History 8 Neolithic Revolution Concepts 17 to 27
History 8 Neolithic Concepts 17 to 27
16. What role does mythology play in morality of a culture?
Myths played a huge role on ancient culture. The myths created explain how the world worked according to the thought's of ancient people. When the taboos of these people are discredited, their societies immediately start to disintegrate. The most important function of a myth is the moral code, which is held by people to ensure that they completely believe in the myth. However, modern technology has been able to disprove of those taboos, causing the decline of moral ethics, and the lacking respect of myths. These myths affected how people thought, behaved, and how they made an impact on society. [1] However, myths can have negative effect on society-the philosophical thinking. If the myths say some things are right, and other things are wrong, then that is how people are going to think. Therefore, the beliefs that people have concerning morality can be dangerous because they prevent people from engaging in moral reasoning, listening to moral arguments, considering moral philosophy, and improving themselves.[2]
stone-age.jpg [3]
Stone Age Myth
Sources:
↑ CF Manual Pg. 61 ↑ http://ethicalrealism.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/10-myths-about-morality/ ↑ http://www.chrismadden.co.uk/meaning/stone-age-myth.html
-By Jeffrey Wang
17. Define religion and its characteristics, elements and functions in a society?
As societies develop, they begin to institutionalize their beliefs and morality into religion. Religion helped answer the questions: Why was the world created? How should people live? Why is there suffering? What happens after death? Any answers to these questions posed by religion cannot be tested by scientific means or proved or disproved.
Religion held communities together because it gave members a shared code of behavior and a shared way of understanding the world. Religion reduces people’s fears by giving them something beyond themselves to rely on. Archeologists suggest that public buildings were built for religious purposes, a place where they community could come together for worship.
Later on, the Ghassoulian, a very highly evolved town, the town was held together by religion. Priests rose above others and told others what the gods wanted, and by having this power of communicating with the gods, the priests were at the top of the social ladder. The religious beliefs of Neolithic people were as follows: They buried the dead in graves, along with their weapons, pottery, food and drink in the belief that these things were required after death. They worshipped totems, or images of plants and animals as their ancestors and protectors. They worshipped forces of nature like sun, moon and stars and believed that they had special powers. They worshipped clay figurines of "Mother Goddess" in the belief that fertility of the land would increase.
Sources: History Manuel, History Class Notes. Link: http://www.preservearticles.com/201107058834/the-religious-beliefs-of-the-people-in-neolithic-age.html
Sophie Worscheh
18. What were some of the problems of complex societies?
Although complex societies were a a huge stepping stone in the neolithic revolution, there were also some downsides to them. The increases in population caused demand for extra food and more space for housing. Also, because of how close together families lived, there were often disputes and fights between families. Crimes and threats were also a downside to complex societies. Because of these downsides, a political class which would enforce laws, punish law-breakers, rule over fights, fight wars, and commission public works formed and would demand taxes. This political structure is known as a state.
Growth of complex societies: AGrowingComplexSociety.gif
Sources: Manual page 62 & [3]
Alden Arnold
19. From the first source reading,summarize Impact of containers When people discovered the wild grain they were able to have a plentiful and constant food supply. With this surplus of food came the need to store this food. The evolution of containers could be a great way to track the evolution of people. While nomads, people favored underground holes and leather or straw baskets, things they could carry. As ancient people settled down containers became heavier, because they didn't need to carry them around, but more functional. The holes became clay lined ovens that warmed and kept wheat better. These ovens and clay containers gave the experience necessary to build high temperature ovens to later make bronze and metal design. Lauren Biegel Manual PG. 74
20. Summarize Impact of domestication of animals
Around 11,500 years ago, the farming and animal herding lifestyles met and combined, creating a new style of life. The animal component of the new lifestyle had a different impact than the agricultural element. Early on, around 40,000 years ago, the first animal domestication example appeared, dogs. The dog came from the wolf, and many millennia later, the dog helped with hunting and lived with human cultures, like the Natufians. After the dog, around 11,500 years ago, cultures living in the Fertile Crescent domesticated goats, the first domesticated farm animal. They would drive them into a concealed area the kill the animals with less favorable characteristics. Eventually they domesticated pigs, sheep, donkeys, cows, and other creatures. The cultures that first domesticated animal domesticated most of today's domesticated species. Later on, The domestication of animals modern day farm animals allowed for a less lengthly hunt, mainly because the animals were in a location already known to the farmers. That led to more free time and a more steady supply of food. The animals alo helped out with farming, making the work easier. As the humans started to colonize in larger villages with their animals, many villagers grew ill and hygiene became a major problem in the towns. The problem was partly caused by the close living proximity of the humans and the animals. In addition, animas like the donkey helped with long distance trade routes, such as the route between the town of Ghassoul, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. By trading over longer distances, more foreign materials were able to enter different cultures. This new lifestyle spread from the Middle East to Europe and eventually to the rest of the world.
Sources: "The First Towns and Villages" Video Notes, "The End of the Stone Age" Video Notes, Beniretto, Rosie, and Clay Elliott, comps. Manual for Cultural Foundations of Ancient Civilizations. Vol. 1. Houston: St. John's School, 2012-2013. 57-57. Print.
For More Information: http://archaeology.about.com/od/dterms/a/domestication.htm
Jonathan Bloom
21. From the second source reading, summarize Impact of methods of water management
Many people began settling down in the Middle East because agriculture was thriving there. The river flooded and provided the people with fertile soil, which was a contributing factor to their stable food supply. The river and water had other uses too. Rather than settling on isolated farms, people settled in village communities. There was irrigation in these communities. These irrigation systems were huge projects that channeled water to vast stretches of land, allowing more and more people to settle on and nearby the river. Along the Nile and the Tigris-Euphretes, the large irrigation systems had to be built by many workers, which means the irrigation must have been a big, important job. There were also regulations that were passed that assured that those on and around the river had equal water access and supply, and this linked water management to politics and economic organization. The most important effect irrigation and water management had on early people was its help in providing a surplus amount of food and crops. This surplus led to a need for new organization skills and techniques, which in turn led to a more modern society and a gradual emergence of a more self-sufficient culture.
Pic_342_201229152455.jpg
This is an example of what the irrigation may have looked like.
Sources:
Manual Pages 53 and 54
End of the Stone Age video notes
[4]
By Gwendelyn Butler
22. Summarize Impact of growth, populations and food production.
About 12,000 years ago, humans started to learn how to farm to obtain their food. This was a monumental step in human development. It led to the production of food, which in turn helped humans become sedentary. This abundant and reliable food source also led to growth and populations. All of these topics, as you can see, are intertwined. Once one changes, all of the other ones change as well. These are all extremely important in the development of modern humans.
Growth had a large impact on humans. The main growth that humans experienced at this time was community and technological growth. Human communities grew in many ways. First of all, they grew in terms of size. This city growth led to a lot of positive and negative impacts. Some good impacts that it made were that ownership of property started, public buildings were created, and buildings became more advanced. People owned property which gave them a sense of ownership. This helped because people then wanted to improve their properties. Public buildings were created mainly for religious purposes. Everyone would gather in them and worship their gods. This helped religion grow. Buildings became a lot more advanced architecturally as communities grew. The main advancements that were made were that buildings were made sturdier, plaster made foundations for buildings, and buildings now had multiple rooms. These all helped humans develop. Some bad impacts are that animals lived near humans, there were now social classes, and security had to be improved. Since animals lived so close to humans, diseases formed that infected many humans. Some of these diseases were malaria, small pox and tuberculosis. Social classes formed which made some people very rich, but others very poor. This also caused crime to rise because some people wanted some things so much that they would steal them. Finally, because of all of the crime, security had to be improved to keep criminals away. There were also technological growth. There are only positive impacts that come from this because technology was used to solve problems. The good impacts that it had on humans were that it made life easier, it helped the economy, and it encouraged a division of labor. Technology made life easier because it solved many problems that early humans had. An example is that the invention of the loom made it easy to weave cloth together. Technology helped the economy because it helped humans gain more goods and food. They could then trade this away for something else they needed. Finally, technology encouraged a division of labor because it made people want to become more efficient in their working. Division of labor makes it more efficient because people focus on their specialties, so things get done faster. These are the ways that growth impacted humans.
3.2-5_WORK_A_loom_used_for_weaving_the_warp_threads_are_weighted_with_a_stone_or_clay_weight.jpg
http://www.bible-archaeology.info/work.htm
Populations also had a big impact on humans. At this time, which was about 10,000 years ago, there were between 5 to 10 million humans inhabiting Earth. This might not seem like a lot today, but back then, that was a huge amount. As the populations grew, communities began to change to adapt. There are many advantages and disadvantages concerning population growth. Some advantages of this are that the communities became more technologically advanced, economies grew, labor was divided and people started to own their own property. The communities became more advanced technologically because humans could spend more time improving technology than their ancestors because they had a surplus of food and a bigger population. People think in terms of solving problems, so people created new technology to solve those problems. Also , there were more people who could work together to find answers to problems. Second, economies grew a lot. With a lot of people in each society and a lot more societies, humans developed economies to get more food or valued goods. They could do this by producing these items themselves, or by trading them with other communities. Both of these helped economies grow. Also, with a lot more people, labor was divided among everyone. This made tasks among communities much more efficient. Finally, people started to own their own property. This made people want to improve even more and gave people the feeling of ownership. There were also a few disadvantages as well. These were that diseases formed, there were security issues, and there was inequality. First of all, diseases started to form because people and animals lived in close proximity to each other. This caused a lot of people to become sick. Second, security became a problem. With more people and goods, criminals emerged to try to take those goods. Many changes had to be made to keep unwanted people away. Finally, inequality grew because some people had more things than others. This could be a problem because it could lead to more crime and social classes may have formed. These are the impacts of populations on humans.
39popgrowth.gif
http://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/N100/2k4ch39pop.html
Finally, food production significantly changed the way people lived. As people discovered farming and the domestication of animals, their food supply became abundant. This gave humans many advantages. First of all, it let people become sedentary. This is because humans realized they needed storage for all of the grains that they harvested. They could not carry this around with them, so they decided to stay in one place. Also, with this new food source, there was no need to move. This helped because humans could now grow their own food, and have enough for everyone in the community, without having to be nomadic. They could stay in one place for the whole year and have more than enough food. This led to growing populations and societies. As I stated in the above paragraph, population growth helped humans develop. Second, this steady supply of food gave humans much more free time. Since they did not have to go on long hunting trips any more, they had a lot of extra time. With this time, humans started to develop shared religions. Whole villages would gather together to worship their gods. Humans began to come up with technology with this free time as well. This helped humans solve more problems. Finally, food production helped humans develop specific cultures. This is because, as I said before, humans settled down into large communities. These communities then began to create their own cultures. Cultures began to have their own way of life. These cultures had different ways to get food as well. A disadvantage that formed because of food production is larger populations. As I stated in the paragraph above, large populations are not always good. This is because diseases formed, inequality formed, and crime grew. These are the impacts of food production on humans.
wheat02.jpg
http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=54-30-05-40
Sources: http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/change, http://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/N100/2k4ch39pop.html, Manual pages 52-62
Cam Cook
23. Define and give the characteristics of the Fertile Crescent.
The Fertile Cresent streched from Isreal to Iraq and became warmer, greener, and filled with more life around 15,000 years ago when the ice age ended, melting the glaciers and bringing water to the near lifeless lands. The Fertole Cresent had hills dotted with tress, woodlands with garden animals, and new edible grains that changed the course of the human race forever. The humans found ways to harvest these grains, but realized that they could not live a nomadic life style if they did. This is because the amount of grain they harvested was too heavy to carry over long distances so a place to store the grain was needed. This lead to the settlement of towns and communities which created numerous other advances and changed the human race forever
Image of fertile cresent <fertile_crescent.jpg>
Sources: End of Stone Age Video Notes http://www.bible-history.com/maps/maps/map_ancient_fertile_crescent.html
24. Summarize Impact of record keeping
The first form of record keeping was invented by the Ghasoulians. They made clay balls where they stuck certain shapes and kinds of stones inside of and stamped the outside with their family’s symbol. These were used for trade so that people could keep track of what and whom they traded with. These clay balls led to hieroglyphics, and eventually a written language. Record keeping has impacted trade by making it easier and more efficient. People could now write down on one clay tablet and later paper who and what they traded to instead of keeping numerous clay balls around. Stories were now passes down by writing instead of oral, so ideas were not changed and stayed the same. You could now create a religious book or stone tablet that set your beliefs. This helped expand beliefs to new people. People could send letters to people in other villages and even other countries. Many more improvements were made because of record keeping but these are only just a few. Record keeping impacted all of society and improved it to make life what it is today.
This is what Egyptians used for record keeping. It is called hieroglyphics.
tut_glyphs.jpg
Sources:
End of the Stone Age video notes
http://www.indepthinfo.com/history-ancient/mesopotamia.htm
http://202.114.224.27/kjs/shxy/lsyx/200811/P020081109536395558147.pdf
Picture- http://www.fi.edu/learn/tut/9-12/hieroglyphics.html
Mary Ann Enerson
25. Summarize Impact of water in Mesopotamia and Babylon
Water had a profound impact on Mesopotamian society. Not only did it allow the people that lived there, the Ghassoulians, to thrive, but the work that was required to bring it to them brought them together. Since they lived in a relatively dry, remote area in Jordan, they had little to no access to water. So, they decided to dig irrigation canals to bring the water to them. This task required hundreds if not thousands of workers. Because of this fact, we can infer that the laborers who worked on this project were brought together by something bigger - religion. In the town where the Ghassoulians lived in the Jordan Valley, a star was found painted on the wall of a family home. The star, with hybrid creatures around it, symbolizes religion, letting us infer that what brought the Ghassoulians together to build their irrigation systems was religion. This is how water impacted Mesopotamian society.
603r.gif
Sources:
Class Notes October 18, 2012. http://climatechange.thinkaboutit.eu/think4/post/climate_change_jordan_valley_1_-_0
Jayan Hanson
26. Summarize Impact of water in Egypt
During tbe Neolithic Revolution, horticulture took its position as the main food source of Egyptians and people spread all throughout the Middle East. Because horticulture was so prevalent, water in large quantities became necessary for crops. Thus, farmers invented irrigation. When water was put into the irrigation tunnels, whether by rain or by manually pouring water in, the tunnels led to a field of crops, and the water was funneled all throughout these crops. Because of this, farming became more efficient and led to the advance of societies from hunting and gathering to organized farming. This was a huge change that occurred over thousands of years, and water was the main fuel for this change. Since water and crops were readily available throughout Egypt, both increased in use in Middle Eastern societies. Water was the main link for change from hunting and gathering to horticulture. This changed society forever and advanced the human race as a whole.
Sources: http://www.rivervalleycivilizations.com/neolithic.php Manual pages 53-54
Noah Garcia
27. Summarize Impact of water in Indus River Valley
During the Neolithic Revolution in the Indus River Valley, water flowed freely into the agricultural land of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. The melting snow from the Himalayas feeds the Indus River, and it delivered a constant source of water. The Indus River flows from its source in Tibet, China, through India and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. The result of this constant water source was a fruitful agricultural area with forests and fertile soil that formed the economic foundation of the two cities. The cities used the water to create irrigation systems that caught and controlled water for farming rye, wheat, peas and rice as well as catching fish. Besides using the water for farming needs, the cities used it for indoor plumbing for the rich and public baths. One example of a public bath is the “Great Bath,” the largest public bath in the ancient world, found by archaeologists in Mohenjo-Daro. The “Great Bath” measured 12 m by 7 m and was 2.4 m deep. In present day the region is now arid and desolate much different from how it was during the Neolithic Revolution. The water from the Indus River was essential to the lives of the citizens of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
IndusRiver.png
Sources:
CF Manual http://history-world.org/indus_valley.htm http://eclj.org/Releases/Read.aspx?GUID=a52cdca5-0d4c-4e30-8f5a-d4aa2a7fd42d&s=eur
Justin Kao
