A History of Human

Civilization
Jeff Feasel
17 Feb 2006
 What we’ll learn
• Brief 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

species
• 100,000 BC: Anatomically Modern Humans
• as shown by fossil bones
• 50,000 BC: Cro-Magnons (“Mentally Modern”)
• as shown by archaeology
• 8,000 BC: First signs of settled life
• 4,000 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 World
• “Clovis” people
– Broke from Mongoloid population living in Siberia.
– Already adapted to arctic conditions
• Entered 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 Civilization
• 10,000 BC: End of last Ice Age
• Humans had reached every habitable area.
• Everyone has roughly the same lifestyle: hunter-
gatherer.
• 1400-1600 AD: European Expansion
• Guns vs. Spears
• Why 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?
• Mesopotamia
• Egypt
• Indus River
• China
• Mesoamerica
• Andes
• hunter-gatherers:
– Southern Africa
– Australia / New Guinea
– Northern / Western Europe
– North 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 heirarchy
– Able to live in dense groups
– Willing to breed in captivity
– Usually herbivorous
– Usually relatively large (>50 lbs) (often the same animals you’d 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 Extinction
– Why weren’t Old World animals hunted to extinction?
 Earliest Domestication of Animals
Dog >15,000 BC Near-East? China?
Sheep 8,000 BC Near-East
Goat 8,000 BC Near-East
Pig 8,000 BC China, Near-East
Silkworm 7,500 BC China
Cow 6,000 BC Near-East, India
Cat 6,000 BC Egypt
Horse 4,000 BC Ukraine
Donkey 4,000 BC Egypt
Water buffalo 4,000 BC China
Turkey 3,500 BC Mesoamerica
Llama/Alpaca 3,500 BC Andes
Guinea Pig 3,500 BC Andes
Camel 2,500 BC Central Asia, Arabia
Chicken 1,000 BC Pacific Asia
 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-maturing
– Large-enough seeds or fruits
– Storable
• Not quite as imbalanced as animals, but still...
• Compare New World to Old World
• Why 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
Area Cereals/Grasses Legumes Tubers
Near-East Wheat, Barley Pea, Lentil, Chickpea —
West Africa Sorghum, Millet, Cowpea, Groundnut Yam
Rice
India [Wheat, Barley, Rice, Hyacinth bean, Black gram, Green —
Sorghum, Millet] gram
Ethiopia Teff, Millet, [Wheat, [Pea, Lentil] —
Barley]
China Millet, Rice Soybean, Adzuki bean, Mung —
bean
Mesoamerica Corn Common bean, Tepary bean, Jicama
Scarlet runner bean
Andes Quinoa, [Corn] Common bean, Lima bean, Potato,
Peanut Sweet Potato
Mississippi Maygrass, Barley, — Artichoke
Valley Knotweed, Goosefoot

[Bracketed crops were borrowed from other cultures]

 The Effects of Geography
• Climate
• Migration 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 together
• What is Civilization?
• What factors allow it to happen?
 Factors
– Climate
– Geographical location
– Available domesticatable species

– Food production (animals, plants)  Surplus

– Sedentary Lifestyle
– Specialization
– Increased Population Density
– Germs & Immunity
– Infrastructure

– Exchange of ideas
• within culture
• across culture
 Recommended Reading
• Cook, 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.