Day 13: In The Beginning – Part 2.

We must have been hunters and gatherers but some of us were just waiters and hopers. (Eddie Izzard)

Thinking about the musings from DAY 12: In The Beginning…Part 1…

After presenting the graph on the board showing the history of humanity and our progress over time, and the four potential answers of where humans came from beginning on ‘Day 1’:

A) Adam and Eve, (A/E);

B) Monkeys, (Monkeys);

C) Another world and Aliens put us here, (Aliens) or;

D) A combination of All Of The Above, (AOTA);

I transition back to the content that they are responsible for by exam day.

The seed has already been planted….

With that explanation in place, I then bring up the point that for AP World History, CollegeBoard is more concerned about beginning the course for at the ‘Foundations’ era.

So what is considered the ‘Foundations’ era?

Prior to the fall 2019 school semester, students were taught that the beginnings of humanity date back to around 8,000 BCE*, or approximately 10,000 years ago.

(*It is important to note that we as teachers are encouraged to express historical dates and their significance using the terms BCE and CE, instead of using the terms BC and AD. BCE stands for Before Common Era, and CE is short for Common Era. The reason for using these terms to refer to historical dates is to present a more neutral approach than using the terms BC, (before Christ), and AD, or Anno Domini, which is Latin for “in the year of the Lord”. Both of these terms refer to the birth and death of Jesus Christ. By using BCE and CE instead of BC and AD, it appears to be a more neutral approach to teaching world history, where only approximately 2.4 billion or 31% of the worlds 8 billion people, are followers of Jesus Christ, known collectively as Christians, as of the year 2020…CE.)

It is generally accepted by historians that the 8,000 to 3,500 BCE time period, or the ‘Foundations’ period, is where the ‘Foundational’ blueprints of humanity began. These blueprints can be categorized into Social, Political, Economic and Cultural components, many of which we take for granted today. 

So, up until the fall 2019 school semester, the time period of around 8,000 BCE to 3,500 BCE is where we ‘officially’ begin the course.  It is during this time period where we as humans transition away from hunting and gathering, and begin to settle down to form what we know today as…

Civilization. 

Known collectively as ‘Hunters and Gatherers’, these were humans that predated our current concept of ‘civilization’, which historians agree began in the Middle East region, and more specifically by the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, or Mesopotamia, around 3,500 B.C). 

I tell the students to keep in mind that no matter which belief system you think is correct as to how long humans have been around, what matters for the exam is that the overall trajectory of human achievement from 8,000 BCE to 3,500 BCE was basically a flat line, until the Mesopotamians began the ‘Foundational’ building blocks of humanity.

Relatively speaking, once 3,500 BCE begins, the line on the History of Mankind graph that I have on the board, now begins to ‘accelerate’ to the upside, especially when comparing this time period to the 8,000 BCE to 3,500 BCE hunter and gatherer time period.  

I would submit to you that there is a case to be made that those humans that began as hunters and gatherers had some degree of civilization after all. There is a consensus among historians today that Hunter-Gatherer groups during the 8,000 BCE – 3,500 BCE time period had access to the following:

1) Hunters and gatherers ‘probably emerged’ and spread due to an ample availability of: food and favorable weather and climate;

2) Hunters and gatherers began the process of domesticating animals and plants;

3) Hunter and gatherers gained ever increasing skills in capturing and killing animals, (the same can be said regarding those gathering plants and fruits), as well as determining which were edible and nutritious for human consumption;

4) Hunters and gathers continued to gather increasing skills using more advanced tools, helping to make point 3 more efficient;

5) It is generally agreed that hunter and gatherers eventually spread to the 6 continents of today: North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia by 8,000 B.C.E.;

6) It is generally agreed that hunters and gatherers had a basic social structure and…

7) An elementary belief system.

Of the 7 items addressed above, I believe that point 7 is the most important point in regards to the hunter-gatherer groups.  It is point 7, the hunter-gatherers believing in an ‘elementary belief system’, that helps me to reinforce the significance of the Someone Upstairs Runs The Show continuity. 

In other words, why do these people, the hunter and gatherers, believe in an ‘elementary belief system’?  Why do they bury their dead instead of leaving them out for the animals and birds to feast on?  Why this respect after death for their fellow hunter-gatherers? 

Doesn’t sound like those hunter-gatherers were uncivilized, does it?

Do not feel discouraged if you are still unsure where humans ultimately came from. Do not feel discouraged if you still feel overwhelmed regarding the beginnings of humanity.  Instead, embrace the freedom that we have to research and question and come to our own conclusions regarding where we ultimately come from.  Embrace this idea as well: why would the hunter-gathering humans pay their respects and bury their dead, if they did not believe in an afterlife for the dead? 

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 KJV)

Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?

Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 13: In The Beginning – Part 2.

If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.

Please feel free to go back to where all of this began:

Day 1: What Is A Mid-Life Crisis?