(Paleolithic Age 500 B.C.)

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1 The Ancient World (Paleolithic Age 500 B.C.) The Ancient World covers the period from the dark prehistory of the Paleolithic Age to the development of the earliest centers of civilization in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley. The lives of hunter-gatherers, the agricultural revolution, and the rise of the world s first cities are all vividly depicted in this richly illustrated text. Challenging map exercises and provocative review questions encourage meaningful reflection and historical analysis. Tests and answer keys included. MP3394 The Ancient World Written by: Tim McNeese Illustrated by: Ada Hanlon Page Layout & Editing: Lisa Marty Cover Design: Jon Davis Managing Editor: Kathleen Hilmes Cover Art: Wall painting from Egyptian tomb Copyright 1999 Milliken Publishing Company Lilburn Park Drive St. Louis, MO Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce pages extends only to teacher-purchaser for individual classroom use, not to exceed in any event more than one copy per pupil in a course. The reproduction of any part for an entire school or school system or for commercial use is strictly prohibited.

2 Table of Contents What Is History?...1 The Paleolithic Age...2 Paleolithic Hunting: The Most Dangerous Game...3 The Origins of Agriculture...4 City Life, Neolithic Style...5 Life in Neolithic Catal Huyuk...6 Civilization, Cities, and Bronze...7 Civilization in Mesopotamia...8 Daily Life in Mesopotamia...9 Sumerian Temples and Homes...10 Sumerian Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic...11 The Rise of Babylon...12 The Code of Hammurabi...13 Life in the Indus Valley...14 Test I (Worksheets 1 14)...15 The Nile: River of Life...16 The Kingdoms of Egypt...17 Pyramids: Grand Tombs for the Pharaohs...18 Daily Life Among the Egyptians...19 Writing, Egyptian Style...20 The Rise and Fall of Egypt...21 Hittites: Masters of Iron...22 The Hebrews and Monotheism...23 The Canaanites...24 The Phoenicians: Traders in the Mediterranean...25 The Assyrians and the New Babylonians...26 The Persians: The Kind Conquerors...27 Test II (Worksheets 16 27)...28 Answer Key Milliken Publishing Company i MP3394

3 The word history comes from an ancient Greek word meaning inquiry or to ask or question. So, what is history? This appears to be a simple, three-word question, but it s not. How do we know today what happened 10,000 years ago, or 5000 years ago, or even last week? Last week is easy. It happened recently enough that you have some memory of its events. Some of those events happened in your life. Others you may have read about in the newspaper or heard about on television. But what of the events of hundreds or even thousands of years ago? How do we know about them? Today, people called historians help us make sense of the past. By examining sources (sometimes called artifacts) such as clay tablets, temple carvings, and journals, historians piece together a picture of earlier times. Sources can generally be divided into two groups: primary sources and secondary sources. Of the two, primary sources tell us the most. A primary source is one written, carved, or etched during the time it covers. For example, when an Egyptian scribe copied a poem praising his pharaoh, he left us a valuable primary source. Similarly, we know what it was like to travel on the Oregon Trail in the 1840s because pioneer women wrote about their experiences. Other primary sources include paintings, sculpture, buildings, and burial sites. Such artifacts provide vital information about the lives of our ancestors: what they ate, how they dressed, what their religious beliefs and values were. Secondary sources are the works of historians, often written long after the events being described have taken place. What Is History? In this book and others in this series, we will look not only at how people lived in the past, but how they progressed from rather primitive beginnings thousands of years ago to the point of creating civilizations. What do we mean by the word civilization? It comes from the Latin word, civis, meaning citizen of a city. Prior to the development of cities, early humans were wanderers relying on hunting and gathering to feed themselves. Only after humans created cities based on cooperation, organization, and specialization did they begin to create civilizations. So civilization, in this sense, means the improvement of life by humans working together to change their world. For now, you should begin forming in your mind an idea of what you think is required to make a people civilized. Before we are finished with this study, we will look closely at the adventure of human history, discover our past and, hopefully, develop a clearer understanding of how the world we live in has changed over thousands of years. A Lesson on Dating In this book, you will see references to years followed by the letters B.C. These letters refer to dates before Christ. For example, 3000 B.C. refers to a date 5000 years ago, since the historical Jesus lived about 2000 years ago. Also, all dates designated as B.C. are counted backward, (in other words, they get smaller) since each year brings us closer to something (in this case, the birth of Christ), rather than further from it. Therefore, a period of time covering from 3000 to 4000 years ago would be written as B.C. Before Christ (B.C.) c B.C The development of agriculture began. c B.C. The Great Pyramids were built. THE BIRTH OF CHRIST Anno Domini (A.D.) October 31, 1517 A.D. Martin Luther posts 95 theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg starting the Reformation. c.3500 B.C. The world s first cities appeared in the lower part of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. 476 A.D. The Fall of the Roman Empire (according to some historians) A.D. William Shakespeare's Hamlet first performed. Milliken Publishing Company 1 MP3394

4 Humans first appeared on the scene of the ancient world in Africa 1,500,000 years ago during a period called the Paleolithic Age. The word paleolithic comes from the combining of two words: paleo, meaning old, and lithic, meaning stone. Anthropologists, scientists who study human history and its origins, call these ancient humans Homo sapiens (meaning wise humans ). This Old Stone Age lasted a very long time well over 1,000,000 years. The word stone is used to identify these early people because they used stones and rocks as tools, weapons, and cooking utensils. Sometimes we think of these early humans Cave artwork depicting a prehistoric bison as cavemen dressed in animal skins, carrying clubs, and grunting all the time. But this image of early humans as merely a bunch of Fred Flintstones may not be very accurate. Much of what we know today about these early people comes from their artwork, which includes The Paleolithic Age small statues of women and cave paintings. Anthropologists have discovered over 200 caves where late Paleolithic artists painted pictures of animals, including bison, horses, bulls, and rhinoceroses. These early painters used charcoal sticks to draw the picture outlines and produced colors from lumps of red, yellow, and brown clays. Feathers or ferns were used as brushes. These ancient people were, however, primitive by modern standards. They spent their entire lives traveling in search of food. They did not understand how to plant seeds in the ground, farm, or keep livestock. Instead, they hunted animals and gathered wild plants, seeds, fruits, and nuts. For this reason, anthropologists refer to Paleolithic people as huntergatherers. In a typical Paleolithic group, the men were the hunters; the women and children were the gatherers of wild plants. Most of these early people lived in organized social units, with some people considered more important than others. For example, the men who hunted were very important in the Paleolithic social order. Also, in a time when people did not have laws, political leaders, or learned judges, the elderly members of their group were respected for the wisdom and experience they had gained through long life. Such individuals were very unique in the Paleolithic Age since most people died from disease, harsh living conditions, or accidents before they were 30 years old. Review and Write 1. What do you imagine was the most difficult part of living in the Paleolithic Age? 2. Create an imaginary Paleolithic meal. What foods would be included? How might they be prepared? Milliken Publishing Company 2 MP3394

5 Paleolithic Hunting: The Most Dangerous Game What will you have for supper this evening? You probably have no idea. Someone else will likely prepare it for you, and you will give little thought to where it came from or what it took to put such a meal together. For Paleolithic people, thinking about food and figuring out where it would come from was something which took much time, planning, and skill. For ancient hunters, bringing a meal to their family might even be dangerous. These early hunters used several different techniques and a variety of weapons to help them in their efforts to track down dinner. The animals they hunted might include bison, horses, reindeer, elk, or ibex (a kind of goat). During an Ice Age, a period of hundreds of years when daily temperatures were colder than normal, these primitive hunters stalked thick-haired rhinos and now-extinct elephants called woolly mammoths. Stone and wood provided the basic materials for Paleolithic weapons. Flint was the best stone available for making hunting points, such as spear heads and later arrowheads. Every Paleolithic hunter needed to know how to make and maintain his hunting arsenal. Paleolithic spears served as the primary hunting tool. Another important device was a spear-thrower. This tool, made of wood or antler, included a sheath and a handle, with the blunt of the spear placed in the sheath. Working on the lever principle, the hunter could use such a tool to throw his spear with greater accuracy over longer distances, with increased force, allowing the spear to pierce the target animal s skin even deeper. Other weapons included bone or antler harpoons, which featured not only spear points, but additional bone barbs that would hold a spear in the side of an animal without allowing the beast to wiggle the weapon out. In time, the Paleolithic hunter added the bow and arrow to his choice of weapons. This instrument, as well as the spear-thrower, allowed the hunter to kill his prey at a safer distance. In the field, Paleolithic hunters roamed in bands and used cooperation to outwit their quarry. Sometimes a hunting party might select an animal from a herd and simply chase it down until it was finally speared and killed. Other methods of capturing and killing game included digging pits along frequently used animal trails and covering them with branches and leaves. An unsuspecting animal would then fall into the trap and be easily killed. Hunters also gathered along river banks, waited until a herd began crossing, then leaped out when the animals were in deep water, unable to escape. Another method of hunting involved approaching a quarry from three sides, leaving open only one avenue of escape which led to a canyon trap or a cliff where a blindly running bison or mammoth would plunge to a violent and bloody death. Review and Write Hand-crafted pointed stone hand axes 1. What dangers might a Paleolithic hunter face when tracking down ancient animals such as woolly mammoths and bison? 2. On page 2, you read that hunters were respected people. Why do you think they were considered so important to their people? Milliken Publishing Company 3 MP3394

6 The world we live in is always changing. Last year s fashions may already be out-of-style. Last year s computer model has been replaced by a faster one with greater memory. Things become obsolete quickly. For early humans, however, change did not come swiftly. For over 1,000,000 years, Paleolithic humans practiced hunting and gathering techniques to eat and survive. But approximately 10,000 years ago, a profound change occurred in the way humans procured food for themselves. Between 35,000 and 12,000 years ago, many parts of our world experienced an Ice Age. During these thousands of years, much of today s Europe and western Asia experienced average summer temperature highs of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and average winter highs of 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Wild animals which thrive in such cold weather, such as bison, reindeer, and elk, were plentiful and frequently hunted by Paleolithic peoples. However, around 12,000 years ago, the Ice Age was winding down. The great glaciers which had formed during these colder centuries began to retreat to northern portions of Europe and Asia. Many coldclimate animals moved to the north as well. The Origins of Agriculture In time, those ancient people who did not move north with the animals created a new means of survival which was less dependent on hunting. Approximately 3000 years following the last Ice Age, the people of what are today Turkey, Israel, and Syria not only found the climate of the Mediterranean warmer, but it produced abundant fields of wild grasses and grains. In fact, the natural vegetation was so plentiful that people began to store surplus grain in underground storage pits for winter consumption. Such storage facilities allowed bands and tribes of people to remain in one place, changing from a nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary, or permanently located, one. Although we will never know who, between 9000 and 7000 years ago, someone realized that some of the stored grain developed into new stalks. Others realized that grain could be planted in the ground and new grain would be produced. This marks the beginning of human food production. Historians often refer to the development of a systematic agriculture as an agricultural revolution. In time, the Paleolithic Age gave way to the Neolithic Age (neo means new ). Over the next 5000 years, the world of early man changed dramatically. Review and Write 1. Why do you think change takes place today much faster than it did for early humans? 2. How did changes in climate create new lifestyles for early humans? Milliken Publishing Company 4 MP3394

Hunter-Gatherers. Question: Look at the tools in the above picture. What do you think the uses of the tools were?

Hunter-Gatherers. Question: Look at the tools in the above picture. What do you think the uses of the tools were? Hunter-Gatherers The first humans and their ancestors lived during a long period of time called the Stone Age. During the Stone Age, early humans developed tools that would help them accomplish tasks.