Subject:
PART ONE The Emergence of Human Communities, to 500 B.C.E. CHAPTER 1 From the Origins of Agriculture to the First River-Valley Civilizations, 8000?1500 B.C.E. CHAPTER 2 New Civilizations in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, 2200?250 B.C.E. CHAPTER 3 The Mediterranean and Middle East, 2000?500 B.C.E. Around 10,000 years ago, some human groups in various parts of theworld began to cultivate plants, domesticate animals, and make pottery vessels for storage. One consequence of this shift from hunting and gather- ing to agriculture was the emergence of permanent settlements?at first small villages but eventually larger towns as well. The earliest complex societies arose in the great river valleys of Asia and
