Abby_P8_Civilizations

    The town of Dixmont, Maine, is definitely small but has many main features of a civilization. The state government helps our town as public works. We have job specialization here, by contributing different types of jobs to the community it is able to support itself in as many ways as it can. Dixmont also has a complex religion that allows people to believe and practice the religion of their choice. All of these things don't make Dixmont a civilization by itself, but does prove that it is like a civilization in many ways.
    Public works help the town of Dixmont a lot.  The government gives money to the town, in the form of things that will help all of the citizens. Government pays main road maintenance which is needed everywhere. If they didn't plow, and fix other problems with the roads, it would make it difficult for people to travel. If people are not able to travel, or it is made hard enough that they chose not to do it often, then other things would be effected by that. Job positions wouldn't be filled because people wouldn't leave their houses for work and without jobs being done, even more things would be lost. The Maine government also pays for education and school buildings. If government didn't pay for these things, then many children would not have education because towns with less money, such as Dixmont, maybe not be able to come up with money to build and supply a school with everything it needs. Teachers also would have very low pay. Public works is something that is very important to our town and towns around it, without it we wouldn't be able to support and meet the needs of the many people and businesses that we have.
    Every town needs a large variety of jobs, and that is just what Dixmont has. With a large variety of jobs and careers, we are able to help our town succeed. For example, if we didn't have anyone who had gone to school and studied business management, then we wouldn't have all the information that we keep in our town office, which is all needed for many reasons. Many of the teachers that teach at the local middle school are from town, and if they hadn't decided to become teachers, we would have positions to fill in that school and might have to pay more for other teachers to travel here from their towns. We have adults that work in local stores, that serve the public. There are many people who have created their own businesses, volunteer firemen, lots of farmers and many others. Most people have different jobs from one another that all help someone somewhere. Even being a religious leader is considered a job, because it is helping people in many ways.
    Dixmont shows some examples of complex religion. There are many different types of people here, that all have the right to believe in different gods and how they live their lives. here are only Christain churches in Dixmont, but because it is such a small town, and the majority of the people are Christian that is all that we have. Many sometime soon a new one will be build that allows a different religios group to have a place in town to attend. The citizens of Dixmont brought a varietiy of religion to our town because many people have different beliefs.
    The town of Dixmont, although isn't a civilization, has many of the main feature that are included in one. It is a small town, but there are many good things crammed inside of it. We have public works, which allows the government to help us pay for road maintenance, and the education of the people who live here.  A large variety of jobs helps keep the town running, supplying store keepers and farmers. And a complex religion, letting people believe and practice whichever religion they chose. The town of Dixmont has many of the small features that a civilization includes, that keeps everything together.

The Hunters and Gatherers.

    Many different events have happened between today and 50,000 years ago.All of these events have lead to one thing or another, weather it was a change in people or a change in the environment. Hominids were the first to walk upright and be able to use their thumbs, making it easier to do different things. Homo habilis were the ones to introduce the first tools to the world and later on the homo erectus were able to advance them because of their abstract thought and how they went about living. After many years of the homo erectus roaming the earth, homo sapiens evolved. This species had bigger brains so they were known as "wise men". Neanderthals, scientists believed, were trying to explain the world. By doing this they created their own religion and rituals which included burying the dead and caring for the sick or weak. Then, before the modern day humans evolved, cro-magnons were existent. We, as modern humans, have a body identical to the cro-magnons  and the same behavior about hunting. Cro-magnons planned theirs hunts, studied the animals habits and stalked their prey. All of these different species had different ways of living, but in the end, all the ideas created the same thing, a way to survive.
    One of the biggest changes, and most important change is hunting or providing food for a group of people. It has advanced in many ways over 40,000 years. From running around eating anything you could find, to growing what you could and eating it, to being able to buy any type of food that you want in a grocery store. Hunting is the biggest part of everyone life, no matter how they do it, because everyone needs food to live. Homo sapiens have advanced hunting the most. They turned it into a completely different concept when they began settling in one place and growing their own food, instead of moving around everyday looking for it. Most humans couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have to go out and get your own food everyday, without using a gun of any sort. Having a advanced way of getting food today is very helpful, makes our life easier, and it is because what our ancestors contributed to our world.

    Gathering and hunting started with the homo habilis and was used by homo erectus, neanderthals and cro-magnons. This was the only way of getting food for them, because farming was not even a idea back then.  Hunting was a hard task, they didn't have guns or anything but a spear to kill the prey with. There was no protection from the animal attacking them and killing. Once the prey was killed, there was a eating order. The hard working men went first, followed by the women gatherers and then children. There was no way that they could store the food, so they ate until everything was gone, and then moved on to another area, which meant that they couldn't settle in somewhere and build shelter.

     Gatherers, usually women, had more responsibility because groups could not depend on just hunting because it was not consistent and they couldn't be sure weather they would kill a animal or not each day. While the women gathered, they also had children to watch which meant that they were holding their child in one hand and picking berries and other things with the other. Which is why most of us are right handed. The women picked with her right hand, making it more capable of doing jobs that require more work. Gathering was just as dangerous as hunting, because of the fact that they had their hands full at all times and no protection from any of the wild animals that could attack at any time.
    The homo sapiens came along, and began to farm. They would plant all of their own food, which often meant that there wasn't a variety of food. If they had two successful crops of different food, that what they would have to eat. Once again the men were more involved in farming then women, although women had the job of preparing food for the family and taking care of the children. Men would have to tend the land all by themselves. There were no horses or any other type of live stock to help plow or harvest the fields. Children and women often helped with the gathering once the crop was ready to pick and eat. Because they were settled in, and had shelter in one spot, they were able to keep and store somethings. Only things that could stand being in warm and cold weather, because there was no way of controlling the heat in a room, except by fire. The things that they did store, often didn't last long. Crops started lasting longer when stored when our ancestors started freezing them to keep them during colder months when they couldn't keep their crops growing.

    There are many thing that have advanced in the world since homo erectus, homo habilis and cro-magonons were alive. We have been able to advance tools, ideas, religions and most of all, hunting. Hunting was a difficult thing to do when grocery stores, farmers and guns weren't around. Thanks to our ancestors, we are able to grow our own food, and now, sell it in stores so that every family doesn't need to know how to grow crops and farm land.our ancestors used many techniques of getting their food before coming up with the easiest way that has stuck with us. They have hunted with spears, gathered berries, and moved around from place to place just to find enough food to survive. Our ancestors and our pre-historic species have taught us all about what life should be like, and how things can get better.

Creating Luck, For Tomorrow

    It was late afternoon in my home country of France, I was out in a large,open field finding red berries and pieces or charcoal to make the pigments that I would use for the next days painting I planned to create. After packing many things into my bag, I started my journey back to my tribes shelter. As the shelter came into view, I could see women cooking what the men had brought in for the days hunt. If only we had better luck,I thought to myself, and could have enough to for fill every one's hunger.

    That night I thought of ways that I could improve the hunting and food that was being brought in for the tribe. I wasn't a great hunter myself, so I couldn't help very much in that way. So I decided that tomorrow, when I went to the Lacaux Caves, I would paint a bison, which would allow the hunters in my tribe to soon find one and be able to bring it back to use as food, clothes and also, to put into our stone lanterns to make them burn.

    I woke up at the crack of dawn, packed my bags, and headed toward the caves.

I was almost there when I stopped, light my lantern and began my long journey into the cave.I walked for about 15 minutes, with the smell of burning animal fat sticking on my skin, making me smell like I myself a burning lantern. The cave walls were rough and cold. Paintings that other people had created on both sides. There were many animals, some with spears sticking out of them, as if other tribes had already tried the same thing that I was about to attempt. Just as my feet began to ache with great pain, I reached a opening where the cave ended and many narrow tunnels surrounded me. I chose one, hoping I chose right.

    I climbed up into it, and realized that it was much, much small then it looked while I was standing there looking at it. I could barely stand on my knees and walk. So I decided that the easiest, and only way to get through this, would be to get down on my hands and knees and crawl. After about and hour of being down on my hands and knees struggling through this narrow tunnel, I finally reached a area where I could stand and even though there wasn't very much room, I was thankful. My hands, ached and felt that my skin could burst open at any moment. Once I stood up, I didn't think that my knees could hold me up, after having so much pressure on them for such a long amount of time. But once I was up, I was determined to paint the picture and which would bring food and health to me and my tribe.

    I emptied my bag, and laid out everything I would need to complete the painting. I began engraving a large bison with a flint tool that I had found a few days before. As I dug the flint into the rock, it gave off a large screeching sound, making the small animals living in the cave stir around. A large bird flew past my head scaring me and almost knocking me off my already weak knees. I finished working with the flint, and packed it away back in my bag, so that it was out of my way and gave me more room to move around. I took out my darkest pigment made of charcoal, mixed with clay and animal fat. I dipped my finger into the color and started going over the line that I had engraved it the wall to make the animal strong, more bold, and more life like.

    Finally after what seems like half an hour of perfecting the dark lines, I also put that make in my bag. As I went to reach for my red pigment, that I would use to fill the entire bison, I heard a loud rumbling come from the direction that I had come from. I reached for the stick that was lying closest to me, the one I had brought as my only protection. I slug it over my back like a baseball bat, right to strike at whatever may come at me. As the creature got loser and closer, it sent out a signal reassuring me that I was in no harm. It was just another of  my kind, also trying to create luck. We exchanged a few words, then we both got back to work. Him continuing on, and me filling in my strong bison with my red pigment.

    After the engraved animal was filled with red, I started adding other details. I darkened the areas around it's legs, making it look more muscular. I gave it eyes, and facial features that made it seem like it was alive. I was satisfied. My painting was complete, and in the near future, I could sense that my tribe, the family, would have great luck with hunting.
    I finished packing everything that wasn't already in my bag. I slug it over my shoulder, grabbed my lantern and started crawling back through the narrow tunnel. It was about the same as on the way in, nowhere to get lost because is was a straight shot, one path, no way out of it until you reached the end. One thing that was different was the temperature. It was much colder then it was when I first entered the cave. And because it was colder, more bugs and small insects were swarming around me, also trying to get warm. I reached the end, the part where I could stand up and walk out of the cave. As I made my way out, I discovered that I had spent most of the day painting. The sun was almost completely out of the sky. Hopefully I would make it home, before my lantern ran out of fat to burn, because with all the dangers out here, I would be food for sure.

The Different Ways Of Life.

"Lucy" She got her name when she was discovered in 1974 and was a complete female, adult skeleton. She got her name from the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" She was 3.5 million years old, the oldest hominid found. Lucy, and many other types of evidence, helped show that this type of speices walked on two legs, which helped them gather food and stay away from dangerous animals.










Advanced Tools vs. Ancient Tools

Differences Between Humans and Other Species. Humans were able to out live all other "human like" species. Because of this they were able to take older tools and advance them so that they are more helpful and easier to use. Humans also had a language which helped them communicate and get things done faster. They also had abstract thought which helped them think about different things, that other speices might not think about.





Homo Sapiens (1,000 years ago) This

species was the most like modern day humans. They were often known as the "wise men" and had large brains. This species helped along many things that were created before them, and we've made them even better since then.

The Homo Habilis (2 million years ago) Also know as 'handy man' were the first to discover making tools, they created a uni-facial tool which is a tool with only one side. The first to walk upright like humans, but had a brian about the size of a modern day two-year old.

The Cro-Magnon (40,000 years ago) They moved out of Africa, invaded Europe, and took over. The first to use art in their everyday life. This picture shows them using what they have to work with to make art. They engraved the wall because that's all they had.

The Homo Erectus (1.5 million years ago) Without them, we may not have tools, such as hammers and other things we use to work with. We might not of had fire if it wasn't for them.

Neandrothal vs. Modern Human

The Neandrothals (100,000 to 30,000 years ago) As you can see very much like us, the first neandrothals have helped us as a world, very much. They had the same ideas of taking care of the sick, and burrying the dead. They were language capable and pyshically looked almost like us. Personally, I think that if it wasn't for this group, we wouldn't be as advanced as we are today.