Ancient Mesopotamia

While the earliest agricultural tools are known from beneath Jericho, approximately 7000 BC, further signs of civilization and tool making quickly cropped up across the Zagros mountain range.

The Halaf civilization (estimates vary but generally run either from 6100-5100 BC or 5100-4100 BC) is known from a number of different locations, primarily in Syria where pottery has been found. The different types of designs found in specific locations especially Tel Sabi Abyad) seem to indicate a significant trade, or possibly migration from the surrounding mountains. During the Halaf period, a variety of grains and herbs (including barley, emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, free threshing wheat,oats, hawthorne, crosswort flax, lentils, legumes, cornelian cherry, clover, sweet clover, fleawort, field peas, linseed, wild olive, pistachio, grape, fig and hawthorn were commonly found at the archaeological site at Ras Shamra in northwest Syria.

Halaf pottery has been found as far as the earliest cities in Sumer.

Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) was home to the world's first truly urban cultures -- societies featuring permanent cities whose populations were fed from the surrounding countryside, but themselves engaged in other activities besides agriculture, such as trade, specialist crafts and record-keeping. From 4000 to 3000 BC, the Sumerians established some of the first known cities in the then-moist land of Sumer (modern southern Iraq, called Ki-en-gir by the Sumerians). It is not currently known with certainty where the Sumerians came from, but immigration from elsewhere seems probable; their myths suggested a seafaring background. From an anthropological viewpoint Sumerians belonged to the Caucasian, Mediterranean, Balkan European race.

Historians speculate that the first Sumerian settlers may have been driven by overpopulation or conflict, as Sumeria was superficially inhospitable to stone-age man; it lacked the stones needed in Neolithic life to make most tools. However, the early Sumerians discovered that mud could be dried and used as a building material, and the soil was rich in clay to use to make farm tools. Once the Sumerians began to plant, they realized that Sumeria's rich mud yielded far greater quantities of food than they could consume. This surplus resulted in some of the first known exports in history.

Situated near the head of the Persian Gulf, Sumer was well-positioned for sea trade, as well as having land connections to neighbouring Anatolia and Elam (modern southern Iran), both of which harboured simpler cultures. The early Sumerians began to trade their surplus grain with their neighbours for the items that Sumeria did not have, such as livestock and stone. This influx of goods (and therefore merchants) gave rise to some of the first true cities. Sumerian cities spoke the same language and worshipped the same gods. However, they were not one, with whole cities being burnt to the ground in their inter-city warfare. A typical run-of-the-mill city-state consisted of the city proper and much of the country-side around it. Early Sumerian government was strictly theocratic, and governed everything from sacrifices to taxation to irrigation. Therefore, the central point of each city was its great platform/ziggurat in the centre. These ziggurats became the main form of the later Babylonian monument architecture in the same region.

Writing in its strictest sense was first invented and used by the Mesopotamians around 3100 BC. It evolved out of a Mesopotamian trade tradition. When two merchants made an agreement, they would make clay models of the items being traded and then would seal them in a clay ball. However, if one of the merchants wanted to double check the quantities agreed upon in the contract, the merchants would need to break open the clay ball, literally breaking the contract. Therefore, the merchants began to scratch little picture of the items onto the outside of the clay ball. Eventually someone realized that the ball and models were no longer necessary. Later the Sumerians created more symbols for use in writing down laws and eventually even stories. This form of writing was called cuneiform.

As many as a thousand clay tablets were found in the Uruk archaeological layer dating to the 30th century B.C. From Sumer, cuneiform script and civilization spread to all the peoples of Asia Minor (Assyrians, Hittites, Urartuans, etc). For instance, the ancient Asomtavruli alphabet of the modern Georgian language has ethno-cultural contacts with the Sumerian world. Georgian specialists study the similarity of Sumerian and Iberian-Caucasian languages. Sumerian remained the language of religion and science as the 2nd-1st millenium B.C. before its replacement by Semitic languages. But Sumerian did not confide the Semites with the Majuscule alphabet, the secret spiritual alphabet that has a lot of similarity to ancient Georgian Asomtavruli alphabet. More than 200 Sumerian and Svanian terms are identical both phonetically and semantically. Sumerians created new simplified 22 simple letter-signs alphabet. The Semitic alphabet created by Sumerian scientists for Accadians laid the foundation for various people's writing creation and spreading (Moabs, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Greeks, Latins, Arabs and others) Sumerian sacral alphabet of 35 letter signs that concealed the Sun and the Moon calendar.

After flourishing for the better part of a millennium, Mesopotamia apparently experienced a climate change, which led to drought, exhaustion of the heavily-used soil, agricultural failure, and the decline of the Sumerian city-states that had become dependent on reliable surplus food production. Neighbouring peoples and tribes launched military incursions against the weakened city-states, resulting in political power shifts and the rise of new states and cities further north. Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer wrote "in the last quarter of the 3rd millennium B.C. the Semites inhabiting the town of Akkad conquered Sumer and made the Sumerian scientists create an alphabet for them, which subsequently came to be called the Semitic" This event took place in 2125 B.C.

River Valley Civilizations

The first civilizations came about in river valleys which provided a constant source of water for crops. Irrigation works were often needed which required leadership perhaps leading to the creation of the first states. In addition rivers facilitated travel helping a common culture spread along its banks. The four river valley civilizations were the worlds first and each shared many common characteristics. The four river valley civilizations: China(along the Yellow River aka. Huáng Hé) Indus Valley(Along the Indus River) Mesopotamia (Along the Tigris and Euphrates river) Egypt(Along the Nile)

Each Civilization had:

• A form of writing
• Cities
• Agriculture and surplus of food
• A form of government(usually claiming divine right)
• A polytheistic or henotheistic religion
• Art and Architecture

Whereas historians argue on what exactly civilization is, writing, cities, agriculture, government, religion and art are usually on the list.

civilation begining

Neolithic means "new stone", even though agriculture was the crowning achievement of the period. Civilizations started out small. Agriculture at first tended to tie only small groups together. These groups also all settled along rivers, important as a reliable and predictable source of water. As time passed, families usually worked the same plot of land over successive generations, leading to the concept of ownership.

The earliest examples of settlements date to about 12000 BC to 9500 BC, and seem to predate agriculture. These settlements, termed Natufian, suggest cultivation of Rye. The first such excavation was at Tell Es-Sultan, just outside of Jericho.

Ancient mortars and grinding tools unearthed in a large mound in the Zagros Mountains of Iran reveal that people were grinding wheat and barley about 11,000 years ago. Grass pea, wild wheat, wild barley, and lentils were found throughout the site, including some of the earliest known samples. This was much further east than most sites known for early agriculture. These were found with stone figurines in levels where earthen buildings had been flattened and destroyed, as though civilization had kept building atop their own ruins, or re-purposing land, as needs changed.

Evidence in the middle east shows pottery styles moving throughout the Arabian peninsula, especially during the late Halaf-Ubaid period, where painted pottery and flint arrowheads have been discovered in great number. Pottery decorations are used to indicate trade and cultural contact, or widespread immigration during this period. The excavations on Dalma Island in the Arabian gulf shows the first date stones (pits from a fruit known to be from a widely cultivated palm in the middle east) known from a human settlement, approximately 5000 BC and may be the precursor to agriculture. Interestingly, at this same site, Bones were found from long-tail tuna, dolphin, dugong and turtle, gazelle, needle-fish, grouper, sea bream, emperor, and jack. Some of the groupers found would have been nearly a meter long, indicating considerable fishing skill.

 The spread of farming and early domestication of plants and animals was extensive, as the practices expanded from three specific regions (7000 BC) of the world to various other regions, spreading to five continents by the year 3000 BC. Agriculture first started in the Middle East around 10,000-9500 BC. By 7000 BC it had spread to the western part of the Indian subcontinent, and by 6000 BC, agriculture spread to Egypt. By 5000 BC, it had reached China, and around 2700 BC, corn was being farmed in Mesoamerica. The Middle East, covering the areas of modern day Turkey, Iraq, Palestine, and Israel, had domesticated cattle and pigs. They were also successful in the domestication and farming of several crops and plants like wheat, barley, rye, onions, peas, and grapes. The Mesoamericans had begun farming corn, beans, avocados, squash, pumpkins, and cotton. They had not domesticated any animals. In the Andes region (Peru), potatoes, tomatoes, lima beans, peanuts, and sweet potatoes were farmed. The Andeans had also domesticated the llama. The spread in the Middle East had the greatest expansion in terms of area. Sheep were domesticated in the greater Middle East; goats were originally domesticated in Central Europe, olives in the Mediterranean. Cotton was first farmed in the Indian sub-continent, and hemp, camels, and buckwheat were originally domesticated west of the Caspian Sea. Furthermore, in the Americas, the Mesoamericans expanded north and south, spreading farming and herding to Central and slightly further into North America. From there the practice extended to South America. The Andeans had minimum spread, expanding farming and herding to regions immediately around theirs. The farming and domestication of plants and animals, by 3000 BC, had been independently innovated in Southeast Asia, China, and North-central Africa. In Southeast Asia, rice, citrus, and chickens were originally farmed and domesticated. The farming of millet and soybean was practiced in China. Sorghum and coffee were farmed originally in North-central Africa. In a brief period of 4000 years, humans had farmed and domesticated over thirty plants and animals. The spread of farming and herding had reached over five continents, and ten regions of the world.

neolithic revolation

Early nomadic hunter-gatherers lived off that land and had a minimal effect on the environment around them. Around 10,000 years ago people started to settle down and developed agriculture possibly in response to a warming climate. The origin of agriculture is often referred to as the Neolithic Revolution. Keep in mind that different societies domesticated plants and animals, and consequently agriculture, independently i.e. Mesopotamia, Nile River Valley, Ancient China. These farmers had to overcome obstacles such as dry land with technologies like large scale irrigation. These large agricultural byproducts, irrigation, had a large impact on the environment. Pastoralism, the branch of agriculture concerned with raising livestock, developed in Afro-Eurasian grassland, negatively affecting the environment when pastures were overgrazed.

The switch to agriculture created a much more reliable and abundant food source which allowed populations to soar. This lead to diversification of labor which meant that food requirements could be on the backs of certain people and new classes like artisans or warriors could develop. These people developed technologies like pottery, metallurgy or plows.

early humans

This section will contain a brief history of early humans. This will not be elaborated on for two reasons- the first being much of this era pre-speech so everything that we know is learned from archeological remains. Additionally, this topic doesn't have a large role in the AP World History Exam.

All early ancestors of humans originated from Africa. Some species like the Australopithecus Afarensis went extinct there too. The migration of early humans towards other continents started with Homo Erectus about 2 million years ago. Homo Sapien, the modern human, migrated out about 100,000 years ago, spread across Asia about 60,000 years ago, with Australia and the Philippines following and last the Americas using the theorized Bering Strait land bridge.