A History of Human

Civilization
Florencio Bagaforo Jr. Ll.B.

What well learn

Brief overview of human history.
What does the archeological record show?
Discuss which factors contributed to
human civilization.

When Did Human History

Happen?
[See Timeline]

200,000 BC: Split from all other Homonid

species
100,000 BC: Anatomically Modern Humans
as shown by fossil bones

50,000 BC: Cro-Magnons (Mentally Modern)

as shown by archaeology

8,000 BC: First signs of settled life

4,000 BC: Written record begins

Ice Core Sample

Early Migration of Humans

Early Migration of Humans

[See Migration Map]

Long before the last Ice Age, people were

already spread out through most of
Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.
Lived as hunter gatherers.
No evidence of farming/herding before
Holocene.

Arriving in The New World

Clovis people
Broke from Mongoloid population living in Siberia.
Already adapted to arctic conditions

Entered North/South America via land-bridge

on Bering Strait.
Exact timing is known because of airlock effect.
Tremendous boom! Spread from Alaska to
Tierra del Fuego in less than 1000 years.
Mass extinction of large land mammals

The Pace of Civilization

10,000 BC: End of last Ice Age
Humans had reached every habitable area.
Everyone has roughly the same lifestyle: huntergatherer.

1400-1600 AD: European Expansion

Guns vs. Spears

Why did civilization proceed so much

faster in some parts of the world than in
others?
And what does this tell us about civilization?

Who Had What, and Why?

Mesopotamia
Egypt
Indus River
China
Mesoamerica
Andes
hunter-gatherers:

Southern Africa
Australia / New Guinea
Northern / Western Europe
North Asia

[See tables: Earliest Domestication of Animals/Plants]

Natural Resource: Animals

[Table of Domesticated Animals]
Uses??
food, clothing, hunting, transportation, traction

[Necessary for domestication:]

Pack behavior dominance heirarchy

Able to live in dense groups
Willing to breed in captivity
Usually herbivorous
Usually relatively large (>50 lbs) (often the same animals youd hunt)

[No new animals domesticated until after the Industrial

Revolution.]
Compare New World to Old World.
Why such an imbalance of useful domesticatable animals available?
Luck-of-the-Draw or Mass Extinction
Why werent Old World animals hunted to extinction?

Earliest Domestication of Animals

Dog

>15,000 BC

Near-East? China?

Sheep

8,000 BC

Near-East

Goat

8,000 BC

Near-East

Pig

8,000 BC

China, Near-East

Silkworm

7,500 BC

China

Cow

6,000 BC

Near-East, India

Cat

6,000 BC

Egypt

Horse

4,000 BC

Ukraine

Donkey

4,000 BC

Egypt

Water buffalo

4,000 BC

China

Turkey

3,500 BC

Mesoamerica

Llama/Alpaca

3,500 BC

Andes

Guinea Pig

3,500 BC

Andes

Camel

2,500 BC

Central Asia, Arabia

Chicken

1,000 BC

Pacific Asia

Natural Resource: Plants

[Table of Domesticated Plants]
Grains and legumes form most of the human diet.
(70% of calories come from cereal)

[Necessary for domestication:]

Fast-maturing
Large-enough seeds or fruits
Storable

Not quite as imbalanced as animals, but still...

Compare New World to Old World
Why did some areas take to farming more than others?
Climatic advantage.
Incoming solar energy gradient.

What are the sweet-spots?

Band near, but not on, Equator.
Which are suitable for GRASSES to grow?

Earliest Domestication of Plants

Area

Cereals/Grasses

Legumes

Tubers

Near-East

Wheat, Barley

Pea, Lentil, Chickpea

West Africa

Sorghum, Millet, Rice Cowpea, Groundnut

Yam

India

[Wheat, Barley, Rice,

Sorghum, Millet]

Hyacinth bean, Black gram, Green

gram

Ethiopia

Teff, Millet, [Wheat,

Barley]

[Pea, Lentil]

China

Millet, Rice

Soybean, Adzuki bean, Mung bean

Mesoamerica

Corn

Common bean, Tepary bean,

Scarlet runner bean

Andes

Quinoa, [Corn]

Common bean, Lima bean, Peanut Potato,

Sweet Potato

Mississippi
Valley

Maygrass, Barley,
Knotweed, Goosefoot

[Bracketed crops were borrowed from other cultures]

Jicama

Artichoke

The Effects of Geography

Climate
Migration of people.
Diffusion (or stimulus diffusion) of
domesticated plants/animals and
technology.

So, what happened to the Native

Americans when the Europeans
came?

Putting it all together

What is Civilization?
What factors allow it to happen?

Factors
Climate
Geographical location
Available domesticatable species

Food production (animals, plants) Surplus

Sedentary Lifestyle
Specialization
Increased Population Density
Germs & Immunity
Infrastructure

Exchange of ideas
within culture
across culture

Recommended Reading
Cook, Michael. (2005) A Brief History of
the Human Race. W. W. Norton and Company,
New York.

Diamond, Jared. (1997) Guns, Germs, and

Steel. W. W. Norton and Company, New York.
Diamond, Jared. (1992) The Third
Chimpanzee. HarperCollins Publishers, New York.