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Pre-history to 8000 BCE
- *emergence of science and scientific knowledge
- *anatomy
- trepanning
- reproductive anatomy and procedures
- *zoology
- violence on animals for food
- knowledge of make-up of animals
- *botany
- eating plants
- cycle of plants(seasons)
- TECHNOLOGY
- *stone based scrapers/knives
- *bone needles
- for sewing
- can change clothing/migration
- *spears/harpoons/javelins
- *slings/atlatl/bows
- *DELIBERATE USE OF FIRE
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8000 to circa 3000 BCE
- *Agriculture begins to emerge
- allows people to settle
- bred plants with larger seeds
- knowing what/where/when to plant
- *Ability to read stars for seasons led to ASTRONOMY
- *** BEGAN IN MESOPOTAMIA ***
- Modern day TIGRIS and EUPHRATES
- ALL OF THIS LED TO:
- ability to stay in one place
- increase in population
- free-time
- DOMESTICATION
- need for storage containers
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DOMESTICATION
- animals chosen b/c they were slow and easily caught
- bred for desired traits
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Storage Containers
- clay leads to pottery and ceramics
- *CERAMICS
- prob began w/ baskets lined w/clay
- heavier than bags or baskets
- *FIRING
- prob discovered accidentally
- make clay waterproof
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by 4500 BCE
- *Ceramics and Metallurgy were well known throughout the Ancient Near East
- metals soon came to replace stone tools
- *stone wheel developed, but only for pottery first. NOT first for travel.
- *wheeled pottery becomes more desireable
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SUMER
abt 6000 BCE
- *Area between Tigris and Euphrates
- *By 5500 lots of small settlements begin to appear
- larger spaces between villages
- *Settle along rivers, though those are unreliable
- when rains stopped, people moved closer to rivers. DANGEROUS!!
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Conflicts
- *led to CONFLICT MANAGERS
- COMPROMISE:
- *dispenses judgement
- *creates laws
- *invention of TAXATION
- TAX COLLECTOR
- RECORD KEEPING (writing)
- WRITING HAPPENED B/C THE RAINS STOPPED
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Sumerian Writing
- abt 5500 BCE
- originally plyphic/pictographic
- base ten math
- *pictographs useful for nouns
- difficult for verbs/whole concepts
- *eventually developed into 350 different sounds
- *ENORMOUSLY difficult to learn
-
Writing
- began as record (taxation) keeping and religious ritual records
- religion influenced science
- astronomy borne from astrology
- led to chronology
- choosing times to plant/harvest
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Egypt
- *Nile floods predictably
- *likely settled by people already familiar with settling
- *brought agriculture
- *using stars to tell time
- *ceramics
- potters wheel came later
- *used boats
- *SAME NEEDS AS MESOPOTAMIA
- *NEEDED CONFLICT MANAGER
- *Pharoah
- TECHNOLOGY
- bronze metallurgy
- potters wheel
- chemists
- ceramics
- LOTS OF ROCKS
- ROCK BULIDINGS
- PYRAMIDS
- OBELISKS
- papyrus
- abundant
- RELIGION
- nicer gods than Sumerians
- used potions to cure
- skilled surgeons
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War
- Sumerians invented organized warfare
- Egyptians developed it independantly
- Soldiers were/are expensive
- cost prohibitive
- simple bow
- sickle sword
- penetrating axe
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Iron
- extensive use of Iron
- appears among the Hittites around 1500 BCE
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