This document provides an overview of early human cultures and civilizations. It begins with definitions of culture and discusses the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages. The Neolithic Revolution marked the beginning of settled societies based around agriculture and domestication of animals. This led to the emergence of early civilizations in places like Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Key features of early civilizations included organized government, religion, job specialization, social classes, art, architecture, writing, and trade. The Sumerians created the first Mesopotamian civilization based around city-states with temples, defenses, and the earliest writing system of cuneiform. Later, the Akkadians and

1. CHAPTER 1: EARLY HUMANS
AND THEIR CULTURE
B EGINNING OF CI VI L I ZAT IONS

2. WHAT IS CULTURE?
• The ways of living built up by a group and
passed on from one generation to another?
What are the defining traits of culture?
• Ideas, beliefs, institutions, food, practices,
language, gestures, material things like our
clothing, shelter and housing
Why is language important to our identity?
• allows us to transmit ideas
• enables human adaptions
• facilitates in the passage of culture from
generation to generation

3. PALEOLITHIC AGE
• 1,000,000-10,000 B.C.E. (Old Stone
Age)
• No plant cultivation
• Hunter-gatherers
• Small nomadic tribes
• Little control over nature
• Some evidence of religious faith
and use of magic
• Division of labor by sex

4. NEOLITHIC AGE 10,000-3500 B.C.E. (NEW
STONE AGE)
• Agricultural Revolution
• Domestication of animals
• Birth of first civilizations
• Beginning of settled societies
• Rise of complex human societies

5. NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
• Systematic agriculture
• Humans shifted from hunting & gathering to
keeping animals & growing food on a regular
basis
• Advances in stone tools = surplus of food
production = growth of population = growth of
villages = led to first cities
• Emergence of new professions in cities such as
artisans, merchants, craftsmen

6. WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?
• Skills and tools people use to help them
meet their basic needs and wants

7. 7 DEFINING FEATURES OF CIVILIZATION
• Organized government
• complex religion
• job specialization
• social classes
• art and architecture
• public works
• writing
forms of
communication
Why are the Arts and Architecture important?

8. OTHER IMPORTANT FEATURES OF
CIVILIZATION
• Urbanization
• Social change
 Growth in population
• Technological and industrial change
 Bronze Age following Neolithic Age
• Long-distance trade

9. MESOPOTAMIA (IRAQ)
• Ancient Mesopotamia
included 3 general
areas:
1. Assyria
2. Akkad
3. Sumer
• between Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
• Part of the Fertile
Crescent
• Knows of rich soil –
helped produce surplus
of crops = able to sustain
early civilizations

10. MESOPOTAMIA

11. WHAT IS FERTILE CRESCENT AND WHY
ARE RIVERS IMPORTANT?

12. EARLY MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION
• Sumerians: Created the 1st Mesopotamian civilization
• Created city-states: basic units of Sumerian civilizations
• Sumerian cities:
• Surrounded by walls
• Many had defense towers
• dwellings built of sun-dried bricks
• Sumerian beliefs
• Polytheistic
• Believed that gods owned the citied
• Built temples for gods
• Writing – Invented cuneiform – earliest writing system
• Government: Theocracy
• Kings derived power from gods and were agents of gods

13. CUNEIFORM WRITING

14. AKKADIANS
• 2340 B.C.E. Sargon, leader of the Akkadians
overran Sumerian city-states
• Established first empire in world history
• Empire: large political unit or state, usually
under a single leader that controls many
people and territory

15. BABYLONIANS
1792 B.C. – New Empire in Babylon under
King Hammurabi
Hammurabi expanded the city-state of
Babylon along the Euphrates River to unite
all of southern Mesopotamia.
Code of Hammurabi
• a collection of 282 laws and standards
• first code of law that was written down
• based on system of strict justice
• many of its ideas would find their way into
Hebrew civilization
• consumer protection laws