Locating+World+History+in+the+Environment+&+Time

__Locating world history in the environment and time__ __Test Review Page__

Humans before the Ice Age were nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes. During the Ice Age, ice bridges formed which allowed them to travel between continents and spread across the Earth. When the Ice melted, temperatures rose and the Agricultural Revolution began.
 * Effect of the environment on human population and development**

The Ice Age pushed the human tribes more towards the equator where they were able to survive off the plants there. The tribes would settle there and the populations would decline because they could not hunt and gatherer enough food. They used stone tools rather than metal tools because any other resources were frozen under the ice, limiting technological advancements.

As nomads, the groups would have to stay small, otherwise, the members would not be able to sustain itself. There would not be enough food for everyone and because of issues in controlling the stability of the tribe. In nomadic tribes, the groups were small enough so that everyone could have a say in what the tribe does, how they do it and where they go. That way, there was no need for a representative government to keep order and to make educated decisions.

x
 * Periodization of Early Human History**

Using the term civilization to describe how the groups were organized in ancient history is difficult because before the Neolithic Revolution, most groups were nomadic, did not settle and did not have agriculture and did not grow in population size.
 * Diverse Interpretations**

Nomadic tribes in ancient history would change with time. The most common form of this would have to be through the connection or diffusion of ideas and technology, rather than independent invention. It is not everyday that a group would find a more efficient way of doing something by invention, but it is more likely that that idea would be spread to other tribes, and from there improved and spread even more.

Before the Neolithic Revolution the women of the groups were seen as almost divine because they were thought to be the creators of new life. At the time, the men did not equate sex with child birth. The Venus figurines were little sculptures with exaggerated features of women and were suspected to be part of a religious practice that had spread throughout Asia and Europe. The women also gathered 70% of the diet, so they held more power by keeping the group alive. When the Neolithic Revolution came around women's standing in their groups significantly lessened because they no longer provided most of the diet. Farming required the strength that only men could provide and eventually women were pushed into housework and raising of the children only. When the men realized that they were also needed for the birth of a newborn, even religion shifted towards male dominated ideas.