The Earliest Beginnigs – Western Civilisation

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Book No. – 48 (History)

Book Name – Western Civilisation: Their History and Their Culture (Edward Mcnall)

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1. THE NATURE OF HISTORY

2. OUT OF AFRICA

3. FROM HOMO HABILIS TO HOMO SAPIENS

4. EARLY HUMAN ART AND EARLY HUMAN SURVIVAL

5. THE ORIGINS OF FOOD PRODUCTION

6. THE EMERGENCE OF VILLAGES, TRADE, AND WARFARE

7. THE BIRTH OF WESTERN CIVILIZATIONS

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The Earliest Beginnigs

Western Civilisation

Chapter – 1

Harshit Sharma

Alumnus (BHU)

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THE NATURE OF HISTORY

Humans are unique due to their upright posture, which is uncommon for mammals.
Human brains are notably large, enabling high degrees of manipulative skill.
Forelimbs are freed from locomotion, allowing for dexterity, particularly in the hands, which, together with the brain’s power, allow for technology.
Unlike other animals, humans can choose their actions, demonstrated by their capacity to manipulate the world in arbitrary ways.
Termites build complex mounds, but humans can choose to build something like a cathedral, showcasing their ability to decide their creations.
History used to be seen primarily as a record of politics (battles, treaties, rulers’ actions), focusing on statesmen and rulers.
Historians now recognize history as a broader field, including social, economic, and intellectual activities, not just political events.
Women, the poor, and the ruled are now seen as part of history, not just the rulers.
Social and economic institutions, like family, social class, capitalism, and industrialism, are integral to historical study.
Ideas and attitudes, even those of people who weren’t intellectuals, are now included in historical inquiry.
Historians now focus on the causes and patterns behind historical events and the motivations of people.
Historians use new methods and tools to study the past, like computer science, economics, demography, archaeology, social psychology, and cultural anthropology.
Statistics and computer methods are used to analyze historical data, while archaeology examines physical remains like pots and fossils.
Understanding historical motives is difficult, as humans often don’t fully understand their own actions.
Collective developments (wars, economic growth, artistic changes) are complex and cannot be easily explained or reduced to a science.
Evidence is crucial for historical analysis, though much of history is lost or only partially known, leaving questions that may never be fully answered.
The difficulty in gathering and interpreting evidence presents intellectual challenges for historians.
Nostalgia for the past can distort history, and focusing only on the present is also problematic, assuming current times are always better.
Historians strive to understand how people in the past solved their problems within their environments and development stages.
Some historians look for patterns and mechanisms of change to better understand the present and plot strategies for the future, without assuming a march of progress.

OUT OF AFRICA

Paleoanthropology (human paleontology) has been revolutionized by fossil discoveries in East Africa.
Initially, human origins were believed to be in Southeast Asia, but now it’s known to be in Africa.
The earliest humanlike creatures were thought to have originated around one million years ago, but now the figure is two million years.
A key family in these discoveries were the Leakeys (Louis, Mary, and their sons).
Louis Leakey (1903-1972) began his search for fossils in East Africa, once considered a foolhardy pursuit.
In 1931, Louis Leakey discovered primitive handaxes in Tanzania, proving early human presence about one million years ago.
After a period of little progress, Mary Leakey made a breakthrough in 1959, discovering a nearly complete skull of a creature living 1.8 million years ago, dubbed “Nutcracker Man”.
Nutcracker Man was not a human but an advanced species of ape that walked erect.
In 1961, their son, Jonathan Leakey, discovered a different species with a much larger brain than Nutcracker Man, naming it Homo habilis (“man having ability”).
East Africa became the prime site for human origins, leading to further significant discoveries:
- In 1972, Richard Leakey (second son) found more complete fossils of Homo habilis in Kenya, 200,000 years older than previous finds.
- In 1974, Donald Johanson discovered Lucy, a 3.25 million-year-old skeleton in Ethiopia, later named for the Beatles song.
- In 1975, Johanson’s team discovered bones of 13 of Lucy’s contemporaries.
- In 1976, Mary Leakey found footprints of an upright ape from 3.75 million years ago in Tanzania.
- In 1984, Richard Leakey’s team found a nearly complete 1.6 million-year-old human ancestor in Kenya.
Fossil discoveries continue, but interpreting these remains remains a challenge.
Controversies and uncertainties still surround human origins, and theories are constantly evolving.
Two key propositions are now undisputed:
- The first evolutionary split between humans and apes was about bipedality (upright walking), not brain size.
- Lucy and similar creatures had small brains, yet walked upright, showing bipedality came first.
Upright walking may have provided advantages like food grabbing, running, and eating in hiding, rather than freeing hands for toolmaking initially.
Bipedality likely also helped early humans regulate body heat.
Evolution doesn’t always plan ahead: toolmaking came after bipedality and large brains.
The second evolutionary split relates to brain size.
Homo habilis had a brain 50% larger than earlier apes like Nutcracker Man, enabling tool use.
Tools used by Homo habilis were crude—stones, bones, and tree limbs—helping to increase food supply and marking the first steps toward civilization.
Using tools required more group cooperation, a precursor to more complex human societies.

FROM HOMO HABILIS TO HOMO SAPIENS

Homo habilis merged into its successor, Homo erectus, around 1.6 million years ago.
Homo erectus survived from 1.6 million years ago to about 300,000 years ago, first species to migrate out of Africaand start peopling the earth.
Homo erectus engaged in collective hunting and learned how to use fire, surviving in diverse environments for over five times as long as Homo sapiens.
Physical differences between Homo erectus and Homo habilis:
- Homo erectus was about as tall as modern humans, while Homo habilis was more pygmy-sized.
- Richard Leakey’s team discovered a Homo erectus boy who was 5.5 feet tall at age twelve, likely to grow over six feet.
- Homo erectus had a cranial capacity 40% larger than Homo habilis, with brain shape evolving closer to modern humans.
Homo erectus intelligence enabled migration to Europe and Far Eastern Asia and adaptation to diverse climates.
Use of language was a major Homo erectus development, as their larynx reconstruction in 1982 shows they could make sounds similar to modern humans.
Toolmaking by Homo erectus followed complex rules, likely communicated through spoken language.
Homo erectus engaged in big-game hunting with cooperation between males and females in food gathering and processing.
By 400,000 years ago, Homo erectus learned how to control fire for warmth, protection, and cooking.
Homo erectus gradually evolved into Homo sapiens around 300,000 years ago, with gradual anatomical changes.
Transitional stages of Homo sapiens included archaic Homo sapiens (300,000 to 125,000 years ago) and Neanderthals (125,000 to 40,000 years ago).
Neanderthals were genetically similar to modern humans and likely could blend into contemporary societies.
Neanderthals were skilled toolmakers and hunters, using 60 specialized tools like knives, scrapers, borers, and spearheads.
Neanderthals built shelters from tree branches, bones, or used caves and equipped them with stone hearths.
Some Neanderthal bands hunted only one species (e.g., bear or deer), possibly for ritualistic reasons or to honor spirits.
Some Neanderthals buried their dead with reverence, providing food and goods for the afterlife.
The evolution from Neanderthals to modern humans is still uncertain, but by 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, Neanderthals disappeared.
Modern humans populated the Eastern Hemisphere by 40,000 years ago, with migration into the Western Hemisphere through a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska.
Australia was colonized before 30,000 years ago, completing global human habitation.

EARLY HUMAN ART AND EARLY HUMAN SURVIVAL

Modern humans created stunning cave murals in southern France and northern Spain between 30,000 and 12,000 years ago.
Over 200 caves have been discovered with famous murals, such as Lascaux (France) and Altamira (Spain).
Cave art focused on movement, depicting animals like bison, bulls, horses, ponies, and stags.
Artists used techniques to suggest motion, drawing additional outlines to show the movement of legs or heads.
Artists achieved three-dimensional effects by utilizing the natural surface bumps and indentations of cave walls.
The murals remain as evocative as art museum paintings today.
Purpose of cave paintings remains uncertain:
- Aesthetic delight is unlikely as early humans lived mostly outdoors and often inhabited cave entrances, not the areas with murals.
- Superimposed paintings suggest indifference after completion.
Theoretical explanations:
- Symbolic representations of social relationships: animals like bison and horses could represent feminine and masculine elements, or social hierarchies.
- Sympathetic magic is considered the most convincing theory: cave paintings, such as bison with arrows, were meant to ensure successful hunts.
- Some paintings depicting killing scenes (only 10% of known murals) could have been meant to ensure that hunters would find game in abundance.
Ritualistic practices were likely tied to the act of painting, with evidence of incantations and rites in areas where murals were found.
Cave painters may not have been hunters, but their society exhibited specialization and differentiation of labor.
- Cave paintings required specialists with knowledge of charcoal, ochres, earthen pigments, and fat-based mixtures for painting.
- Brushes were made from feathers or bracken.
Toolmaking specialists also existed, crafting tools from stone, bone, antlers, and ivory, including fishhooks, harpoons, bows and arrows, and needles.
Hunting techniques of the period included darts, arrows, harpoons, and fishhooks.
Hunters learned to trap herds and stampede game animals by observing their movements.
Migration patterns were linked to game herds, and evidence suggests that early humans followed preservation rules, not killing everything they could.
Masses of charred bones at archaeological sites show that large quantities of game were killed and roasted in community feasts, demonstrating that humans knew how to paint, hunt, and share.

THE ORIGINS OF FOOD PRODUCTION

Around 12,000 years ago (10,000 B.C.), hunting feasts became rare or ceased because game herds were disappearing.
The era between 35,000 and 12,000 years ago was the Ice Age, with temperatures averaging 60°F (16°C) in summer and 30°F (-1°C) in winter.
Cold-loving species like reindeer, elk, wild boar, European bison, and mountain goats roamed hills and valleys.
As glaciers retreated, these species migrated north, leaving humans with a different world.
Within 3,000-4,000 years after the Ice Age, western Asia saw a significant revolution: transition from food-gathering to food-producing.
For 2 million years, humans relied on foraging and hunting, meaning they could not settle for long in one area.
Gradually, humans began domesticating animals and raising crops, leading to settlement, villages, and the rise of civilization.
The transition to food production occurred over 3,000 to 4,000 years (c. 10,000 – 7,000/6,000 B.C.), a slow, gradual change.
Early food production was not immediately desirable, as hunting and gathering provided a healthier and easier lifestyle.
Despite this, the transition had internal logic, and humans gradually adopted it without fully understanding the process.
Around 10,000 B.C., many large game herds had left western Asia, but coastal areas still had abundant resources like fish, shellfish, and waterfowl.
In areas like Mount Carmel and Jericho (modern-day Israel), people lived in permanent settlements and thrived on abundant wildlife and vegetation.
Nomadic hunting peoples had low birthrates due to the difficulty of carrying infants over long distances.
With sedentary lifestyles, reproductive rates increased, and by 9000 B.C., populations in coastal areas were too large for local resources.
Excess populations migrated inland, where resources were scarcer, and they returned to nomadic hunting-gathering.
Between 9000 and 8000 B.C., some people in Iran began domesticating sheep and goats as insurance against food shortages.
Domesticating animals allowed people to travel more easily and introduced the idea of manipulating their environment.
Wild wheat and wild barley were present in inland western Asia, and people began harvesting and storing these crops.
Flint sickles, mortars, and storage pits were used for harvesting and preserving grain.
Though still nomadic, people gradually relied more on stored grain, leading to the development of early agriculture.
Planting grain became a focus as people noticed that it grew better with weed removal, soil scratching, and seed planting.
Over time, people transitioned from nomadic to sedentary agricultural lifestyles.
Sedentary agriculture developed in far eastern Anatolia, Syria, Iraq, and Iran around 7500-7000 B.C..
By 6000 B.C., agriculture became the dominant mode of survival in western Asia, supplemented by livestock-raising(cattle, pigs, sheep, goats).
Hunting and gathering continued alongside agriculture in some areas.
Agriculture spread from western Asia to southeastern Europe by 5000 B.C. and across the European continent by 3500 B.C..
By 3500 B.C., agriculture reached the limits of Scandinavia.
The widespread cultivation of grain became central to European and North American history.

THE EMERGENCE OF VILLAGES, TRADE, AND WARFARE

After the shift from food-gathering to food production, key developments in western Asia included the rise of villages, long-distance trade, and warfare.
Villages were the most advanced form of human organization from 6500 to 3500/3000 B.C., with some eventually evolving into cities.
The development of villages led to the rise of long-distance trade and the growth of war.
Warfare, while a challenge, played a role in the economic and social complexity that ultimately contributed to the emergence of civilization.
The progression from wandering bands to villages and eventually cities involved a shift from gathering food to raising food and performing other specialized functions.
Village size varied significantly: typically around 1,000 inhabitants, but early villages could be as small as 200 people or as large as 5,000.
A village is defined by its sedentary population and the fact that most able-bodied inhabitants engaged in fieldwork.
Over time, handicrafts became more prominent as village farmers sought greater efficiencies and comforts.
Specialization in handicrafts emerged as some crafts became more complex, leading to the rise of full-time artisans.
Full-time artisans remained rare, comprising no more than 1% of the adult population by the end of the village period.
The most important village handicrafts included pottery, weaving, and tool- and weapon-making.
The need for storage due to sedentary living led to the creation of clay pots for storing grain and water.
Pottery was previously impractical during nomadic life but became essential for storing food and water in settled villages, resembling the modern concept of indoor plumbing.
Weaving emerged as a craft likely for creating receptacles (e.g., basket-weaving) before advancing to cloth-weaving.
Basket-weaving using twigs was more suitable for storage and carrying harvests due to its lightness compared to clay pots.
The principle of weaving extended to cloth-making once domesticated sheep provided wool.
Woolen fabrics offered a more reliable source of clothing than animal skins.
The weaving of plant-based cloth (such as linen) began later with the domestication of flax in Egypt around 3000 B.C..
The fashioning of tools and weapons was not new in the age of villages, but villagers learned to make tools and weapons from new materials.
The need for sharper and more durable tools increased with the growth of agriculture.
Early villagers sought the sharpest sickles and the most durable plows, and weapons became increasingly used for warrather than hunting.
Villagers recognized that certain rocks could produce sharper cutting edges, and some were malleable enough to be shaped into pointed tips and resharpened.
These malleable “rocks” were actually copper found in nature, used between 6500 and 4500 B.C. for making small tools like pins.
The discovery of smelting (possibly by accident when copper ore was dropped into a kiln) allowed the extraction of copper from ore stones, marking the beginning of a new era in tool and weapon making.
Trade became central for acquiring sharp rocks and copper, as these materials were not found everywhere in western Asia.
Hunter-gatherers did not engage in long-distance trade due to a lack of surplus production, unlike villagers who could store excess goods for trade or as a hedge against famine.
The earliest forms of trade likely involved short-distance gift-offering or exchange between kin groups in different villages.
Over time, as goods accumulated, wealthier parties sent emissaries for long-distance trade, acquiring valuable goods like sharp cutting stones from distant locations.
By 6500 B.C., trade had extended over long distances, with villages in Iran and Iraq acquiring obsidian from Armenia (400–500 miles away) and copper from central Anatolia (about 1,000 miles away).
Trade expanded to include rocks, metals, foodstuffs, fabrics, hides, and trinkets, and by the end of the age of villages, goods were transported by boats as well as overland.
Warfare emerged as a significant force, serving as a means of acquiring goods through pillaging.
It is believed that before sedentary agriculture, humans were generally peaceful, and evidence of warfare appears alongside settled village life.
Many of the earliest villages in western Asia were fortified, suggesting that settled life led to the rise of warfare.
Settled life made villages targets for raids, with villagers standing and fighting to protect their belongings and fieldsthat required great effort to cultivate.
Warfare likely began during the transition from wandering bands to settled life, with some groups becoming pillagers.
As villages became more numerous, conflicts arose between settlements over property and wealth.
Ironically, warfare spurred technological and trade advances, especially in weaponry (e.g., daggers, battle-axes, spears, slings, and maces).
An arms race among villages likely drove the advancement of metallurgy, as copper and bronze weapons were superior to stone or bone.
The search for metals to make weapons stimulated the production of surpluses in villages, which were necessary for acquiring metals through trade.
Copper and bronze improved weaponry, while the drive for better weapons also fueled economic growth, despite the destructive consequences of warfare.

THE BIRTH OF WESTERN CIVILIZATIONS

The emergence of cities in western Asia occurred between 3500 and 3200 B.C., with villages gradually transforming into cities over 500 years.
Unlike villages, cities housed people from a variety of occupations: farmers, artisans, and merchants.
The predominant personalities in cities were full-time warriors, administrators, and priests.
Cities existed to exploit villages, as the rulers depended on the surplus production from villagers to maintain their roles.
Early city dwellers justified their roles as protectors, managers, and spiritual leaders, but their existence was reliant on the agricultural labor of others.
The earliest cities arose in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, driven by population pressure and increasing agricultural productivity.
By 4000 B.C., the population in regions like western Iran increased rapidly, leading to migration into the fertile Mesopotamian valley, which required irrigation.
Irrigation in Mesopotamia involved complex systems of canals and channels from the two rivers, requiring intense coordinated labor and planning.
The construction and maintenance of irrigation systems led to the division of society into rulers and ruled, with planners, overseers, and governors overseeing the labor force.
The need for irrigation systems in Mesopotamia (between 4000 and 3200 B.C.) was accompanied by the rise of militarism.
Military power, driven by brute force, led to the emergence of rulers, with those skilled in warfare becoming dominant.
Wealth from military conquest enabled rulers to acquire metal weapons, despite Mesopotamia’s lack of natural metal sources, indicating the increasing dominance of warrior-rulers.
The combination of warrior-rulers, administrators, and priests in Mesopotamian cities contributed to the formation of early urban centers.
A priesthood emerged in Mesopotamia, uniting religious practices with governance and economic demands, supported by agricultural labor.
Religion played a key role in maintaining social cohesion as villages became more complex, with priests helping to unite people under a common cause.
As trade and inequality increased in villages, the need for social cohesion became more pronounced, particularly in the context of irrigation work.
By around 5000 B.C., the social complexity of agricultural societies required priests to oversee religious practices and rituals.
The emergence of cities marked the beginning of civilization, defined as a stage when governmental, social, and economic institutions developed to manage complex societal problems.
By 3200 B.C., Mesopotamia was “civilized,” with at least five cities, including warrior-rulers, administrators, and priests, as well as monumental temples, private residences, communal workshops, public storage, and large marketplaces.
Record-keeping and the development of writing were beginning to emerge, marking the start of the historical narrative in western civilizations.