Developing+agriculture+and+technology

A. What are the most important developments in prehistory? B. What are the various characteristics- other than intelligence- that //typify// members of //homo sapiens//? C. What were the positive aspects of hunting and gathering as a way of life? D. What are the characteristics of foraging, pastoral, and agricultural societies? E. How do we define the “Fertile Crescent?” F. What was the Neolithic Revolution and why was it significant? What about it justifies the term “revolution?” G. How did agriculture impact social and gender roles? H. How did the nature of settlements impact the environment? I. How did technology progress- why isn’t there a “Wood Age”? J. Compare and contrast the key stages of metal usage and the impact of various metals on cultural structure. ** INFORMATIONAL SOURCE: __THE PRINCETON REVIEW__! **
 * 2. Developing agriculture and technology**
 * Neolithic Revolution; civilizations
 * Agricultural surplus
 * Domesticated animals
 * Simple tools (esp. stone)
 * Use of metal tools/weapons and later iron and bronze ages
 * Diverting water
 * Clearing land for farming/creating farmland
 * Advanced tools
 * Created semi-permanent or permanent dwellings
 * Organized into social groups
 * Ranged for Europe to Africa and Asia
 * Walked upright
 * Larger brain
 * Opposable thumbs
 * No concept (or little concept) of ownership
 * Enough to go around (less greed/poverty)
 * __Foraging-__ -Hunting and gathering; small groups of people; nomadically traveled from point to point as the climate and availability of plants dictated; didn’t store food for long-term; few belongings
 * __Pastoral-__ Domesticated animals; often in mountainous regions and areas with insufficient rainfall to support other forms of society; small-scale agriculture; male-dominated society; stratification and social status based on size of herd; few personal possessions; didn’t settle in towns (always searching for grazing areas and water)
 * __Agricultural-__ Agricultural/town and city life; dwelling place needed to have good soils and a stable source of water; domesticated animals; used simple tools; more reliable food; cultivating plants
 * Area of relatively fertile land which extended westward from Mesopotamia towards the Mediterranean
 * Contained Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers)
 * Settling down
 * Starting to cultivate own crops
 * Starting to use tools
 * “Revolution” because, even though it was a gradual change, and took a long time, it still was massively different, a change that impacted and altered the world entirely
 * Women lose power as people settle down
 * Women’s roles in status becomes limited as they must focus on food production
 * Women maintained power in private sphere by managing their households and taking responsibility for the children
 * Food took lots of preparation, and the women had to do that preparation, which tied them to the house
 * Used natural resources
 * Slash-and-burn farming
 * Clear land for agriculture
 * Domesticate/control crops (and animals)
 * Started using hard stones (i.e. granite), then sharpened them to make farming tools and weapons
 * Alongside, used pottery (esp. for cooking), and weaving (esp. nets for fish, more complex clothing)
 * Next, start working with metals, combining copper with tin to make bronze (Bronze Age)
 * Later, iron
 * No “Wood Age” because, in our opinion, it wasn’t as useful for tools as for vehicles (wheels, boats, etc); it was not very sharp, so it was impractical for weapons or for farming; because it could not, like stone or new metals, increase food productivity, it could not lead to surpluses, so it could not lead to increased specialization of labor and more advanced societies
 * See above; the descriptions of the different types of metals progressing are listed
 * As for impact on cultural structure, the harder the metals, the better the tools, and the more food/surpluses could be gained; as food increased, so did specialization of labor, and the roles of men and women became more defined and differentiated