The document discusses the fundamental characteristics of civilization, emphasizing the importance of studying humanities to learn from past mistakes and improve society. It traces human evolution from nomadic hunter-gatherers to the establishment of civilizations with organized structures, writing, and culture, highlighting key developments such as the use of fire and the agricultural revolution. The text articulates how these advancements have shaped human interactions and societal organization over time.

1. After studying this module, look again at the basic
characteristics of a civilization. Think about these elements,
and suggest at least two improvements in the society you live
in.
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Why we Study Humanities
We study humanities for many reasons. Some of them might be
to learn from our mistakes, realize we are part of a great thing,
get ready for the important questions, propose alternatives to
the challenges we face, and become the high-level professional
we want to be.
As we move further in this course, you will see that we have
made many mistakes. We fought many wars that could have
been avoided if we had thought about our conflicts further. The
more we value and appreciate our humanity, the less likely we
will hurt each other.
We have also hurt the environment. We are just realizing
recently that we are part of the environment and that everything
we do to it will haunt us back. We are now "thinking green" and
trying to slow down the damage we caused to the planet.
Hopefully, we still have a chance.
We formed ways of living that sometimes were not just. As we

2. look at ourselves, we realize we need to improve our methods of
organizing in societies, in the ways we worship, and in the ways
we govern.
But we should also study humanities to see how we are part of a
great thing. We are seekers and explorers. We won't stand in
front of a mystery without trying to conquer it. We have created
science, medicine, art, philosophy, literature. Many of these
creations have turned our lives around. Humans can abstract to
create and imagine pushing the boundaries constantly by asking
brave questions. We are also good.
At the speed we are going, there is a need for most of us to
engage in high-level thinking. Progress is good if most people's
lives improve with it. Are we heading in that direction?
Humanities allow us to explore that question. As we face those
questions, we might come up with answers that will help us
avoid falling back into solving our problems through force and
violence. We might prevent a new war.
The environments in which we find ourselves as time passes are
different. Development and change occur as we live. The
challenges we have today might be others tomorrow. But the
constant element is us, the human element.
First Humans
You and I have been on earth in this shape and form (homo
sapiens sapiens) for 200,000 to 150,000 years. When you look
at the time the planet has been in existence, which is around 4
billion years, we just showed up. We must look at our
development as humans keeping in mind that everything around
us – plants, other animals, and even the environment – has been
evolving just like us. But in this first module, our focus will be
on human beings within that scheme of things.
For some of us, this might be a controversial issue. And
although in academia, we don't shy away from challenging
questions, the questions we will face in this first part do not
necessarily challenge our faith or beliefs. If we are believers,
there might even be space for God in the theory of evolution.

3. Prehistory
First, we need to keep in mind what prehistory is. In short, it is
what we tell about the events that happened before written
records. Human beings started putting in writing their
experience around seven thousand years ago. But a lot was
going on before we started recording our daily events. So, when
we talk about prehistory, we talk about events with no written
record. We try to understand these events by studying the
evidence we find on the ground through archeology and other
sciences.
Africa was the birthplace of humanity. "The oldest known stone
tool – a knife blade that is probably 2.6 million years old – was
found in Africa (Spielvogel, 1997)." After human beings
evolved in Africa, we became nomads. We walked north through
thousands of years and slowly habituated what we call Asia and
Europe. We were hunter-gatherers. Since we ate the animals
that lived where we lived, when those animals were killed, we
had to keep going. Thus, we were also nomads.
Around ten thousand years ago, we started planting seeds in the
ground, and we realized we could stay in one place and live off
what we domesticated. Scientists call this the agricultural
revolution.
Now we had plants and domesticated animals. We settled. As
we settled, we started growing as a group. We became larger
groups that shared one space. With this comes the need to
arrange our contributions to the whole in creative ways to
provide for all the members of the tribe or clan. Now we enter
civilization, and with civilization come many other elements
that would take us further toward progress and development.
In a large group of people, we need organization, order, rules,
laws. There comes the need to extend knowledge to the growing
generations, so we create a system of perpetuating our customs
and beliefs through education. We need to interpret the
mysteries that surround us, what happens when we die, why
there is a drought and many other questions answered by wise

4. men, interpreters of mystery, priests, and religious men. We
create myths to explain the unexplainable, and we create stories
to share our ideas. In short, we create culture. "What human
beings have always shown is a cumulative capacity such as no
other species has ever shown to create change (Roberts, 1993)."
Fire
It had to be an incredible moment. Suddenly we learned to
manipulate fire. Fire meant having power. Fire gave us a better
brain, a different body, light, protection, and heat. As we
learned to manipulate fire, we started using it for cooking our
food. That became more time for us to do other things. In this
respect, we can say that the fire extended the day for us. Not
only that, but eating cooked meat changed the physiology of the
brain, which opened new possibilities for the human.
We could get more out of the food that was cooked. It was
healthier. Our bodies improved, and we became more efficient
in everything else we had to do to survive.
Inside our caves, we could have light. Light meant sitting
together to share stories. Even today, many of us enjoy sitting
around the fire to tell stories. But light also meant using our
creativity to tell stories in cave walls. We witness this if we
look at the Altamira Caves in Spain or the Lascaux Cave in
France.
Manipulation of fire also meant protection against beasts. We
are the animal that was able to use fire against the other
animals. The human being was not strong like the lion or as
fast, but the lion feared the human with fire. Suddenly we have
a powerful weapon that helps us level the fields where we lack
physical strength. We could even hunt at night with a fire in our
hands.
Fire also meant staying in one place without having to travel
because of the cold season. Human beings learned that fire
could be used to provide heat. No matter how cold it could be
outside, if we manipulated fire, we always had heat.

5. Civilization: Organization and Power
The manipulation of fire and the need to organize a larger group
of people meant the development of civilization. A civilization
is a group of people that organize themselves in certain ways to
be more effective in finding ways to cooperate within the group.
Historians have identified certain characteristics of any
civilization. Spielvogel (1997) lists the following: 1) an urban
revolution, 2) religious structure, 3) political and military
structures, 4) a social structure, 5) the development of writing,
6) new forms of significant artistic and intellectual activity, and
7) more complexity in a material sense: capital was
accumulated, and metals smelted to produce a variety of
material objects (Spielvogel, 1997).
When we talk about an urban revolution, we mean the building
of structures, houses, buildings, and common spaces in which
this specific civilization shares culture. All human needs must
be addressed within that space, so we create a physical space of
our own to cover those needs.
Religion is always present in one form or another in every
culture known around the globe. There have always been
mysteries and questions we do not know the answers to yet.
There always have been interpreters of the phenomena we
experience around us for those questions and mysteries. Before
science, shamans, priests, and prophets helped us interpret these
mysteries. As we form civilizations, these interpretations
became what today we call religion.
Another need civilizations have is the political and military
structures. As we grow into civilization we need to be better
organized and prepared to defend ourselves, attack. Survive,
govern effectively, and keep moving toward progress.
As a society structures itself, we start dividing ourselves into
different classes. Some of these classes start acquiring some
types of privileges over others. All societies have these class
divisions, although some have questioned if they are necessary.
Another great thing we developed is some form of writing. We
developed writing to keep track of our businesses. We realized

6. that it was an effective system to preserve what memory could
forget. Not only that, but we could convey messages, ideas, and
information. Writing is one of the greatest creations of
humanity.
As we grew into civilized living, we also developed creative
ways to express ourselves artistically. Suddenly we have
talented individuals creating forms of art that would entice
members of society toward new ways of feeling and
demonstrating our tastes and styles.
And finally, our surplus of material objects made us come up
with a trade. We realized that we do not have to make
everything we need or consume. Others are good at doing
something we do not know how to do or lack the materials
required for it. So, we came up with ways to exchange what we
made.
References
Gowlett, J. A. J. (2016). The discovery of fire by humans: a
long and convoluted process.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B:
Biological Sciences,
371(1696),
20150164. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0164
Hart, D., & Sussman, R. W. (2008).
Man the hunted: Primates, predators, and human
evolution (expanded edition) [E-book]. ProQuest Ebook
Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/. See page 21, A
Messy Bush
O'Neill, J. (2013, Nov). The discovery of fire.
Storyworks, 21, 20-21. Retrieved
from https://librarylogin-
carolina.uagm.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.
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Wengrow, D. (2010).
What makes civilization? : The ancient near east and
the future of the west. Oxford University Press.