Unit 1: The Beginnings of Human Society (Prehistory-3,000 BC)

Unit Overview: The Beginnings of Human Society

This unit covers the Prehistoric Era from the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Revolution and the rise of civilization. Some important themes covered in this unit:

Unit 1 Essay: The Neolithic Revolution

In order to get credit for this project you must write an essay on the following topic:

The Neolithic RevolutionDepending on which hominids you want to call "human", the Stone Age or period of time that humans used stone tools, lasted several hundred thousand years and can be divided into three categories: the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), and the Neolithic (New Stone Age). Human societies during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic Eras practiced the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, but the Neolithic Era, which began around 9,500 BC, saw such a transformation in the way humans lived that historians have dubbed the era the "Neolithic Revolution." Using the knowledge of human development you have gained from your lessons in this unit, write an essay of 600 or more words that describes the political, economic, and social developments of the Neolithic Revolution and explains why this was such a "revolution" when it occurred. 

An artist's rendition of Catal Huyuk, an agricultural town in Anatolia from 7500-5700 BC.

                                                                     

Unit Videos:                                                                                                    

                                                                        The Real Eve, Discovery ChannelHoly Cow, PBS NatureLife in the Neolithic EraUnit Lectures:Basic Essay Writing Class 1.0The Stone AgeNeolithic Revolution Essay ClassPrimary Sources:

A Cro-Magnon man making fire from the greatest movie ever: Quest for Fire. When the Neanderthal main character of this film realizes that fire can be made anywhere, after he and his group have been wandering for hundreds of miles looking for fire, he is in awe and cries.

World History A Unit 1 Key Terms

For this project you must define the terms listed below and explain each term's significance to the unit/era being studied. Your definition should be 2-3 sentences long and may be copied and pasted from a source like Wikipedia, but the significance of the term must be in your own words and based on your own understanding. To fill out a term's significance, ask yourself, "Why is this item included in my study of this unit? Why is this term in a history book?" The answer to this question is your term's significance. 

Unit 1 Key Terms:

archaeology                       

Paleolithic Era                               

Neolithic Revolution               

Stonehenge                   

anthropology                     

prehistory                                    

Meso-America                         

domestication

historical method               

Homo Sapiens                             

Mesopotamia                          

Copper Age

etymology/linguistics         

hunter-gatherers                         

Nile River Delta                       

labor specialization 

geology                              

Human origin theories                              

Yellow River Delta                  

Otzi the Iceman

                                                                

Below is an example of a key term done with the proper format:

William the Conqueror: William I (c. 1028[2] – 9 September 1087), also known as William the Conqueror (Guillaume le Conquérant), was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II. Before his conquest of England, he was known as William the Bastard because of the illegitimacy of his birth.To press his claim to the English crown, William invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans, Bretons, Flemings, and Frenchmen (from Paris andÎle-de-France) to victory over the English forces of King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.[3] (I copied and pasted this definition from Wikipedia)

Significance: William the Conqueror is significant because his conquest of England created the first nation state in Europe. His rearrangement of English feudal territories to give himself dramatically more power than the the barons and nobles around him caused him to be the most powerful monarch in Europe and eventually led to the rise of other nation states over the next few centuries. (These are my words based on my knowledge of English and European history.)