First major graded assignment!

Group thing

Research --> presentation for 15 minutes (not more)

With Linda and Wiggo

Topic: Civilization

-Living in cities <--> living cities-

7 Innovative civilizations  - these are cities that just appear, they built up there civilization from the start by themselves.

• Mesopotamia  - Sumerians (3,300 B.C.E)

• Egypt -

• Indus - Harrapa (a river valley in India)

• China - Xia, Shang (Huang He, gula floden)

• Mesoamerica - Mayans (roughly Mexico today)
• Andean - Incas

• Niger - Jenne Jeno

1. Outline
2. Characteristics (maybe a style of dress, stile of art, something that is unique to your civilization) AMANDA
3. Significant event (pyramids or some kind of construction, war/battle for example)

4. Significant person AMANDA

5. Primary source (a written document from the time, produced during that time)

6. City plan (how the buildings are arranged in the city, what building is in the middle of the city? Which is the most important?)

7. Theories!

MESOPOTAMIA  

End the presentation with the conquer of

Written source (extract on SharePoint) --> Epic of Gilgamesh

A religious temple, a residence, the goddess Ishtar lived there.

Sources:

Timeline: http://www.ancient.eu.com/Mesopotamia/

Mixed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/mesopotamia_gallery_03.shtml

Theories:

Paul Wheatley

Cosmo-magical city theory - come together at one point… due to what?

• Water

• Food

Religious significance, something unusual like a really old tree or an odd structure of a rock, or a story of that it´s connected to that place. Once people start farming these places, thing are going to occur and this is the way that cities are formed around these places. Religious building in the middle of the city. The once that live there are like the religious leaders of the city.

Lewis Mumford

Criticisms of urbanization - once you live in cities, you get war.

• Urbanization leads to "continuous warfare"
• City states inevitably fight over (?)

Karl Marx

Criticisms of urbanization  - within the city, class struggle. The people got divided by their professions.

Gerda Lerner

Criticisms of urbanization  

There is evidence for this. The Venuses. She claims that women had a power within the cities. But cities lead to conflict and hen women loose power since men are better of fighting then women.

New evidence

·         Hobbit

·         Neanderthal

·         Denisovans

In your view which theory do these support and which theory do you feel best explains where we  come from.

Theories explained

http://www.suite101.com/content/out-of-africa-vs-the-multiregional-hypothesis-a218947

Hobbit

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3948165.stm

Neanderthal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8660940.stm

Denisovans

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12059564

Out of Africa vs. the Multiregional Hypothesis www.suite101.com

There are two major competing hypotheses about the origins of Homo sapiens - the

The hobbit

The remains of Homo Erectus has been found on the Indonesian island of Java. Home Erectus has  then evolved and adapted to the environment of the small island. The hominid got smaller because of the adaption to the nature and the life on this island. This smaller hominid come to be called Hobbit. The hobbit supports the second theory "Multiregional hypothesis" because Indonesia is not a part of Africa. So it fits in with the theory about the spread into different locations in the world.

Out of Africa - erectus extinct before Modern arrives. (12,000 B.P)

The Neanderthal

This support both of the theories  in their own way. It support the first theory because in the article states with quotes that for example: Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at London's Natural History Museum, is one of the architects of the Out of Africa theory. He told BBC News: "In some ways [the study] confirms what we already knew, in that the Neanderthals look like a separate line.

"But, of course, the really surprising thing for many of us is the implication that there has been some interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans in the past."

New evidence have also come up like the fact that we now know that we have a genetic contribution from the Neanderthals. It says like this in the article: "John Hawks, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, told BBC News: "They're us. We're them.

"It seemed like it was likely to be possible, but I am surprised by the amount. I really was not expecting it to be as high as 4%," he said of the genetic contribution from Neanderthals.

The latest research strongly supports the "Out of Africa" theory.

This article also in one way support the second theory. It supports it by the statement by Dr Hawks. He commented that the amount of Neanderthal DNA in our genomes seemed high: "What it means is that any traits [Neanderthals] had that might have been useful in later populations should still be here.

"So when we see that their anatomies are gone, this isn't just chance. Those things that made the Neanderthals apparent to us as a population - those things didn't work. They're gone because they didn't work in the context of our population."

This I think supports the second theory due to the fact that we in that theory evolved in different ways and adapted to the environment were we ended up (Africa, China and Europe). This made us all change a bit from each other but the breeding made us not totally grow apart.

Parts of both. Out of Africa = modern Grp arrives. Multi = DNA mixes.

The Denisovans

There have been findings in a Denisova cave in southern Siberia. From a tooth and a finger bone, scientists have been able to analyse DNA. These individuals belonged to a genetically distinct group of humans that were distantly related to Neanderthals but even more distantly related to us. This finding adds weight to the theory that a different kind of human could have existed in Eurasia at the same time as our species. This supports the second theory about the multiregional.

Movie: Stories from the Stone Age

• Open grounds, like a big garden. "Fertile" environment.

• Dorothy Garrot. She looked in caves and found a man, so distinctive she fought she had found a new kind of people. The Natufians.

• She also found a tool made for cutting grass. The Natufians then had to carry all of it themselves  back to their homes.

• Today it is much more hotter on those same grounds. Not green as a beautiful garden any more.

• Scientists have discovered that the Natufians had everything they needed in that place. The stayed  in the same place all the time (their small shelters, but moved a lot while hunting and on the days).
• They where the first to build shelters that held from years to year, generation to generation. The  chose their place to establish their villages very carefully.

• Despite their lack of food sometimes and their way to live, they seemed to be fit, to be in shape.

• They made their own tools, which where stones that they made in different shapes. Flint stone  where used a lot. Gesell bones where also used to make tools.

• The Natufians  had a special feeling for decorations.

• Pancakes are the ancestors to todays flat bread.

• They also ate fruits and berries when the season was right. This made them be able to have a  mixed diet and get different nutrient that a human needs to survive.
• They had meetings between different clans and made swaps with tools and food and decorations.

• Their graveyard was under the fireplace. The dead where berried their with a stone and a couple of  other small things. For example dead rabbits.

• In 10 years it all ended. The glaciers came back.
• Clans split up into small groups and had huge troubles with finding food. Many died along the way.

• They found a place with an oasis. It was a whole new environment but it was their only way to  survive.

• They where the worlds first farmers. They took their own last food, the seeds they still had left and  sacrificed it by planted them in the ground to get food for the future.
• There have been findings of a place where there have been a farm (where the Natufians farmed).

The Venus - features and theories

Features:

• Big breasts

• Big bottoms

• No feet

• No faces

• Big hips

• Generally a hourglass body shape

• Protruding Genitals

What was it?

How was it used?

What does it show?

EVIDENCE	WHAT DOES IT SHOW?
Nomadic	No feet.
Hunting	Since they had no feet this reflects the female role about  not moving around as much, more staying at home with the kids and taking care of the home and gathering, while the men hunted. They had thin arms since the men should be the strong ones, they had to hunt, the women did not.
Gathering	Same as above.
Small Groups	All tribes/communities are based on small groups from the beginning.  Then they (the different communities)have developed as you can see on their decorative heads that differ from each other.
Tight Knit Communities	All Venuses represented all the different cultures. Every Venus head had different decorations, which shows that they are from different cultures.
No Communication Between Groups	They had no mouths therefor poor communication. It is a little bit like old stories, since they were settled around the whole world they have to had been communicating in some way, interbreeding and talk - I tell somebody, than he/she tells somebody else and it keeps going on like that. The only question mark is then how did they talk to each other? Since they have no mouth.
Childrearing	Their exaggerated hips, breasts and reproductive organs are in benefit for them to be able to give birth to many children. Their facial features were special in that way.
Absence of Conflict	No purpose to fight.
Anthropological Studies	How humans lived during this time. What they ate, where they lived and so on.
Venus Characteristics Large breasts and hips Thin Arms No Feet Covered Head Protruding Genitals Found Everywhere

Different theories about the Venus:

• Great mother (goddess) - the goddess of life and kindness, with facial features to benefit childrearing.
• The optimal woman - big hips, breasts and genitals because it would be easy to give birth and not just to one child but to many. Thin arms and no feet so that she should not moa around or hunt.
• Goddess of fertility - big genital and breasts and hips. She is special so she does not have to work, therefor no feet and thin arms. She has no face due to that she is anonymous, someone that everybody could be able to relate to.  

Skull map

Two theories

 Two major theories

"Out of Africa"

• Begins in Africa and Erectus comes from there. Then it gets to China and evolves into Archaic. That hominid then gets to Europe. The last to dies out and then the modern Homo Sapiens evolves.

"Multiregional hypothesis"

• Begins with Erectus in Africa and goes on to china and to Europe. In those three areas the erectus stays and starts to evolve into the later different species. Evolves into Archaic and then the evolve into homo sapiens modern in all of these three different places. They adapted into their environments and therefor changes a bit. The interbreeding keeps these groups from totally growing apart.

A DNA test can settle the debate about the racial differences.

You can not say that both of these theories are true because they have some things that contradicts each other. Both can not be true.

Skull location

Australopithecus Afarencis was found almost over whole Africa.

Homo Erectus are the first hominid to leave Africa. Found in Europe and Ukraine and China.

Homo Sapiens Archaic are found in Lake Turkana in Africa, one in Java and the majority have gone to Europe. It is hard to se the differences between the skeletons from the Homo Erectus and the Home Archaic. They found stone tools in Europe around the Homo Archaic. A hand axe, very basic and you can use it for cutting and scraping. It was not a range of different tools.

Neanderthal. Shorter limes, as legs and arms so that they could be able to keep themselves hot longer. The Neanderthal was found a lot around Europe and some in the middle east. More advanced stone tools.

Homo Sapiens Modern was the first hominid to get to Australia.