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Chapter 1 begins by addressing what we know as the earliest of human beings, the Paleolithic society. Constantly on the move, these people survived by hunting, fishing, and gathering plants and berries. Rather suddenly, in the space of a few thousand years, the Neolithic way of life replaced the Paleolithic. Human beings began to master the art of cultivating food crops and domesticating animals. With increased food production came increased populations and a reason for people to settle in larger permanent communities. Communities became more sophisticated with organized government, religious traditions, and social structure. These first communities or civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
For all of their differences, these ancient societies of the near East formed part of a larger, interconnected world in which the Mediterranean Sea facilitated cultural borrowing through trade and migration. Conditions in the great river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia had demanded the organization of resources on an unprecedented scale. Writing and mathematics were invented to facilitate that organization. These developments marked the beginning of Western civilization, for writing enabled people to transmit the memory of their achievements to others. The Phoenician invention of the alphabet simplified the process of communication and was quickly adopted by other cultures. Trade, warfare, and colonization spread Egyptian and Mesopotamian ideas throughout the Mediterranean world. |
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