ASB Exam 3 Review
Anatomically modern humans at least by ____
- 200,000 years ago. Ex. Omo II Skull (195 kya)
Genes inform us on the origin of modern humans:
a. Modern humans evolved in Africa (200-100 kya)
b. Modern humans outside of Africa are all descended of a small population that left
East Africa about 80-60 kya
c. Population spread rapidly along southern coast of Asia and later on Eurasia
Humans rely heavily on socially learned ___
- Traditions ex. Culture
oComplex technology
oRegional variation in style
- This is a sign of heavy reliance on culture.
“Micro”blades
- Blade core from Tell Halif, Israel
Complex, composite tools are at least ___
- ~200 kya
Because of variation in tools across Africa during the Middle Stone age and the
cumulative culture in Africa increased,
- Rapid increase in stone tool complexity after ~800 kya
Firs Homo sapiens in Europe
- Ecological range
- Technology – Neanderthal Stone tools
- Social organization
- Symbolic expression – ornaments, jewelry
Humans in Europe
- Used bones, antlers and teeth to make tools. Example: Solutrean awl,
Magdalean barbed sword, Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean
Humans in Europe developed ___
- More complex shelters and clothing than the Neanderthals.
Dog Domestication were domesticated ___
- At least 15,000 years ago
DNA studies don’t agree where dogs were domesticated
- Either Eurasia 40-20 kya or Southern China 33 kya
Density of dog fossils ___
- 36-15kya
- Greatest in Europe
Oldest dog remain ___
- Goyet, Belgium 32 kya ambiguous
First unequivocal dog specimen:
- Jawborned of the Bonn-Ober Kassel dog
- 14,200 kya
Humans have caring bonds w/ dogs by at least ____
- 14,000 years ago
Wolves may have domesticated themselves.
An experiment in fox domestication sheds lights on how dogs’ domestication worked
Selection for tameness produced many other changes in fox.
Dogs were bred for ____ _____ by at least ____
- Specific tasks; 9000 years ago
- Krater vase depicting a boar hunt in Ancient Greece using dogs
Dogs were also used as pack animals
- Kaina women and dog travois
- Dog with a travois in an Assiniboine camp on the Upper Missouri. Painting by
Karl Bodmer circa 1845.
Dogs pulled shed 9000 years ago
- Zhokov Island archaeological site
- Wooden sled runner
Antler knife handle, dog harnesses
Many dogs were killed in the process
Modern humans in Europe were skilled
- Artisans
oOften depictions of animal
oExamples: Venus figurines (35-10 kya)
oCave painting from Le Chauvet (32 kya, France)
Modern humans in Europe buried their dead with rituals
- Examples: Sungir Russia 26 kya
- Malt’ta boy, Siberia Russia 24 kya
Humans were present in Australia ___
- 50 kya
- Nauwalabila rockshelter, ~60-53 kya
- Lake Mungo, ~50 kya
Interior of Australia is occupied ___
- 30 kya
- Early Australians produce art like Europeans. Ex. Shell beads (32 kya)
Landing in Australia = Technology sophistication
Wallace Line:
- Australia and Asia separated by a line
Beringia
- The land bridge that connected North America and Asia 35 kya - 11 kya.
- Was a grassland by large communities of herbivores
Blue fish caves
- Yukon Canada
Earliest trace of human presence in North America is ___
- 24 kya
Monte Verde, Chile:
- Human occupation 15 kya
Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Pennsylvania
- 14 kya
Humans entered North America by at least
- 15 kya
- Created clovis culture
Clovis points
- The first American invention
- Clovis fluted projectile points 13.2 kya – 12 kya
- Spread quickly across North America, Mostly Eastern part.
The Ice Age is over by then = world’s warming up
Humans may have killed Australian and American megafauna
Megatherium: species of giant sloth from South America
- Giant Sloth dung, AZ
In some areas farming arose:
- Independently
In some areas, farming depended on:
- Crops and animals domesticated elsewhere
- Ex. Egypt 6000 BC, Plants- fig, Animals – donkey, cat :3
- Indus Valley
o6000 BC
oPlants: Sesame, eggplant
oAnimals: Humped camel
Abrupt arrival of foreign people, crops and animals
- Europeans in California, Pacific Northwest, Argentinas, Australia, Siberia
- Western Europe
- African Bantu farmers in subequatorial Africa
The beginning of farming was:
- Unintentional
- Evolved to farming economy
Human selected qualities, sometimes unconsciously:
- Taste
- Size
- Fleshiness
- Oiliness
Dispersal of seeds (Ex. Wild wheat with brittle seedheads)
Domestication:
- Process whereby plants and animals change physically and genetically because
of human action. Ex. Teosinte
Some species of ant farm
Plants were domesticated in a similar sequence around the world:
- Cereals and pulses (pea, lentils)
oEasy to store
- Fruit and nut trees that can grow from cuttings
- Weeds (e.g. Turnips, beets, radishes, lettuce)
Animals were domesticated much the same way animals were
Domestic animals and domestic plants interact positively together
- Manure and plowing
Why was farming arising in specific places?
- Distribution of plants and animals were amenable to domestication
Domesticable plants and animals are _____ ______ on the planet
- Not evenly distributed
More than 50% of calories consumed by world population come from
1. Wheat
2. Corn
3. Rice
4. Barley
5. Sorghum
Most species of wild cereals are in the:
- Fertile crescent
Why farming arose when it did, and not before?
- Agriculture was impossible before 10000 BP
Chiefdoms
- Type of human society
There are 4 correlated aspects of human societies:
1. Population size
2. Subsistence
3. Political centralization
4. Social stratification
Band Societies
- Ex. Mbuti pygmies, Congo
- tight-knit groups
- Egalatarian societies
Tribes
- Huli, Papua New Guinea
Chiefdom
- Trobriand Island Yam houses
- Samoa chief
- Archaeological signature: Luxury goods, public monumental architecture
We start to see formal authorities
Farming leads to specialists and extensive trade
1. Farming
2. Food Surplus
3. Specialists (crafts – extensive trade, religious, bureaucratic)
State
- Egypt, large 50ft.
Stonehenge
- As farming spreads to Northwestern Europe, farming societies began to erect
megaliths (huge).
- Was built in different phases
- Series of monuments
- 50th century
Phase 1
- 3000BC
Phase 2
- 2900 - 2500BC
Phase 3
- 2500 – 1500 BC
Phase 3a
- Bluestone
Phase 3b
- Sarsen Circle
Stonehenge was a part of a:
- richly constructed landscape
- a large village has been found nearby. Was used for more than 1500 years aka
80 generations.
other monuments were built at that time
Cahokia
- multiple mounds
- Monk’s Mound, Cahokia Illinois
- Its peak was AD 1150
Mound 72
- Found arrowheads
- Birdman
Cahokia contains burial indicative of ___
- high social status
Cahokia contains evidence of ____
- human sacrifice (heads and hands)
State: Egypt
Social stratification: Hierarchy
Formal government: decision making
Record keeping
Monumental works: keeping works
- Pyramids
States emerged independently in diff. regions of the world.
- Emerged the over the last 6000 years
Food production makes features of state societies possible
Intensified food production Social complexity
1. Seasonal pulses of labor
2. Generates food surplus
3. Requires sedentary living
Social complexity intensified food prod
1. Capable of organizing public work like irrigation system
2. Facilitate long-distance trade, import of metal for better farming tools
Large population size
- Make social complexification inevitable
- Decision making is affected
Are states formed by rational decision? No
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Societies merge under threat of __ and ___ :
- external force and increase in social complexity
- Ex. Cherokee confederation, United States
Conquests also leads to social complexity
- Roman Empire
Harappa
- Indus Valley broad + fertile floorplan
Harappan culture:
- Uniform over a vast region
- Water buffalo
Harappan people used standardized weights
Harappan culture is uniform
Well-planned cities
- City of Harappa
- Laid along a regular grid of streets
Bricks have uniform size
- Street in Mohenjo-daro
Water is supplied by wells
- Large drain
Mohjenjo-daro
- Large Harappan City
- Granary, Mohjenjo-daro
The Great Bath of Mohjenjo-daro is an example of a large public architecture
Harappan people ___
- Developed a writing system
- Produced a few luxury items
In general, we know little of the Harappan Government.
