Change 100,000 to 500 BC Emergence from Africa to first written language

Top Predator	Humans leaving Africa had become the top predator, a pack carrying weapons could kill from afar and coordinate by sound – their primary enemy was another human or unseen bacteria.
Early weapons and utensils
Early artistry and crafts
Ancient monuments
Cradle of Western Civilization
6000 BC	human population estimated less than 10 million
By 4000 BC Sumerians had organized life in large cities of mud-brick buildings, surrounded by lush fields and gardens. They erected massive temples, topped by a shrine and rising in tiers to 150 feet or more.	Cuneiform Tablet Sargon Sumerian woman Arch stepped ziggurat at Ur Sumerians set up a division of labor, marshaled hundreds of laborers for public works, invented a written language, devised a system of laws, educated their young, and prayed to a pantheon of gods. The vault, arch, and dome were Sumerian inventions.
Ziggurats were administered by priests.	Priests collected food in storerooms and redistributed the goods, kept tax records, and oversaw construction of large-scale works as irrigation canals. In their appeals to the gods to prevent disasters-flood, fire, or pestilence-people used stand-in figurines in their likeness, shaped of clay or stone, to be placed in the temple to pray for help. .Priests served the gods and received offerings from the people.
Prior to 3000 BC Sumerians developed a wedge‑shaped writing called cuneiform.	Sumerians used a sexadecimal system of counting. Ten was the basic number, sixty the next, and then six hundred. A lunar year of 12 months and contained 354 days. They developed a system of weights and measures, their mina was a bit more than a pound. Their principle of proportionate retaliation was the base for the Hammurabi Code.
Sumerian tale of Noah and Babylonian Creation Epic is similar to Hebrew Genesis.	The Sumerians left an extensive literature in the form of epics, hymns, and proverbs; copied by the later Babylonians. The tale of Noah is a Sumerian contribution. The Babylonian Creation Epic is similar to Hebrew Genesis. Sumerians faith offered no hope of resurrection and their deities had all the strengths and weaknesses of mortals -- Sumerian religion did not demand standards of morality.
Amorites (Babylonians) under Hammurabi (1728‑1686 BC) replaced Summer rule	Signature seal and impression, Sumerian harp, Depiction of Hammurabi
Hebrew Abraham & Hammurabi were contemporaries	Hammurabi set up law courts, a system of taxation, and rules for military service. His Code of Laws, with 282 paragraphs, were based on Sumerian and Semitic precedents dealing with property rights, personal injuries, family affairs, and other matters.
Babylonian Marduk replaced Summer Tammuz as the leader of the gods.	Tammuz chased by Marduk, 1800 BC Horse drawn chariot, Gold Ring origin unk
Lion on Babylonian Wall
Early civilizations
Egypt Tomb painting King Tut gold mask King anointed with perfume by Queen
Hebrews became Israel’s became Jews, selectively compiled oral history to writing in the Torah, also known as Old Testament of the Bible.	Phoenician coast Phoenician carved ivory Kingdom of Israel Torah
Phoenician sea and Aramean land traders greatly aided evolution of the alphabet
Assyrians Scenes	Right: Sargon II Fortress Palace at Khorsaban (reconstruction)
Chaldeans mapped heavenly scenes, one per moon cycle, 12 per year, which became Astrologist Signs	Assyrian Winged Bull, Babylon scene, Chaldean Astrology Signs
Females were property of the male, a father could sell daughters and wives and own as many females as he could afford and defend	Warfare was constant & Rule absolute. Secular and religious authorities competing for control of the people. Generally priests managed civil affairs for an all powerful military leader – each dependent on the other. Prisoners were enslaved or killed -- human slaves were programmable productive machines. Laws defined the difference in inheritance of children born of free vs slave mothers. Acquired wealth was sought by invaders. Life was harsh and short with power constantly changing hands -- causing peoples to be on the move. The middle east was a testing ground for new methods and skills: metal working, horses, chariots and new beliefs became part of the mix. Once people could express themselves in writing, the door was opened to a new era, one pursued primarily by the Greeks.
Due to turmoil and conflict, Near East beliefs were exposed to many influences. The concepts of a heaven and hell, of forgiveness and a pending savior were imported.	Early Sumerian, Babylonian, Hebrew beliefs were impacted by beliefs carried into the region by Aryan’s as expressed by Zoroastrianism. The Christian beliefs that followed includes a mix of Jewish and Zoroastrian beliefs. Zoroastrianism imported concepts of reward and punishment (heaven and hell), forgiveness and a future savior.
500 BC	Human population estimated at 100 million