Summary Of The Hominids

Chapter 1: Before History (to 2500 BCE)
Hominids adapted to only walking on two legs after spending more time on the ground. They started walking upright in East Africa 6 and 7 million years ago. Hominid means a primate of a family. They can adapt themselves to environments such as the use of tools, and language, which connects to their culture. The hominids can use their language to help them communicate to others for protection and defense. These are forms of identity, such as language and culture because they have certain attributes that show where they are apart of and connect to. An advantage of being bipedal is that they can carry their food, hold their children. The most important advantage is seeing further out and the distance of possible

On the farms they developed grains, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. Uruk was an agricultural village with a population of more than 50,000. Cities began to appear in 4000 BCE and usually had a female and male god. They would have a lot of family and even city-states had their own god. Every god had a role with the natural world, while every individual family had their own god too. Shared religion was called pantheon, this meant believing in all gods. The first wars were over water and religion. Over the next thousands of year the Kingdom of Sumer was the first major city because of writing. These cities came to dominate the surrounding countryside so they built defensive walls. Religious leaders encouraged the residents to build temples on tall platforms in the center of the town. Ziggurat of Ur was a monumental structure where their gods and priests lived. There were a lot of gods and goddesses that controlled the world, this was called polytheism. A chief priest during the time controlled an army that went to battle. When these fellow men died their sons would be next in line, this was called kingship. Free men and women would work on the king and nobles land and would receive crops and other goods in return for their labor. People could pay their taxes in forms of agricultural products or from the items they made. Uses for writing came handy for trading, telling time, astronomy, mathematics, higher culture, and the legal system. The code of Hammurabi was written laws. This law happened in 1792-1750 BCE. The state had more power than the individual. The concept of lex talionis was the law of retaliation. Women lost rights and become property and sold to ultimate