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• Timeline of Human Development

  • Homo habilis (Skillful human)
  • Homo erectus (Upright human)
  • Homo sapiens (Wise human)
  • Homo sapiens sapiens (Modern human)
• Homo habilis


  Lived 1.5 to 2,4 million years ago, used stones as simple tools and ate a variety of foods
• Homo erectus


  Lived 300,000 to 1.6 million years ago, used fire, made stone axes and chopping tools
• Homo sapiens


  Lived 30,000 to 230,000 years ago, could speak, made more complicated tools, also called "the Neanderthals"
• Homo sapiens sapiens


  Have been around for 120,000 years, became more advanced about 40,000 years ago
• The Stone Age (2.5 mya –3,000 BC)


  • Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age) 2.5 mya-10,000 BC
  • Mesolithic Period –(10,000 BC –8,000 BC)
  • Neolithic Period (8,000 BC –3,000 BC)

  
• Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age) 2.5 mya-10,000 BC


  • Early humans lived in caves or simple huts or tepees and were hunters and gatherers, used basic stone and bone tools, as well as crude stone axes, for hunting birds and wild animals, cooked their prey using controlled fire, also fished and collected berries, fruit and nuts

  
• Mesolithic Period –(10,000 BC –8,000 BC)


  • Humans used small stone tools, now also polished and sometimes crafted with points and attached to antlers, bone or wood to serve as spears and arrows, often lived nomadically in camps near rivers and other bodies of water, agriculture was introduced during this time, which led to more permanent settlements in villages
• Neolithic Period (8,000 BC –3,000 BC)


  • Ancient humans switched from hunter/gatherer mode to agriculture and food production, domesticated animals and cultivated cereal grains, used polished hand axes, adzes for ploughing and tilling the land and started to settle in the plains, advancements were made not only in tools but also in farming, home construction and art, including pottery, sewing and weaving
• Stone Age Breakthroughs in Hunter-Gatherer Tools

  • Sharpened stones (Oldowan tools): 2.6 million years ago
  • Stone handaxe (Acheulean tools): 1.6 million years ago
  • A new kind of knapping (Levallois technique): 400,000 to 200,00 years ago
  • Cutting blades (Aurignacian industry): 80,000 to 40,000 years ago
  • Small, sharp micro blades (Magdalenian culture): 11,000 to 17,000 years ago
  • Axes, celts, chisels (Neolithic tools): around 12,000 years ago

  
• Sharpened stones (Oldowan tools): 2.6 million years ago


  • Stone cores with flakes removed from them to create a sharpened edge that could be used for cutting, chopping or scraping

  
• Stone handaxe (Acheulean tools): 1.6 million years ago

  • Used for striking flakes off longer rock cores to shape them into thinner less rounded implements

  
• A new kind of knapping (Levallois technique): 400,000 to 200,00 years ago


  • Involved striking pieces off a stone core to produce a tortoise-shell like shape, then carefully striking the core again in such a way that a single large, sharp flake can be broken off
• Cutting blades (Aurignacian industry): 80,000 to 40,000 years ago


  • Involved detaching long rectangular flakes from a stone core to form blades, which proved more effective at cutting and were easier to attach to a handle
• Small, sharp micro blades (Magdalenian culture): 11,000 to 17,000 years ago


  • Characterized by small tools known as geometric microliths, or stone blades or flakes that have been shaped into triangles, crescents and other geometric forms, which could be attached to handles made of bone or antler and used as projectile weapons, as well as for woodworking and food preparation purposes

  
• Axes, celts, chisels (Neolithic tools): around 12,000 years ago

  • More pleasing to look at, more efficient to use and easier to sharpen when they became dull, allowed humans to clear wide swathes of woodland to create their agricultural settlements
• The Bronze Age (3,000 B.C. to 1,300 B.C.)


  • Metalworking advances were made, as bronze, a copper and tin alloy, was discovered, used for weapons and tools, helped spark innovations including the ox-drawn plow and the wheel
  • Advances in architecture and art, including the invention of the potter's wheel, and textiles, home dwellings morphed to roundhouses
  • Humans may have started smelting copper as early as 6,000 B.C. in the Fertile Crescent
• Fertile Crescent


  The region in the Middle East which curves, like a quarter-moon shape, from the Persian Gulf, through modern-day southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and northern Egypt, recognized for its vital contributions to world culture stemming from the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant
• Contributions of the Fertile Crescent

  • Agricultural Techniques
  • Mathematics and Astronomy
  • Astrology and the Development of the Zodiac
  • Domestication of Animals
  • Long-Distance Trade
  • Medical Practices (including dentistry)
  • The Wheel
  • The Concept of Time
• Mesopotamian Civilization


  An ancient, historical region that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria, Turkey and Iran, part of the Fertile Crescent
• world culture stemming from the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant which included the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Phoenicians, all of whom were responsible for the development of civilization
• Areas of human knowledge advanced by these people

  • Science and Technology
  • Writing and Literature
  • Religion
  • Agricultural Techniques
  • Mathematics and Astronomy
  • Astrology and the Development of the Zodiac
  • Domestication of Animals
  • Long-Distance Trade
  • Medical Practices (including dentistry)
  • The Wheel
  • The Concept of Time
• Mesopotamia


  An ancient, historical region that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria, Turkey and Iran
• Mesopotamia was part of the Fertile Crescent, and was home to the earliest known human civilizations. Scholars believe the Agricultural Revolution started here
• Earliest occupants of Mesopotamia


  • They lived in circular dwellings made of mud and brick along the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys
  • They began to practice agriculture by domesticating sheep and pigs around 11,000 to 9,000 B.C.
  • Domesticated plants, including flax, wheat, barley and lentils, first appeared around 9,500 B.C.
• Archaeological sites in Mesopotamia

  • Tell Abu Hureyra
  • Nineveh
• One of the oldest known Mesopotamian cities, Nineveh (near Mosul in modern Iraq), may have been settled as early as 6,000 B.C. Sumerian civilization arose in the lower Tigris-Euphrates valley around 5,000 B.C.
• In addition to farming and cities, ancient Mesopotamian societies developed irrigation and aqueducts, temples, pottery, early systems of banking and credit, property ownership and the first codes of law
• Sumer


  First settled by humans from 4500 to 4000 B.C., though it is probable that some settlers arrived much earlier
• Ubaid people


  • Notable for strides in the development of civilization such as farming and raising cattle, weaving textiles, working with carpentry and pottery and even enjoying beer
  • Villages and towns were built around Ubaid farming communities
• Sumerians


  The people who were in control of the area by 3000 B.C.
• Sumerian city-states


  • Included Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Kish, Ur and the very first true city, Uruk
  • At its peak around 2800 BC, Uruk had a population between 40,000 and 80,000 people living between its six miles of defensive walls, making it a contender for the largest city in the world
  • Each city-state was surrounded by a wall, with villages settled just outside and distinguished by the worship of local deities
• Mass-produced pottery


  The Sumerians were the first to develop the turning wheel, a device which allowed them to mass-produce pottery
• Sumerian writing


  • They were the first to develop a writing system, using sharpened reeds to scratch symbols into wet clay which dried to form tablets
  • The system of writing became known as cuneiform, and was borrowed by subsequent civilizations and used across the Middle East for 2,000 years
• Sumerian writing


  • They didn't set out to write great literature or record their history, but rather to keep track of the goods that they were making and selling
• Sumerian hydraulic engineering


  They designed complex systems of canals, with dams constructed of reeds, palm trunks and mud whose gates could be opened or closed to regulate the flow of water, in order to collect and channel the overflow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and use it to water and fertilize their farm fields
• Sumerian chariot


  They probably developed the first two-wheeled chariot in which a driver drove a team of animals, though they were probably used for ceremonies or by the military rather than as a means of transportation
• Sumerian plow


  They invented the plow, a vital technology in farming, and even produced a manual that gave farmers detailed instructions on how to use various types of plows
• Sumerian textile mills


  They were the first to turn their temples into huge factories for weaving textiles on an industrial scale, crossing kin lines to form larger working organizations for making textiles
• Sumerian mass-produced bricks


  They created molds for making bricks out of clay in large amounts, allowing them to build more and larger cities