civilizations. Mesopotamia. The Nile Valley, Egyptian Civilization.
The National Geographic’s Genographic Project recently has traced our genetic Adam and Eve to about 60,000 to 70,000 years ago in East Africa. What’s interesting about that is they have also determined that the first modern humans date to about 200,000 years ago. Apparently from 200,000 years ago to about 70,000 years ago - humans migrated and populated most of Africa and then seemingly due to climate change (possibly linked to a massive volcanic eruption in Sumatra 73,000 years ago that was 3,000 times stronger than the Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980) the population collapsed to what they estimate of only 2,000 people in East Africa. From that small population and from one man and one woman within it - every modern human today can be traced!
The migrations after 60,000 years ago that led modern humans on their epic journeys to populate the world have been the primary focus of anthropological genetic research, but relatively little is known about the demographic history of our species over the previous 140,000 years in Africa.
In Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond outlines how some civilizations developed more rapidly than others and were able to expand and conquer much of the world because of geographic luck. The natural resources available to them coupled with the native species and climate provided by their geography led them to become more agricultural and less reliant on hunting and gathering for sustenance. This agrarian lifestyle, in turn, allowed for the development of “specialists” within the civilization who could work on developing and perfecting the technologies necessary to make these civilizations more profitable, stronger, and more powerful than others around them. Diamond asserts that those living in temperate climates with indigenous animals that could be domesticated were more likely to develop advanced civilizations.
Vocabulary
Domestication: The process by which a wild plant or animal species is bred under human control, for the purposes of providing humans with a steady supply of food and/or other raw materials. A species which has been domesticated is therefore entirely dependent on human interference for its propagation and sustenance.
Endemic: Anything which has a permanent presence, sustained at a constant level - for instance, tropical diseases like malaria
Epidemic: Anything which spreads rapidly over a short period of time until it becomes all-encompassing. In the case of viral diseases like smallpox, epidemics tend to reach critical mass and then disappear just as rapidly once all potential victims have either died or survived.
Fertile Crescent: A crescent-shaped region of the modern Middle East in which the earliest experiments in plant and animal domestication are believed to have occurred; later the location for the earliest known human settlements, villages, cities and civilizations.
Indigenous: Anything which is native to, or has its origins in, a particular region.
Neolithic: The final stage of prehistoric cultural and technological evolution, usually dated from the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago, to the rise of literate civilizations. Neolithic translates as, 'new tool', the term refers to new techniques of stone tool manufacture and use – and includes grinding, polishing and weaving. Common sub-divisions include 'Stone Age', 'Iron Age', 'Bronze Age', 'Pre-Pottery' and 'Pottery'.
Temperate: Those parts of the world which lie between 66.33 degrees and 23.25 degrees north or south of the equator, between the Arctic circles and the Tropics. Because of their angle from the equator, and from the direction of the Sun, these parts of the world experience seasonal variation throughout the year, with light, hot and dry summers and dark, cold and wet winters.
Tropical: Those parts of the world which lie within 23.25 degrees either side of the equator and bordered by lines of latitude called the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The word "tropics" comes from the Ancient Greek tropos meaning "turn" because the apparent position of the Sun was observed to oscillate between the two tropics during the course of a year. Tropical is also used to describe any climate which tends to be hot and humid all year round.
Virus: An infectious agent of microscopic proportions, comprising little more than a single strain of replicating DNA, which multiplies only in living cells of animals, plants, or bacteria. Derived from the Latin, meaning 'slimy liquid' or 'poison.'
Human Evolution. Human migration. The Agricultural Revolution. Early Civilizations. Mesopotamia. The Nile Valley, Egyptian Civilization.
The National Geographic’s Genographic Project recently has traced our genetic Adam and Eve to about 60,000 to 70,000 years ago in East Africa. What’s interesting about that is they have also determined that the first modern humans date to about 200,000 years ago. Apparently from 200,000 years ago to about 70,000 years ago - humans migrated and populated most of Africa and then seemingly due to climate change (possibly linked to a massive volcanic eruption in Sumatra 73,000 years ago that was 3,000 times stronger than the Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980) the population collapsed to what they estimate of only 2,000 people in East Africa. From that small population and from one man and one woman within it - every modern human today can be traced!
The migrations after 60,000 years ago that led modern humans on their epic journeys to populate the world have been the primary focus of anthropological genetic research, but relatively little is known about the demographic history of our species over the previous 140,000 years in Africa.
In Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond outlines how some civilizations developed more rapidly than others and were able to expand and conquer much of the world because of geographic luck. The natural resources available to them coupled with the native species and climate provided by their geography led them to become more agricultural and less reliant on hunting and gathering for sustenance. This agrarian lifestyle, in turn, allowed for the development of “specialists” within the civilization who could work on developing and perfecting the technologies necessary to make these civilizations more profitable, stronger, and more powerful than others around them. Diamond asserts that those living in temperate climates with indigenous animals that could be domesticated were more likely to develop advanced civilizations.
Vocabulary
Domestication: The process by which a wild plant or animal species is bred under human control, for the purposes of providing humans with a steady supply of food and/or other raw materials. A species which has been domesticated is therefore entirely dependent on human interference for its propagation and sustenance.
Endemic: Anything which has a permanent presence, sustained at a constant level - for instance, tropical diseases like malaria
Epidemic: Anything which spreads rapidly over a short period of time until it becomes all-encompassing. In the case of viral diseases like smallpox, epidemics tend to reach critical mass and then disappear just as rapidly once all potential victims have either died or survived.
Fertile Crescent: A crescent-shaped region of the modern Middle East in which the earliest experiments in plant and animal domestication are believed to have occurred; later the location for the earliest known human settlements, villages, cities and civilizations.
Indigenous: Anything which is native to, or has its origins in, a particular region.
Neolithic: The final stage of prehistoric cultural and technological evolution, usually dated from the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago, to the rise of literate civilizations. Neolithic translates as, 'new tool', the term refers to new techniques of stone tool manufacture and use – and includes grinding, polishing and weaving. Common sub-divisions include 'Stone Age', 'Iron Age', 'Bronze Age', 'Pre-Pottery' and 'Pottery'.
Temperate: Those parts of the world which lie between 66.33 degrees and 23.25 degrees north or south of the equator, between the Arctic circles and the Tropics. Because of their angle from the equator, and from the direction of the Sun, these parts of the world experience seasonal variation throughout the year, with light, hot and dry summers and dark, cold and wet winters.
Tropical: Those parts of the world which lie within 23.25 degrees either side of the equator and bordered by lines of latitude called the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The word "tropics" comes from the Ancient Greek tropos meaning "turn" because the apparent position of the Sun was observed to oscillate between the two tropics during the course of a year. Tropical is also used to describe any climate which tends to be hot and humid all year round.
Virus: An infectious agent of microscopic proportions, comprising little more than a single strain of replicating DNA, which multiplies only in living cells of animals, plants, or bacteria. Derived from the Latin, meaning 'slimy liquid' or 'poison.'