Grace Phan
Ms. Pineda
WHAP Per. 2
6 September 2014
Bentley #1
09/1 Question 1
Modern day humans have evolved from very simple species to complicated and intellectual creatures due to many factors such as the technological advances as well as the affect that geography had. About twenty-five thousand years ago a land bridge appeared “linking Siberia with Alaska” (Bentley 9). Because food was most likely scarce due to the fact that the majority of homo sapiens were hunting and gathering in the same area, they had move to different places to be able to have access to more food. The migration of humans began when a land bridge appeared (also known as the Bering Strip) allowing them to move to different continents. Next, their technological advancements, such as the Clovis spear, allowed them to expand and hunt animal that were much larger than they were. Animals such as “mammoths and woolly rhinoceros” (Bentley 10) were very valuable because you could use its meat for food and its fur for shelter and clothing. Taking down a mammoth who is ten times larger isn’t easy, so our early ancestors developed a weapon called “the Clovis spear point” ( A History of the World In 100 Objects). The Clovis spear was made so that no precise aiming was needed. The hunters could easily throw the spear and hit any part of the animal’s body, then once the spear had come in contact with the animal, it would bleed to death making hunters be able to finish it off (A History of the World in 100 Objects). These two factors cause were the result of the Paleolithic age that cause many to migrate out of Africa.
09/2 Question 2
After the Ice Age era, agriculture started to become popular because there was an abundance of rainfall and sunshine (Bentley 16). Once people began to settle down, agriculture began to be the main way to obtain food. Also by domesticating animals instead of killing them right away, they were able to have plenty of food (Bentley 16). One of the first approach to agriculture was called the slash and burn technique. By burning down trees to the ground made the soil immensely fertile as well as a “weed-free patch” (Bentley 17). Unfortunately, after a few year weeds would start to grown and soon after the land was unmanageable (Bentley 17). Women would help plant and tend the plants while men would herd their cattle to find new pastures; This was known as nomadic pastoralism. Nomadic pastoralism lead to the over grazing which also affected the environment today. As a result of the slash and burn technique, many parts of the land was left useless. During the Neolithic age, agriculture was very new to homo sapiens, and so they did not know what they were doing would damage the earth thousands of year later. Moreover humans began sedentary agriculture which meant that families could finally settle down and grow crops in order to support their family. All in all farming changed the environment dramatically, it was for the better.
09/03 Question 3
As agriculture began to spread throughout the world, cities too began to rise. Civilization was near as many families started to move into cities for protection, wealth, and a permanent home. Cities went through urbanization over the next decades to improve life for the humans, but one thing that did not change for hundreds of year: social class and structure. At first, the priest was the center of everything, he controlled “the shrine and managed the cities considerable wealth” (resource paper from Ms. Pineda). But soon enough kings started to overpower the priest’s status, and then they were the commanders. Patriarchy also shaped social class because it displayed a message that said men are the ones in control, which has affected the way we think even today. In the social structures, there were often “governors, administrators, military strategist, tax collectors, and the… [lower class] whose services were necessary for the survival of the community” (Bentley 21). This social
