Historians have also been inquired by the question of human’s origin and development of his existence on the Earth. There exist different theories covering this question but every group of scientists tries to prove the verity of their hypothesis using really interesting and exciting evidence. And the authors taking into consideration the urgency of the topic wrote thousands of books.
One of such books is written by an American world historian, geographer and professor at the Temple University Howard Spodek. His book “World’s history” (2010) describes the most possible precise data of the human’s origin, housekeeping set up and the development of people’s relations and interactions.
Science presupposes human origin from monkeys, kind of modification. This hypothesis is proved by archeologists and historians; and Howard Spodek (2010) often describes Darwin’s theory about human’s origins. This theory contradicts the Biblical approach to this question which regards a human and the Earth as a creature of God. History consists of two main layers: the primitive society and the civilization. The period of primitive society is the largest and grasps over 2 million years.
Spodek claims that the first human appeared in 5 million B.C.E. (2010). Some fragments were found in Northern Kenya, and he considers it to be Australopithecus. The period of 3,75 million is associated with the origin of Homo habilis and Homo erectus, that was proved by discoveries of the scientists from Africa and later Eurasia.
The latter kind of a human managed the tools; Homo erectus and Homo habilis also had stone artifacts and got use of fire. The period of 130,000-80,000 is popular for the origin of the next famous kind of Homo-Homo sapiens. They lived presumably in Africa and Western Asia and were called clever because of the stone artifacts made possibly by their hands, the “monuments” have been found after them. Within 100,000-33,000 the Neanderthals have been discovered in Europe and Western Asia.
The history of the humanity is characterized by a periodization, archeological scheme, according to which the history is divided into three main periods (III-I centuries BC) depending on the material from which instruments of labor were made: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age (Hills, 1993).
The last two periods are connected to the appearance of first state formation, and the Stone Age is mainly the primitive society establishment and, in its turn, it is divided into three periods: the Paleolithic Age, which can be described by the first forms of business activity (hunting, fishery and foraging); the Metholitic Age, that is characterized by stone carving, small instruments of labor; and Neolithic Age, which is popular for production of material goods needed for human existence and activity. Over time, the number of guns increased. Already in the early Paleolithic Age (3 million - 200 thousand BC), archaeologists recovered a set of tools with 30-40 functions. In the Middle Paleolithic era (200-40 thousand BC) a triangular, a plate, an ax, a spear appeared. The most suitable stone for toolmaking flint was often found in nature. New advances were made in stone treatment – tiny tools made of stone of regular geometric shapes were presented chopping tools such as axes and adzes, clubs and cutters. People began to use stone ax for wood. The Neolithic period saw the first social division of labor in the agricultural and pastoral, which contributed to the progress of productive forces, the emergence of the exchange; second social division of labor - the allocation of crafts from agriculture contributed to the individualization of labor, the emergence and development of private property. The transition to agriculture was the progress in the development of productive forces. The land was being dug up by wooden sticks and hoes; harvest sickles made by silicon blades; grains were ground on a stone slab or a grain bruiser. During this period, people have mastered almost all currently known crops. However, agriculture was spread unevenly. The first centers of agriculture have been found in the territory of modern Egypt, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, southern part of Central Asia. Modern research suggests the most ancient four centers of cultivated plants: Southwest Asia, where already in the VII-VI millennium BC wild cereals were cultivated - barley and wheat; Yellow River basin, where in IV-III millennium BC Chinese people cultured pearl millet (broomcorn), rice, sorghum; Central America, where a V-IV millennium BC began to plant beans, peppers, and to the III millennium - maize corn; Peruvian highlands, where in the III millennium BC pepper, cotton, soybeans and other plants have been grown.
Cattle breeding has become an important branch of the economy. In the Neolithic period sheep, pigs, goats, cows were domesticated. Stone grinding technique was presented by sawing, drilling. Stone tools (hoes, grinding stones, mortars, blades for sickles, knives, daggers) made of silicon and hard processed rock stones such as semiprecious nephrite, jade and others. The needles, awls, spoons were made of bones, including ivory bone.
In the IV millennium BC the signs of exhaustion potential of Neolithic civilization have appeared. Stone tools, even the most committed, were labor intensive in manufacturing and not reliable. The transition to the next period began – the Neolithic (Copper-Stone Age). The main occupations were agriculture and animal ranching. Metal has become the dominant material during this period: at first copper and gold, then bronze, and since I millennium BC, iron and its derivatives, cast iron and steel.
The period of urban development appearance is also worth mentioning. According to historians, the first cities arose 4000-3000 BC in Mesopotamia, they were centers of communities and tribes living there. There exists a historical evidence of the origin of cities 3000-2000 BC in ancient India, Greece, Egypt, China, and later in Phoenicia (Parker, 2010).
Ancient cities occupied a considerable area; most of them were surrounded by walls. Palaces and temples occupied the central place in the cities of the ancient world.
Together with the development of cities and their functions, the necessity in urban agriculture and urban development planning has arisen. As the ancient society was stratifying differentiation of dwellings had place: along with the palaces and mansions of rich people, small houses were standing in which the poor huddled.
The first elements of the municipal economy were centralized water supply and sewerage facilities, large baths, tiling space and central streets, maintenance of public buildings, sanitation and cleaning. The first waterworks emerged in the cities of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia; these waterworks were deep wells and open channels for applying water to residents. The first sewer facilities also emerged during the ancient times, but these were open grooves drain turning off rainwater and household waste. They were assigned to the fields, in veg patches, gardens and rivers.
Tiling of the squares in front of the palaces and temples existed in the ancient cities of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece, but only in Rome and other cities of the Roman Empire, it took such a significant size (Burstein, Shek, 2012).
Thus, the ancient city is actively developed and became the basis of civilizations. Together with their development, the first elements of the urban economy have appeared, having obtained the most complete embodiment in the largest city of the ancient world – Rome.
A lot of works have been written by different scholars through a large period of time. Each of them had strong arguments for proving their own point of view. However, there still does not exist single and precise formulation and periodization of human history. Anyway, we may just presume what was happening at those times. But, it is hard to disagree with the fact of archeologists’ discoveries.
Works Cited
Burstein, Stanley Mayer, and Richard Hon Shek. World History. Orlando, Fla.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.
Hills, Ken. World History. New York: Kingfisher, 1993. Print.
Parker, Philip. World History. New York: DK Pub., 2010. Print.
Spodek, Howard. The World's History. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall ;, 2010. Print.
