"Birth of Religion" Novice and Expert Jigsaws

Step 1: Break into "jigsaw" groups of four.  Using last night's reading, analyze the following questions.  While you may all contribute to the analysis, each student in the group should choose one question for which they want to be the designated "expert."

1. Identify the conventional wisdom concerning the Neolithic Revolution.  What is it? How did it occur?  Why did it?

2. How do the archeological finds at Gobekli Tepe challenge this conventional wisdom?  How would Schmidt explain the, what, how, and why of the Neolithic Revolution?

3. Upon how many assumptions or inferences are Schmidt's arguments based?  Identify and evaluate these assumptions or inferences.  How strong are they in your mind?

4. How have some archeologists suggested you may reconcile Schmidt's view with the Childe/Diamond view of the Neolithic Revolution?

Step 2:  Join your expert jigsaw group (all 1s together, all 2s together, etc) and work on improving your answers to the above questions.

Step 3: Share with me and the other groups in whole-class format.

Step 4: Let's discuss the test essay question, "To what extent did the Neolithic Revolution transform the life-ways of early humans?"  

• What sources would you use to answer it?

• What aspects of the GET PAST seem most relevant?

• What approaches might you take in answering the question?
  

Monday (First) Test & Neolithic Progressivist Argument

Today, we finished the progressivist argument for the Neolithic Revolution.  According to this approach, the domestication of cereal crops, the domestication of large animals, and the "goldilocks" climate/environment of Eurasia gave early humans the ability to accumulate a food surplus and develop labor specialization, such that it allowed some people to instead be kings, warriors, priests, designers/engineers, artists, scribes, etc. and in turn led to the development of more complex technologies.

You then discussed as a class the downsides of the Neolithic Revolution, according to Diamond's Worst Mistake article, which included malnurishment, epidemic diseases, socio-economic inequality, gender inequality, warfare, more work and less leisure, and ecological damage.  You will continue that discussion tomorrow as well as discuss the article, The Birth of Religion.

Your test is Monday, September 28. Please discuss with me if you have 3 or more tests already scheduled that day.   The first section will ask you to identify and explain the GET PAST of 5 "factoids," read a short passage regarding an archeological find, and distinguish between the facts and interpretations in a passage. The second section will ask you to respond in essay format to the question, To what extent did the Neolithic Revolution transform the life-ways of early humans?  You should use ONLY the readings from class and organize your essay around three categories of the GET PAST. 

Human Origins Discussion

Mini-lecture on Paleolithic Age (2.5 million to 8000 B.C.E.) timeline

• Invention of tools, mastery over fire, and development of language 
• Much of this Age occurred during the period known as the Ice Age 
• Home naledi argued to be of this era (anywhere from 2 million to 100,000 years old). Professor at Berkeley argues these are just homo erectus ("upright man") skeletons, dating from 1.6 million to 30,000 B.C.E.  Homo erectus were hunters, used fire, and made sophisticated tools. Homo erectus MAY have developed language (evidence: teamwork needed . . . probably relied on language). 
• Neanderthals (vanished 30,000 years ago) appear to overlap with both the Homo erectus and Cro-Magnon lines. Evidence of religious beliefs and rituals (e.g., funeral). Caves, temporary shelters, tools.  MUSICAL EXPRESSION. 
• Cro-Magnon identical to humans (40,000 B.C.E.) Planned hunts, advanced skill in language, created art (according to conventional wisdom).   

Your Turnitin.com Account for This Class

Below is the class ID and the enrollment password you need to establish your personal account for Early World History this year.  You may do this over the weekend, or in class, on Monday when you submit your paired partner paper responding to the question, What Do We Not Know That We Think We Know?

Mock Smithsonian Exhibit! Human Origins: What Do We Not Know that We Think We Know"

Imagine you are interning at the Smithsonian.  Rocked by a series of archeological discoveries in the last two to three years, the Executive Director wants to mount an exhibit entitled, “Human Origins: What Do We Not Know that We Think We Know.”  This exhibit could include references to PHYSICAL REMAINS (such as bones), PRIMARY SOURCES (such as artifacts like tools or art), as well as references to SECONDARY SOURCE interpretation such as dueling theories of rival archeologists.  The point of this exhibit is to challenge CONVENTIONAL WISDOM (what is widely accepted to be true) by challenging SO-CALLED facts or unfounded interpretations.   

You’ve decided to look at a run-of-the-mill textbook (World History: Patterns of Interaction) -- THIS IS THE BIG SHEET YOU GOT IN CLASS -- to determine what historians and textbook publishers are presenting to students today as widely accepted to be true.  You are going to challenge it using the new discoveries of the past three years to answer the question, what do we NOT know about the origins of humans (that we think we know)?   

Your work product will be a 1-page summary of how you would answer this question in your exhibit. What primary and secondary sources would you use?  How would you use them?  What are you challenging? 

Your research sources are as follows:

• The NYTimes article, Who Apes Whom? http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/opinion/who-apes-whom.html
• What Does Cave Art Mean? 
• In South Africa, People Painted with Cow Milk Long Before They Domesticated Cattle
• Rock (Art) of Ages: Indonesian Cave Paintings Are 40,000 Years Old
• The Cave Art Debate
• Things that Humans Did Not Invent (Including Art) 
• The Origins of Modern Culture
• The History through Art selection, Cave Paintings 

As you read, think about: What are the main points of these Smithsonian articles?  What do they suggest about what we don't know about human origins?   What parts of the GET PAST are most under challenge? 

This is worth 15 points in the Home and Class Work portion of your grade (2.5 class periods of work time plus homework).

• With examples, do you show you understand the difference between a fact and an interpretation? (5 points)   
• With examples, do you identify which widely accepted ideas about early humans have been challenged recently?  (5 points) 
• With source references, did you organize and write up your summary well? (5 points) 

Paleolithic - Cave Art Debate

Working in pairs, you will analyze 1-3 pieces of cave art from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/prehistoric-rock-art-visit-around-world-180952989/
Questions you may ask yourself as you try to analyze (to pick apart piece by piece until you reveal meaning) each artifact are below:

What is the artifact? (What do you see?)

What is the artifact made of?  What do those materials suggest about the lives of the early humans who created it?

What is the subject matter of the artifact? What does that subject matter suggest about the lives of the early humans who created it?

What is the style of the artifact?  What does that style suggest about the lives of early humans?

In totality, what does the artifact tell us about life for the early humans who created it?