WEEK 1: Technology and Its Impact on Civilization

This is our first week in World Civ 10100 Q! Our theme this week is technology and how it contributed to the development of ancient societies.

Historically, technology has played a large role in human development, and this role has been discovered by asking a number of challenging questions. What kinds of tools did early humans use? How did these tools affect their lifestyle? How did technological advances contribute to the formation of the earliest civilizations? Is technology just a collection of tools and machines, or is there a more general way of thinking about technology? These are the fundamental questions you should ask this week.

Have you ever thought about what technology really is? Go ahead! Think! Do you consider this computer to be technology? Do you consider the train or car that you took today to be technology? Fine. Now, do you consider your pencil to be technology? You might. We most commonly think of tools as technology, whether the tools are simple or complex. This is very reasonable.

Our English word "technology" came from the ancient Greeks. Their word was "techne," and it originally meant "method" or "technique." The Greeks would have viewed this computer as technology, but they would have also viewed the very techniques and knowledge that were used to make this computer as technology. Metal, glass, plastic and silicon were all shaped and molded in ways that produced the machine you are now using. Or think perhaps about the computer's software. It is a set of rules that we call a "program." This program is a method of controlling the computer. This is the essential characteristic of technology in a general sense; it is a tool or a method that allows people to control something.

What kinds of things would people want to control? Do you think that people would want to control their physical environment? Would they want to control the flow of water, or wild animals, or the temperature? What kinds of technology would you need to do these things?

What else might people want to control? Might they want to control their own community? Perhaps other people? What kinds of technology would be useful in these cases?

In the readings and images for this week, you will see the influence of different technologies on the development of the earliest human societies. You will see some of the earliest technology used by prehistoric peoples. You will also learn about the fundamental consequences that new tools and techniques had for the development of civilized life.

1. Reading assignments.

2. Interpretation of Images.

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