HIST 150 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Zoonosis, Zeus, Xenophon
12 Oct 2018
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HIST 150
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
HISTORY 150 (Aug. 22nd, 2018)
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION AND THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION
Warning!!! This outline is ONLY an outline. Take notes!!!
“Civilization is based, not only on men, but on plants and animals.” J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964), British
biologist and writer.
For 99% of human history men and women lived as hunter-gatherers; they lived in small, mobile bands of
20 to 25 persons and obtained their subsistence through a combination of hunting animals and gathering
wild plants.
• Hunter-gathers
- Moved around fixed territory in different times of the year to get resources
- Gender division (work 20hrs week)
• Men did the hunting, not every day tho
• Women did the gathering, everyday
In the 1950s the hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari “ate about eighty kinds of plants, including twenty-five
kinds of roots, seven or eight kinds of berries, five kinds of nuts, sixteen or seventeen kinds of fruits, three
or four kinds of melons, four kinds of leaves of which two resembled spinach, eleven kinds of tree gum,
and two kinds of beans from pods. They also ate palm hearts.” Elizabeth M. Thomas, The Old Way: 106.
I. Why was there a Neolithic Revolution?
• Series of change happened independently
- Domestication of plants and animals
- Population growth
- New tech
8000 BC World Population = 4 to 5 million 2010 Indiana Population = 6.5 million
II. Domestication of Plants
• Would pick the seeds from the best plants to grow the next year
SW Asia: wheat, barley, chickpeas, and lentils (by 8500 BC)
China: rice and millet (by 7500 BC)
Mesoamerica: corn, beans, squash (by 3500 BC)
III. Domestication of Animals
• Domestic animals that could be useful to groups, social animals
- Modifying behavior to benefit tribe
- Removing from wild
- Breeding
- 2-way process, animals got protection and fed
Dogs (10,000 BC): SW Asia, China, and North America
Sheep and goats (8000 BC): SW Asia
Pigs (8000 BC): China and SW Asia
Cattle (6000 BC): SW Asia and India
Cats (5000 BC): SW Asia and Africa - smallest domesticated animals; self-domesticated; haven’t changed
much; wild, territorial, and antisocial
Horses (4000 BC): Ukraine
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
IV. The Rise of Towns and Cities
Jericho (Jordan River valley)
• Oldest city roughly started out with 2,000 people
• Sheep and goats, still hunted
• Considered first city, because of the wall it built (10ft)
- To keep live stock and people safe
With the advent of settled society, people developed new technologies: pottery and cloth making and the
smelting of metals.
V. Some Consequences of the Neolithic Revolution
The creation of a food surplus made possible a more complex society and culture: CIVILIZATION.
Around 3200 BC the first civilization emerged in Sumer, located in Mesopotamia. Sumerian scribes created
the first writing system: cuneiform (Latin, cuneus, “wedge”). They used a reed stylus to write this script on
a clay tablet.
• Sumerian were the first to create a writing system
- Kept track of things
- Evolution of the written system changes greatly
The Neolithic Revolution led to a dramatic take off in population growth. By 1000 BC world population
was around 50 million; this take off transformed the relationship between humanity and the natural world.
Bad things
• Organized war
- Created war chariots and the creation of the wheel
• Diseases
“Of the fourteen hundred known human pathogenic organisms, between eight hundred and nine hundred
are zoonotic diseases, originating in nonhuman hosts.” James C. Scott, Against the Grain: A Deep History
of the Earliest States: 103. Examples: measles, smallpox, influenza.
HISTORY 150 (Aug. 24th, 2018)
THE POLIS AND ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
Demokratia = demos, “the people” + kratos, “power” Herodotus
Polis = “city state”
• Romans: Republic, Greeks: Democracy
• Original thought, Democracy “People’s Power”
- Small independent city states
• Greeks would send advisors out to establish City States
In the 400s BC Athens, the largest of the Greek city states, had a population of around 350,000 and covered
about 1000 square miles. About the size of Ireland
• Athens, small part of city state
- Average citizen lived outside of city as small farmers. Struggled
Between around 750 to 500 BC, Athens went from a monarchy to an oligarchy to a democracy; Athenian
democracy lasted almost two centuries (508 to 322 BC). Democracy established over time
• Ruled by Monarchy, or king -> then ruled by oligarchy, or the wealthy, -> then ruled by
democracy, or by the people
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The neolithic revolution and the rise of civilization. Civilization is based, not only on men, but on plants and animals. j. b. s. For 99% of human history men and women lived as hunter-gatherers; they lived in small, mobile bands of. 20 to 25 persons and obtained their subsistence through a combination of hunting animals and gathering wild plants: hunter-gathers. Moved around fixed territory in different times of the year to get resources. Gender division (work 20hrs week: men did the hunting, not every day tho, women did the gathering, everyday. They also ate palm hearts. elizabeth m. thomas, the old way: 106: why was there a neolithic revolution, series of change happened independently. 8000 bc world population = 4 to 5 million 2010 indiana population = 6. 5 million. Domestication of plants: would pick the seeds from the best plants to grow the next year. Sw asia: wheat, barley, chickpeas, and lentils (by 8500 bc)
