SOCIAL STUDIES NOTES

 

CHAPTER 1              THE BEGINNINGS OF HUMAN SOCIETY

 

Section 1: Geography and History

 

I. The Iceman

 

-The Iceman was found in 1991 in a mountain pass in the Alps, on

 the Italian-Austrian border in Europe.

 

-His clothing, tools, and body were well preserved and provided clues

 about the Iceman’s life and death. Scientists used these clues to

 build a story of his life.

 

-Scientists determined that the Iceman lived about 5000 years ago,

 in about 3000 B.C.

 

-The most important clue about the Iceman’s life was his copper ax.

 Copper was the first metal used by Europeans, beginning about

 4000 B.C.

 

II. Understanding History

 

-About 5000 years ago, peoples in Southwest Asia developed systems

 of writing. These developments marked the beginnings of history.

 

-History is the written or other recorded events of people.

 

-By adding the prefix pre-, which means “before,” you form the word

 prehistory. Prehistory is the time before history. Prehistory is the

 period of time before writing was invented.

 

-To learn about life in prehistoric times, scientists must rely on clues

 other than written records.

 

 

 

-Archaeologists are scientists who examine objects to learn about

 past peoples and cultures. They sift through the dirt of prehistoric

 camps to find bones, tools, and other objects.

 

-Historians do not rely only on the objects discovered by

 archaeologists to learn about the past. They also study written

 records of human life and accomplishments to understand a

 society—its wars, religion, and its rulers, among other things.

 

-Historians also look at what other groups living at the same wrote

 about that society.

 

-The written records studied by historians often began as oral

 traditions, stories passed down by word of mouth.

 

-Oral traditions can include a family’s history or tell stories about

 heroes or events in the past.

 

-Oral traditions tell how a society lived and what the people

 considered important.

 

III. Linking Geography and History

 

-Geography is the study of earth’s surface and the processes that

 shape it. Geography also refers to the features of a place, including

 its climate, landscape, and location.

 

-Knowing the connection between geography and history is often the

 key to understanding why events happened. Weather patterns, the

 water supply, and the landscape of a place all affect the lives of the

 people who live there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section 2: Prehistory

 

I. Earliest Human Culture

 

-The first use of stone to create tools began the earliest known

 period of human culture: the Stone Age.

 

-The Stone Age was a period of time during which early humans

 made lasting tools and weapons mainly from stone but also from

 wood and animal bones.

 

-Archaeologists divide the Stone Age into three periods: the Old

 Stone Age, the Middle Stone Age, and the New Stone Age.

 

-During the Old Stone Age, early humans did not yet know how to

 farm. They were hunter-gathers, people who survive by hunting

 animals and gathering wild plants. Almost all of human prehistory

 took place during the Old Stone Age.

 

-During this period, our ancestors learned how to use fire. With fire,

 they could ward off dangerous animals who were also afraid of the

 flames.

 

-Finally, early humans discovered how to create fire. They probably

 did this by rubbing two sticks together or by striking stones together

 to produce a spark. With this advance, they could move to areas

 with colder climates.   

 

-Nomads are people who have no settled home. They moved around

 to places where they thought they would find food. When they had

 gathered all the food around them, they moved on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II. The Beginning of Farming

 

-The Middle Stone Age was characterized by the use of more refined

 or advanced tools.

 

 

-Those who began the practice of farming entered the New Stone

  Age.

 

-Some scientists believe that about 11,000 years ago, people in

 Southwest Asia learned that if they planted the seeds of wild

 grasses, new crops of grasses would come up. Thus began the New

 Stone Age. It was called the New Stone Age because people began

 to grow their own food instead of just hunt and gather.

 

-At the same time that people began to grow their own food, some

 people became pastoral nomads. That is, they raised livestock

 (sheep, goats) and traveled from place to place in search of grazing

 area for their animals.

 

-In most societies, woman were responsible for gathering plants and

 seeds and the men usually hunted.

 

-Some places were better for farming than others because the soil

 there was very fertile. Fertile soil is rich in the substances that plants

 need to grow.

 

-Because plants need light and warmth, areas that had long springs

 and summers were good places to farm. Gentle rains are important

 sources of water for plants.

 

-When people first began to plant crops, they carefully chose seeds

 from the biggest, best-tasting plants. In doing so, they began to

 domesticate plants, or adapt wild plants for human use.

 

-Just as humans learned to domesticate plants, they also learned to

 domesticate animals. During the New Stone Age, humans learned to

 tame wild animals and breed them for human use.

 

-The first domestic animals may have been dogs because they were

 valuable in hunting. By taming larger animals such as sheep, goats,

 and pigs, people developed ready sources of meat, wool, and skins.

 

-By about 2500 B.C., cattle, camels, horses, and donkeys were

 trained to carry heavy loads.

 

-The people of ancient India tamed wild elephants for use in battle.

 

-Ancient Assyrians and Egyptians trained wild cheetahs for hunting. 

 

 

Section 3: The Beginnings of Civilization

 

-Irrigation, supplying the land with water through a network of

 canals, was important in creating early communities because it

 provided a steady supply of water for the crops even in the dry

 season.

 

 

I. Advantages of a Settled Life

 

-Farming was much harder work than hunting and gathering.

 However, it had far greater rewards. People who produced their own

 food could have a steady supply of food year-round. This meant that

 they no longer had to travel from place to place. Surplus food, more

 than what is needed, could be stored for use at another time.

 

-Having surplus food also allowed more people to be fed, so the

 population of the world began to grow rapidly.

 

-As the population increased, settlements grew into towns.

 

-With food surpluses, people did not have to spend all of their days

 producing food. Some people were able to switch from farming to

 other kinds of work. Some people became artisans, workers who are

 especially skilled in crafting items by hand. The artisans made items

 such as baskets, leather goods, tools, pottery, or cloth.

 

 

II. The Growth of Cities

 

-Some farming settlements grew into cities. Cities were more likely to

 develop in areas where rich soil created large surpluses of food.

 People also needed a dependable source of drinking water and

 materials to build shelters.

 

-Some of the earliest cities grew up along large rivers, such as the

 Nile in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, the Huang in China,

 and the Indus in Pakistan.

 

-Early cities were different from farming villages in some important

 ways. First, cities were larger. They had large public buildings,

 places to store surplus grain, buildings for the worship of gods, and

 places where people could buy and sell food.

 

-In villages, most people were farmers. In cities, people had a wide

 variety of occupations.

 

 

III. The First Civilizations

 

-Over time, some New Stone Age societies grew into civilizations. A

 civilization is a society that has cities, a central government run by

 official leaders, and workers who specialize in various jobs. Writing,

 art, and architecture also characterize a civilization.

 

-By 6600 B.C., artisans in Europe and Asia had discovered that

 melting a certain rock at high temperatures would separate the

 metal copper from the rock.

 

-By 3000 B.C., artisans had learned to mix another metal, tin, to

 make a mixture called bronze. This discovery marked the beginning

 of the Bronze Age.

 

-Because bronze is much harder than copper, it could be used to

 make longer-lasting items such as weapons, tools, helmets, and

 shields.

 

-Traders took valuable items such as pottery, tools, weapons,

 baskets, cloth, and spices to far away cities where they traded these

 items for food and goods that people at home wanted.

 

-By around 3500 B.C., some civilizations had developed a simple but

 amazing invention: the wheel and axle. Now trade goods could be

 loaded into carts and pushed through the city to market.

 

-Trade over water also developed. Merchant ships now carried goods

 across seas and rivers.

 

-With all of the traveling done by traders, people of many different

 cultures came into contact with each other. New tools and ideas

 from one society soon spread to other societies as people traded

 information and ideas along with goods.

 

-Growing trade links brought new prosperity to the cities which, in

 turn, led to the development of social classes. A social class is a

 group of people having similar backgrounds, incomes, and way of

 living.

 

-In the large cities, the king was the most powerful person followed

 by the priests and nobles. The nobles served as government officials

 and military officers. Below them were the artisans, small traders,

 and merchants. Common workers and farmers were the lowest

 ranked free members of society. Slaves formed a separate social

 class. They worked as household servants and laborers.

 

THINKING SKILLS QUESTIONS

 

1. People’s lives changed greatly during the Stone Age. During the earliest years of this period, people made

tools from stone, wood, and animal bones. During the Old Stone Age, early humans did not yet know how to farm. They were hunter-gatherers, people who survived by hunting animals and gathering wild plants. As the Stone Age continued, people discovered how to use fire and, later, how to create it. With fire, they could ward off dangerous animals, and they could move to areas with colder climates.

As the Middle Stone Age began, people began to use more refined or advanced tools. Later, they settled down and began the practice of farming. This led to a surplus of food, an increase in the population, a rise in the formation of towns, and the beginning of local governments. At the same time, people began to grow their own food, some people starting raising livestock and traveling from place to place in search of grazing areas for their animals.

 

2. A surplus of food had many effects on people and populations. Initially, excess food allowed populations to grow. When food was scarce, many died of starvation or were sickly due to the lack of enough nutrition. More food caused life expectancy to increase. People lived longer, healthier lives. Extra food also allowed people to focus on jobs other than farming. With more food than needed, not everyone had to grow crops. This led to the development of a variety of other occupations. As society developed, bigger and more powerful governments were needed.

 

3. People lived differently in the Old Stone Age than they did in the New Stone Age. In the Old Stone Age, people obtained food by hunting and gathering. They hunted using stone weapons, gathered wild plants, and moved around constantly in search of food. During the New Stone Age, people started to plant seeds to grow their own food. This allowed them to settle down and live in one place rather than traveling constantly in search of food. Once they settled down, towns grew and governments were needed.