CIVILIZATION, History of. tian. A sketch of the intellectual and material achievements of humanlcind in ancient times ; of those productions of man's mind and slcill, which have had a special influence upon the thought and life of the world It is not assumed that dvilization is or can be measured by material achievements, but without these accomplish ments civilization would be impossible. With approximate dates assigned by scientists, here in brief and simple form are presented the vari ous elements and tools by which humankind has progressed toward civilized life.
Hunting and Fishing, The first signs of man's development into a creature of more than animal intelligence and character appear in the roughly shaped Eolith flints, found in various parts of Asia and Eu rope, notably in France, Belgium and southern England, which are assigned to a date, ranging c. 500000 to ac. 100000. During these early periods man hunted with the throwing-stone, or with the cruoitlit pointed flint held in the hand. After a.c. 1 all uncertainty about man as a tool-user and tool-maker disappears.
Among the remains of the Acheulean Age, c. ;Lc. 75000 to a.c. 50000, so named from dis coveries at Saint Acheul on the Somme, lance pointed flints have been found; also small poiats seemingly designed to serve as darts or spear heads, and in the Gorge d'Enfer were discov ered points of reindeer antler, *with split base perhaps to receive the shaft," indie,ating that man was hunting with greater skill and intelli gence. By about B.C. 25000 he was probably fitting shafts of bone or wood to ffint points and flinging them at his victims with a "dart thrower," his first really successful attempt to strike a crippling or deadly blow from a dis tance. Skill and intelligence were slowly sup planting brute force. On the walls of the cavern of Niaux an artist of early Magdalenian times, c. wc. 16000, has pictured a large bison with spears and arrows showing on the fianks, and m the Perigord cave was found the vertebra of a young reindeer with an arrow point em bedded in it. While there is good reason to suspect the Cro-Magnon race was familiar with the bow and arrow it is not until neolithic times that its use is established beyond question. With this weapon in his hand man was no longer under the necessity of defending him self and hunting his food in close hand to hand combat and stnving as had been the way of all anirnals. It gave him an entirely new domi nance over his world and lifted his food-getting enterprises and himself above the level of the brute as no other invention had done up to that time. This in increasingly improved form remained man's most effective weapon until the invention of the gun.
The invention of the harpoon, c. B.C. 16000, is perhaps the oldest device for catching fish. *This invention,* says Mr. Osborn, *was des tined to exert a very strong influence on the habits of the people. . . . This new means of obtaining an abundant food supply probably diverted the Cro-Magnons in part from the ar dent and more dangerous pursuit of the larger kinds of game.° Some 10,0300 years later man invented the net which in some form he used for catching fish, thus refining still further his food-getting methods. With the introduction of metals the hook was added to man's fishing tackle.
Agriculture.-- When man ceased to live on what Nature provided without effort on his part, and attempted to produce his own food supply, he wrought a mighty revolution in his habits and character. He had to stay in a place long enough to plant and to reap and this acquired a sense of ownership.
The first hints of agriculture are met with in the rough axe-like flints presumably em ployed *for breaking clods, hoeing the ground and other simple agricultural operations,* and finely wrought flint lcnives, curved somewhat at the point and likely used as sickles. The earli est sickles used in the Euphrates Valley, before a.c. 5000, were wooden models of a sheep's lower jaw set with flint points as a cutting edge. With the introduction of the plow, c. e.c. 5000, at first nothing better than a two-handled hoe and called °the scratching wood,* drawn by a human being and later by oxen, agriculture 'be came a definite part of life and made possible large and well organized communities. Even more important in the progress of civilization was the increased fertility of the soil and the extension of crop-growing in spots. naturally unfavorable, wrought by the invention of schemes of irrigation. Ur-Nina, c. a.c. 3000, is among the first recorded as building irri gating canals who thus by increasing the fruitfulness of the Babylonian fields made possible the growth and prosperity of the great Euphratean cities and the consequent human development Domestication of Animals, The domesti cation of animals changed man's attitude toward the animal world and put a power other than his own at his service. About B.C. 10000, from evidences found at Oban in northwestern Scot land, the dog was the companion of man. At about the same time man domesticated to some extent the plateau horse and the forest horse and two vaneties of cattle, the Celtic Short horn and the Longhorn. From Babylonian rec ords we learn that prior to lac. 3000, oxen were used in agricultural operations and donkeys pulled wheeled carts and chariots.