UNIT I: FOUNDATIONS (8000 BCE TO 600 CE)Of all the time periods covered in the AP World History curriculum, Foundations (8000BCE- 600 CE) spans the largest number of years. It begins with an important Marker Event - the Neolithic Revolution - and ends after the fall of three major classical civilizations -Romein the Mediterranean region, Han China, and the Gupta Empire ofIndia.Broad topics addressed in the Foundations time period are: Environmental andperiodizationissues Early development in agriculture and technology Basic cultural, political, and social features of early civilizations:Mesopotamia,Egypt,IndusValley,ShangChina, andMeso/South America The rise and fall of classical civilizations: Zhou and Han China,India(Gupta Empire), and Mediterranean civilizations (GreeceandRome) Major belief systems, including polytheism, Hinduism, Judaism, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and ChristianityA NOTE ABOUT PREHISTORY (BEFORE 3500 CE)A basic type ofperiodizationis to divide all of time into prehistory and history. Usually the distinction is based on whether or not the people left written records, but the presence of written records is very closely tied to the beginnings of agriculture. Scholars are not entirely sure about when human beings first appeared on earth, but new discoveries continue to push the date further back in time. So prehistory lasted for millions of years.The first humans probably emerged in eastern Africa, due to a happy confluence of availability of food anddomesticableanimals and favorable climate. For thousands of years humans sustained themselves as hunters and gatherers, and as a result were quite dependent on the abundance of food. Hunters gained skills in capturing and killing animals, and gatherers learned which plants and fruits were edible and nutritious. Technological inventions generally supported the fulfillment of these basic activities. Stones (and eventually metals) were shaped as tools and weapons, and techniques were developed for efficient gathering and storage of food.By 8000BCE, humans had migrated to many other areas, probably following the herds and other available food sources. Major migrations include: Early Africans to Australia, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia Asians across the land bridge to the AmericasOur knowledge of prehistoric people is limited, partly because they lived so long ago, and partly because they left no written records. However, archaeologists have found evidence of these generally shared characteristics of prehistoric people:1) Social structure - Most people traveled in small bands, and authority was based on family relationships. Men took leadership roles, but women were highly valued for their gathering skills. Labor was generally divided based on gender, with men as hunters and women as gatherers. However, status differences between men and women were generally not wide, with relative gender equality apparently characterizing their group life.2) Beliefs - Archaeological evidence suggests that prehistoric people were guided by their beliefs in spirits and sacred places. Their cave drawings and traces of their cultural objects indicate that they believed in an afterlife, although they probably did not practice polytheism, or a belief in many gods. Instead,polydaemonism, or the belief in many spirits (not specific gods), probably describes their religion more accurately. Bushes, rocks, trees, plants, or streams could be inhabited by these spirits, who often appeared to communicate with humans.The prehistoric era includes the early stages of agriculture from about 10,000 to 4,000BCE, but once settlement began, the stage was set for the development of reading and writing and the period known as history.ENVIRONMENTALANDPERIODIZATION ISSUESWhen, how, and why did people give up their wandering and settle to live in one place? First of all, it happened in different parts of the world at different times, but settled communities had developed in many places by 8000BCE. The ability to settle was based almost entirely on successful cultivation of crops and domestication of animals. These drastic changes in human life are known collectively as the Neolithic Revolution that almost certainly happened independently in different places over a large span of time. For example, the people settling along the major rivers in China did not learn to farm because they were in contact with the people in the Indus River area. Instead, people in both areas probably figured out the advantages of settled life on their own. Although the Neolithic Revolution was one of the most significant Marker Events in world history, it occurred gradually and probably by trial and error.The changes that resulted include: Increase in reliable food supplies - Agricultural skills allowed people to control food production, and domestication of animals both helped to make agricultural production more