TOPIC

Origins of Civilization
1 (Prehistory–4000 bce)

Think about
GO ONLINE
to access your
digital course

 VIDEO a time
when the first direct human ancestors
 AUDIO
appeared on Earth. You might be very
surprised at how harsh their lives were.
 ETEXT
However, they, and the peoples who
followed, had something in common with
 INTERACTIVE the way modern humans live. Like we do,
these early human ancestors used the
 WRITING environment to improve their lives.

 GAMES

 WORKSHEET

 ASSESSMENT

Explore

How much does

geography shape
people’s lives?
Early humans used the natural
environment to adapt to a harsh
world. How did early people
discover ways to make life easier?
Unlock the Essential Question in
your  Active Journal.

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 Read
about early people and the ways
they lived.
Lesson 1 The Distant Past

Primary Sources Epic of Gilgamesh

Lesson 2 Humans Spread Out

Lesson 3 Developing Complex Cultures

Lesson 4 New Ways of Life

Watch Lesson 5 The Rise of Civilizations

BOUNCE ◀ Ruins of ancient baths,

TO ACTIVATE  VIDEO
Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley, Pakistan
Çatalhöyük: Life in an
Ancient Settlement
Find out about how scientists
work to uncover the secrets of
the distant past.

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 TOPIC
Origins of Civilization
1 (Prehistory–4000 bce)
 INTERACTIVE
Learn more about human Topic Map
beginnings and the world’s
first civilizations by making
your own map and timeline Where did the
in your  Active Journal. first human
ancestors live?
Scientists believe that the
first human ancestors, or
hominins, lived in Africa.
Locate Hadar, where bones
of a hominin named Lucy
were found in 1974.
 INTERACTIVE
Topic Timeline

What happened
and when?
Basic stone tools...hunting
and gathering for food...
farming...the birth of
villages and cities. Explore
the timeline to see what
was happening during our
earliest history.

2.5 million years 70,000

ago Hominins 230,000 years ago years ago
in Africa make Neanderthals Last ice age
stone tools. appear in Europe. begins.

TOPIC EVENTS
2 million 300,000 200,000 100,000
900
years ago years ago years ago years ago

1.9 million years ago 200,000 years ago

hominins migrate to Homo sapiens appear
Eurasia. in Africa.

4 TOPIC 1 • Origins of Civilization

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 Red
Sea
KEY
Gulf of Aden
Archaeological site Hadar
10° N
Who will
ETHIOPIA
INDIAN
you meet?
Omo OCEAN
Koobi Fora
Lothagam Lake Turkana N
Kanapoi
KENYA W E 0°
Lake Victoria
S
Olduvai Gorge Mary Leakey, an
Laetoli 0 400 mi
50° E archaeologist who
TANZANIA 0 400 km made an important
discovery

MGWH19_SE_T01TI_M0000002
Second Proof
6,000-7,000
years ago
Uruk, the world’s
first city, in
Southwest Asia, Child from a Stone
is established. Age burial

8,500 years ago

Oldest known farming
village in Turkey appears. The people of
Uruk, the world’s
12,000 years ago first city
Last ice age ends.

20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000

years ago years ago years ago years ago

10,000 years ago

People begin to grow
food; Neolithic agricultural
revolution begins.
5

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 Project-Based Learning Inquiry

Design a Village
KICK OFF
About 8,000 years ago, people were living in a time of great change.
Humans were beginning to farm and were settling in the first villages.

What was it like to live in an ancient village?

How did early humans and the Neolithic people who followed
them live? Explore the Essential Question ”How much does
geography shape people’s lives?” in this Quest.

1 Ask Questions
Thousands of years ago, human societies were very
different from those that followed. Get started on
your Quest by making a list of questions you want
to ask about how people lived in the distant past.
Write the questions in your  Active Journal.

2 Investigate
As you read the lessons in this topic, look for
CONNECTIONS that provide information
about the way people lived long ago. Capture
notes in your  Active Journal.

3 Conduct Research
Next, find valid primary sources of information
about life during the Neolithic Era on your own.
Capture notes in your  Active Journal.

FINDINGS

4 Design Your Village

As society became more complex, Neolithic people formed ▲ Remains of
Skara Brae,
villages. At the end of the topic you’ll design a Neolithic village and
a Neolithic
create a drawing of how your village will look. When you complete village in
your drawing, you will present it to the class in an oral presentation. Scotland
Get help for creating your village in your  Active Journal.

6 TOPIC 1 • Origins of Civilization

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 LESSON 1

The Distant Past

BOUNCE
TO ACTIVATE  VIDEO

GET READY TO READ

START UP We are all interested in people. But certain
What does this photo tell you about how people people, called anthropologists, have
gather information from the distant past? made a science out of studying people.
Anthropology is the study of how human
GUIDING QUESTIONS beings behave, how they act together, where
• How do scientists use fossils and artifacts to they came from, and what makes one group
draw conclusions about early humans? of people different from another.
• How does archaeological evidence indicate that
In this lesson, we will look at the work of a
human life began in Africa?
particular group of anthropologists known
• How did people live by the gathering and as archaeologists. Archaeologists study
hunting way of life? human life in the past by examining the
TAKE NOTES things that people left behind.
Literacy Skills: Identify Main Ideas
Use the graphic organizer in your  Active Journal Studying Early Humans
to take notes as you read the lesson. Until about 5,000 years ago, people had
no way to write things down. To study
PRACTICE VOCABULARY prehistory, or the time before written
Use the vocabulary activity in your  Active Journal records, archaeologists look for the places
to practice the vocabulary words. where people may have lived.
Vocabulary Academic Vocabulary What Are Fossils? To learn about the
anthropology artifact evidence earliest humans, archaeologists depend
archaeologist hunter- conclude mainly on fossils. Fossils are hardened
prehistory gatherer remains or imprints of living things that
fossil culture existed long ago. These remains may include
plants, feathers, bones, and even footprints.
geologist

Lesson 1.1 • The Distant Past   7

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 Fossils form in several ways. For example, after a living thing dies, it
 INTERACTIVE may quickly become covered by sand or mud. Once covered, the soft
Piecing the Past parts of the plant or animal rot away. The harder parts, such as bones,
Together teeth, or woody stems, last much longer. Over many years, minerals
from the soil slowly replace this once-living material. What remains is a
rocklike copy of the original.
How Are Ancient Remains Dated? Archaeologists use several
methods for determining the ages of fossils and other prehistoric objects.
In this work, they get valuable information from geologists, scientists
who study the physical materials of Earth itself, such as soil and rocks.
One dating method is to compare objects found in similar layers of rock
or soil. Objects found in lower layers are generally older than those
found in upper layers. Archaeologists may also compare an object with
a similar fossil or artifact whose age is already known.
Radioactive dating is another method for determining the age of
objects up to about 50,000 years old. Living things contain radioactive
elements that decay, or break down, over time. By measuring the
radioactive material in bones and other materials that were once alive,
scientists can tell when an object was formed.
In recent years, scientists have developed other methods to study fossils.
They use DNA to compare human remains from the past with people
living today. Genetic evidence has uncovered new information about
how people changed and how they moved from place to place.
Why Do Scientists Look for Artifacts? Human ancestors, called
hominins, lived millions of years ago. To study prehistoric people who
lived more recently, archaeologists look for old settlements, such as
villages or campsites. Such sites often lie buried beneath layers of soil.
Red
Sea
Approximate Ages of Human Ancestor Remains in East Africa

GEOGRAPHY SKILLS
Archaeologists have made Australopithecus afaransis Gulf of Aden
major archaeological 3.2 million years
discoveries in Africa. Ardipithecus ramidus
4.4 million years
1. Region In what part of
Africa did most fossil ETHIOPIA
N
finds occur?
W E
2. Human-Environment Lake Turkana
Interaction What
S
environmental factors Australopithecus 50° E
may have led to the anamensis
development of early 4.2 million years
0°
KEY
humans in East Africa? Lake Victoria Site of human
KENYA ancestor remains
Homo habilis 0 400 mi
Homo sapiens
120,000 years 1.75 million years INDIAN 0 400 km
OCEAN Lambert Azimuthal
TANZANIA Equal-Area Projection

8   Lesson 1.1 • The Distant Past

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 Archaeologists must carefully excavate, or uncover, these
sites to learn about the people who once lived there.
As archaeologists dig up a site, they look for artifacts such
as tools, pottery, or weapons. Artifacts are anything
made and used by humans. These scientists then try to
identify patterns, examining what artifacts are found
together in the same spot. Artifacts found in an ancient
campsite can help archaeologists understand how the
people who once camped there hunted for food or what
they ate.

 READING CHECK Use Evidence What types of objects

do archaeologists study to learn about the past?

Where Did Human Ancestors Live?

Where did human ancestors first appear on Earth? For a
long time, scientists could not agree on an answer.
Then, in 1960, British archaeologists Mary and Louis
Leakey discovered a piece of a human-like skull at Olduvai
Gorge in East Africa. The Leakeys called their find Homo
habilis (“handy man”) because evidence showed that
these early human ancestors made and used tools. Tests
showed that the Homo habilis fossils were at least 1.75
million years old. From that point on, the search for the
origins of humankind has largely focused on Africa.
African Beginnings On November 30, 1974, American
anthropologist Donald Johanson made a discovery that
helped shape how scientists view early human history.
For three years, Johanson had been searching for
evidence of human ancestors in Ethiopia, a country in
East Africa. Johanson later recalled, ▲ Mary Leakey at work in
Tanzania, Africa
Primary Source

On this November morning, it was about noon,

I was heading back to my Land Rover to drive
back to camp. And I happened to look over my
right shoulder. And as I did so, I saw a fragment
of a bone which I recognized as coming from the
elbow region in a skeleton. . . . There was a piece
of a leg, there was a piece of a pelvis, there was a
piece of a jaw, there was a piece of a skull. And I
realized almost instantaneously that we had part of
a skeleton. Academic Vocabulary
evidence • n., something
—Donald C. Johanson, Academy of Achievement interview, 1991 that can be used as proof

Lesson 1.1 • The Distant Past   9

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 After two weeks of careful searching, Johanson and his team had
uncovered hundreds of pieces of bone. They decided that all the bones
belonged to one individual because they did not find two examples
of any one type of bone. They determined that she was a 3.5-foot-tall
female. Johanson named her “Lucy” after a song by the Beatles.
Johanson’s team found some 40 percent of Lucy’s skeleton. The bones of
her legs, pelvis, ankle, and spine suggest that, like us, she walked upright
on two legs. However, she lived 3.2 million years ago.
Since then, even older fossils have been found in Africa. In 1992,
American anthropologist Tim White found remains of hominins who
lived in Ethiopia at least 4.4 million years ago. Beginning with a single
tooth, White’s team uncovered more fragments. Finally, in 2009, White
unveiled a nearly complete skeleton of a female that he named “Ardi.”
More than a million years older than Lucy, Ardi was taller and heavier.
She probably walked upright, but slowly and awkwardly.
What Is the “Oldest One”?
Academic Vocabulary Many scientists believe that the oldest humans began to develop, or
conclude • v., to decide evolve, from their great ape cousins about 5-7 million years ago. This
as a result of thinking or process is what’s known as evolution. Discoveries such as Lucy and Ardi
reasoning
have also led most scientists to conclude that humankind began in
East Africa about 4.5 million years ago.
French scientist Michel Brunet is one of
a group of scientists that believes that
human life started elsewhere in Africa.
In 2001, Brunet found a humanlike skull
in the country of Chad. Tests showed
the skull to be nearly 7 million years old.
That makes it, says Brunet, “the
oldest one.”
Brunet’s discovery has raised questions.
Chad is in central Africa. Did humankind
begin there rather than in East Africa?
The skull Brunet found is older than
other human fossils discovered so far.
Is humankind older than scientists
once thought?
Scientists will continue to look for
answers to questions like these.
Meanwhile, the search continues. “This
is the beginning of the story,” says Brunet
of his work in Chad, “just the beginning.”

 READING CHECK Identify Main Ideas

Why do most scientists believe that
human life began in Africa?
Analyze Images A scientist cleans the rib of a long extinct
elephant. Infer Why is it easier to find ancient animal bones
than the bones of human ancestors?

10   Lesson 1.1 • The Distant Past

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 Analyze Images This
painting of a bull was
How Did Hunter-Gatherers Live?
found in a cave in Lascaux,
Early humans were hunter-gatherers, which means that they lived France, and dates from
by hunting small animals and gathering plants. They also probably the Paleolithic Era. Draw
scavenged for food left by predators. They formed societies and Conclusions How do you
developed ways to improve their chances for survival. think ancient artists chose
which subjects to paint?
Archaeologists know very little about how early hunter-gatherers such
as Lucy lived. But they do know that their lives were often harsh. Many
groups appeared for a time and died out. To survive and grow, early
humans developed technology, tools, and skills to meet their needs.
How Were the First Tools Made? About 2.5 million years ago,
early humans learned how to make tools out of stone. This technology
was so important to human survival that archaeologists call this period
the Paleolithic Era, or the Old Stone Age. The Paleolithic Era ended
about 2,500 to 10,000 years ago.
Over time, toolmakers become more skillful, making thinner and
sharper stone blades. Some blades were used to tip spears and arrows.
Toolmakers also began making weapons from bones and antlers. As Did you know?
their skills and weapons improved, Paleolithic hunters were able to turn
Many of the artifacts
from hunting small animals to hunting larger animals such as deer. found in North America
How Did Fire Affect Human Development? Around 800,000 are cutting tools and
arrowheads made of flint.
years ago, people also learned how to use fire. With fire, people could
have light on dark nights, cook meat and plants, and use flames to aid
in hunting and to scare off dangerous animals. Making fire also had
important long-term effects such as enabling people to live in places
where it otherwise would have been too cold for people to survive.

Lesson 1.1 • The Distant Past   11

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 Here, a British archaeologist explains why learning to control fire was
Did you know? an important step in human development.
Hunter-gathers still live in
regions of the world where
Primary Source
it is hard to grow food.
They live in South America,
The control of fire was presumably the first great
Africa, Asia, and Australia. step in man’s [freedom] from the bondage of his
environment . . . . [Mankind] is no longer restricted
in his movement to a limited range of climates,
and his activities need not be entirely determined
by the sun’s light. But in mastery of fire man was
controlling a mighty physical force.
—V. Gordon Childe, Man Makes Himself

What Was Life Like for Hunter-Gatherers? Culture includes the

many different elements that make up the way of life of a people. These
include social and family organization, beliefs and values, technology,
shelter and clothing, common activities, storytelling, rituals, and art.
Stone age hunter-gatherers lived in small groups, or bands. After
gathering as much food as they could in one area, they moved on. They
built temporary huts out of branches or made tents of animal skins.
Bands stayed small so they could move easily. A typical band included
ten or twelve adults and their children.
Men generally did the hunting, but they also gathered other food.
Women usually gathered fruit, grains, seeds, nuts, eggs, and honey.
They caught small animals and may have picked herbs for medicine.

 READING CHECK Identify Cause and Effect How did people survive
during the Paleolithic Era?

 Lesson Check
Practice Vocabulary 5. Identify Cause and Effect Why was
the ability to control fire a significant
1. How do scientists date fossils and artifacts?
advancement for humans?
2. What technology was used during the
6. Writing Workshop: Introduce Characters
Paleolithic Era?
Imagine you are traveling through different
periods of human history. Your first stop is
Critical Thinking and Writing
the Paleolithic Era. Write a few sentences
3. Summarize How do archaeologists look for in your  Active Journal about how a
evidence about early people? member of a hunter-gatherer group lived
4. Infer Why do you think scientists are trying and the person’s role in the wandering
to find out more about how and where band.
early humans lived?

12   Lesson 1.1 • The Distant Past

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  Primary Sources

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Nearly 3,000 years ago, a writer inscribed clay tablets
like the one shown here with a legend about Gilgamesh,
the legendary king of Uruk—here called Erech. As
you’ve learned, Uruk was the world’s first city. The Epic
of Gilgamesh tells the story of Gilgamesh—Gish, in this
reading—and his friend Enkidu, who work together to
defeat a monster named Huwawa. Here Gish announces
his daring plan. ▶ text on a clay tablet

I will lure him to the cedar forest, Reading and

Like a strong offspring of Erech. Vocabulary Support
I will let the land hear [that]
I am determined to lure (him) in the cedar [forest]. 1What do you think it
A name I will establish. 1 means when Gilgamesh
says “A name I will
The elders 2 of Erech of the plazas brought word to Gish: establish”?
“Though art young, O Gish, and thy heart carries thee away. 3 2An elder is an older
Thou dost not know what thou proposes to do. and wiser person.
We hear that Huwawa is enraged.
3 What do you think
*   *   * the elders mean when
they say to Gilgamesh
“Huwawa, whose roar is a deluge, 4 “your heart carries you
whose mouth is fire, whose breath is death. away”?
Why does thou desire to do this?”
4 A deluge in this
*   *   * sense means something
that overwhelms and
Gish heard the report of his counselors. 5 overpowers a person.
He saw and cried out to [his] friend:
5 A counselor is a
“Now, my friend, thus [I speak]
I fear him, but [I will go to the cedar forest].”
person who provides
advice.
—The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Morris Jastrow, Jr. and Albert T. Clay

Analyzing Primary Sources

Cite specific evidence from the document to support your answers.

1. Draw Conclusions What kind of name do you think Gilgamesh

believes he will establish for himself by carrying out his plan?

2. Generate Explanations Gilgamesh says that he fears Huwawa. Why

do you think he admits this fact?

3. Summarize Write a brief summary that explores the central ideas of

this excerpt.

Primary Sources • The Epic of Gilgamesh   13

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 Analysis Skills

Distinguish Essential from  INTERACTIVE

Incidental Information Categorize

Use the secondary source and these steps to distinguish

essential from incidental information.

1 Identify a focus or topic. Set a purpose for

your research. 3 Identify information that is essential to
your topic. Based on your focus:

a. What exactly are you trying to find out? a. What information will help you achieve
your goal?
b. What key question are you trying to
answer? b. What kinds of data will answer questions
or increase your understanding?
c. What idea or event are you trying to
understand?
4 Identify information that is incidental to
your topic. Remember the focus you have

2 Locate your sources. The sources you

choose will depend on your focus and
topic. What sources might you use if you
set for your research. Information that is
not related to this focus is incidental. Take
a look at the excerpt from the text below.
were researching the domestication of If you were conducting research on only
grains during the Neolithic Age? the plants that were domesticated by early
humans, what information in the excerpt
would be incidental to your focus?

Secondary Source
Domesticated crops, such as wheat, rice, herding the animals would use them for
or maize, became a nutritious and reliable food and clothing. This way of life was
source of food. These grains were chief called pastoral nomadism.
food sources for entire societies. Animals
At first, wild and domesticated breeds
were a source of food. People ate their
were similar. But over time, people
meat, but also the eggs, milk, and honey
selected the seeds of the plants that
they produced. Horses and oxen helped
produced the best crops. Domesticated
them work the fields. The fur of sheep and
plants began to produce more abundant
llamas was used to make clothing.
food that was larger, easier to cook, and
Domesticated animals, such as horses, tastier. A domesticated tomato is the size
sheep, and cattle, were easier to control of an orange, but a wild tomato is the size
than their wild counterparts. Some people of a cherry. By contrast, some breeds of
lived in places where growing food was domesticated goats, pigs, and cattle are
difficult. They traveled to different places smaller than their wild ancestors. Smaller
with their animals so that they would animals may have been easier to manage.
have grasslands to eat from. The people

14   Analysis Skills • Distinguish Essential from Incidental Information

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 LESSON 2

Humans Spread Out

BOUNCE
TO ACTIVATE  VIDEO

GET READY TO READ

START UP Over time, new species of hominins arose. In
What questions would you ask the people who once this lesson, you will read about these human
lived in this settlement located on the French coast? ancestors and the ways they were different
from those who came before them.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
• How and why did modern humans succeed and What Were Later Stone Age
populate most regions of the world?
Peoples Like?
• How did the environment influence the
Toward the end of the Paleolithic Era,
migrations of early humans?
two groups of larger-brained hominins
• How did early humans adapt to new
appeared. Both groups had more developed
environments and climate changes?
technologies than earlier peoples. However,
TAKE NOTES only one of these groups would survive past
Literacy Skills: Analyze Cause and Effect the Stone Age.
Use the graphic organizer in your  Active Journal
to take notes as you read the lesson. Who Were the Neanderthals? A group
known as Neanderthals appeared in Europe
PRACTICE VOCABULARY and parts of Asia about 230,000 years ago.
Use the vocabulary activity in your  Active Journal Their name comes from the Neander Valley
to practice the vocabulary words. in present-day Germany, where their fossil
remains were first found. Fossils of a close
Vocabulary Academic Vocabulary
relative of the Neanderthals, called the
migration complex
Denisovans, have been found in Asia.
environment network
Some archaeologists believe that the
adapt
Neanderthals were the first hominins to
bury their dead. Remains of flowers and
other objects in burial sites may be evidence

Lesson 1.2 • Humans Spread Out   15

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 that Neanderthals carefully buried bodies and may have believed
in life after death. Other archaeologists, however, disagree. Even if
Neanderthals did bury their dead, their burial practices were much
simpler than those of later people.
When Did Modern Humans Appear? About 200,000 years ago,
the last new group of humans appeared. The scientific name of this
group is Homo sapiens, which means “wise people.” Homo sapiens were
the first modern humans—or people like us.
These people were like Neanderthals in some ways. Both groups made
tools, used fire, and hunted animals. But modern humans were taller,
lighter, and less muscular.
Although at one time it was thought that Neanderthals could only
make noises resembling a frog’s croak, we know from fossil finds that
Neanderthals could speak and form words. About 70,000 years ago,
Academic Vocabulary however, Homo sapiens developed a powerful new skill—complex
complex • adj., having language. Having a shared language gave Homo sapiens a great
many related parts; advantage in the struggle to survive. They could organize a hunt, warn
not simple
of danger, and pass knowledge and skills on to their young.
The ability to use complex language, think, and cooperate with other
people helped Homo sapiens develop new skills and teach them to each
other. As a result, they could survive harsh conditions and live in new
places. These traits also made it possible for them to defend against threats.
For thousands of years, Neanderthals and modern humans lived near
each other, but the Neanderthals eventually disappeared. Although the
two groups intermingled, some archaeologists believe they fought with
the newcomers and lost. Whatever the cause, there is no fossil evidence
of Neanderthals in Europe after about 28,000 years ago.

 READING CHECK Identify Supporting Details What skill gave

modern humans an advantage over Neanderthals?

Analyze Visuals This

photograph shows a
Neanderthal skull on the left
and a Homo sapiens skull
on the right. Compare What
differences do you notice
between the two skulls?

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 Migrations of Homo Sapiens
0° 30° E 60° E 90° E 120° E 150° E 180° 150° W 120° W
ARCTIC OCEAN
ASIA
EUROPE About 20,000–60,000 About 15,000
60° N About 40,000 years ago years ago NORTH
years ago AMERICA

ATLANTIC
OCEAN
PACIFIC N
AFRICA OCEAN
Origin of
0° Homo Sapiens W E
about 200,000
years ago S SOUTH
INDIAN AUSTRALIA About AMERICA
30° S OCEAN 0 4,000 mi 12,500
About 35,000 years ago
KEY years ago 0 4,000 km
Cylindrical projection
Migration route SOUTHERN OCEAN
GEOGRAPHY SKILLS
Sources: Guy Gugliotta, Smithsonian Magazine, July 2008; Britannica Academic
What Do We Know About Early Early humans are thought to
MGWH19_SE_T01L02_M0000004 have migrated throughout
Human
Third Proof Migration?
the world roughly according
Most archaeologists agree that Homo sapiens have walked on to the routes shown on this
Earth for only about 200,000 years. But they do not agree on map.
where modern humans came from or how they spread. Scientists
have studied both fossils and genetic information, or the 1. Region At what point
physical qualities that living things pass from one generation on this map did human
to the next. They have developed two main theories, or possible migration begin?
explanations, about the movement of early humans. 2. Movement Based on
Migration from Africa Most scientists think that Homo this map, describe the
sapiens, like other early humans, originated in Africa. From movement of early
there, Homo sapiens began a long migration to other regions people from their starting
of the world. A migration occurs when people leave their point in Africa.
homeland to live somewhere else. Scientists who support the
“out of Africa” theory suggest that as modern humans migrated
from Africa to new places, they gradually replaced the older groups
who were already living there.
Some scientists argue that large-brained humans developed separately
in many different parts of the world and they eventually mixed
together. However, most scientists disagree with this theory.
New Evidence For years, there was little fossil evidence to support
either theory. Then in 2007, scientists analyzed a fossil skull that had
been found in South Africa. Tests showed that it was about 36,000 years  INTERACTIVE
old, the same as skulls found in Europe from the same period. This
Migrations of
similarity suggests that humans were already in their modern form
Homo sapiens
when they migrated from Africa.

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 In 2008, scientists completed a genetic study of nearly a thousand
Did you know? people around the globe. Scientists found the greatest genetic variety
in communities closest to Africa. This finding supports the idea that,
Humans used both a land
bridge and boats to reach as people migrated away from Africa, groups branched off to populate
Australia. new areas. The new evidence gives a boost to the “out of Africa” theory.
Still, many questions about human migration remain unanswered.
Wherever Homo sapiens first appeared, they eventually spread across
Earth. By about 30,000 years ago, these modern humans were living
in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia. About 15,000-18,000 years ago,
humans entered North America by crossing a land bridge from Asia.
Evidence suggests that modern humans were living as far south as
central Chile in South America by about 12,500 years ago.

 READING CHECK Ask Questions What questions do you think still

remain about human migration?

How Did Humans Adapt to Varied Environments?

As modern humans migrated, they settled in a variety of
environments, or surroundings. With each move, people had to
adapt, or change their way of life, to suit their new environment. They
had to find out which plants could be eaten, hunt different animals
Analyze Diagrams Many and find new materials for tools and shelters.
factors helped early humans
to survive. Demonstrate
How Did the Climate Change? Over time, people also had to
Reasoned Judgment Which adapt to changes in the world’s climate. During the past two million
of the key factors for human years the Earth has experienced four long ice ages. The last great
survival shown do you think Ice Age began about 70,000 years ago, soon after modern humans
was the most important? appeared.
Choose one and explain
your reasoning.

They hunted for meat They made stone

EARLY and gathered
plants and nuts
tools such as
hand axes.

HUMAN
to eat.

They avoided dangerous They used fire for

SURVIVAL predators. heat, cooking,

and protection.

EARLY HUMANS LIVED IN

A HARSH ENVIRONMENT. THEY They were social, working They found shelter
together to survive. to protect themselves
DEVELOPED DIFFERENT from the weather.

WAYS TO SURVIVE.

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 During the last Ice Age, thick sheets of ice, called glaciers, spread across
large regions of Earth. Glaciers covered the northern parts of Europe,
Asia, and North America. Parts of the Southern Hemisphere were also
under ice. Moving glaciers created many of the world’s mountains,
lakes, and rivers.
With so much of Earth’s water frozen in the glaciers, rainfall decreased.
Areas that had once been grasslands became deserts. Sea levels
dropped, exposing “land bridges” where ocean waters had once been.
Because of these changes, many animals had to migrate to find food.
The people who depended on those animals had to follow the herds.
How Did Humans Stay Warm? As winters grew longer, people
learned to use whatever materials they could find to build warm
▲ Woolly mammoth skull
shelters. In Eastern Europe, for example, people built huts out of
mammoth bones. Mammoths were huge furry animals, related to
elephants, that lived during the Ice Age. Hunters covered these huts
with animal skins and kept fires burning in their hearths day and night.
Why Did People Form Larger Communities? Some groups adapted
to change by forming larger communities. In larger groups, hunters could
work together to kill animals such as mammoths. They could also better
defend their communities from attack by other nomadic groups.
Growing communities might be organized into groups of families
with a common ancestor. A group would be made up of perhaps 25
to 50 people. Group leaders took on decision-making roles, such as
organizing hunts. Everywhere human society developed, networks of
groups or families played a vital role in creating strong communities.
In time, Stone Age communities began to trade with one another for
special stones or shells. They likely also traded information about
finding food during hard times. Academic Vocabulary
network • n. a closely
 READING CHECK Identify Supporting Details What did humans do interconnected group of
to survive in different environments? people or things

 Lesson Check
Practice Vocabulary 4. Understand Effects How did the
development of language help humans
1. What are some of the things that make up
survive harsh conditions and live in
a person’s environment?
new places?
2. What did humans do to adapt after moving
5. Draw Conclusions Why did early humans
to new environments?
migrate?
Critical Thinking and Writing 6. Understand Effects How did forming
larger communities help people survive?
3. Compare and Contrast How did
Neanderthals and Homo sapiens differ from 7. Writing Workshop: Establish Setting In
earlier people? your  Active Journal, explain how the
hunter-gatherer in your story is adapting
to a changing climate.

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 Analysis Skills

Relate Events in Time  INTERACTIVE

Use the sources and these steps to relate events in time. Sequence

1 Identify key events and topics. Set a

purpose for your research by listing the
time period, people, or events you are
3 Look for clues about relationships.
Besides dates and times, a variety of words
can signal how key events are related in
focusing on. For example, the excerpt time. Examples include words such as
from the text covers a time period that before, after, during, or while. The excerpt
stretches from two million years ago to says many creatures that lived during the
70,000 years ago. What period does last Ice Age have gone extinct.
the timeline cover?
a. What are two other words that suggest

2 Look for clues about time. Important

clues include information about dates
and times of key events. For example, the
how events are related in time?

b. Use those words to summarize the

excerpt uses the phrase “over time,” which information in the timeline.
suggests that a long period of time is going
to be discussed. What other words or
phrases indicate that events are happening
in sequence?

Ice Age Events in Years Ago

Secondary Source
13,000
Many of the creatures who roamed
the planet during the Ice Age have 12,000
become extinct. Large mammals, such years ago
Saber-toothed
as mastodons, ground sloths, and cat goes extinct 11,700
12,000 years ago
sabercats, died off and disappeared
Ice Age ends
from the earth. Some animals,
11,000
however, managed to adapt over time. years ago
For example, the first jaguars hunted Mastodon
and ate very large prey. As time passed goes extinct
11,000
and the number of large prey animals
dwindled, jaguars began to eat smaller
10,000
animals. Making this change enabled years ago
jaguars to survive as a species when Ground sloth
goes extinct
the large prey animals they had 10,000
once depended on went extinct. As a
result, jaguars are still found in the
wild today.

9,000

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 LESSON 3

Developing Complex Cultures

BOUNCE
TO ACTIVATE  VIDEO

GET READY TO READ

START UP Over millions of years, many groups of
This image shows a reproduction of a cave painting early humans appeared and then died out.
from about 20,000 years ago. Why are people Homo sapiens, or modern humans, were the
today interested in these ancient paintings? last of these groups to appear. As you will
read, scientists still have much to learn about
GUIDING QUESTIONS the development of the first modern humans.
• What evidence reveals how human societies But one fact is clear: These large-brained
became more complex? “wise people” were often on the move. Over
• How did humans learn to modify their many thousands of years, they spread out to
environment? populate, or become inhabitants of, almost
• Why did some people develop agriculture while every land area of the world.
others lived as herders?

TAKE NOTES
When Did People Start to
Literacy Skills: Sequence Create Art?
Use the graphic organizer in your  Active Journal Over the course of the Ice Age, the culture of
to take notes as you read the lesson. Paleolithic communities became more and
more complex. One of the most important
PRACTICE VOCABULARY signs of a complex culture is the existence of
Use the vocabulary activity in your  Active Journal artwork such as paintings and statues.
to practice the vocabulary words.
What Can We Learn from Ancient
Vocabulary Academic Vocabulary
Cave Paintings? In 1940, four French
populate potential teenagers and their dog made a remarkable
animism reliable discovery. The boys were exploring a cave
domesticate near Lascaux in southern France. By the
revolution dim light of their lamps, they were amazed
nomad

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 to see that the walls were covered
with paintings of horses, bison, bulls,
and other prehistoric animals. Other
paintings in the cave showed human
figures or abstract designs.
Scientists later determined that the
Lascaux cave paintings dated back
about 16,000 years, to the time of the
last Ice Age. Some images were carved
into the stone, but most were painted.
The artists made pigments by grinding
up minerals of various colors.
Even older cave paintings have been
found elsewhere in France, as well as
in Spain. Examples of cave and rock
art have also been discovered in many
other parts of the world where early
people lived. For example, the rock
paintings shown at the beginning of
this chapter are from the Sahara, a
vast desert in North Africa.
Stone Age artists also carved small
statues. Like the cave paintings, many
of these carvings represent animals.
Others depict pregnant women.
Analyze Images This
Neolithic cave painting What Does Stone Age Art Tell Us? Early works of art such
of animals was found in as these show that Stone Age people were capable of complex
Laas Geel, Somalia. Draw thoughts and actions. After visiting one French cave, an archaeologist
Conclusions What can you commented,
conclude about the skill
of early artists from this Primary Source
painting?
The mark of human genius is here, full-blown,
with its immense and eternal mystery, and with
Academic Vocabulary all its potential for hope in the success of the
potential • n., possibility
to grow and change in the
adventure of modern man. We become modest in
future these surroundings; a great feeling of timelessness
[comes] from them. When we return to the surface,
we can’t help but question the motivations that lie
behind the creation of all those frescoes. To imagine
the unimaginable. In any case, in contemplating
them we feel the presence ... of an intense,
enormous will to create.
—Robert Begouën, The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc

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 We do not know the exact reasons Stone Age people created these
works of art. Perhaps hunter-gatherers believed that creating an image  INTERACTIVE
of an animal would give them power over that animal during the hunt. Paleolithic
Statues of pregnant women may have been intended to bring good luck Cave Art
to women about to give birth.

 READING CHECK Draw Inferences What subjects did Stone Age

people show in their art? Why might Stone Age artists have chosen to
show animals, human figures, and abstract designs?

What Do We Know About Stone Age Religion?

Cave paintings and other art provide strong evidence that the cultures
Quick Activity
of Stone Age people became more complex over time. Another sign Explore ancient cave
of a more complex culture is the development of religious beliefs and paintings in your  Active
practices. Many of these practices involve death and burial. Journal.

How Did Early People Bury Their Dead? Scientists have found
much evidence to show that Ice Age people buried their dead. One
grave found in present-day Russia contained the bodies of two children,
a boy about 13 years old and a girl about 8 years old. Both children
were covered with thousands of ivory beads. On his chest, the boy wore
an ivory pendant carved in the shape of an animal. The girl wore a
bead cap and an ivory pin at her throat.
What Were Some Early Religious Practices?
Discoveries such as cave paintings, statues, and
burial sites may suggest how early humans reacted
to what they thought were mysterious and
powerful forces. These rituals and symbols
were an important part of early culture. They
go beyond survival, and express deeper
meanings of the natural and social world.
The evidence suggests that these early
people believed that the natural world
was filled with spirits, a belief known as
animism. To early humans, there were
spirits in the animals they hunted. There
were also spirits in the trees, rocks, water,
and weather around them. Prehistoric
people may have painted pictures of animals,
such as bison or deer, to honor the spirits of
those animals and to ask forgiveness for having
to kill them.

 READING CHECK Identify Implied Main Ideas

What did the development of religious practices
suggest about the relationship early humans
Analyze Images This child was carefully buried
had with the natural and social world?
with jewelry made of bones and precious stones.
Infer What does this burial suggest about the
culture of the people who buried him?

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 When Did People Start to Farm?
By the end of the Paleolithic Era, human beings occupied many regions
of the world. They had developed complex spoken language, learned
to make a variety of tools and weapons, and adapted to different
environments. Yet, in many important ways, their lives had not
changed. They still lived in relatively small groups as hunter-gatherers,
following the herds of animals that they depended on for survival.
Then, beginning as much as 18,000 years ago, humans gradually
began to learn a new skill that over time changed how they would live.
By around 10,000-9,000 years ago, some communities were relying on
farming for food. This development marked the end of the Paleolithic
Era and the beginning of what we call the Neolithic Era, or New Stone
Age. (The prefix neo- means “new”.) Around this time, temperatures
increased and rainfall patterns changed. Glaciers that had covered
so much of Earth began to shrink. As the ice from the glaciers melted,
ocean levels rose.
Most plants and animals adapted to these changes. Fir trees, which
could survive cold weather, spread north into once-icy regions.
CONNECTIONS Some large Ice Age animals, however, did not adapt to a warmer
CONNECTIONS world, and many species died out. People who had hunted some of
Study the photo. What
these animals for food had to find something else to eat. Some people
does it suggest about adapted to these changes by searching for new sources of food. They
what makes a good found smaller animals to hunt. People living near rivers or lakes began
location for a village? to depend more on fishing.
Record your answer in
your  Active Journal.

▲ Céide Fields, Ireland, is the site of a Neolithic settlement. It is about six and
a half thousand years old and one of the oldest known system of fields used for
farming in the world.

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 Analyze Images
How Did People First Modify the Environment? Others Ancient people learned
learned to modify or change their environment so that it would provide to domesticate wolves
more food. For example, people cleared trees and bushes by setting 20,000 to 15,000 years
them on fire. The grasses that grew back attracted grazing animals ago. Compare How does
the wolf on the left differ
such as deer. People may also have noticed that, if seeds were scattered
from the herding dog on
on the ground, new plants grew there the next year. This discovery led the right?
them to find ways to encourage the growth of wild food plants.
How Did Domesticated Plants and Animals Change People’s
Lives? Over time, people learned to domesticate plants and animals,
especially those that they used for food. To domesticate means to
change the growth of plants or behavior of animals in ways that are
useful for humans. Widespread domestication marked the birth of
farming. The shift from hunting to farming was so important that
historians call it the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution. A revolution is
a complete change in ways of thinking, working, or living.
Even before the Agricultural Revolution, wild wolves developed into
dogs, which humans then domesticated. Dogs provided help in the
hunt, as well as companionship and protection.
Domesticated plants, or crops, became a reliable source of food. Academic Vocabulary
Grains such as wheat, rice, or maize became chief food sources for reliable • adj., dependable,
entire societies. Many animals also provided food—not only meat, but steady, not risky
eggs, milk, and even honey. Horses and oxen became work animals.
Sheep and llamas had coats of hair that were used to make clothing.
Domesticated animals, such as horses, sheep, and cattle, were easier
to control. People who lived in places where growing food was difficult
traveled to different places with their animals. By moving to new
areas, the animals would find new grasslands to eat from. The people
herding, or guiding, the animals would use them for food and clothing.
This way of life was called pastoral nomadism. Nomads are people
who move from place to place with their herds.

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 At first, there was little difference between wild and
domesticated breeds. But over time, people selected
the seeds of the plants that produced the best crops
to sow again. As a result, domesticated plants began
to produce more abundant food that tasted better,
were larger, and easier to cook. A wild tomato, for
example, is the size of a cherry, but a domesticated
tomato is the size of an orange. By contrast, some
breeds of domesticated goats, pigs, and cattle are
smaller than their wild ancestors. Smaller animals
may have been easier to manage.
What New Tools Did People Make? Farmers
invented new tools. They used axes to cut down trees
for farmland and sickles to harvest grain. The grain
was then ground into flour with grinding stones or
hand mills.
All of these tools were at first made out of stone.
Later people mined for bronze and iron and learned
how to smelt, or use heat, to remove metals from
a mineral. They used these metals to create more
efficient tools. That is why historians refer to different
▲ These Neolithic stone stages of early history as the Stone Age, the Bronze
farm tools are about
Age, and the Iron Age.
10,000 years old. On the
left is a hoe. On the right is
a plow blade.  READING CHECK Analyze Cause and Effect Why
might learning to farm have led early farmers to
create new tools?

 Lesson Check
Practice Vocabulary 5. Identify Supporting Details What did
animals do to improve life for humans?
1. What is a belief in animism?
6. Identify Cause and Effect Why did some
2. Why do historians say the ability to
people choose pastoral nomadism as a way
domesticate plants and animals was a
of life?
revolution?
7. Writing Workshop: Introduce Characters
Critical Thinking and Writing You’re now visiting the Neolithic Era. Write
one or two sentences in your  Active
3. Understand Effects What are two signs
Journal about an early man or woman
that people who lived during the Ice Age
who worked with domesticated plants and
developed more complex cultures?
animals. Write another sentence or two
4. Draw Inferences What skills and tools about a herder (pastoral nomad).
would be needed to make cave paintings?
What does this suggest about the people
who created them?

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 LESSON 4

New Ways of Life

BOUNCE
TO ACTIVATE  VIDEO

GET READY TO READ

START UP People of the Paleolithic Era, or Old Stone Age,
What are these ancient Egyptians doing? What lived as hunter-gatherers. They could not have
does this activity suggest about their way of life? imagined many of the things that we now
take for granted. People often had to follow
GUIDING QUESTIONS herds of animals, so they were unable to settle
• How did farming enable people to settle in one for long in one place. People could own few
place and develop specialized skills? possessions—only what they could easily carry.
• How did farming villages develop into cities? Food supplies were uncertain. Life for many
• What were the effects of these new ways of life? was short and dangerous.

TAKE NOTES In time, most hunter-gatherers stopped

wandering in search of food and settled in
Literacy Skills: Analyze Cause and Effect
one place. Life was still difficult, and survival
Use the graphic organizer in your  Active Journal
to take notes as you read the lesson. was still the main concern. But with people
staying in one place, the world began to take
PRACTICE VOCABULARY on many features we recognize today.
Use the vocabulary activity in your  Active Journal
to take practice the vocabulary. Where Did Farming Begin and
Vocabulary Academic Vocabulary How Did It Spread?
surplus benefit No one knows for sure where people
specialization accumulate first began to plant seeds for food. Still,
archaeologists have found evidence to
economy
suggest where farming began and how it
spread. They have also learned something
about the way people lived in early farming
communities.

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 Academic Vocabulary Where Were the First Centers of Agriculture? Most historians
benefit • n., gain; favorable believe that about 10,000 years ago southwestern Asia became the
result first center of agriculture. There, scientists have unearthed seeds from
domesticated wheat plants that were buried long ago. The seeds are
similar to wild varieties of wheat that still grow in the area.
Farming may then have spread from southwestern Asia westward into
Africa. It may also have spread northward into Europe and eastward
into the Indus River valley of South Asia.
Other centers of agriculture appeared independently in different areas
of the world. In southwestern Asia, for example, farming began when
people started to plant wheat and barley. In the southern part of present-
day China, farming began with the domestication of rice. Farther to the
north, a grain called millet was the first crop to be domesticated.
In Central and South America, people learned to grow potatoes, beans,
and squash. In Africa, farming began with crops such as sorghum
and yams.
What Were the Costs and Benefits of Farming? In every place
that agriculture developed, the transition from hunting and gathering
to farming took place gradually, over a long period of time. Each way of
life had costs as well as benefits.
Some of the costs of shifting to agriculture were clear. First, planting
Analyze Diagrams
Domestication started crops and herding, or bringing together, animals took a great deal
with dogs. Other animals of time and energy. Second, farming was uncertain. If a year’s crop
and fruits, vegetables, and failed due to bad weather or disease, a family might starve. Third,
grains followed. Sequence farming could be dangerous. Evidence suggests that bands of nomads
How many years did it take sometimes attacked farmers and stole their food.
before horses and cats were
domesticated?

THE
HISTORY
DOMESTICATION
Fig trees, Pigs, Cattle Potatoes, Horses, Honeybees,
Rice Avocados, Llamas, Cats,
Maize, Silkworms, Camels,
Chickpeas Pomegranates
YEARS AGO

20,000 – 15,000 11,000 10,500 – 10,000 9,000 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,500 – 5,000

Dogs Sheep, Goats, Chickens, Donkeys, Chili Peppers,

Barley, Wheat Millet Watermelons, Guinea Pigs

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 Origins of Agriculture
150° W 120° W 0° 30° E ARCTIC OCEAN 150° E 180°

W E
NORTH EUROPE ASIA S
AMERICA
ATLANTIC 30° N
TROPIC OF CANCER
OCEAN AFRICA PACIFIC
KEY OCEAN
Rice EQUATOR 0°
Wheat PACIFIC SOUTH TROPIC OF INDIAN
Millet OCEAN OCEAN
AMERICA CAPRICORN
Squash AUSTRALIA 30° S
Cotton 0 4,000 mi
Maize 0 4,000 km
Beans
SOUTHERN OCEAN
GEOGRAPHY SKILLS
Agriculture most likely
Agriculture also offered many benefits. Farming produced more originated in many regions.
MGWH19_SE_T01L04_M0000008
food and required less land than hunting and gathering. An
Second Proof
early farm family might need only six to seven acres of land to 1. Interaction What were
raise enough wheat or maize to feed themselves for a year. In some early crops grown
contrast, a hunter-gatherer family needed about 20,000 acres on in South America? In
which to find enough food for a year. West Africa?
As a result of agriculture, more people were able to build 2. Region Identify a crop
permanent homes and farming villages. Farming also provided that was grown in more
new sources of material for clothing. (Later in this section, you than one part of the
will read more about the new types of shelter and clothing that world.
were invented during the Neolithic Era.)
Some groups tried farming for a time and then returned to
hunting and gathering. But in the end, most people chose to
remain farmers.

 READING CHECK Summarize Where did farming begin and how did
it spread?

How Did Farming Change Human Culture?

The first effect of farming was on people’s food supply. But over
time, the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution transformed every part
of human culture.
What New Kinds of Shelter Did People Build? Farmers found
ways to build permanent shelters. People used a mixture of mud and
 INTERACTIVE
straw to form walls. The sun baked and hardened the mixture. People Otzi the Neolithic
made roofs by placing poles and branches across the tops of walls and Ice Man
covering them with mud.

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 One of the oldest known farming settlements in the world is a village
Quick Activity called Çatalhöyük (chah tahl hyoo yook). It stood in present-day Turkey
Explore ancient innovations, more than 8,000 years ago.
including farming, in your At its height, up to six thousand people may have lived in Çatalhöyük. The
 Active Journal. environment provided sources of water and building materials. A British
archaeologist described the two-story homes that made up the settlement:

Primary Source
CONNECTIONS
The houses of Çatalhöyük were so tightly packed
CONNECTIONS together that there were few or no streets. Access
Based on the primary to interior spaces was across roofs—which had been
source, what was life like
in a Neolithic village? made of wood and reeds plastered with mud—
Record your findings in and down stairs. People buried their dead beneath
your  Active Journal.
the floors. Above all, the interiors were rich with
artwork—mural paintings, reliefs, and sculptures,
including images of women that some interpreted
as evidence for a cult of a mother goddess.
—Ian Hodder, “This Old House”

Each home had its own kitchen and food storage area. The people grew
grains and raised flocks of sheep and goats.
How Did Farming Change
Clothing? Agriculture also changed the way
that people dressed. For hunter-gatherers, the
most important materials for clothing were
animal hides and furs. Farming provided new
materials that were lighter and easier to work
with. From Egypt and India to the Americas,
farmers domesticated the cotton plant. They
learned to weave cloth from the plant fibers.
Another plant, flax, became a source of linen.
Domesticated animals such as sheep and yaks
also provided clothing materials. People used
wool and other animal hair to form yarn or
thread. In China, people later learned to breed
silkworms.
What Were the Effects of Food
Surpluses? As crops and herds improved, the
amount of food that farmers could produce
each year increased. Some families were able
to raise a surplus, or more than they needed
to feed themselves. Surplus food could support
a growing population. The size of farming
▲ Spinning yarn from wool the way it would have been
done in ancient times villages thus increased.

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 When there was a surplus of food, not everyone in a village needed
to farm. Some people could specialize. Specialization occurs
when people spend most of their time working at a single job
or craft. They could then trade the goods they made for the
surplus food grown by farmers. Skilled toolmakers turned
stone into polished axes and knives. Potters shaped clay
into bowls. Weavers wove sheep’s wool into cloth. A
few people also became skilled at metalworking. Early
metalworkers heated ore to extract, or remove, such
metals as copper and tin.
How Did Farming Change Social Organization?
Early farming communities remained small. Like hunting,
farming required close cooperation among members
of the community. Heads of families consulted to make
important decisions. They might discuss when to plant
and harvest crops, what to do with food surpluses, or how to
protect the community from outside dangers.
Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of several Neolithic
villages, such as Skara Brae in Scotland. In these villages, all homes
were more or less the same size. Some historians believe this means
that great differences in social standing did not yet exist.
Still, having a permanent place to live meant that people could own
more possessions. Early farmers filled their homes with furniture,
tools, clay pots, and other goods. These items would have been too
heavy to move from one campsite to another. Over time, some families
accumulated more food and possessions than others. Food surplus
sometimes led to conflict, however, as some groups wanted to expand
their supplies at the expense of others. Some people hired guards to
protect their wealth.
As surpluses increased and people began to specialize, greater social
differences emerged. As evidence of this inequality, scientists have
Analyze Images This
unearthed graves with jewelry and other fine materials while other
gold stag was crafted by
graves have none of these things. an artist in Çatalhöyük.
Infer What does it
 READING CHECK Identify Cause and Effect How did farming lead to suggest about the skills of
specialization? ancient craftspeople?

How Did the First Cities Begin?

The world’s first cities began as farming villages in the Middle East.
As the villages grew, they began to trade with one another. Trade, like
farming, became an important source of wealth.
The City of Uruk Many historians consider Uruk to be the world’s first
city. It is thought to have been founded 6,000 to 7,000 years ago. Uruk
was different from Çatalhöyük and older farming villages. One difference
was Uruk’s size. Çatalhöyük covered about 32 acres and was home to no Academic Vocabulary
more than 6,000 people. When Uruk was at its height, more than 40,000 accumulate • v., collect
people lived there. Uruk covered an area of nearly 1,000 acres and had or attain a large amount of
something
houses, gardens, and large public buildings such as temples.

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 Another difference was Uruk’s form of government.
Villages such as Çatalhöyük had little need for
complex government. People acted and made
decisions according to ancient village customs. A
village council settled most disputes. A city such as
Uruk was too large to manage that way. Uruk had
a strong, well-organized government. The city’s first
rulers were probably temple priests. Later, powerful
military leaders ruled Uruk as kings. These rulers had
far more power than a village council did.
How Did Cities Become Centers of Wealth? A
city such as Uruk also had a more complex economy
than did early farming villages. An economy is
the system that a community uses to produce and
distribute goods and services.
▲ A reconstructed Neolithic In the earliest human communities, each group produced those goods
settlement in the eastern and services that were necessary for its survival. The group produced
Mediterranean these goods and services by hunting and gathering. The goods and
CONNECTIONS services were then shared by the members of the community.

CONNECTIONS Çatalhöyük’s economy was based mainly on farming. By contrast,

Uruk’s more complex economy was based on both farming and trade.
Based on the photo,
Workshops that produced all kinds of goods lined the city’s streets.
what conclusions can
you draw about life in a Traders from Uruk traveled widely. Archaeologists have found pottery
Neolithic village? Record and other trade goods from Uruk in many places in the Middle East.
your findings in your
The wealth of Uruk and other early cities attracted many newcomers.
 Active Journal.
People began to move from the countryside into the cities. Many early
cities built walls to protect themselves from raiders. Uruk, for example,
was surrounded by a thick wall that stretched for 6 miles around the
city. This wall was a sign that Uruk was a wealthy city worth protecting.

 READING CHECK Compare and Contrast How did the government

of Uruk differ from that in villages such as Çatalhöyük?

 Lesson Check
Practice Vocabulary 4. Draw Conclusions What are some of the
benefits and drawbacks of job specialization?
1. How did a surplus of food affect the size of
the population? 5. Infer Why do you think people in early
cities began to trade with other cities?
2. How was Uruk’s economy different from
the economy of Çatalhöyük? 6. Writing Workshop: Organize Sequence of
Events Make an ordered list in your  Active
Critical Thinking and Writing Journal to show what happens to your
characters in your narrative essay. You will use
3. Identify Implied Main Ideas How did
this sequence of events when you write your
farming change the kinds of communities
narrative essay at the end of the Topic.
people lived in?

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 LESSON 5

The Rise of Civilizations

BOUNCE
TO ACTIVATE  VIDEO

GET READY TO READ

START UP As farming spread, many small settlements
Examine the photo of the ruins of the ancient city of appeared. In time, some villages grew into
Uruk. What does it tell you about the society that was cities. In this lesson, you will read about the
centered there? rise of early civilizations.

GUIDING QUESTIONS How Did Cities Lead to

• What environmental factors helped civilizations
grow?
Civilizations?
As early cities grew in size and power, some
• What impact did civilizations and complex urban
societies have on the surrounding environment? of them became centers of civilizations. A
civilization is a complex society that has
• How and why did cities give rise to the world’s
cities, a well-organized government, and
first civilizations?
workers with specialized job skills. The word
• What features did all early civilizations have in
civilization comes from the Latin word civis,
common?
meaning “resident of a city.”
TAKE NOTES What Resources Were Important? The
Literacy Skills: Summarize rise of early civilizations depended on the
Use the graphic organizer in your  Active Journal creation of a food surplus. Creating that
to take notes as you read the lesson. surplus, in turn, depended on the ability of
PRACTICE VOCABULARY people to manage their resources well. A
resource is a supply of something that can
Use the vocabulary activity in your  Active Journal
be used as needed.
to practice the vocabulary words.
The most important resources that people
Vocabulary Academic Vocabulary
needed were fertile soil, fresh water, and
civilization religion manage seeds. However, these resources were worth
resource social class specialization

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 little if people could not provide the labor and
tools needed to produce enough food. Managing
these resources well required a level of planning
and organization that marked a new stage in
human society.
Where Were Early Civilizations? Like the
earliest villages, the earliest civilization also
appeared in southwestern Asia, in the city-state
of Sumer. In time, other civilizations appeared in
different parts of the world.
Four of these early civilizations developed in the
fertile valleys surrounding major rivers: the Nile in
northeastern Africa; the Tigris and Euphrates in the
southwest Asian area of Mesopotamia; the Indus in
South Asia; and the Huang River in China.
River valleys provided a good setting for permanent
settlements. Each year, the rivers rose and flooded
the nearby land. When the floodwaters went down, a
fresh layer of fertile soil remained that farmers could
use to grow crops.
Not all early civilizations began in river valleys.
Greek civilization, for example, emerged on a
rocky peninsula in southeastern Europe and a
series of islands in the eastern Mediterranean
Sea. Civilizations also changed their surrounding
environment. Farmers near rivers built irrigation
systems. Civilizations in the Americas cut down
trees and burned them to create farmland.
People cleared land to build houses, temples,
and markets.
▲ Statue of a man from
about 3500-3300 BCE found  READING CHECK Understand Effects Why did many early
in Uruk, Iraq civilizations arise in river valleys?

What Are the Features of Civilizations?

The civilizations that arose in different parts of the world differed in
many ways. Still, all of them had certain things in common. Most early
civilizations shared eight basic features: cities; organized governments;
established religion; job specialization; social classes; public works; arts
and architecture; and a system of writing.
Cities The first of these features was cities. Early cities emerged near
 INTERACTIVE farming centers. As food surpluses led to rapid population growth,
villages grew into cities and cities grew into civilizations. They served as
River Valley
Civilizations centers of religion, government, and culture. A few ancient population
centers, such as Damascus, Syria, are still major cities today.

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 Organized Government The second feature of early civilizations
was a well-organized government. One role of government is
managing society’s resources so that people get those things they Academic Vocabulary
need to survive. A strong government can also form and train an army manage • v., to direct; have
to defend a society from attack or to expand its borders. control over

As populations grew, government became more difficult. Powerful

rulers called warlords took control of tribes in larger areas and formed
governments headed by kings or queens. They relied on large numbers
of public officials who handled different duties.
Established Religion A third common feature of a civilization was
an established religion, or a set of shared spiritual beliefs. Everyone
generally followed the same beliefs and practices. Religion was often
linked to government. Rulers of early civilizations usually claimed that
their right to rule came from the gods. In China, for example, emperors
were called “Sons of Heaven.”
In most early civilizations, people believed in many gods and goddesses
that controlled most events in their lives. People feared their gods,
but also hoped that the gods would protect them from harm.

EIGHT FEATURES OF CIVILIZATION

GOVERNMENT
CITIES
a well-organized
population centers
system of rule

WRITING ESTABLISHED
a system to record information, A RELIGION
laws, prayers, and history CIVILIZATION a shared set of beliefs
HAS A VARIETY
ARTS AND
OF JOB SPECIALIZATION
ARCHITECTURE
buildings and objects of beauty
FEATURES workers doing specific jobs;
not everyone needs to farm

PUBLIC WORKS
SOCIAL CLASSES
large-scale projects that
people of different ranks
help the whole society

Analyze Diagrams Although civilizations arose in different parts of the world,

they shared these eight characteristics. Demonstrate Reasoned Judgment What
feature do you think was the most important to a successful civilization? Why?

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 To keep their gods and goddesses happy, priests offered sacrifices and
led prayers. This prayer is from the civilization of ancient Sumer:

Academic Vocabulary Primary Source

specialization • n., act
of concentrating on a May the known and unknown god be pacified!
limited number of goods or
activities May the known and unknown goddess be pacified!
The sin which I have committed I know not. . . .
My god, my sins are seven times seven; forgive my sins!
My goddess, my sins are seven times seven; forgive
my sins!
—“Penitential Psalms,” translated by Robert F. Harper

From earliest times, religion included beliefs about life after death.
People also looked to their religion for rules about how to treat one
another and how to live moral lives.
Job Specialization Job specialization was a fourth feature that
Analyze Images In this was common to civilizations. Most people in early civilizations were
painting from about farmers. They produced enough food to support many kinds of
1425 BCE, Egyptians are
specialized workers. Skilled craftworkers specialized in producing
shaping metal storage
vessels. Identify Main Ideas
goods. Traders and merchants specialized in buying and selling goods.
How does this painting Job specialization allowed people to develop the many skills and
show job specialization? talents needed to create and maintain a civilization.
Social Classes A fifth feature of early civilizations
was a system of social classes. Social classes are
groups of people that occupy different ranks or levels
in society. Class structures resembled pyramids, with
the smallest number of people at the top and the
largest number at the bottom.
The highest social class in most early societies was
made up of priests and rulers. The people at these
ranks had the most power and wealth.
The social classes in the middle included farmers,
merchants, and skilled workers. Members of these
classes varied in wealth and status from one society to
another. In many societies, slaves made up the lowest
class. Slaves were often prisoners captured in war or
poor people who sold themselves to pay their debts.
Public Works Public works were a sixth feature of
civilizations. Governments organized workers to build
large-scale projects such as roads, water systems,
city walls, and granaries where food was stored after
harvesting. Building these public works was costly,

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 time-consuming, and often dangerous. Often, workers
were injured or killed. Still, public works benefited the
society as a whole.
Arts and Architecture Architecture was closely
related to public works. Early people built and
decorated magnificent temples, tombs, and palaces.
Many of these buildings served a public function, but
they were also objects of beauty.
Early civilizations developed other forms of art as well.
In this chapter, you can see a number of examples of
statues and paintings that date back thousands of years.
Skilled craftworkers also produced fine luxury items
for the upper classes, such as gold jewelry and perfume
boxes. Music and literature, too, enriched the lives of early
people and became a mark of advanced civilization.
System of Writing The final common feature of many
civilizations was a system of writing. Forms of writing varied,
from picture writing to symbols representing sounds and letters.
▲ Ancient Chinese writing,
In some early societies, writing was first developed mainly to record
etched into bone
numbers, such as the amount of grain harvested. Eventually, however,
people used writing to preserve all kinds of information. They recorded
laws, wrote down prayers to the gods, and described the mighty deeds
of rulers.
Historians have learned much about the early civilizations that left
behind written records. With the development of writing, we pass from
prehistory to recorded history.

 READING CHECK Identify Main Ideas What are the eight basic
features of civilization?

 Lesson Check
Practice Vocabulary 4. Identify Supporting Details What are
public works? Give two examples.
1. Choose one of the eight features of
civilization and explain how it still exists in 5. Synthesize How was job specialization
our civilization today. linked to the emergence of social classes?
2. What social classes were common in most 6. Writing Workshop: Use Descriptive
early civilizations? Details and Sensory Language Write
notes in your  Active Journal about
Critical Thinking and Writing descriptive details and sensory language
that you can use in the narrative essay you
3. Infer What would happen to a civilization if
will write at the end of the Topic.
it ran out of resources?

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 TOPIC

1  Review and Assessment

VISUAL REVIEW
Neanderthals and Early Humans
Neanderthals Homo Sapiens

• Were first to bury their dead • Had larger brains than predecessors
• May have believed in life after death • Could form complex language
• Hunted animals • Cooperated with each other
• Could form language • Hunted animals
• Used tools and fire • Used tools and fire

Hunting, Gathering, and Farming

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION

Until about 10,000 years ago, humans survived by hunting and gathering.

Then, over time, people learned to domesticate plants and animals.

Centers of agriculture formed, leading to the development of cities.

READING REVIEW FINDINGS

Use the Take Notes and Practice Vocabulary activities in your
Design Your Village
 Active Journal to review the topic.
Get help for designing
your Neolithic village
 INTERACTIVE in your  Active
Practice vocabulary using Journal.
the Topic Mini-Games.

38   Topic 1 • Origins of Civilization

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 ASSESSMENT
Vocabulary and Key Ideas
1. Explain How do archaeologists and 4. Summarize What was the Neolithic
geologists help us learn about the past? Agricultural Revolution?
2. Describe How did hunter-gatherers of the 5. Explain How did farming lead to food
Paleolithic Era survive? surpluses?
3. Describe How did people adapt to changing 6. Explain In early civilizations, how was
climate conditions during the last Ice Age? government connected to religion?
7. Define What is a hieroglyphic?

Critical Thinking and Writing

8. Compare and Contrast How were Stone Age 12. Revisit the Essential Question Does
people different and similar to us? geography really shape people’s lives?
9. Infer What do you think happens to species Explain.
that fail to adapt? 13. Writing Workshop: Write a Narrative Essay
10. Analyze Cause and Effect How did farming Use the notes you made in your  Active
lead to the development of social classes? Journal to write a narrative essay in which
you travel through time to see how hunter-
11. Analyze Cause and Effect Do you think gatherers, early farmers, and pastoral
there could have been civilization without the nomads lived.
development of agriculture? Explain.

Analyze Primary Sources

14. According to the primary source, animals “Chickens were selected to be larger, wild
were domesticated in certain ways in order to cattle (aurochs) to be smaller. . . . Most
A. be larger. domestic animals . . . have smaller brains and
B. have keener senses. less acute sense organs than do their wild
C. be more useful to people.
ancestors. Good brains and keen eyes are
D. survive better in the wild.
essential to survival in the wild, but represent
a . . . waste of energy in the barnyard, as far as
humans are concerned.”
—Jared Diamond, Nature, August 8, 2002

Analyze Maps ▼ Early Civilizations

Use the map at right to answer the following ASIA
questions. B
D
15. Which letter represents Mesopotamia? Which
A C
rivers was it settled near?
16. Which letter represents the Indus Valley? N
Which continent is it on? AFRICA
17. Which letter represents Egypt? Which body of 0 1,500 mi W E
water does the Nile River flow into? INDIAN
0 1,500 km OCEAN
Cylindrical projection S

MGWH19_SE_T01AS_M0000014
Second Proof
Review and Assessment   39

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