From Prehistory to Civilization 3000-1200 B.C.

From prehistory to civilization 3000-1200 B.C.

• "Language, religion, art, technology, farming, family life, and village communities-all these basic features of human existence originated in prehistoric times"
• The earliest development led around 3,000 B.C. to the rise of the first civilizations-those of Mesopotamia and Egypt
• The Temple of Amon- constructed about 1600 B.C. near the Egyptian City of Thebes, remains the world's largest religious building even today
• Prehistory: the period before history was recorded through written documents
• 200,00 years ago appeared a human species probably southwestern Africa
• 14,000 years ago it had become the worldwide human race of the present day
• Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age-the earliest and longest period of prehistory when humans used simple stone tools
• 8000 B.C. they had advanced so far in Southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa, as well as in neighboring regions including Europe
• Neolithic (New Stone) Age-the period of human history characterized by advances in stone tool-making and the beginning's of agricultural
• The Neolithic Age was followed by the Bronze Age (about 3000-1000 B.C.) and then the Iron Age (after 1000 B.C.)
• Cave Paintings-these images of wild beasts were painted about 25,000 years ago deep in a cave in southern France.
• Agricultural Revolution also called Neolithic Revolution-the shift from hunting and gathering to a more settled way of life based on farming and herding that occurred gradually between 8,000 and 4000 B.C. in much of western Asia, northern Africa, and Europe, and separately in other parts of the world
• 6000 B.C.-the first agricultural villages appeared in southwestern Asia
• Neolithic Storage Jar-developed at the time of the Agricultural Revolution, made possible the storage of plant and animal products
• Polytheism-the belief in many gods and goddesses
• Egypt about 3500 B.C. were the earliest known civilizations arose

Sumerians and "Hammurabi's Code"

Today in class we continued on the notes about the Sumerians. We also talked about "Hammurabi's Code." Pantheon of Sumerian gods and goddesses emerged along with many of the deities representing the natural elements of the world. The world's first surviving epic during this time was the "Epic of Gilgamesh" which told of the great flood. The Sumerians divided the hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds. They also organized a calendar that was based on moon cycles. Ziggurat is a Sumerian temple that they built on top of a "mountain" of earth.
Civilization in Mesopotamia
King Hammurabi of Babylon created a series of laws known as "Hammurabi's Code." The law included "an eye for an eye", regulations of marriage, divorce, and punishments for all sorts of crime.
"Hammurabi's Code"
205: If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a feed man, his ear shall be cut off. I agree with this because you could be the owner of the slave. If you are the owner then you can do whatever you want because it is your property.
209: If a man strikes a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay 10 shekels for her loss. I agree with this because you hurt the woman and even killed the child you should pay for what you did. The money could help the woman with her injuries.
210: If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death. I don't agree with this because maybe the person didn't mean to kill the woman. The man's daughter should not be killed because of someone he killed. He should owe them money for what he did.

Today in class we talked about Western Civilization and the Western World. The Western World is Europe and the Americas. The Pre-history was before people developed languages. By 14,000 years ago everyone was on every continent except Antarctica. 200,000 people started living in Southeastern Africa. The earliest prehistoric age is in the Paleolithic Age or also known as Old Stone Age. The Neolithic Age is also known as New Stone Age. People migrated to where food is and they followed where the animals are going. The New Stone Age was when people started making tools and the  beginning of agriculture.
The Agriculture Revolution started permanent settlements and it centered on agriculture. Also known as Neolithic Revolution. Population rose due to the ability to care for children and kids. Hierarchies started in these types of villages. Women's status lowered because they were confined to domestic duties. Women did not have a big job like the men did so they cleaned and took care of children. The wheel and plow allowed the people to grow food. Polytheists were people who worshiped many native, human, and animal gods. Sumer occurred between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. The population grew because of new irrigation techniques. Cities and towns were founded and some had as many as 40,000 inhabitants. More food storage allowed for diversity in professions- priests, tradesmen, artisans, politicians , and farmers. Kings emerged as did family dynasties. The concept of "city-state" started. It invented the earliest form of writing-"cuneiform".

Setting up a blog

Today we set up our blog for western civ. This blog was easy to make even though I already made a blog. I think this class will be fun. I like to learn about new things and that this would be something fun to learn. This was my first Western Civ. class and it was easy and fun to do.

First Blog

This is my first Western Civ. blog. Just seeing if this works.