Foundational Civilizations 
Period One 8000 BCE to 600 BCE

Big Ideas:
  • Hunting & gathering societies were relatively egalitarian, small, mobile and spiritual.
  • Early humans spread out from Africa to the entire world and adapted to a variety of climates.
  • After the last Ice Age, humans settled around available sources of grains and water forming larger populations and societies.
  • Agriculture developed independently in many parts of the world.
  • Agricultural societies became more varied, complex and socially stratified.
  • Core and foundational civilizations developed around these centers of agriculture.
  • Because of the Agricultural Revolution, larger and expanding civilizations resulted in more complex, urban, organized, and unequal societal structures.

  • Power became increasingly consolidated in various forms of government.
  • Civilization developed unifying cultures based on language, literature, laws, myths, religion, and monumental art.

Essential

stuff_to_know_whap_period_one.pdf
File Size: 435 kb
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period_one_in_summary.pdf
File Size: 63 kb
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whap_per_1_big_ideas.pdf
File Size: 13 kb
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Links that help

Video segment: Early Societies meant big changes for ordinary people and elites.           (I recommend you watch this before the Unit One Test.)

Video segment: Human Migration - Out of Africa
Video segment: What tools do world historians use in the study of history?

Good to know

strayer_2_people_places_things.pdf
File Size: 211 kb
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strayer_3_people_places_things.pdf
File Size: 239 kb
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bighistorytimeline.pdf
File Size: 145 kb
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bighistorycompressedtimeline.pdf
File Size: 146 kb
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Indus Valley Stuff
Big History Stuff

History of the World in 7 Minutes is a nice overview video showing human patterns, and is a refresher on the physical history of the planet.