The Neolithic Revolution III

The advent of metallurgy provides a more dramatic example of occupational specialization. Pure copper, which is sometimes found in nature, was used for jew­elry and personal items before 6000 B.C., but by 4500 B.C. it was being smelted from ores and forged into tools and weapons. These complex processes appear to have evolved separately in the Middle East and in the Balkans, where copper deposits were common. They were based on the development of ovens that could achieve both a controlled air flow and temperatures of more than two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. An analy­sis of pottery from these areas reveals that such ovens had already been developed to facilitate glazing. By 3500 B.C., bronze—a mixture of copper and tin—was in general use throughout the West for the manufacture of tools and weapons. The Neolithic Age was over, and the Bronze Age had begun. Because the skills involved in working bronze were highly specialized, smiths probably forged their wares almost exclusively for sale or barter. A sophisticated system of trade and gover­nance must have been established. Furthermore, the large-scale production of metal weapons further en­hanced the power of chiefs. Chieftainship might also involve religious duties, though organized priesthoods evolved in some soci­eties at an early date. Chiefs almost certainly organized the building of communal burying places in the Aegean and along the Atlantic and North Sea coasts from Iberia to Scandinavia. Originally simple dolmens formed of a giant stone or megalith laid upon other stones, these tombs gradually evolved into domed chambers that were entered through long masonry passages. Graves of this kind are often found in the vicinity of stone circles. Stonehenge, constructed around 3500 B.C. on England’s Salisbury Plain, is the largest and best known of these structures (see illustration 1.2). Because the circles are oriented astronomically, many have as­sumed that they served as giant calendars, but their pre­cise function and the beliefs that mandated their construction are unknown. The prevalence of these large-scale construction projects, whatever their purpose, indicates that Neo­lithic societies could achieve high levels of organization and technological sophistication. When survival—as opposed to the demands of ritual—required a major co­operative effort, some societies evolved into civiliza­tions. Civilization is a term loaded with subjective meanings. In this case, it refers to the establishment of political and cultural unity over a wide geographic area and the development of elaborate social, commercial, and administrative structures based upon high popula­tion densities and the production of substantial wealth.
In most cases, civilization also meant the develop­ment of mathematics and written languages. Both were needed for surveying, administration, and the distribu­tion of goods and services in a complex society. As chiefs became kings, the record of taxes and tributes paid, of lands annexed, and of the provisions consumed by their ever-larger armies acquired great significance. The desire to record the ruler’s glorious deeds for posterity came slightly later but was nevertheless important. Writing gives names to individuals and permits the dead to speak in their own words. Without it there is no history. The emergence of societies at this level of com­plexity affected even those areas that they did not di­rectly control. Great civilizations are magnets that draw other cultures into their orbits. As peoples on the pe­riphery become involved with the larger market through trade or tribute, cultural borrowing accelerates. Then, as civilizations expand, they come into conflict with one another, a process that brings neighboring peoples into their systems of war and diplomacy as well. By 3000 B.C., at least two such civilizations had begun to emerge, one in the valley of Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the other in the valley of the Nile.