In what ways did pastoral societies interact with their agricultural neighbors

1. What has been the role in world history of pastoral peoples in general and the Mongols in particular?
   • Produced agriculture where no one had thought possible.
   •  Played roles as traders and bandits on long distance trade routes.
   • Played roles in the collapses of the 2nd wave civilizations and their rebuilds.
   •  Supported Buddhism in China
   •  Nomadic Bedouin Arabs aided in expansion of Islam.
   • Turks carried Islam to new lands.
   • Mongols made largest empire of the time; Facilitated closer connections across Eurasia.
   •  Increased the rate of technology & crop exchange, mixing of peoples, spread of epidemic disease.
   •  Mongol tolerance of other religions facilitated spread of religion.
2. In what ways did pastoral societies differ from their agricultural counterparts?
   • Pastoral societies supported far smaller populations.
   • Pastoral societies generally lived in small and widely scattered encampments of related kinfolk.
   • Pastoral societies were far more mobile.
3. How did the status of women differ in pastoral societies from the settles people?
   • Pastoral societies generally offered women a higher status, fewer restrictions, and a greater role in public life.
4. In what ways did pastoral societies interact with their agricultural neighbors?
   • Economically, nomads sought access to the foods, manufactured goods, and luxury items available only from their agricultural neighbors.
   • Politically and militarily, pastoral peoples at times came together to extract wealth from agricultural societies through trading, raiding, or extortion.
   • Culturally, members of some pastoral societies adopted the religions of their agricultural neighbors, including Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Manichaeism.

1. Why was it difficult to create a large state among nomadic people
   • Lacked surplus wealth needed to pay for professional armies that would sustain the state.
   • Fierce independence made it nearly impossible to establish a stable political unity.
2. Why did nomadic societies have military advantages over the other larger populations?
   • They could draw on horseback riding and hunting skill of basically the entire male population.
   • Skills could be easily transferred to the role of a warrior which were practiced starting as a child.
3. What forms of technology developed among nomadic peoples?
   • horse harnesses
   • saddles with iron stirrups
   • compound bow
   • armor
   • swords
4. Describe the pastoral nomads who came before the Mongols
   1. The Xiongnu lived in the Mongolian steppes. They had a large military confederacy. Transformed into a more centralized and hierarchical political system
   2. The Arabs widely spread Islam. They developed a reliable camel saddle which enabled Bedouins. They came to control the major trade routes of Arabia using their camels as a military advancement.
   3. The Turks had a supreme ruler known as kaghan who was protected by a band of soldiers called “wolves” because the wolf was the mythical ancestor of the Turkish people. During their time, they commonly raided the larger civilizations to the south and allied with them to defeat common enemies. Invaded India and planted Islam there as well.
   4. The Berbers lived in North Africa long before the arrival of the Arabs, and their culture probably dates back more than 4,000 years. The Arabs used the Berbers and enlisted them to conquer Spain and this was primarily the reason on Islamic expansion to North Africa.

9. Why did the Mongols have minimal cultural impact on the peoples they conquered?

Since the Mongols themselves easily assimilated different cultures into their own, they introduced no new language, culture, or religion to the lands they conquered.

10. Identify the major steps in the rise of the Mongol Empire.

Temujin, later dubbed Chinggis Khan, succeeded in bringing the Mongols together, unifying them in the Great Mongol Nation by 1206.

In order to hold his alliance together, Chinggis Khan launched a series of military campaigns against the settled agricultural societies of Eurasia over the half century after 1209.

Through this Mongol world war, Chinggis Khan and his successors constructed an empire that included China, Korea, Central Asia, Russia, much of the Islamic Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe.

11. Why were the Mongols so successful in their conquests?

Temujin’s rise in power after a military victory over a rival tribe allowed him to create order from the chaos that was in the Mongol tribe. Other than that, what made the Mongols so successful was that they never lived with any specific blueprint or plan. They attacked, conquered and used the excess resources to prepare for another attack, they were ruthless. They also had great timing because at that time China divided and lost control over the nomadic civilizations. They had a tough discipline in their armies but it was rarely needed due to the soldiers’ loyalty to the leaders. They would also use the conquered people as human shields at times before mutilating those who fought against them which would strike fear in all other tribes.

12. How did the Mongol rule change China?

            The Mongols united a divided China. The Mongols took a Chinese dynastic title, the Yuan, and moved their capital to a new capital city known as Khanbalik, the "city of the khan" (present-day Beijing).

13. In what ways were the Mongols changed by China?

            In order to effectively control China the Mongols had to accommodate the citizens by adapting parts of their culture and ways of governing. The Mongols took a Chinese dynastic title, the Yuan. The Mongols made use of Chinese administrative practices and techniques of taxation and their postal system. Mongol khans made use of traditional Confucian rituals, which returned the favor with strong political support for the invaders.

14. Describe the rules forbidding Mongol interaction with the Chinese.

            There were many laws made to preserve the distinction between Mongol and Chinese. He forbade Chinese scholars to learn the Mongol script, which was used for records and correspondence at the upper levels of the imperial government. Mongols were forbidden to marry ethnic Chinese, and only women from nomadic families were selected for the imperial harem. Even friendships between the two peoples were discouraged. Mongol religious ceremonies and customs were retained.

15. How did Mongol rule in Persia differ from that in China?

             Heavy taxation pushed Persian peasants off their land. The Mongol rulers in Persia were transformed far more than their counterparts in China were, as the Mongols made extensive use of the sophisticated Persian bureaucracy. Unlike what occurred in China, the Mongols who conquered Persia converted in large numbers to the local Muslim faith. A number of Mongols turned to farming and married local people, so when their rule in Persia collapsed, they were not driven out as they were from China.

16. How did Mongol rule destroy Persian and Iraqi agriculture?

The in-migration of nomadic Mongols, together with their immense herds of sheep and goats, turned much agricultural land into pasture and sometimes into desert.

17. How did Ghazan change Mongol rule in Persia?

          Ghazan made some efforts to repair the damage caused by earlier ruthless exploitation by rebuilding damaged cities and repairing neglected irrigation works. A number of Mongols also turned to farming, abandoning their nomadic ways.

18. Why did Mongol rule in Persia end?

          The Mongols were never driven out of Persia, it was just that their Turkic allies disappeared and assimilated into Persian society.

19. How did Mongol rule affect Russia?

They isolated Russians cutting them off from ideas and inventions from the rest of Europe. They also allowed Russians to follow their customs as long as they never rebelled and tolerated all religion. Russians had to owe Mongols slavish obedience and massive amounts of tribute.

20. What kinds of cross cultural interactions did the Mongol Empire generate?

          Because of the economic and political relationships the Mongols had with the rest of the world, it caused cross culture transfer. Mongol policy transferred many craftsmen and educated people to distant parts of the empire, and religious tolerance and merchants also attracted traders. Karakorum was a diverse city with different religions. Persians and Arabs were sent to China and Chinese engineers were in ‘demand’ in the Islamic World.

21. Why were Western Europeans interested in contact with the Mongols?

          They were interested in increased contact with the Mongols because they were less technologically developed, by trading with the Mongols they would get the benefits of new technology, crops, and knowledge. Also, trading with the Mongols would save them from a bloody attack by the Mongols.

22. How did Chinese and other East Asian medical techniques and inventions spread westward to Europe?

           The movement of people throughout Asia facilitated “the exchange of ideas and techniques” westward towards Europe. Khan Ghazan sent envoys to various parts of the world and since Europe had been largely cut off from trade network, the Mongol conquests reopened the path way for them.

23. Why did the Black Death spread?

          It originated most probably in China and spread because of the vast trade routes of the Mongol Empire. It was carried by rodents and fleas and transmitted to humans. Also, Chinese voyages to East Africa spread the disease even further.

24. How did the Black Death affect Europe, China, and the Middle East?

China, Europe, and the Middle East were densely populated so the areas were more vulnerable. The plague killed enormous numbers of humans and death rates increased to 90%. Half of Europe’s population was eradicated. Middle East lost one third of its population.

25. What were the long term effects of the plague?

          Labor shortages “provoked” a conflict between workers and the wealthy that employed them. Series of peasant revolts also broke out. It undermined the “practice of serfdom.” Labor shortages caused technological innovation and created more opportunities for women.

26. How has the image of pastoral peoples changed among historians?

          At first historians were far more critical of these nomads, presenting them as barbarians who merely plundered other lands. However, historians now present a more “balance” picture of the nomads and their role in creating and destroying the world. Historians now highlight their ability to adapt and their role in cross cultural exchange.                                                                                                                                                             

27. How has the image of the Mongols changed in recent times?

          Because of the recent wars and genocides occurring in the world, Mongols are not as harshly viewed as they were. The rise of nukes and the U.S provoking and actually being the only country to use them has made Mongol massacres look easy.

Aboukhadijeh, Feross. "Chp.11 Strayer" StudyNotes.org. Study Notes, LLC., 05 Jun. 2015. Web. 26 Sep. 2022. <https://www.apstudynotes.org/world-history/outlines/chp-11-strayer/>.

Page 2

chapter 14 key terms

Xuanzang

when: early 7th century C.E.

what:

• he followed his older brother into a monastery

• he defied the empire that ordered that subjects were forbidden to travel beyond Chinese borders

  • destination was India

  • wanted to study with knowledgeable Buddhist teachers and sages to learn about Buddhism from the purest sources.

• his guide abandoned him in the Gobi desert

• made his way to the oasis town of Turpan

  • the buddhist ruler gave him supplied to support his mission

• crossed three high mountain ranges

• faced attacks by bandits, as well as confrontations with demons, dragons, and evil spirits.

• arrived in india (in 630) and stayed for 12+ years

• when he returned home, even though he violated the ban on traveling, he received a hero’s welcome and an audience with the emperor.

• translated Buddhist treatises into Chinese and clarifying their doctrines

Sui Dynasty

who: yang zian (first emperor ) and Sui Yagndi (second emperor)

what:

• military expeditions into central Asia and southern China

• by 589 the house of Sui ruled all of China

• placed enourmous demands on their dubjects in the course of buildinga  strong, centralized government

• ordered the construction of palaces and granaries

• dispatched military forces to central Asia and Korea levied high taxes, and demanded compulsotory labor services.

when: 589-618 C.E.

Tang Dynasty

who:  Tang Taizong

what:

• after the seath of Sui Yangdi, a rebel leader proclaimed himself as emperor

• he was ruthless

• created extensive networks of transportation and communications

• they allocated land according to needs

• had a bureacuracy of merit and civil service exams

when: 618-907 C.E.
 

Tang Decline

when: mid 8th century

what:

• casual and careless elading brought the dynasty to a crisis and it never recovered

• An Lushan, a foremost military commander  mounted a rebellion and captured the capital at Chang’an (755)

  • short lived because he was murdered by a soldier (757)

• rebellion let the dynasty in a weakened state

• tang commanders couldn’t defeat rebellious forces so they callled in help from the Uighurs

  • Uighurs demanded the right to the capitals after their help

• tang never regained control of affairs after the crisis

• imperial armies couldn't resist Turkish peoples  and eventually the last Tang emperor abdicated his throne and the dynasty came to an end.

Song Taizu

who: the first Song emperor

when: he reigned from 960-976 C.E.

what:

• began his career as a junior military offifcer serving one of the most powerful warlords in northern China

• reputation for honesty and effectiveness

• his army subjected the warlords to their authority and consolidated Song control thorughout China

• persuaded his generals to retire honorably to a life of leisure

• organized a centralized administration that placed military forces under tight supervision

• regarded all state officials as servants of the imperial government

  • reward these officials handsomely

  • expanded the bureaucracy based on merit by creating more opportunities for individuals to seek a Confucian education and take civil service exams

• provided generous salaries for those who qualified for government appointments

  • placed civil bureaucrats in charge of military forces.

Song Decline

what:

• they had financial problems and the high salaries devoured surplus

• military problems

• extxternal pressures

• Song dynasty moved to the south

Agricultural change

what:

• development of fast ripening crops increased food supplies

• • found in Vietnam when they encountered strains of fast-ripening rice that enabled cultivators to harvest two crops per year

  • once it was introduced to fields in southern China, fast ripening rice quickly resulted in an expanding supply of food.

• new agricultural techniques

  • increased productivity  

  • heavy iron plows

  • harnessed oxen

  • water buffalo

  • enriched the soil with manure and composted organic matter

  • extensive irrigation systems

    • extended cultivation to difficult terrains

    • expanded china’s agricultural potential

Foot binding

what:

• involved tightly wrapping girls feet with strips of cloth that prevented natural growth of bones and resulted in malformed, curved feet.

• the girs could not walk easily or naturally

• needed canes to walk

• never became universal but wealthy families and some peasant families did it to enhance their attractiveness and gain control over the girls’ behavior.

• similar to veiling women in Mediterranean and Muslim lands

Technological advancement

what:

• porcelain

  • diffused rapidly andspread to Abbasid craft workers

  • chinese exported vast quantities of porcelain

  • fine porcelin has come to generally be known as chinaware

• Metallurgy

  • increased ten times from ninth to twelfth centuries

  • increased supply of iron and steel went into weaponry and agricultural tools

• Gunpowder

  • 10th century

  • Daoist alchemists discovered how to make gunpowder during the Tang dynasty

  • limited military effectiveness

  • diffused through Eurasia

• Printing

  • made it possible to produce texts quickly, cheaply, and in huge quantities

  • developed from wood blocks to movable type

• naval technology

  • chinese seafarers sailed ships fastened with iron nails, waterproofed with oils, furnished wiht watertight bulkheads, driven by canvas and bamboo sails, steered by rudders, and navigated with the aid of the “south pointed needle” aka the magnetic compass

  • magnetic compass soon became the common property of mariners throughout the Indian Ocean basin

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Aboukhadijeh, Feross. "Chapter 14 Key terms" StudyNotes.org. Study Notes, LLC., 09 Aug. 2015. Web. 26 Sep. 2022. <https://www.apstudynotes.org/world-history/outlines/chapter-14-key-terms/>.

Page 3

• For thousands of years, humans lived in tiny communities without a permanent home. 

  • Most societies consisted of a few dozen people.
  • They traveled in pursuit of game and edible plants.
• Humans were set apart from other animals because they could build tool, using intelligence unmatched by other members of the animal kingdom.

• About 12 thousand years ago, early humans began experiment with agriculture.

  • It soon became clear to native peoples that this provided a more steady food source than foraging.

  • Groups that farmed their own food experienced rapid population growth.

    • were able to settle in permanent communities.

• The world's first cities appeared 6 thousand years ago.

  • These cities dominated political and economic affairs in their regions.

• The term "complex society" refers to a form of large-scale social organization that emerged in several parts of the ancient world.

  • These were all dependent on farming in which more food was produced than was necessary to sustain their people.

    • This meant that more people were able to live more closely together in urban areas, where they would be able to put their work into more specialized areas.
    • This allowed their societies to take the form in which they are today.
• From 3500 to 500 B.C.E. complex societies arose independently in several

• widely scattered regions of the world.

  • Most of these sprang up from small agricultrual communities, located in either river valleys or other sources of water that could be used to irrigate their crops.
  • All of these set up a governmental system -- collected taxes in the form of food, build gov't institutions, set up states, and appointed political authorities.

  • All of these societies generated more wealth than hunting and gathering groups did.

    • These groups were able to preserve wealth and pass it on to their heirs.

• All of the early societies created social traditions. 

  • Most were either invented or borrowed a system of writing that made it possible to record information and store it for later use.

  • Social traditions took different forms in different societies.

    • Some were very religious, where others left it up the the individual family to decide what they wanted to worship.

• Skeletal remains were discovered on November 30th, 1974.

  • The remains were called AL 288-1 by scientists, but she is commonly referred to as "Lucy."

    • She is named after the Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
  • The dig site was in Hadar; about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Addis Ababa.
  • Her remains are 3.5 million years old.
  • She was 25-30 at the time of her death.
  • She stood about 1 meter tall (3.5 feet) and weighted about 25 kilograms (55 pounds).

  • 40% of her remains were recovered.

    • This means she is the most complete skeleton of very early humans, yet.

• Analysis of the remains found indicate that the earliest ancestors of modern humans walked upright on both feet.

  • Although the brains of early human ancestors were only about the size of a grapefruit, most animals required all limbs for locomotion, whereas Lucy and her contemporaries were able to use their forelimbs to carry and wield tools and weapons.

    • Eventually, human brains grew to  be larger and more sophisticated, but this process took about one million years.

• The earth came into being about 5 billion years ago.

  • The first living organisms appeared hundreds of millions of years later.

  • About thirty million years ago, short, hairy, monkey-like animals becan to  populate the tropical regions of the planet.

    • Human-like cousins to these animals began to appear only about 4 or 5 million years ago.
    • Modern humans appeared about forty thousand years ago.
  • Human society did not develop in a vacuum. The earliest humans inhabited a world already stocked with flora and fauna. 
• "Prehistory" refers to the period before writing, while "history" refers to the era after the invention of writing.

• During the past century or so, scholars have vastly increased the understanding of human origin.

  • In some cases, there is only a 1.6% different between human and chimpanzee DNA.
• Humans are in the primate family.

• In Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and other places, archaeologists have unearthed bones and tools of human ancestors going back about 5 million years.

  • The Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and Hadar in Ethiopia have yielded especially rich remains of individuals like the famous Lucy.
  • These individuals probably represented several different species belonging to the genus Australopithecus.

• Australopithecus means "the souther ape." 

  • This genus flourished in east Africa during the long period from about four million years to about one million years ago.
  • Australopithecus was a hominid (a creature belonging to the family Hominidae, which includes human and humanlike species).
  • Evolutionary biolgists reconize this genus as one standing alongside Homo (the genus of mondern humans).

  • Compared to our own species, Australopithecus would seem short, hairy, and "limited in intelligence."

    • Most were 25-55 kilograms in weight (55-121 pounds), just over one meter tall (3.5 feet), and their brain size was 500 cubic centimeters, whereas the brain size of modern humans is approximately 1400 cc.)
  • They walked upright on two legs, had opposable thumbs, and had the ability to communicate verbally, though probably not sophisticatedly.
  • They were able to perform complex trips of about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles).
  • They had tools like choppers, scrapers, and tools required for food preparation.

• About 1 million years ago, australopithecines disappeared, and were replaced by a new species of hominids called Homo erectus (meaning "up-right walking human).

  • Homo erectus flourished from about 2.5 million to 200,000 years ago.
  • They possessed a larger brain with a capacity at around 1000 cc.
  • The added cleavers and hand axes to the tools australopithecines had alraedy developed.
  • They also possessed knowledge about tending a fire, while meant they not only had the ability to cook food and a heat source, but they could also defend themselves against larger animals.

  • They exibited advanced intelligence and language skills, meaning they were able to convey complex ideas to each other.

    • Archaeologists have determined that Homo erectus men were able to conduct hunts in very well coordinated ways, suggesting prior communication.
    • Bones found at campsites also indicate that Homo erectus men were able to take down large and dangerous prey, indicating that they worked in groups and brought their prey back to their camps.
  • Homo erectus also demonstrated increasing control over the natural environment.
  • Australopithecines had not ventured beyond eastern and southern Africa, whereas Homo erectus migrated to north Africa, and the Eurasian landmas.

  • Almost two million years ago, Homo erectus groups moved to southwest Asia and beyond to Europe, south Asia, east Asia, and southeast Asia.

    • By two hundred thousand years ago, they'd established themselves throughout the temperate zones of the eastern hemisphere.

• Upon the arrival of Homo sapiens, about two hundred thousand years ago, Homo erectus began to fade and were eventually entirely replaced.

  • Early Homo sapiens possessed a large brain already, which approached the brain size of modern humans.

    • Their brains are exceptionally well developed in the frontal regions. where conscious and reflective thought takes place.
    • This gave them a powerful edge against the rest of their environment, though they were not very strong and did not possess natural means of attack.
  • Intelligence enabled Homo sapiens to adapt to widely varying environmental conditions and to establish the species securely throughout the world.

  • Starting over one hundred thousand years ago, Homo sapiens spread throughout the eastern hemisphere and populated the temprate lands of Africa, Europe, and Asia.

    • The encountered groups of Homo erectus people that had inhabited the land before them.
  • Soon, Homo sapiens moved into colder regions, as their intelligence enabled them to learn to keep themselves warm with animal skins, and build shelters.

• Between sixty thousand and fifteen thousand years ago, Homo sapiens extended the range of human population even further. Several ice ages had occured, lowering sea level, which exposed land bridges that linked Asia with regions of the world previously uninhabited by humans.

  • They crossed the bridges, and established communities in the islands of Indonesia and New Guinea, and some of then went father and crossed the temporary straight separating southeast Asia from Australia.

• About sixty thousand years ago, Homo sapiens arrived in Australia, possibly even earlier.

  • Somewhat later, as early as 25 thousand years ago, other groups started using the land bridges between Siberia and Alaska, and established human colonies in North America.

    • The began migration throughout the rest of the western hemisphere.
• About fifteen thousand years ago, communities of Homo sapien appeared in almost every habitable part of the world.
• 150 million people (2.5% of the population of the planet) live outside their birth country, while more than a billion are descendants of people who left their homeland within the past three centuries.

• Homo sapiens were intelligent enough to recognize problems and possibilities in their environment, and then take the favorable action to their survival.

  • In addition to the choppers, scrapers, axes, and other tools that their predecessors had, Homo sapiens also possessed knives, spears, bows, and arrows.
  • Individuals made dwellings for themselves in caves or shelters built from wood, bones, and animal skins.

  • In cold regions, Homo sapiens warmed themselves with fire and cloaked themselves in animal skins.

    • Ashes found at their campsites show that Homo sapiens were cxapable of tending fires, and leaving them burning continuously.
  • Tool use and natural explotation was so successful that Homo sapiens caused mammoths, wooly rhinoceros, giant kangaroos, mastodons, and horses soon disappeared.

• The laongest portion of human experience on earth is the paleolithic era, the "old stone age."

  • Characteristics of the era: humans foraged for food; they hunted animals or fathered naturally growing plants.
  • The paleolitic era extended from the evolution of the first hominids until about 12 years ago.

• A hunting and gathering economy virtually prevents individuals from accumulating any wealth, private property, or using weath to distinguish between social classes.

  • Hunters and gatherers must move where their prey goes -- so actual property would mean nothing to them.

    • Their only belongings would be a few small tools and weapons that they could easily carry with them.

  • Due to the lack of accumulated wealth, hunters and gatherers probably lived a relatively egalitarian existence.

    • Some social distinction would have occurred, because of age, courage, strength, intelligence, fertility, force of personality, or some other trait, though personal or family wealth couldn't be used as a basis for permanent distinctions.
    • Surprisingly, this social equality would have continued through genders, as well, and no sex would have been able to dominate the other, as both served equally important jobs for the community.

  • Being a hunting and gathering society also meant that it would be impossible to have more than thirty to fifty members of a community.

    • If the groups became too large, it became impossible to provide for them all.
  • Paleolithic hunting was a complicated venture. Special tools were fashioned for the purposes of hunting, hunters wore disguises, coordinated their movements, and sometimes caused disturbances to herd the animals where they wanted them to go.
  • In the late paleolithic times, if food sources were particularly rich, people were known to settle down in permanent communities.

• The most prominent paleolithic settlements were:

  • Natufian society. Located in the eastern Mediterranean; modern day Israel and Lebanon.

    • As early as 13,500 BCE, they collected wild wheat and took animals from abundant animal herds.

  • Jomon society. Located in central Japan.

    • From 10,000 to 300 BCE, settlers harvested wild buckwheat and developed a productive fishing economy.

  • Chinook society. Located in the Pacific northwest region of North America; includes the modern states of Oregon, Washington, and the providence British Columbia.

    • Emerged after 3,000 BCE, and flourished until the mid-nineteenth century CE, principally on the basis of wild berries, acorns, and salmon runs.
  • Paleolithic settlements had permanent dwellings.

• Paleolithic individuals did not limit their thinking powers to practical matters, and showed evidence of reflective thought.

  • The earliest reflective thought noted was in the Neandertal people, named after the Neander river.

    • They flourished in Europe and southwest Asia, about 200,000, and 35,000 years ago.

    • At several sites, archaeologists have discovered signs of careful, ritualistic burials.

      • In the Shanidat cave, located 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Badhdad, in modern-day Iraq,  survivors laid the deceased on beds for flowers and covered them with garland and other flowers. Tools and animal bones were laid around them. The reason for this is unknown.

        • This indicates they understood the significance of life and death, something none of their ancestors had done before.

  • Another sign of reflective thought occurs in the creative achievements of the paleolithic people.

    • Cro-Magnon people invented harpoons, bows and arrows, and spear-throwers. They crafted tools such as awls and needles, and showed and interest in art and fastion.
    • Venus figurines were found at arcaelogical sites. Scholars believe that these indicate a deep interest in fertility.

• Paintings in caves inhabited or frequented by Cro-Magnon peoples are the most dramatic examples of prehistoric art.

  • The known examples of care art date from about thirty-four thousand to twelve thousand years ago.
  • Cave paintings may have represented efford to exercise "sympathetic magic" to gain control over subjects (in this case, animals) by capturing their spirits.
  • Pigment was made of materials like minerals, plants, blood, saliva, water, animal fat, and other available ingrediants.
• There are a few societies of hunting and gathering peoples left in the world, but generally speaking, agricultural and industrial societies have taken over the land best suited for those purposes.

• The term "neolithic era" means "new stone age", as opposed to the "old stone age" of the paleolithic era.

  • The term "neolithic" was first used when archeaologists discovered polished stone tools in neolithic sites, rather than the chipped stone tools of the paleolithic era, but soon scientists realized that in the neolithic times, people depended on cultivation, rather than forraging for their substinence.

  • Neolithic era -- Cultivation; Paleolithic -- forraging

    • Foraggers faced serious risks like drought, famine, disease, floods, extreme temeratures, and other natural disasters because they were dependent on nature. 
  • Neolithic women were the first to observe the effects of nature on plants (ie, water and sunlight help them grow, too much water kills them). They began the systematic care of plants. They began to care for plants instead of just collecting them.

  • Neolithic men began capturing and domesticating wild animals for food purposes.

    • The agricultural revolution took place over several centuries.

• The first examples of agriculture appeared around 9000 BCE, when the people of southwest Asia (located in modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey), began to clutivate wheat and barley, while domesticating sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle.                                  

  • 9000 - 7000 BCE -- African people located near modern Sudan -- domesticated cattle, sheep, goats; cultivated sorghum
  • 8000 - 6000 BCE - people near modern Nigera -- cultivated yams, okra, black-eyes peas. 
  • As early as 6500 BCE -- residents of the Yangzi River -- cultivated rice.
  • After 500 BCE- residents of Yellow River -- cultivated millet and soybeans.

• People of the western hemisphere turned independently to agriculture.

  • People who lived in Mesoamerica (central Mexico) cultivated miaze (corn) as early as 4000, and later they added beans, peppers, squash, and tomatoes.
  • Residents of the central Andean region of South America (Modern Peru) cultivated potatoes after 3000 BCE, and later added maize and beans.
  • It is possible that the Amazon river valley was yet another site of independent agriculture. This one centered on the cultivation of peanuts, manioc, and sweet potatoes.
• Western animals weren't well suited for domestication as many had become exctinct. However, llamas, alpacas, and guineau picgs were the exception to this rule.

• Early cultivators used the slash and burn method, which involved cutting down a tree, burning it, and then planting in the ashes. This method was highly effective, but did require that people moved every few years, as the soil would become infertile after that.

  • This is why early agriculture became so widespread.

  • Food from one area had the possibility of becoming widespread, too. Merchants and travelers carried knowledge of these foods to other lands that had previously relied on a different kind of crop.

    • Wheat, for example, spread from its homeland (southwest Asia) to Iran, northern India, and China.
• Despite the fact that agriculture was more work that the foraging done by their paleolithic predecessors, it had the appeal of producing abundant food -- enough to feed significantly more than their earlier method could.

• Agriculture caused a massive population explosion.

  •  3000 BCE -- 14 million
  • 2000 BCE -- 27 million
  • 1000 BCE --  50 million
  • 500 BCE -- 100 million

• Jericho was the earliest neolithic villiage.

  • It was the site of a freshwater oasis north of the Dead Sea (present day Israel).
  • Even in its earliest days, it would have had about 2000 citizens.
  • They farmed mostly wheat and barley, with the aid of the oasis.
  • Early on, they kept no domestic animals, but did hunt to supplement their diet with meat.
  • They traded very limitedly, but did trade for obsidian and salt.
  • Around 7000 BCE, the residents surrounded their huts with a giant wall and moat, indicating that the wealth of Jericho attracted many non-human predators.
• Because of the large population, people were encouraged to do specialized labor.

• Catal Huyuk is one of the best examples of the rapid development of specialized labor.

  • Located in south-central Anatolia (modern-day Turkey).
  • It was occupied continuously from 7250 to 5400 BCE, when it was abandoned by its residents.
  • They manufactured pots, baskets, textiles, leather, stone and metal tools, wood carvings, carpets, beads, and jewelry, among many other products.

  • Catal Huyuk became a prominent city, mostly because it was near obsidian deposits.

    • This village was likely the center of trade and production of obsidian tools.
• There were three early craft industries -- pottery, metallurgy, and textile production.

• Pottery was the earliest of the craft industries to emerge.

  • Paleolithic hunters and gatherers had no use for pottery, as they moved from site to site daily, and it would have been inconvienient to lug around heavy pottery around.
  • However, in a settled society that produced food that was in huge excess, a place to store food was required.

  • Around 7000 BCE, neolithic villagers in several parts of the world realized they could harden clay into a permanent material, and soon realized they could even carve designs into it.

    • As a result, pottery became a form of art, rather than simply a practical item.

• Metallurgy was the second of the craft industries to emerce.

  • The earliest metal worked with by humans was copper.
  • It was often used because it could simply be hammered and manipulated while in cold form, to make jewelry and simple tools.
  • In 6000 BCE, it was discovered that heating metal made it easier to work with, and that it could be used to extract ore.
  • Smelting was discovered in 5000 BCE.

• Because natural fibers decay faster than pottery or metal, archaeologists are unsure of the dawn of textile production, but fragments of fabric have survived from as early as 6000 BCE.

  • As soon as neolithic people began to raise crops and animals, they began to experiment with selective breeding, and they created plants and animals that provided long, easily worked fibers.

• The concentration of people in permanent locations along with the beginning of private property ownership allowed people to aquire personal wealth.

  • This caused social classes to emerge.
• The dawn of agriculture caused people to begin to observe when favorable planting seasons and weather conditions were, which gave them a kind of applied science.

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Aboukhadijeh, Feross. "Chapter 1: Before History" StudyNotes.org. Study Notes, LLC., 05 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Sep. 2022. <https://www.apstudynotes.org/world-history/outlines/chapter-1-before-history/>.