Ancient Civilization

Describe Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures. What were the main characteristics of each?
The Paleolithic Old Stone era began in about 40,000 – 10,000 B. C. The beginning of this period was marked by the first human hunter-gatherer societies. Hunting, fishing, and gathering of fruits and nuts were the main economic endeavors at the time. The responsibilities in these hunter-gathering societies were shared. The men of this period did the very dangerous hunting of large wild animals like bison and reindeer, while women gatherer fruits and nuts for an entire year. The small communities of 25-50 people came to consensus on decisions and ideas were shared. The extended family was core. Men and women both played a roll in child bearing. The people of this era lived in huts and caves. Caves were idealistic living quarters; they could be heated in the cold weather months and were cool in hot weather months. Caves were also good advantage points for observing prey. Caves were also the sites of representational art. Paleolithic cave paintings were of bison, horse, reindeer and mammoths. Historians believe that art may have been the cave dwellers’ attempts to control the environment through magic. Other representational art of this time included (Venus) figurines of women. The female figurines exaggerated the buttocks and breasts of women, perhaps in attempt to control fertility of women. Men spent a lot of time fashioning tools, like the javelin for hunting. The skilled craftsmanship of tools and the artists demonstrates at least a limited specialization of skills and division of labor, so these societies required organization in the villages. The desire to trade ideas and merchandise with other societies developed.
The Neolithic New Stone era began sometime around 10,000 B. C. The beginning of this period was marked by the domestication of animals and plants. With men occupied in hunting, it may well have been females who first unraveled the secrets of agriculture. Humans specialized in the wild plants they collected and the animals they hunted. They began to learn how to control the environment in order to domesticate plants and animals. The domestication of animals perhaps started with dogs, which were useful in hunting. Then they learned to keep sheep, goats, chickens and cattle. Next came farming. They learned to grow wheat, barley, then legumes (beans). Craft specialization was evident, in addition to farming and shepherding, occupations in trading and accounting, iron working, clothing making, jewelers, artists and mining developed. The villagers mined copper (period was also known as Copper Age), gems, perhaps for pottery and hunting tools. Accountants were used for trade transactions. Technological advancements came into use like the wheel and complex metal casting. In Europe, elaborate temple complexes and other monuments were built, which required complex mathematics. Also during the Neolithic period, religions developed. Gods and goddesses controlled everything. Gods and goddesses of the earth and fertility were worshipped. There was a strong urge to create cities near water. The organization and engineering that took place in this period is what lead humans to civilization.

Discuss the causes of ancient civilization.

Civilizations evolved in response to the need in the Neolithic communities for organization and engineering. Early civilizations were very complex. In early civilizations there is evidence of large and specialized labor forces, strong government, technology to control the environment, significant projects in art and thought and the invention of writing. As Neolithic communities grew, there was a strong urge to create cities near water. The first civilizations began in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and in the valley of the Nile River in Egypt around 3500 – 3000 B. C.. Large and efficient irrigation and drainage projects created channels, dikes, or dams to control floodwaters and to improve the fertility of the land.
There was a need for social and economic hierarchies. The city was a society of strangers. There were single people as well as nuclear families in monogamous relationships. Civil rights came because you lived in a city. With individual freedoms came more responsibilities. There were five main social classes. The first class was the royal family, which marked the first form of government – monarchy. The position of king or queen was inherited. If there was not