Education
Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students. Last time on the show... Beginnings - 600 BCE The origin of humans and early human societies: Beginnings - Gabe - Prehistory is the history before it was written. Finding bones and doing tests like potassium argon dating or other methods to find the age was one of the ways we could see find prehistory. The tools they used and how the newer ones were perfected is another. Ben- Anthropology is the study of ancient humans and their cultures. Everyone always talks about how old certain things are, but how is the information found? Radiocarbon dating is when you get a certain element called carbon 14 and and see how much of it has decayed back into nitrogen 14. So if half the carbon 14 has decayed, that means the item is 5730 years old. The radiocarbon method is a good indicator of how old something is. Audrey - Written records are a main tool in learning the history of the people before us. These are, in some ways, more detailed than other forms of records, including archaeological and biological remains. That being said, written records can’t be the only thing taken into consideration; they could be biased or could be stories passed down generation after generation, slowly being changed to fit the current worldviews. Emma - Many Paleolithic societies were communal. The members of a community, which were most often small, nomadic groups, worked together to perform various tasks. The women typically raised the children, gathered food, and cooked, whereas the men did the hunting, often in groups. However, in some communities, the work is thought to have been divided evenly between both women and men. Ella - Early paleolithic societies did not have agricultural systems like we do today. They relied on tools they made to hunt animals. These societies would use tools made out of rocks such as handaxes. They used these for both hunting and digging. The other half of their diet consisted of natural fruits and vegetables they found in their environment. Skylar - According to historians the first generations of “human” like people are called Homo Sapiens. Homo Sapiens were apart of a group called Hominids. Archaeologist and anthropologist believe that they were alive between 2.5 and 4 million years ago and lived in eastern and southern Africa. Ethan - The anatomic structure of the people of today has existed for about 200,000 years. Egyptian hieroglyphs have been around for close to 5,000 years but America couldn’t even comprehend the hieroglyphs until 1799 when America found the Rosetta Stone. Even then when America had the Rosetta Stone it took quite a while to decipher it. And even after we began to comprehend hieroglyphs, we still had to hope no one would “change the story” to make it more interesting. And people still had altering views so deciding which was true caused more investigation. Thus, the Scientific Process. Hunter- the study of human existence has been going on for multiple centries. The process has just evolved to even being able to find the year of when the creature and or early human existed and died. 600 BCE The Neolithic Revolution and the birth of agriculture: Beginnings - Emma - The word Neolithic is derived from neo, meaning new, and the Greek word lithos, which translates to stone. It is the latter part of the stone age in which tools began to have a more smooth and refined appearance. Unlike before, these tools had complex shapes and purposes, and began to resemble the instruments used in more advanced societies. Audrey - Since the birth of agriculture, Earth’s population has increased immensely. In the Paleolithic period, humans were primarily hunter-gatherers, and the population was roughly 10 million. Then 10 - 15 thousand years ago (13000 - 8000 B.C.) the Neolithic period came, and along with that, agriculture. Since plants and animals were now being domesticated, and more people could be fed, the population grew. By the time of the Roman Empire there were around 250 million people on Earth, and since then the population has grown to approximately 7 billion. Gabe - There was different types of agriculture there was pastoralism which was the branch of agriculture that bred animals goat, sheep, cattle, and in this branch they collected food from there goats and cattle and probably wool from the sheep and milk from the cows and probably the goats too Ella - Most early civilizations came together through religion, or beliefs and practices that associate with the meaning of the world. with This was how people who were not familiar with one another created trustworthy and respectful relationships. Religion was commonly associated with politics. Religious leaders commonly worked as political leaders as well. Ethan - Agriculture was created so that the survivability of the human race would increase. The end of the most recent glacial period was about the same time that agriculture emerged. The reasoning behind this is that the soil had thawed so food could be grown in abundance. Ben - There were a few different things being grown around the world. Stuff like barley, but also something less known called sorghum. Sorghum today is mostly used for animal food, but can also be used to create a kind of sweet syrup. Sorghum was being grown about the area sudan is at today and was probably being used as a normal grain in 9000-7000 BCE. There was also okra, black eyed peas, and yam around the west coast of africa. (Can talk about more different foods and where they’re from if needed) Skylar -City-States couldn’t have been became created without agriculture. Most people would not be alive if it wasn’t for agriculture. Since agriculture has been created the plants (veggies) and animals (meat and milk). Thanks to irrigation vegetation can now be grown almost anywhere. The availability of human consumable calories per square kilometer has increased rapidly. People started farming in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey and went on to East Asia, mexico, and many more places. Hunter- Neolithic Age is also known as the New Stone Age. However, it is closely connected to civilization, animal domestication, inventions, and agriculture. Stability in life opened new doors for man, as he ventured into domesticating animals rather than merely hunting them as per his need. He also invented pottery in this era, making it a symbol of the Neolithic era. 600 BCEAncient Mesopotamia: Beginnings - Gabe - I'm going to start by saying Mesopotamia means country between to rivers so most the cities were born on the rivers tigris euphrates (which is what Mesopotamia is in between) the yangtze or the nile. They were born on these cities because the rivers would fertilize their crops bring water and transportation later on Ella - The Sumerians were a group of people that started in Southern Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE. They wrote some of the first written scripts that were made of clay tablets. These ideas spread to surrounding civilizations which resulted in more languages being written. These languages are what today's alphabet was developed from. Audrey - Mesopotamia was one of the first significant civilizations, and was located in what is now Iraq. The Sumerians are believed to be the first civilization to emerge in Mesopotamia (4000 B.C.). They are well known for the first development of the wheel (3500 B.C.), and for their architectural structures, like the ziggurats which were found in the center of many Sumerian and Mesopotamian cities. Emma - Around 3000 BC the Sumerians came in contact with the Akkadians, named after the city-state of Akkad. About 700 years later, Sargon of Akkad came into power and is thought to have started the first dynastic empire. Both the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers were ruled by the Akkadian Empire until it’s fall in 2154 BC. Ben - After the akkadian empire, a new empire began, and it was called the Babylonian empire. The Babylonians used to just be a small place in Akkadia (2300 BC), but grew into an empire. The leader of the Babylonian empire was Hammurabi. The Babylonians influenced the area in that they had a sort of law system that was based on religion. They spoke Akkadian. (1800-600 BC) from 1770- 1670 and from 612-320 BC babylon was estimated to be the largest city in population size in the world. Skylar - The Pharaoh King Menes was able to unify upper and lower Egypt with the Eqyptian civilization. Hammurabi was famous for making the code of Hammurabi. He codified a series of laws. Ethan - After the Sumerian and Akkadian empires formed, the Assyrian Empire formed about 1000 years later in northern Mesopotamia. Ashur was the capital of Assyria. Assyria was originally ruled by Sargon and his bloodline during the Akkadian Empire. After the end of the Akkadian empire Assyria became the major empire then. 8. Hunter- Mesopotamia was known in antiquity as a seat of learning, and it is believed that Thales of Miletus (c. 585 BCE, known as the first philosopher) studied there. As the Babylonians believed that water was the ‘first principle’ from which all else followed, and as Thales is famous for that very claim, it seems probable that he studied there. 600 BCEAncient Egypt: Beginnings - 600 BCE Gabe - Egypt started next to the nile which is because it helps with many things as we talked about earlier there was the old egypt which was when the pyramids were built and this is the time we kind of think about when we think egypt but the pharaohs you think about were very far from the building of the pyramids and cleopatra actually lived 2500 years from the makings of the pyramids and 2037 from the making of the first iphone so she lived closer to the iphone Ella - During the old kingdom period, Egypt was a single state. The country eventually became more complex and expanded their military. The kings of the time built formations such as Great Pyramid and the Sphinx of Giza. These structures were used as tombs or monuments for the kings that built them. Emma - The Egyptian political system was based on the idea of divine kingship. They believed that the political ruler, or pharaoh, either held the favor of a god (or gods) or was in fact a living incarnation of the god themself. An example of this was Narmer who was thought to be Horus. This reinforced the authority of the current political figure in power. Audrey - The Egyptian civilization was originally divided into upper and lower Egypt. The official beginning of the civilization was somewhere around 3100-3150 B.C. when the two parts of Egypt were united under one king. Ben - As with most early civilizations, egypt was based around a river. When civilizations start around rivers it gives the people fresh water and a good source of water for agricultural purposes too. Even egypt’s seasons were based around the nile and how it affected crops and weather. The first season would be Akhet, which would now be around june-september and was based around the nile river flooding to provide water to crops. The second season was Peret, (Oct. - Feb.) where crops would be planted. The final season was called Shemu, (March - May) when everything would be harvested. Skylar - The Nile River starts in mid-eastern Africa and goes all the way down to the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is one of the great rivers. It makes the soil around it rich. Like ben said for growing plants. Most of the population in Egypt is around or close by the multipurpose river. They have a season of harvest and it’s when the soil is most fertile for growing crops. The annual rain is very important because it adds another layer of extremely nutrient-rich soil that’s needed for the Shemu season. Ethan - Wars had what seemed to be a major impact on the civil structure of Egypt. The costs include drought, famine, and disruption of Egyptian civilians. This kind of split Egypt into many different city-states. This allowed any city-state with the military power to take cities, as Kush conquered Lower and Upper Egypt. But soon the Kushites were kicked out of Egypt. Hunter- nothing left to write T^T this is sad all info was sucked dry so please dont blame me Ancient art and artifacts: Beginnings - Gabe - One of the artifacts that was found was the standard of ur and no one knows for sure what it actually was but it has 2 sides to it and on one side you have basically peace and prosperity where it shows animals being taken to trade or sacrifice or eat were not really sure and it shows the king and some other important people drinking in enjoyment there many things like that.(didnt want to take to much info someone want to connect to mine and explain what was on the other side) Ella - There were many materials used to make the standard of ur such as lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, Red stones from India, and shells from the gulf to the South of Iraq. These things are all reminders that the cities thrived because of the success in agriculture. There was a river valley between Tigris and Euphrates where they grew large amounts of food. Ben - One of the most important historical items in Egyptian history was the Rosetta Stone, the Rosetta Stone was an ancient stone tablet discovered in 1799, it had the same thing written in three different languages. First, hieroglyphs, then egyptian, then greek. This allowed historians to translate all the hieroglyphs that were seen in temples and pyramids. Emma - On the other side of the Standard of Ur, there are three scenes depicting a war. The lowest section shows chariots coming into battle and trampling their enemies. The second row has a clearly organized army marching into battle, fighting, and taking prisoners. The top again has the king, this time being presented with prisoners of war. Audrey - The Rosetta Stone is a very popular artifact found in the British Museum. It was brought there when Napoleon’s army was in Egypt. One of the many people who came with Napoleon came across the stone being used in the foundation of a fort. Originally it would have been in or near an Egyptian temple and was the bottom part of a much taller tablet. Napoleon took the stone back with him, but when the British defeated Napoleon they took it. Two years later, in 1801 or 1802, the Rosetta Stone was taken to the British Museum and it has been there ever since. Ethan - I guess I’ll explain the Rosetta Stone. It had 2 forms of Egyptian on it. Hieroglyphic and Demotic. Hieroglyphic, as many people know, uses symbols. Demotic is kind of like the print writing of English, but Egyptian. It also had Greek on the stone so it, even after many years, was decipherable. Skylar - The Rosetta Stone was carved in 196 B.C. We were not able to read the Rosetta Stone until mid 19th century. The Rosetta stone is called the Rosetta stone because of where it was found, Rosetta. It was written in three different scripts The first was hieroglyphic which was the script used for important or religious documents. The second was demotic which was the common script of Egypt. The third was Greek which was the language of the rulers of Egypt at that time. Hunter- The Rosetta stone and the Standard of Ur are both important discoveries I can’t say anything more because like last season nothing left to say it’s all taken (and yes i went and looked at more than just the first page or google but I mean this is what I get for being busy all week i guess) 600 BCEAncient India: Beginnings - Gabe - the harappan civilization or the indus valley civilization because it was near the indus river spread from northwest india to afghanistan and pakistan at the peak of the harappan civilization they may have had a population of 5 million people indus cities are noted for there urban planning which is where you build your cities in with the land to make your life easier basically they also made baked brick houses huge drainage systems water supply systems and basically metropolitan areas. Ella - Around 2600 BCE, Harappan communities had become large urban areas. Overall about 1000 settlements were founded in the Indus river area. The Mohenjo-daro was one of the biggest cities in the area. It was also one of the more sophisticated cities with its advanced uses for engineering and urban planning. Ben - The Indus river civilization was one of the most advanced and one of the most mysterious ancient places. They were very good at building and their brick areas are impressive even to today’s standards because of how they survived hundreds of years of weather and damage. And jewelry from around that area has been seen in different countries, so trading was probably happening too. Emma - The people of the Indus River Valley Civilization region are known for their advancements in the technology of their time. Their accurate systems for measuring length and mass made their advanced sanitation system possible. This system was the first of its kind ever in history. Audrey - Sanskrit has many similarities to other languages like English and Latin. Words like matr, in English mother, and in Latin mater, show the resemblance. The Vedas mention a “god” named Dyaus Pitr which means “sky father”. In Greek there is Zeus Pater, and in Latin Jupiter, both of which, also meaning sky father. - Ethan - Some of the people in the Indus Valley are called Harappans. The reason that the Harappans succeeded in early technology was they had the most accurate ways to measure length and mass. They also invented bricks, one of the staples in building today. Skylar - The Harappa civilization was more than just Harappa. The largest cite they had was Mohenjo-Daro, it was n the Sihn region of Pakistan. They believe 40,000 lived in just Mohenjo-Daro. Some think that the Harappa civilization was happening around 7000 BCE, they believe they were just living in small villages, but they don’t have very much evidence. Nobody really knows how or why the Indus Valley civilization came to an end. Hunter- Important innovations of this civilization include standardized weights and measures, seal carving, and metallurgy with copper, bronze, tin, and lead. 600 BCEShang China: Beginnings - Gabe - the earliest period in chinese history is the mythical period which supposedly was ruled by the xia empire and was overthrown by the Shang in 1766 bce but we are not sure if the Xia overthrow was true because we don’t have archaeological evidence of the Xia empire but we do have evidence of the Shang empire and they ruled from 1766 bce to 1046 bce Ella - The earliest form of Chinese writing was found as inscriptions carved into bones and shells.These animal remains were known as oracle bones. The writing on the bones was very complex, suggesting that the language had been around for a while. Scientists didn't have trouble reading it because it was very similar to modern chinese writing. Ben - The chinese craftsmen mastered the alloy bronze, which gave most of their soldiers an advantage. The Shang were excellent builders and engineers, they worked on many things including irrigation systems similar to how the indus river civilization did. Emma - In the Shang Dynasty Civilization, the king was not a political figure. His main role was as a religious leader, the use of oracle bones making up a large part of their responsibilities. The government itself was run by chosen advisors and other officials. Audrey - Chinese writings from the Shang Dynasty can be found on oracle bones. An oracle bone is an ox’s scapula (shoulder blade) that people would write questions on; they would heat the bone over a flame until it cracked, and then they would interpret the cracks to get an answer to their question. Skylar - The Shang Dynasty was the first dynasty that we have a lot of proof of. It lasted around 500 years. They had great irrigation systems for their day, and had also developed social classes. Both banks of the Yellow River had greats amounts of loess.with is a very nutrient-rich soil that is amazing for growing almost anything. The Shang dynasty was in and near the modern day city of Anyang. It’s known for their writing, a lot like modern day Chinese. Near the end of this dynasty they had chariots and people believe they were in contact with people out in the west. - Ethan - The Shang had some, to say the least, strange practices. The Shang made offerings to dead relatives in attempt to communicate with them. These “Oracle Bones” people will have talked about by now, are made out of turtle shells, and they were used to predict the future. Hunter- the Shang dynasty craftspeople mastered bronze, an alloy of copper and tin; bronze weapons gave the foot soldiers a tactical advantage. 600 BCEAncient Americas: Beginnings - Gabe - Some of the first people in north america were the olmec who were some of the first mexicans they lived around the gulf of mexico around were veracruz and tabasco (like the sauce i guess) is a nahuatl word from the aztec language which means rubber people because they were the first we know to discover how to convert latex off trees into rubber we call them this because we do not know exactly what they called themselves Ella - None of the Olmecs beliefs or customs were recorded, but there were some artifacts found in the area that indicated long trade routes that spread throughout many regions. Some of the artifacts such as jade and obsidian were evidence that the Olmec people traded with civilizations outside the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Ben - There were a few different early north and south american tribes and cultures such as the mayans. The Mayans were the only ones in early america who had a fully developed writing system. They used hieroglyphs and lived in southeast mexico, they kind of owned southeast mexico. Emma - From 3500 to 1700 BC the Caral civilization existed in was is now northern Peru. It was a complex society in which specialized and interconnected roles existed, though people disagree on whether or not it can be classified as a civilization due to the lack of evidence concerning political, economical, and religious systems. Audrey - The first humans to come to the Americas came 15-16,000 years ago.They are believed to have come from north-eastern Asia across the Bering Strait during the last glaciation period when the sea level was low enough for the Bering Land Bridge. Skylar - the first people that came to north and south america somewhere between 15,000 and 16,000 years ago. They believe the first people were in Florida 14,500 years ago. The Mississippian culture was a north american culture. The mississippi river is named after them. Their famous city was Cahokia and it is around modern day St. Louis. - Ethan - There was a race of people called the Chavin and their culture was centered around a big temple in Chavin de Huantar. Their government system was most likely based off of a hierarchy, while sticking to religion. The Chavin was founded in the northern Andean highlands in Peru. Their civilization was founded in between 900 and 250 BC, which was about to the time period of 1000 years after the collapse of the Caral. The Chavin were located in the Mosna River Valley, in which the Mosna and Huachesa rivers meet. Hunter- cant find nothin!!!!!!! 600 BCE Human innovation and the environment Gabe - We were nomadic people so we started to farm and start agriculture and build small villages probably making us have more food for more population and basically we started staying in one spot and we started to have tribes and the others started doing this. Ella - One thing that separates humans from animals is our ability to learn and teach efficiently and effectively. We are able to pass down the information and skills we learned to the next generation a lot better than other species can. This is because of our specific and strong communication techniques we've developed like language and writing. Skylar - Before the Neolithic era people had to hunt for food. They would walk short or long distances to find food if there was nothing oblivious to kill for food. Most people were what are called hunter gatherers. They did not consume as much calories as pastoral people. This was called Paleolithic era and the beginning of the mesolithic era. The main thing that happened in the Neolithic era was agriculture. Agriculture was a huge deal, most would say one of the best things that happened in human history. It changed people’s lifestyle and diet. They could now raise crops and/or animals. Move most anywhere they wanted. They then had time to figure out a way to write out the things they were learning. Ben - Over all this time and seeing these things it’s interesting to realize that these people were skilled and could create art and sculptures, writing and speech. One of the most helpful human skills is collective learning, where most information can be passed on to more people in such a way to make the potential knowledge of collective humanity nearly infinite. Emma - The development of written language had a huge impact on the development of human civilizations. Learning from the past, beyond what current generations could recall, began to change societies. For example, it allowed agriculture to develop because newer generations could learn what did and didn’t work in the past. Political records also influenced and changed developing political systems. Audrey - The Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal meaning from the beginning, would have controlled fires that would clear the forests to make the area more suitable for grassland. The grassland would provide an area for animals they could easily hunt and live off of. - Ethan - Innovation mainly began with stone tools that allowed humans to do simple tasks even easier. These tools that helped early humans hunt consisted mainly of spears and knives but very primitive. Like very poorly sharpened edges, but enough to get the job done. Farming tools would mainly consist of what today would be related to a hoe. Hunter- A type of farming used by the Aboriginal Australians was firestick farming, when they would conduct said farming they would start what are called ‘controlled burns’ they were not new to this and knew which seasons to do this in. Like in Spring or Autumn when there was a certain amount of moisture in the air to control the fires and this did more than just give the natives a better landscape but to also help prevent large scale fires and allow kangaroo to graze there for them to eat. That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us out of the box that is learning