Text adapted by Esmeralda Ferti

1. SEDENTARISM vs NOMADISM
Text adapted by Esmeralda Ferti
People had been nomads for a long time; they lived together in small bands of 20 or 30
people together and wandered from place to place in search of food. They were hunter-
gatherers. Men went out to hunt animals like deer, aurochs, fish, etc. Women remained
near the campsite to care for children. Women and children
gathered plants and fruits for food; example: berries, nuts,
grains, roots, shellfish, etc. When they had gathered the
food around them, they moved on to another place. This is
how they survived, the secret was to cooperate and join
forces because there were many animals stronger than
human race. Of course, they needed to develop a spoken
language for a better team-work.
Perhaps it was a woman who first realized that seeds could
be planted and grown. The knowledge that grains and other

2. plants grew from seeds was a biiiiig progress for human race.
During the Neolithic era some people began settling in
permanent villages;for the firsttime they could remain in one
place throughout the year. They started practicing
DOMESTICATION of plants and animals like dogs, chicken,
cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, donkeys, horses, camels, etc.
Domestication means to raise them in a controlled way. We
know this as AGRICULTURE, thus, the time between 9.000
B.C. and 5.000 B.C. is classified as the start of Agricultural
Revolution.
People began to grow their own food and learned how to raise wheat, barley, rice, millet,
peas and lentils (trigo, cebada, arroz, mijo, arvejas & lentejas). They probably used sticks
to make holes/furrows in the earth and then planted the seeds there.
People used mills to ground the grains and then use the flour (harina). They could also
obtain eggs, chicken meat, red meat, milk, wool, and skins from the farm animals. Some
houses had ovens to cook food or bake bread.
As we mentioned before, this big change allowed people to build the first villages and the
first towns in history (example: Ḉatalhüyük, Jericho, etc). The work was divided by gender
and age.Men came to dominate family,economic and politicallife.We callthis a Patriarchal
society. Probably older men formed a Council of Elders (Concejo de ancianos) and made
decisions about when to plant and when to harvest.
Farmers needed to protect their crops and measure out
enough seed for the next year’s harvest. Women were in
charge of selecting the seeds of the biggest, best-tasting
plants. Men usedoxen or water buffalo to plow the fields.
They cared for the irrigation of fields, too; building the
canals was very important during the dry season.
Women were in charge of weaving (tejer) cloth from
animal hair or vegetable fibers, in order to make clothes
for summer and winter time.
People also needed to measure time accurately to know
when to plant and harvest. For example, the Indians of
North America measured time according to the snow season, while in Australia according
to the rain season. These measures were used to create the first calendars.

3. Possible classwork exercises
 What means to be a nomad?
 Why was it important for early humans to live in bands?
 How do you think the development of a spoken language influenced people’s
development of skills?
 What means domestication?
 How did metals influence in the creation of sedentary societies?
CIVILIZATION & BRONZE AGE
Text adapted by Esmeralda Ferti
The age of metals started by 6.600 B.C. in Europe
and Asia. Some people observed that melting a
certain rock at high temperatures separated the
metal from the stone. The first metal they
discovered was copper (cobre). Then they
discovered tin (aluminio). By accident and by mixing
these two soft metals they created BRONZE. This
new metal is much harder and durable than the other two. It was used to make tools,
weapons, helmets, shields, jewelry, etc. In this time was invented the axle, a rod on which
wheels turn and wooden wheels were built instead of stone wheels.
Beginnings of civilization
The first civilizations were all situated near river valleys
because it provided fresh water, fish, means of
transportation, etc. Animals went there to drink and this
was an opportunity to hunt them. But the most important
of all was that there was fertile soil for farming. The crops
needed fresh water and it was “easy” to build canals in a
network to form an irrigation system. There was more food
every time and towns grew into cities; the city is the main feature of a civilization.
Curious fact:
Some civilizations had a lunar calendar; it had 12 months, months lasted 29 ½ days, in
total a year had 354 days. Others had developed a solar calendar with 365 ¼ days
approximately.

4. One of the most difficult tasks for the sedentary people of a city
was to keep the rivers within their banks during the rainy season,
for this they had to work together in building dikes (represas) as a
flood-control system. With food surpluses, people did not have to
spend all their days producing food, so some people changed their
work. Early societies valued beautiful things. There were artisans
who made baskets, leather goods, tools, pottery, or cloth. There
were people specializedinconstruction of palaces,temples, public
building, houses, etc. Metalworking was a very important craft;
they made tools and weapons out of copper, bronze and later iron.
Others became merchants and traders, who would travel to selltheir goods and alsospread
culture from one place to another. Cities became more and more prosperous.
A CIVILIZATION is a complex and very organized social order that is able to produce extra
food, build cities, and divide work. The basic features of a civilization include:
Organized government. It was necessary to have rules in order to guide people’s behavior,
to plan, regulate and direct their work. A kind of primitive government was in charge of
organizing systems of defense (armies), and also collect taxes. The rulers were often priests
or warrior kings.
Complex religions. Most ancient people were polytheistic (people who believed in many
gods). People worshipped the sun god, river god, fertility god or goddess, etc. Most of gods
were believed to control the natural forces or human natural activities such as birth, death,
or war. There were ceremonies, dances, prayers, and hymns to gain the favor of the gods.
People wanted to assure divine help and they built temples, did sacrifices of crops, animals,
and even humans.
Job specialization. A nomad person would know how to
perform a variety of tasks but in the city life everybody
specialized in one task, example: artisan, soldier, trader,
singers, dancers, storytellers, and other specialists. This new
way of life made people more dependent on one another.
Social classes. People were ranked in classes according to
their jobs. A social class is a group of people having similar
backgrounds, incomes and ways of living. Kings, priests and
nobles would be on the top of society. Next, came a class of rich merchants. Then, came
the artisans. Finally, came the majority of people who were common workers, farmers and
peasants living in the surrounding villages. In some societies there existed slaves ; a person
could become a slave as a punishment for a crime, or because of debts, or because of being
a war prisoner. Most of slaves were women and children.

5. Arts & Architecture. Every city had developed its own style for the buildings. The arts
expressed the talents, beliefs and values of a specific civilization. Palaces and temples were
decorated with wall paintings, statues, and other pieces of design work.
Public works. Strong rulers ordered big public works like roads, irrigation systems, dikes,
bridges, defensivewalls,etc. Allof the public works were done to benefit the cityor increase
the reputation it had. These projects needed a lot of costs and human labor.
Writing. It appeared as a new form of communication because
trading and making rules made it necessary for a written
language to develop. It facilitated keeping and information and
passing it from one generation to another. Priests could keep
record of rituals and prayers. Rulers could write the amount of
grain collected, or information about the seasons.
This step stops Pre-history and gives start to HISTORY; where
events can be written. The material to write on could be rock,
stone, leather, wood, and finally, scrolls. The first symbols were just pictographs; later they
became ideographs, more complex symbols that represent words and/or sounds.
There is Cultural Diffusion between cities; exchange of ideas, customs, technology, etc. This
occurred through trade, migration, and warfare. People often shared and adopted the
customs of others. Sometimes the victorious armies forced their way of life upon the
defeated people, or adopted and incorporated their culture. Little by little,cities turned into
city-states, kingdoms. When many city-states or kingdoms were brought under one ruler,
an EMPIRE is created.
Classwork exercises
 What means irrigation?
 Why were the dikes important?
 What makes history different from pre-history?
 Why was it important to create a government?
 Describe aspects of the first cities and their civilization.
 Create your own pictograph or ideograph symbols to express statements like “I like
pizza. I like ice-cream. Etc”
Bibliography
World History,Volume 1, Ellis Esler,Discovery School.(pg17-23)
World Studies, The ancientworld, Teacher’s Edition,Prentice Hall (pg. 24-29)