Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution & Early Civilizations

Let's review what we learned together during our 1st class.

Multiple Choice

What is the main reason the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in world history?

• Fire was used as a source of energy for the first time.

• Spoken language was used to improve communication.

• Domestication of animals and cultivation of crops led to settled communities.

• Stone tools and weapons were first developed.

Brief Timeline of Humanity

Multiple Choice

The farming communities that grew into cities were able to support their growing populations because they had - 

• occasional food shortages and easy access to hunting. 

• high crop yields that produced a food surplus. 

• strong religious beliefs to unite the people.

• strong trade networks. 

Multiple Select

Which 2 challenges would growing communities have faced during the Neolithic Revolution as they settled into permanent homes?

• Conflict between growing groups citizens & crime within growing city.

• Poor protection from animal predators.

• Improved access to food & permanent housing.

• Sanitation & health problems from people living, eating, using the restroom in a shared space.

Multiple Choice

Based on the map, which geographic feature most influenced where the first civilizations developed?

• rivers

• forests

• ocean access

• mountain ranges

Open Ended

Name 1-2 things that rivers would provide for growing cities.

Fill in the Blanks

In order to increase farmable land and crop yields, all of the river valley civilizations developed

to redirect water to their fields.

Hint: sprinklers; starts with an "i"

Open Ended

What do you think of when hear the word "civilization?"

Share 2-3 things that come to mind.

civ·i·li·za·tion

​the stage of human social and cultural

development and organization

that is considered most advanced

Poll

Do you think that ancient civilizations were more advanced than the nomadic hunter-gatherers?  Are people alive today more advanced than the nomadic hunter-gatherers were?

• Yes. 

• No.

Open Ended

What kinds of things would an archaeologist look for in order to identify a "civilization?"

Name 1-2 things you think ALL "civilizations" have in common.

​Margaret Mead on Civilization

• ​Mead was a cultural anthropologist prominent during the 1960s & 1970s

• she studied the peoples of Oceania

• developed the theory of imprinting, the idea that children learn by watching adult behavior

​A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead, “What is the earliest sign of civilization?”

• The student expected her to say a clay pot, a grinding stone, or maybe a weapon. Margaret Mead thought for a moment, then she said, “A healed femur.”

• A femur is the longest bone in the body, linking hip to knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal.

• A healed femur shows that someone cared for the injured person, did their hunting and gathering, stayed with them, and offered physical protection and human companionship until the injury could mend.

• "Where the law of the jungle — the survival of the fittest — rules, no healed femurs are found. The first sign of civilization is compassion, seen in a healed femur.”