Early Peoples

Prologue: big history-human journey larger than the cosmic and planetary history; history of everything 
cosmo depicted as a single year. 
-eruption of inconceivable power and heat; universe creation 
  • gravity, matter, energy, electromagnetism and strong and weak forces. 
  • stars created due to comic gases
    • created elements in chem periodic table
      • milky way 
Sun- fifth largest 
living things have, larger multi celled creatures evolved in an explosive proliferation of life-forms over the past 600 million years. 
  • die offs around 5 times— diff species 
    • most known one to scholars “Permian” mass extinction occurring 250 million years ago 
      • eliminated 96% 
    • another 65 million years ago killed 75% 
      • included dinosaurs 
        • due to climate change and erupted volcanoes 
human population x more extensively and occupy most 
  • we appropriate 25-40% of the solar energy that enters the food chain 
  • gained access to the solar energy of coal, oils, gas 
    • stored for millions of years in making, deplete them in 100/ 1000 yrs
  • occupied 250,000 yrs
    • Paleolithic; settled hunting and gathering
      • occupy 95%
    • 12000 years ago first Agricultural Revolution 
Chapter 1: derive from chimps-- 5million to 6 million years ago. 
    • southern africa. 
    • 20-30 species emerged. 
      • able to walk on to legs, bipedalism 
  • homo sapiens the first 
    • died off 
  • homo habilis- make stones and tools, eat meat 
  • homo erectus- migrate out of africa 

First peoples;
  • started out eating wild fruits, hunting animals,etc
  • called Paleolithic because they used stones “Stone Age”
  • 12,000 years ago Eurasia,Africa, americas— started cultivation of plants and domestication of animals.
    • Neolithic— new stone age. 
  • first 150,000 human experience all african 
    • deserts and forests
      • used tools made of bones and grindstones 
    • large network of communication 
      • 200 miles indicate this 
  • jewelry and accessories of early human activity dates back to the Blombos Cave in South Africa.
    • ochre dating around 100,000 years ago 
Eurasia- 
  • from africa to middle east and from there westward into Europe 45,000 years ago.
    • southern france and spain 
  • colder ice age brought people from northern areas to the southern hotter areas. 
    • hunting mainly on horses and reindeer 
      • spear technology 
  • found vast plains in Central Europe, Ukraine, and russia new technologies 
    • bone needles, multilayered clothing, weave nets, storage pits, baskets, pottery
    • drawings of venus type women in germany but also other parts of Eurasia
Australia;
  • migrated 60,000 years ago
  • came from indonesia 
    • use of boats 
    • australian people developed over 250 languages 
      • collected variations of bulbs, tubers, root, seeds, and cereal grasses
    • Aboriginal people had simple technology uses 
      • after europeans traveled, they remained their traditional ways 
    • Dreamtime- development of ab elaborate and complex outlook on the world 
      • expressed ceremonies, how ancestral brings crisscross the land, creating its rivers, relation to alimonies and one another 
        • exchange in stones, pigment, materials for rope and baskets, etc
Into Americas; 
  • siberia; the jumping off point for the move t the americas 
  • DNA evidence suggests possible separation by sea from pacific Polynesia. 
  • Clovis Point emerged into the americas 13000 years ago spreading to north america 
    • lived near big animals, but only hunted small and ate wild fruits 
      • hunters of large mammals like mammoths and bison 
        • provide food for weeks 
      • 11,000 years ago all trace of clovis culture died off as the mammoths, certain horses and camels did too
Into the Pacific; 
  • last phase of the great human migration to the end of the earth took place in Pacific Ocean 
    • waterborne migration, oceangoing canos, remakrable navigational skills, 
    • spke Austronesian languages tracing back to China 
      • some sailed west from Indonesia to settle to islands like Madagascar
  • Most extensive 
  • both men and women traveled 
    • had one chief 
The First Human Society- 
  • Paleolithic Society- 20-25 people nomads 
  • slow rate of population grow 
    • interrupted by a volcanic eruption 
      • population started to grow slowly, 
        • 500,000 to 30,000 years ago then to 6 million by 10,000 years ago
    • woman freer of human tyranny and oppression  
      • masculinity due perhaps to male hunting 
      • 70% of plants provided by women eaten while 30% was meat provided by men 
        • sex play common 
          • virginity unknown, rape, beatings 
      • 15% of deaths due to violence
Economy and Environment; 
  • didn’t take long to gather and hunt and had more free time 
    • original affluent society 
      • didn’t need much 
    • used fire to get more plants 
      • made australia’s trees resistant to fire now 
    • In other places due to people, extinction of native plants and animals happened 
  • Neanderthals lived side by side of the homo sapiens for millennia. 
Realm of Spirit; 
  • rock art considered ceremonial space separate from ordinary life 
    • shamans led the ceremonies in the Australian Aboriginals 
      • sometimes used psycho-active drugs
  • Some Paleolithic societies were Monotheistic, others saw several levels of supernatural beings
    • creator deity, territorial spirits, spirits of dead ancestors
  • others believed in the natural shamans 
  • venus figures are believed to have strong gemini dimension in a great goddess
  • trees, animals, people, etc were animated by spirit or possessed by souls of their own 
Settling Down; 
  • people moved as more people came, climate, and different human groups interacted w one another. 
  • Collection of wild grains, representing major addition to food supply
  • last ice age was most significant 
    • plants and flowers now flourished and increased range providing richer and more diverse environment for many 
    •  everything changed for the better
      • societies grew into their villages 
    • first pottery, dugout canoes, paddles, bows, bowls, and tool handles made al from wood. 
    • broader range of food 
    • elaborate sites 
      • separate dog cemeteries, “man’s best friend” 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ch9

Mecca was one of the biggest cities in Arabia and is now the capital for Islam. Muhammad was the creator of the Quaran which is similar to the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible. God or “Allah” spoke out throw him, he was the messenger. The Quaran speaks on Islam’s faith. People have to follow five important Pillars and live by them. Christianity and Islam were compared because Islam became the other biggest religion compared to Christianity. 
Read more

CH 12

In this chapter, we learn that this was the start of the modern era. Many of the nonstate people here were introduced into the ways of the Europeans-- with their technologies, ways of living,  their religion, etc. During this era, many things would change and become known as the renaissance era. During this era, we see the discovery of Columbus and more.
Read more

CH 4 Culture and Religion

Chapter 4 has to do with early religions and how they came to be. It speaks on how they play a role with culture and civilization. They were all mostly different but also when they were put together, new religions ( or worships) were created. Something that I found interesting was that this book is supposedly based on the perspective of other countries, or cultures, aside the western/ European, yet the Greeks are still mentioned. This really shows, to me, how much of an impact the Greeks (and a big western religions) really did impact the beliefs and ways of other cultures. 
Read more