HIST10 - World Civ to 1500
Lect. #1

Be Civilized! What constitutes "civilization"

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 I. What is history?
                • What is "prehistory"
                • Timeline #1
                • Timeline #2

II. Intensification & Origins of Agriculture of Human Species
        A. Agricultural Revolution & the danger of Linear History
              1. "Neolithic Revolution" - V. Gordon Childe
                     • Between 11,500 and 4,000 years ago
                     •At least 3 (and maybe 7) areas where agricultural communities, domesticated plants & animals appear
                               - Fertile Cresent (11,000 and 9,000 years ago)
                               - China (9,500 to 8,800 years ago)
                               - South of Sahara (6,000 and 4,000 years ago)
                               - Americas (5500-4000 years ago)

                     •What is agriculture?
                               - Domestication: "the human creation of a new form of plant or animal-one that is identifiably different from its wild ancestors and extant wild relatives"
                                         1) Sheep (too slow and stupid to survive in wild)
                                         2) Corn (cannot reproduce without human help since seeds cannot scatter freely)
                               - Plant domesticates account for most of the demographic dynamism of the agricultural revolution
                     • Non-linear (multiple centers)

        B. Early Neolithic settlements:  Civilized?
                     •Jericho
                     •Çatalhöyük

         C. "Civilization":  The Beginning of History?

  III. Rise of Cities, States and "Civilizations" (7,000-3,000 BCE)
         A. Agriculture Revolution
              1. From 'parasites of nature' to 'masters of their domain' 
                     • Why?
                               - Adversity theory (Toynbee)
                               - Climate theory (Huntingdon)
                               - Social Surplus Theory
                               - Top Down
                               - Bottom Up

         B. What is Civilization?
               1. Traditional Definition: 
                       • urban ( 5,000+)
                       • writing
                       • monumental architecture
                       •  what about . . . 

               2. How do we decided if a society is "civilized"?
                       •  cultural relativism

         C. Is "civilization" desseminated?
               1. Incan society
                       • Road network
                       • quipu (khipu)
               2. Pacific Islanders
                       • navigation techniques

 

Some websites of further interest:

• Smithsonian exhibit of eight examples of the oldest human-form statues ever found in the Near East. • If your interested in the discovery and excavation of Çatalhöyük check out take a virtual tour of the excavations, or see a virtual reconstruction of what a  Çatalhöyük home looked like!