A History of Human CivilizationJeff Feasel17 Feb 2006

What well learnBrief overview of human history.What does the archeological record show?Discuss which factors contributed to human civilization.

When Did Human History Happen?[See Timeline]200,000 BC: Split from all other Homonid species100,000 BC: Anatomically Modern Humansas shown by fossil bones50,000 BC: Cro-Magnons (Mentally Modern)as shown by archaeology8,000 BC: First signs of settled life4,000 BC: Written record begins

Ice Core Sample

Early Migration of Humans

Early Migration of Humans[See Migration Map]Long before the last Ice Age, people were already spread out through most of Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.Lived as hunter gatherers.No evidence of farming/herding before Holocene.

Arriving in The New WorldClovis peopleBroke from Mongoloid population living in Siberia.Already adapted to arctic conditionsEntered North/South America via land-bridge on Bering Strait.Exact timing is known because of airlock effect.Tremendous boom! Spread from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in less than 1000 years.Mass extinction of large land mammals

The Pace of Civilization10,000 BC: End of last Ice AgeHumans had reached every habitable area.Everyone has roughly the same lifestyle: hunter-gatherer.1400-1600 AD: European ExpansionGuns vs. SpearsWhy did civilization proceed so much faster in some parts of the world than in others?And what does this tell us about civilization?

Who Had What, and Why?MesopotamiaEgyptIndus RiverChinaMesoamericaAndeshunter-gatherers:Southern AfricaAustralia / New GuineaNorthern / Western EuropeNorth Asia

[See tables: Earliest Domestication of Animals/Plants]

Natural Resource: Animals[Table of Domesticated Animals]Uses??food, clothing, hunting, transportation, traction[Necessary for domestication:]Pack behavior dominance heirarchyAble to live in dense groupsWilling to breed in captivityUsually herbivorousUsually relatively large (>50 lbs) (often the same animals youd hunt)[No new animals domesticated until after the Industrial Revolution.]Compare New World to Old World.Why such an imbalance of useful domesticatable animals available? Luck-of-the-Draw or Mass ExtinctionWhy werent Old World animals hunted to extinction?

Earliest Domestication of Animals

Natural Resource: Plants[Table of Domesticated Plants]Grains and legumes form most of the human diet.(70% of calories come from cereal)[Necessary for domestication:]Fast-maturingLarge-enough seeds or fruitsStorableNot quite as imbalanced as animals, but still...Compare New World to Old WorldWhy did some areas take to farming more than others?Climatic advantage.Incoming solar energy gradient.What are the sweet-spots?Band near, but not on, Equator.Which are suitable for GRASSES to grow?

Earliest Domestication of Plants[Bracketed crops were borrowed from other cultures]

The Effects of GeographyClimateMigration of people.Diffusion (or stimulus diffusion) of domesticated plants/animals and technology.

So, what happened to the Native Americans when the Europeans came?

Putting it all togetherWhat is Civilization?What factors allow it to happen?

FactorsClimateGeographical locationAvailable domesticatable species

Food production (animals, plants) SurplusSedentary LifestyleSpecializationIncreased Population DensityGerms & ImmunityInfrastructure

Exchange of ideaswithin cultureacross culture

Recommended ReadingCook, Michael. (2005) A Brief History of the Human Race. W. W. Norton and Company, New York.Diamond, Jared. (1997) Guns, Germs, and Steel. W. W. Norton and Company, New York.Diamond, Jared. (1992) The Third Chimpanzee. HarperCollins Publishers, New York.

We know this from archaeology, genetic dating, written records.Early man tree diagram?Get the exact dates for the airlock effect of passage through alaska.Deleted: New GuineaSugar caneYam, Taro