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Starting in the Neolithic time period, humans transitioned from getting food through hunter gatherer groups to creating agriculture. This was a huge advancement. This meant that they could create settlements and create more stable food sources, which sustains a larger population. Because agriculture creates food in excess for less time it takes to hunt and gather, they also had more free time. This change allowed for job specialization, which allowed new developments in technologies and science. -
Because of the free time and job specializations agriculture provided, people in the Neolithic period went from using Stone tools in the Paleolithic period to using polished stone tools. This development improved their everyday life. With ovens and cutlery, they could better cook their food. With stone foundations, they could create buildings and settle down. With rings, they could create more art. The New Stone Age created more advanced tools that made changes like the Bronze Age possible.
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I believe that the change in early hunter gatherer societies was very slow. In the Paleolithic Age, they only used unpolished stone tools and worked in groups that hunted and gathered in order to find food. The Paleolithic Age started 2.5 million years ago. This period only ended 10,000 years ago, when the Neolithic Age began. Because the period started 2.5 million years ago but only reached a turning point 10,000 years ago, I would describe this change as very slow.
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To give perspective, the Paleolithic period witnessed the start and end of an ice age before the Neolithic period began, which is a very slow change itself. The changes brought from the Neolithic period didn’t appear overnight, they appeared very gradually.
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In addition, one of the most important changes was job specialization. This change also wasn’t caused by a single event. It was slowly caused when people had established agriculture and had more free time to create improved technologies. They realized that they could domesticate animals and plants. This is something that takes a lot of trial and error, and is a slow change that wasn’t triggered by one rapid event.
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Paleolithic society, Old Stone Age, took place from 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. Neolithic society, the New Stone Age took place from 10,000 to 11,000 years ago.
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Hammurabi’s Code was made through the perspectives of the people on the highest hierarchies. For example, if you destroy the eye of someone on a caste equal to you, you also lose your eye, but if you damage a slave, you pay the owner half their price. The Code was not made to protect the slave, but rather their owner, by reimbursing the owner half their price. This example shows that the highest hierarchies have the loudest voice and say in the Code. -
Hammurabi’s Code was an extensive list of rules made by King Hammurabi, and is one of the earliest set of laws found in Babylon. Although Hammurabi’s Code continued long after this time, his reign lasted from 1792-1750 BCE.
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The perspectives in the Code didn’t represent everyone. There was no democracy where the common people also had a say, and the Code was written by Hammurabi, a King, who wouldn’t have written it to include several perspectives. Assuming that everyone had an equal say would be an example of presentism. Another would be assuming equal rights. The divorce law could be misinterpreted as women having the same rights as men, but the punishments were a lot more severe for women than men in this law.
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John Mark provided evidence that it represents a turning point. The population was becoming more diverse, and there was conflict due to cultural differences. Hammurabi created laws to give people consequences. These laws created order. Even in cities he had taken over, there were no signs of revolt. John Mark points out that these laws allowed for cultural advances. He had also set up these laws in every city in his empire, which was meant that it was a large-scale law code.
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The intended consequences were that the military expansion gave more ressources and land. The unintended consequences were that this meant they had to employ the Visigoths, which gave them the knowledge to be able to sack Rome. They also had to increase taxations to fund the military. The unintended consequences for this were that this caused poverty and frequent riots. I can tell these are unintended consequences because they were not prepared. They didn’t have the same foresight we have today.
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The intended consequences were to make more money by using unpaid labour. The unintended consequences were that this created competition, and that Romans preferred slaves over workers, which caused plebeians to be unemployed. Slaves took up 10% of the population and could work in mining, agriculture, and even in white collared jobs. This also meant they could rely on having lots of slaves to produce goods, so another unintended consequence was that they didn’t improve technology at all.
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While slave labour helped the upper classes by giving them unpaid labour, it ended up affecting them negatively. There were rebellions due to the lack of rights, like the ones led by Spartacus. People didn’t anticipate this. The existence of slaves wasn’t seen as evil but as something accepted and normal. Because it made their lives more convenient, they probably wouldn’t have suspected that it would have caused them issues.
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/629/slavery-in-the-roman-world/ -
The Rome military expanded drastically, and, with more territory to defend, they allowed Vandals, Visigoths, and other foreign people to join the army. Many of these people were resentful of Rome due to conflict or being conquered, so when they joined the army, they learned Roman strategies and used them against them in an invasion. The rapid military expansion led to Rome being sacked by Alaric, who used to be in the army. -
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The most significant event up until 1500 AD was the innovation of gunpowder. Both the Chinese and Arabic people used gunpowder for military purposes, but it was only until Medieval Europe used gunpowder in different ways that gunpowder took off. They began to use the gunpowder in more effective ways by using cannons and firearms, which gave them military power. This development is the most significant thing to happen up until 1500 AD.
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Gunpowder had a huge impact on Medieval Europe and it’s people. It led the way to many other inventions as well such as explosives for mining or steam engines from the techniques in cannons. Both of these inventions were really important for the economy and destroying and building. It marked the beginning of using technology in wars, and it helped the Europeans colonize other countries. Gunpowder began to be used by both the military and common people, and led to more advanced versions of guns.
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A turning point is an event, development or person that led to a impactful change on a civilization. Gunpowder was a turning point for Medieval Europe and the world. Before all weapons were based on the strength of the person using it. With the invention of gunpowder, they could do more harm and the people using it didn’t need to be as skilled. This caused many changes in the way of life in Europe. Because it was such a huge technological advancement, it put an end to the Medieval Age in Europe.
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When it was first invented, gunpowder was important to giving the average person power, and it helped them protect their rights. Today, however, gunpowder and guns have evolved and have been misused, and gun violence has become a large issue. For example, in the United States, it is very easy to get a gun and there are little regulations protecting people from them. In 2021, there were 21,009 deaths, 26,328 suicides and 40,603 injuries. Out of these numbers, only 1295 cases were in self defense.
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Hammurabi’s code was one of the first codes of law that had an “innocent until proven guilty” mentality. There was a rule that if someone placed false charges on the wrong person, they would be killed. While the modern day system doesn’t have a death penalty, the “innocent until proven guilty” approach from Hammurabi’s Code still survives; charges are investigated, and the accused isn’t immediately assumed to be guilty.
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In Northern Tanzania, there is a hunter gatherer society called the Hadza. These people live in the Eyasi valley and provide modern insight to hunter-gatherer societies in the Paleolithic period. Because they are hunter-gatherers, they are nomadic, and use temporary shelters made of branches and carry few possessions. Rather than eating domesticated animals and plants, they hunt their food using hand-made bows and gather plants. The Hadza people tell their history through oral history.
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There are modern day impacts from history.