Review Class Day 1
Social Studies is a combination of
eight specialized disciplines
•
Archaeology
•
Anthropology
•
Geography
•
Sociology
•
Psychology
•
Political science
•
Economics
Social Studies
• Archaeology = the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of
artifacts and other physical remains
• Anthropology = the study of man, especially of the variety, physical & cultural characteristics, distribution,
customs, social relationships, etc. of mankind: often restricted to the study of the institutions, myths, etc. of non-literate peoples
• Geography = (1) the science of dealing with the earth’s surface features and the climate, vegetation,
population, etc. of it’s countries, and other divisions (2) the topographical features of a region
• Sociology = the science of human society & of social relations, organization & change. Specifically, the study of
beliefs, values, etc. of societal groups & of the processes governing social phenomena
• Psychology = the science of dealing with the mind and with mental and emotional processes; science of
human and animal behavior
• Political science = the science of political institutions or of the principles, organization and methods of
government
• Economics = the science of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods & services
• History = (1) the study of past events, particularly in human affairs, (2) the whole series of past events
Primary
Sources
• “texts nearest to any subject of investigation”
• A document, speech, or other sort of evidence written, created, or otherwise produced during the time period under study. It is the original work of a person who lived during the time period—it tells you a person’s ideas in his or her own words, and offers an inside view of a particular event
• Examples:
• Written: autobiography, diary, official records (birth certificate), poetry, raw data, grocery list • Visual: photographs, artwork, news film footage, doodles
• Audio: music, speeches, interview, voice mail
• Artifacts: pottery, clothing, jewelry, furniture, trophies, concert tickets, menus
• Historians (you) can interpret & draw their own conclusions
Secondary Sources
• Provides interpretation or analysis of primary sources. It was NOT written
during the time period under study. It includes the author’s opinion about what really happened, based on their analysis and interpretation of primary historical evidence.
• Includes bias (think about what information is included as well as excluded,
remember that historians want their opinion to be as strong as possible).
• Examples:
• Encyclopedias, documentaries, literary criticism, a book, magazine or news article about a historical event (about WW2 written in 2002), political commentary
The First Humans
• The Paleolithic (= Old Stone) Age
• 2 million years ago, started in the Great Rift Valley = East Africa
• Hunters & gatherers
• Nomadic = person who moves place to place in search of food
• Traveled & lived in groups of 2-3 dozen people
• Knew how to make fire, as well as tools such as spears & digging sticks out of stone, bone & wood
• Made clothing out of animal skins
• Had a spoken language, but nothing written
• Were spiritual (buried dead with tools) • These humans migrated to Europe & Asia
• This time period was ended by climate change
Time line of planet earth,
The
Neolithic
Revolution
•
10,000 BC
, caused by climate change (warmer)
•
Was the first Agricultural Revolution
•
Humans discovered how to plant seeds to grow food &
domesticate
animals
• Happened at the same time in many parts of the world
Effects of the Neolithic Revolution
•
Humans
no longer needed to wander looking for food, so they
were
able to create permanent settlements
. As a result, they
• Created new social classes
• Created new technology such as calendars, plows, the wheel, weapons &
metal tools
•
This time period lasted from about
8000-3000 BCE
and is also known
Traditional Economy
Traditional Economy
• Based on agriculture
• The majority of people are farmers (85% or
more)
• Subsistence Agriculture
• Growing just enough to survive with a small surplus for trading
• Some limited crafts
• Pottery
• Metalworking • Cloth
• Limited barter, or trade • Neolithic Civilizations
Characteristics of Civilization
• Advanced cities
• A food surplus allowed the population to increase • Complex institutions
• The government oversaw food production & distribution as well as protection & public works/infrastructure = roads, bridges, defensive walls
• Organized religion: polytheistic = many gods (crop production & protection) • Specialized workers
• Division of labor = certain people perform specific tasks to improve lives of everyone as a whole
• Led to a creation of a social hierarchy: pyramid shaped: priests/nobles, warriors/merchants, peasants/farmers, slaves • Record keeping
• Used for business transactions at first but then to record events, ect.
• Had a traditional economy = based on barter/trade
• Primarily farming but also craftsmen who made pottery, clothing, ect. • Advanced technology
• Art/architecture: temples & palaces that symbolized the ruler’s power
Examples of Early Civilizations &
their Achievements
• Nile River-Egypt
• Pharaoh
• Pyramids
• Hieroglyphics = writing system
• Irrigation
• Tigris & Euphrates-Mesopotamia/ “Fertile Crescent” / “Cradle of Civilization”
• Sumerians: ziggurat = pyramid like structure in center of city, irrigation, cuneiform = writing system
• Phoenicians: ship builders/traders, phonetic alphabet (basis of ours)
• Babylonians: Code of Hammurabi = set of laws, first major collection of laws in history
• Ur
• Indus River Valley: cities of Mohenjo-Daro & Harappa were well planned: grid-like roads, indoor plumbing
Judaism-about 1000 BC
•
Monotheistic
religion
• Belief in only one (1) God
• God is thought to be all-powerful, all-knowing
•
Given
10 Commandments
by God
• 10 Commandments are a system of laws that describe how people
Hebrew Civilization and Judaism
Major Features of Judaism
• God = Yahweh, monotheistic religion, God is everywhere and all-powerful
• God chose the Hebrews as His Chosen People
• Holy book = Torah (also included as the Old Testament of the Christian Bible)
• Places of Worship = Synagogue or Temple
• Religious leader = Rabbi
• Holy Day = Friday (Temple) and Saturday (Sabbath)
• Important People = Abraham, Moses, and
The Prophets: Teachers of moral standards and justice
• Holidays = Yom Kippur; Hanukkah; Rosh Hashanah, Passover
Quiz
1. Which type of economic system relies primarily on hunting, gathering, herding, and farming to maintain self-sufficiency?
(1) traditional (3) capitalism (2) command (4) mixed
2. • Keeping field notes from excavation sites • Analyzing radiocarbon dating test results • Examining and cataloging artifacts
Which type of social scientist directly engages in these activities? (2) Political scientist (2) sociologist
3. Historians follow rules to help them analyze primary sources. Some of the rules they use are:
• Every piece of evidence and every source must be read or viewed skeptically and critically.
• Each piece of evidence and source must be cross-checked and compared with related sources and pieces of evidence.
—Library of Congress
These rules are designed to help historians determine the
4. Discovery of streets arranged in a grid-like pattern and a system of pipes for moving water in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro suggest that these ancient river valley cities in South Asia had
(1) organized governments
(2) subsistence-based economies (3) polytheistic beliefs
(4) rigid social classes
5. Historically, the Huang He has also been known as the “River of Sorrows” because (5) frozen ports have made trade difficult
(6) cataracts have made transportation impossible (7) floods have destroyed crops and villages
6. One way in which the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, and Mayas are similar is that these civilizations developed
(1) irrigation systems (2) iron weapons
(3) wheeled vehicles (4) block printing systems
7. Long before the rule of pharaohs, Egyptians grew wheat and barley and raised pigs, goats, sheep and cattle. Spotty evidence had suggested that agriculture was practiced there more than 7,000 years ago, two
millenniums earlier than the first royal dynasties.…
— John Noble Wilford, New York Times, February 12, 2008 Which period in history is referred to in this excerpt?
