AP World History: Free Response Question: Technological and Environmental Transformations to c. 600 BCE

1. Archeological evidence indicates that during the Paleolithic era,  hunting-foraging bands of humans gradually migrated from their  origin in East Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas, adapting  their technology and cultures to new climate regions. A. Humans used fire in new ways: to aid hunting and foraging, to protect  against predators, and to adapt to cold environments.B. Humans developed a wider range of tools specially adapted to  different environments from tropics to tundra.B. Humans developed a wider range of tools specially adapted to  different environments from tropics to tundra.

The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural SocietiesIn response to warming climates at the end of the last Ice Age, from  about 10,000 years ago, some groups adapted to the environment in  new ways, while others remained hunter-foragers. Settled agriculture  appeared in several different parts of the world. The switch to agriculture  created a more reliable, but not necessarily more diversified, food supply.  Agriculturalists also had a massive impact on the environment through  intensive cultivation of selected plants to the exclusion of others, through  the construction of irrigation systems, and through the use of domesticated  animals for food and for labor. Populations increased; family groups gave  way to village life and, later, to urban life with all its complexity. Patriarchyand forced labor systems developed, giving elite men concentrated power  over most of the other people in their societies. Pastoralism emerged in  parts of Africa and Eurasia. Pastoral peoples domesticated animals and  led their herds around grazing ranges. Like agriculturalists, pastoralists  tended to be more socially stratified than hunter-foragers. Because  pastoralists were mobile, they rarely accumulated large amounts of material  possessions, which would have been a hindrance when they changed  grazing areas. The pastoralists’ mobility allowed them to become an  important conduit for technological change as they interacted with settled  populations. I. Beginning about 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution led  to the development of new and more complex economic and social  systems.  A. Possibly as a response to climatic change, permanent agricultural  villages emerged first in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean.  Agriculture emerged at different times in Mesopotamia, the Nile River  Valley and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indus River Valley, the Yellow River or  Huang He Valley, Papua New Guinea, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. B. Pastoralism developed at various sites in the grasslands of Afro-Eurasia.C. Different crops or animals were domesticated in the various core regions, depending on available local flora and fauna.D. Agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clear land and create the water control systems needed for crop production.E. These agricultural practices drastically impacted environmental diversity. Pastoralists also affected the environment by grazing large numbers or animals on fragile grasslands, leading to erosion when overgrazed. II. Agriculture and pastoralism began to transform human societies. A. Pastoralism and agriculture led to more reliable and abundant food  supplies, which increased the population.       B. Surpluses of food and other goods led to specialization of labor,  including new classes of artisans and warriors, and the development of  elites.      C. Technological innovations led to improvements in agricultural  production, trade, and transportationRequired examples of improvements in agricultural production, trade,  and transportation: • Pottery • Plows • Woven textiles • Metallurgy • Wheels and wheeled vehicles D. In both pastoralist and agrarian societies, elite groups accumulated  wealth, creating more hierarchical social structures and promoting  patriarchal forms of social organization.

Big Geography and the Peopling of The WorldThe term Big Geography draws attention to the global nature of world history. Throughout the Paleolithic period, humans migrated from Africa  to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas. Early humans were mobile and creative in adapting to different geographical settings from savanna to  desert to Ice Age tundra. By making an analogy with modern hunter-forager societies, anthropologists infer that these bands were relatively egalitarian. Humans also developed varied and sophisticated technologies.

The Development and Interactions of  Early Agricultural, Pastoral, and Urban Societies From about 5,000 years ago, urban societies developed, laying the  foundations for the first civilizations. The term civilization is normally used  to designate large societies with cities and powerful states. While there  were many differences between civilizations, they also shared important  features. They all produced agricultural surpluses that permitted significant  specialization of labor. All civilizations contained cities and generated  complex institutions, such as political bureaucracies, armies, and religious  hierarchies. They also featured clearly stratified social hierarchies and  organized long-distance trading relationships. Economic exchanges  intensified within and between civilizations, as well as with nomadic  pastoralists. As populations grew, competition for surplus resources, especially food,  led to greater social stratification, specialization of labor, increased trade,  more complex systems of government and religion, and the development  of record keeping. As civilizations expanded, they had to balance their  need for more resources with environmental constraints such as the  danger of undermining soil fertility. Finally, the accumulation of wealth in   settled communities spurred warfare between communities and/or with  pastoralists; this violence drove the development of new technologies of  war and urban defense I. Core and foundational civilizations developed in a variety of  geographical and environmental settings where agriculture flourished. Students should be able to identify the location of all of the following  required examples of core and foundational civilizations: • Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys • Egypt in the Nile River Valley • Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus River Valley • Shang in the Yellow River or Huang He Valley • Olmecs in Mesoamerica• Chavín in Andean South AmericaII. The first states emerged within core civilizations. A. States were powerful new systems of rule that mobilized surplus labor  and resources over large areas. Early states were often led by a ruler whose  source of power was believed to be divine or had divine support and/or  who was supported by the military. B. As states grew and competed for land and resources, the more  favorably situated — including the Hittites, who had access to iron — had  greater access to resources, produced more surplus food, and experienced  growing populations. These states were able to undertake territorial  expansion and conquer surrounding states. C. Early regions of state expansion or empire building were  Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and the Nile Valley.D. Pastoralists were often the developers and disseminators of new  weapons and modes of transportation that transformed warfare in agrarian  civilizations.III. Culture played a significant role in unifying states through laws,  language, literature, religion, myths, and monumental art. A. Early civilizations developed monumental architecture and urban  planning. B. Elites, both political and religious, promoted arts and artisanshipC. Systems of record keeping arose independently in all early civilizations  and subsequently were diffused.

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