Chapter 1: The
First Civilizations
In 1849, a daring young Englishman made a hazardous journey into the deserts and swamps of southern Iraq. Braving high winds and temperatures that reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit, William Loftus led a small expedition southward along the banks of the Euphrates River in search of the roots of civilization. As he said, "From our childhood we have been led to regard this place as the cradle of the human race."
Guided by native
Arabs into the southernmost reaches of Iraq, Loftus and his small band of explorers were
soon overwhelmed by what they saw. He wrote, "I know of nothing more exciting or
impressive than the first sight of one of these great piles, looming in solitary grandeur
from the surrounding plains and marshes." One of these piles, known to the natives as
the mound of Warka, contained the ruins of Uruk, one of the first cities in the world and
part of the world's first civilization.
Southern Iraq,
known to ancient peoples as Mesopotamia , was one of the four areas in the world where
civilization began. In the fertile valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, the Nile, the
Indus, and the Yellow River, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China, intensive
agriculture became capable of supporting large groups of people, In these regions
civilization was born. The first civilizations emerged in western Asia (now known as the
Middle East) and Egypt, where people developed organized societies and created the ideas
and institutions that we associate with civilization.
The First Humans
Historians rely mostly
on documents to create their pictures of the past, but no written records exist for the
prehistory of humankind. In their absence, the story of early humanity depends upon
archaeological and, more recently, biological information, which anthropologists and
archaeologists use to formulate theories about our early past.
Although modern
science has given us more precise methods for examining prehistory, much of our
understanding of early humans still relies upon considerable conjecture. Given the rate
of new discoveries, the following account of the current theory of early human life
might well be changed in a few years. As the great British archaeologist Louis Leakey
reminded us years ago, "Theories on prehistory and early man constantly change as
new evidence comes to light."
The earliest
humanlike creatures—known as hominids—lived in Africa some three to four million
years ago. Known as Australopithecines, they flourished in East and South Africa and were
the first hominids to make simple stone tools. The oldest known stone tool— a knife
blade that is probably 2.6 million years old—was found in Africa.
A second stage in
early human development occurred around 1.5 million years ago when Homo erectus
("upright human being") emerged. Homo erectus made use of
Around 250,000 years
ago, a third—and crucial— stage in human development began with the emergence of
Homo sapiens ("wise human being"). By 100,000 b.c.e., two groups of Homo sapiens had developed.
One type was the Neanderthal, whose remains were first found in the Neander valley in
Germany. Their remains have since been found in both Europe and the Middle East and have
been dated to between 100,000 and 30,000 B.C.E. Neanderthals relied on a variety of
stone tools and were the first early people to bury their dead. Some scientists maintain
that burial of the dead indicates a belief in an afterlife. Neanderthals in Europe made
clothes from the skins of animals that they had killed for food.
The first
anatomically modern humans, known as Homo sapiens sapiens ("wise, wise human
being"), appeared in Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago. Recent evidence
indicates that they began to spread outside Africa around 100,000 years ago. Map 1.1 on
p. 4 shows probable dates for different movements, although many of these are still
controversial. By 30,000 B.C.E., Homo sapiens sapiens had replaced the Neanderthals, who
had largely become extinct.
The movement of the
first modern humans was rarely deliberate. Groups of people advanced beyond their old
hunting grounds at a rate of only two to three miles per generation. This was enough,
however, to populate the world in some tens of thousands of years. Based on recent
evidence, some scholars have suggested that such advanced human creatures may have
emerged independently in different parts of the world, rather than in Africa alone. In
any case, by 10,000 B.C.E., members of the Homo sapiens sapiens species could be found
throughout the world. By that time, it was the only human species left. All humans
today, be they Europeans, Australian aborigines, or Africans, belong to the same
subspecies of human being.
The
Hunter-Gatherers of the Old Stone Age
One of the basic
distinguishing features of the human species is the ability to make tools. The earliest
tools were made of stone, and the term Paleolithic (Greek for "Old Stone") Age
is used to designate this early period of human history (c. 2,500,000-10,000 b.c.e.).
For hundreds of
thousands of years, humans relied on hunting and gathering for their daily food.
Paleolithic peoples had a close relationship with the world around them, and over a period
of time, they came to know which animals to hunt and which plants to eat. They did not
know how to grow crops or raise animals, however. They gathered wild nuts, berries,
fruits, and a variety of wild grains and green plants. Around the world, they hunted and
consumed various animals, including buffalo horses, bison, wild goats, and reindeer. In
coastal areas, fish provided a rich source of food.
The hunting of
animals and the gathering of wild plants no doubt led to certain patterns of living.
Archaeologists and anthropologists have speculated that Paleolithic people lived in
small bands of twenty or thirty people. They were nomadic (they moved from place to place)
since they had no choice but to follow animal migrations and vegetation cycles. Hunting
depended upon careful observation of animal behavior patterns and required a group
effort to have any real chance of success. Over the years, tools became more refined and
more useful. The invention of the spear, and later the bow and arrow, made hunting
considerably easier. Harpoons and fishhooks made of bone increased the catch of fish.
Both men and women
were responsible for finding food—the chief work of Paleolithic people. Since women
bore and raised the children, they generally stayed close to the camps, but they played an
important role in acquiring food, gathering berries, nuts, and grains. Men hunted the wild
animals, an activity that took them far from camp. Because both men and women played
important roles in providing for the band's survival, scientists have argued that a
rough equality existed between men and women. Indeed, some speculate that both men and
women made the decisions that governed the activities of the Paleolithic band.
These groups of
Paleolithic peoples, especially those who lived in cold climates, found shelter in caves.
Over time, they created new types of shelter as well. Perhaps the most common was a simple
structure of wood poles or sticks covered with animal hides. Where wood was scarce,
Paleolithic hunter-gatherers might use the bones of mammoths for the framework and cover
it with animal hides. The systematic use of fire, which archaeologists believe began
around 500,000 years ago, made it possible for the caves and human-made structures to have
a source of light and heat. Fire also enabled early humans to cook their food, making it
better tasting, longer lasting, and, in the case of some plants, such as wild grain,
easier to chew and digest.
The making of tools
and the use of fire—two important technological innovations of Paleolithic
peoples— remind us how crucial the ability to adapt was to human survival. Changing
physical conditions during periodic ice ages posed a considerable threat to human
existence. Paleolithic peoples used their technological innovations—such as the
ability to make tools and use fire—to change their physical environment. By working
together, they found a way to survive. And by passing on their common practices, skills,
and material products to their children, they ensured that later generations, too, could
survive in a harsh environment.
But Paleolithic peoples did more than just survive. The cave paintings of large animals found in southwestern France and northern Spain bear witness to the cultural activity of Paleolithic peoples. A cave discovered in southern France in 1994 contains more than three hundred paintings of lions, oxen, owls, panthers, and other animals. Most of these are animals that Paleolithic people did not hunt, which suggests that the paintings were created for religious or even decorative purposes.
The Agricultural
Revolution, c. 10,000-4000 b.c.e.
The end of the last
ice age around 10,000 B.C.E. was followed by what is called the Neolithic Revolution;
that is,
'The real change was
the shift from hunting animals and gathering plants for sustenance to producing food by
systematic agriculture. The planting of grains and vegetables provided a regular supply
of food while the taming of animals, such as sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs, added a
steady source of meat, milk, and fibers such as wool for clothing. Larger animals could
also be used as beasts of burden. The growing of crops and the tanking of food-producing
animals created a new relationship between humans and nature. Historians like to speak of
this as an agricultural revolution. Revolutionary change is dramatic and requires great
effort, but the ability to acquire food on a regular basis gave humans greater control
over their environment. It also enabled them to give up their nomadic ways of life and
begin to live in settled communities.
The shift to food
producing from hunting and gathering was not as sudden as was once believed, however.
The Mesolithic period ("Middle Stone Age," c. 10,000-7000 b.c.e.) saw a gradual transition from a
food-gathering and hunting economy to a food-producing one and witnessed a
gradual domestication of animals as well. Likewise, the movement toward the use
of plants and their seeds as an important source of nourishment was also not
sudden. Evidence seems to support the possibility that the Paleolithic hunters and gatherers had already grown
crops to supplement their traditional sources of food. Moreover, throughout the Neolithic
period, hunting and gathering as well as nomadic herding remained ways of life for many
people around the world.
Systematic
agriculture developed independently in different areas of the world between 8000 and 5000
B.C.E. Inhabitants of the Middle East began cultivating wheat and barley and domesticating
pigs, cattle, goats, and sheep by 8000 B.C.E. From the Middle East, farming spread into
the Balkans region of Europe by 6500 B.C.E. By 4000 B.C.E., it was well established in the
south of France, central Europe, and the coastal regions of the Mediterranean. The
cultivation of wheat and barley also spread from western Asia into the Nile valley of
Egypt by 6000 B.C.E. and soon spread up the Nile to other areas of Africa, especially the
Sudan and Ethiopia. In the woodlands and tropical forests of central Africa, a separate
agricultural system emerged based on the cultivation of tubers or root crops such as yams
and tree crops such as bananas. The cultivation of wheat and barley also eventually moved
eastward into the highlands of northwestern and central India
between 7000 and 5000 B.C.E. By 5000 B.C.E., rice was being cultivated in Southeast Asia,
from where it spread into South China. In northern China, the cultivation of millet and
the domestication of pigs and dogs seem well established by 6000 B.C.E. In the Western
Hemisphere, Mesoamericans (inhabitants of present-day Mexico and Central America)
domesticated beans, squash, and maize (or corn) as well as dogs and fowl between 7000 and
5000 B.C.E.
The growing of crops
on a regular basis made possible the support of larger populations and gave rise to more
permanent settlements, which historians refer to as Neolithic farming villages or towns.
Although Neolithic villages appeared in Europe, India, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica,
the oldest and most extensive ones were located in the Middle East. Jericho, in Palestine
near the Dead Sea, was in existence by 8000 B.C.E. and covered several acres by 7000
B.C.E. It had a wall several feet thick that enclosed houses made of sun-dried
bricks, Catal Huyuk, located in modern-day Turkey, was an even larger community. Its walls
enclosed thirty-two acres, and its population probably reached six thousand inhabitants
during its high point from 6700 to 5700 B.C.E. People lived in simple mudbrick houses that
were built so close to one another that there were few streets. To get to their homes, people had to
walk along the rooftops and then enter the house through a hole in the roof.
Archaeologists have
discovered twelve cultivated products in (Catal Huyuk, including fruits, nuts,
and three kinds of wheat. People grew their own food and stored it storerooms in their homes.
Domesticated animals, especially cattle, yielded meat,
milk, and hides. Hunting scenes on the walls would indicate that the people of
Catal
Huyuk hunted as well, but unlike earlier hunter-gatherers, they no longer relied on hunting
to survive. id surpluses also made it possible for people to do other than farming. Some
people became artisans and made weapons and jewelry that were traded with
neighboring peoples, thus opening the inhabitants of Catal Huyuk to the wider world around them.
Religious shrines housing figures of gods and goddesses have
been found at (Catal Huyuk, as have a number of
female statuettes. Molded with noticeably large breasts and buttocks, these "earth
mothers" perhaps symbolically represented the fertility of both "our
mother" earth and human mothers. Both the shrines and the statues point to the
growing role of religion in the lives of these Neolithic peoples.
The Neolithic
agricultural revolution had far-reaching consequences. Once people settled in villages
or towns, they built houses for protection and other structures for the storage of goods.
As organized communities stored food and accumulated material goods, they began to engage
in trade. In the Middle East, for example, the new communities exchanged such objects as
shells, flint, and semiprecious stones. People also began to specialize in certain crafts,
and a division of labor developed. Pottery was made from clay and baked in fire to make
it hard. The pots were used for cooking and to store grains. Woven baskets were also
used for storage. Stone tools became refined as flint blades were used to make sickles
and hoes for use in the fields. In the course of the Neolithic Age, many of the food
plants still in use today came to be cultivated. Moreover, vegetable fibers from such
plants as flax and cotton were used to make thread that was woven into cloth.
The change to
systematic agriculture in the Neolithic Age also had consequences for the relationship
between men and women. Men assumed the primary responsibility for working in the fields
and herding animals, jobs that kept them away from the home. Women remained behind, caring
for the children and weaving clothes, making cheese from milk, and performing other tasks
chat required considerable labor in one place. In time, as work outside the home was
increasingly perceived as more important than work done at home, men came to
Other patterns set
in the Neolithic Age also proved to be enduring elements of human history. Fixed
dwellings, domesticated animals, regular farming, a division of labor, men holding
power, all of these are part of the human story. For all of our scientific and
technological progress, human survival still depends on the growing and storing of food,
an accomplishment of people in the Neolithic Age. The Neolithic Revolution was truly a
turning point in human history.
Between 4000 and
3000 B.C.E., significant technical developments began to transform the Neolithic towns.
The invention of writing enabled records to be kept while the use of metals marked a new
level of human control over the environment and its resources. Already before 4000 B.C.E.,
artisans had discovered that metal-bearing rocks could be heated to liquefy the metal,
which could then be cast in molds to produce tools and weapons that were more useful than
stone instruments. Although copper was the first metal to be utilized in producing tools,
after 4000 B.C.E., metalworkers in western Asia discovered that a combination of copper
and tin created bronze, a far harder and more durable metal than copper. Its widespread
use has led historians to speak of a Bronze Age from around 3000 to 1200 B.C.E., after
which bronze was increasingly replaced by iron.
At first, Neolithic settlements were hardly more than villages, but as their inhabitants mastered the art of farming, the villages gradually began to give birth to more sophisticated and complex human societies. As wealth increased, these societies began to develop armies and to build walled cities. By the beginning of the Bronze Age, the concentration of larger numbers of people in the river valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China was leading to a whole new pattern for human life.