Two million years ago our ancestors lived on the African savannas. A small, frail species it is doubtful he hunted, having a stable diet of seeds and berries, and a little meat scavenged from the remains of food killed by larger carnivores. This lifestyle required cunning, and it was most likely this trait that led to our ascendancy.
His hands were becoming increasingly dexterous and, walking erect, he used stone, bone and wood to dig, cut and pulverise. Interestingly, no weapons have been found from this period – only tools, fashioned by chipping one stone with another, leading to the chipped hand-axe a million years ago as his migrations began.
HUNTER/GATHERER
In these harsh climates he would shelter in caves, yet sites at Terra Amata in France and Kostenki in Russia show temporary shelters made of Brushwood or mammoth bones. The Chou-k’ou-tien cave in northern China shows definite use of fire from about 500,000BC. Evidence of weapons for hunting appears about 200,000BC, yet by 35,000BC modern man in Europe was using engineered tools and weapons such as knives, spearheads and harpoons of bone, fishhooks and even musical instruments such as flutes. Spiritual life was also present, evidenced by cave art and rudimentary statuary.
Up to l0,000BC, when the last ice age ended, man was nomadic, following the herds for food. Females gathered and males scrounged and hunted. But as the Agricultural Revolution began, man slowly left his hunter/gatherer existence. As the glaciers retreated they left behind good farming stock and arable land. This was arguably helped by the hunting to extinction of the great herds, forcing them to change their habits.
BIRTH OF AGRICULTURE
By 8,000BC static village communities appear, enabled by the harnessing of wild plant species such as wheat, rice and maize to sustained, organised growth in fields. Combined with the domestication of cattle, sheep and pigs, the farmer came into being, producing wool, milk and meat, further advancing by adapting livestock to beasts of burden. Spiritual life seems to have become endemic to this process, deities representing natural elements such as wind, and taking on seasonal aspects. The movement of the sun-god told them when to plant and harvest, mingling with early science to build wood and then stone henges.
This gave power to priesthood through knowledge, and as transportation improved, villages grouped together forming large scale communities with a dual leadership of priest and chief.
URBANISATION
In the Fertile Crescent of the eastern Mediterranean additional problems had to be faced. Farming began in the foothills, but with few trees, stone building began. This required a greater engineering and administrative skill, with more advanced villages appearing about 7000BC, creating the first known towns.
Two of these were Jericho in the Jordan Valley and Catal Huyuk in Turkey. Jericho housed 2,000 people by 7000BC. It had a circular stone tower in its centre with a stone wall and ditch for defence.
Stone bowls and clay ovens were used, and several shrines have been found. Catal Huyuk was larger. With tighter packed houses, it had less defences and homes were entered through the roof. Jewellery, mirrors, frescos and woven materials have been found here in abundance, suggesting it was the centre of a long distance trading network.
THE BIRTH OF TRADE
The lifeblood of such towns was the closeness of running water – rivers – for agriculture. But the size of the supply limited growth. Hence, by 5000BC Catal Huyuk was abandoned, people moving down from the foothills to the plains, especially between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present Iraq. Known as Mesopotamia, seasonal floods led to great mythologies and immense engineering skills, combining irrigation for the fields with ways of diverting flood waters.
Although securing water for agriculture, these advanced communities lacked essential raw materials, so trading on a large scale began with smaller communities. This increased their wealth, and urbanisation began proper.
By 4000BC copper ore was mined in places like Timna in Israel, leading to metallurgy, producing ornaments, tools and weaponry of superior quality. This was the prime factor of advancement, soon entering the Bronze Age with the mixing of copper and tin, and, by 1500BC, the Iron Age.
COMPLEXITY
Trade and increasing social complexity required better forms of communication. Hence, by 3000BC writing was well established. Memory was no longer enough for recording trade or myth.
Scratches and knots were used as recording methods as early as 6000BC, but now hieroglyphics appeared. This led to cuneiform, a series of geometric shapes forming representative language on clay tablets, scribed by split reeds. Used by the Sumerians by 2500BC, structure was formed with an early alphabet. By 600BC the ancient Greeks had turned this into an alphabet we can understand today.
As these advances were on-going, the veil of pre-history was slowly being drawn back, and in its wake came an explosion of human experience. In the next post I will narrate this story – that of the Pre-Classical world, with its religions, politics, and inevitable war.
© Anthony North, May 2007
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