Hammurabi's Code

The World's First Written Law Code

By: Hammurabi, King of Babylon

The great king of Babylonia known as Hammurabi ruled the Fertile Crescent from 1792 BCE - 1750 BCE. He had the laws of the land compiled and written down on a large stone pillar, called a stele. The laws were written in Cuneiform, the language of the empire. The 8 foot tall stele, seen above, is topped with a carving of the sun god, Shamash (seated), who is pictured handing Hammurabi (standing) a staff and ring, which are symbols of justice. The laws are known as the Code of Hammurabi and cover all areas of life from trade to religious matters.

Homework Directions: Listen to the audio recording about Hammurabi's Code. Then respond in your writing section of your binder in a few sentences. You can use 1 or 2 of the sentence starters to help you get started. 

Sentence Starters:

• I wonder what this means...
• I really don’t understand the part when...
• I really like/dislike this idea because...
• This situation reminds me of a similar situation in my own life. It happened when...
• My opinion of the illustrations, table, and figures is…
• As I watched, I felt…
• Questions I have after watching are…
• Something I learned from watching…

The Tigris & Euphrates Rivers

Homework Directions: Watch the video/song by Mr. Nicky. Then respond in your writing section of your binder in a few sentences. You can use 1 or 2 of the sentence starters to help you get started. 

Sentence Starters:

• I wonder what this means...
• I really don’t understand the part when...
• I really like/dislike this idea because...
• This situation reminds me of a similar situation in my own life. It happened when...
• My opinion of the illustrations, table, and figures is…
• As I watched, I felt…
• Questions I have after watching are…
• Something I learned from watching…

The Epic of Gilgamesh

From MrDonn.org:

"Like many ancient people, the ancient Sumerians had a very lively oral tradition.  They loved to tell exciting stories about the great deeds and heroics of their ancestors.  One of the stories they told was the tale of Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh was one of the kings of Uruk (a Sumerian city).  His name is on the list of kings of Sumer recovered from the library at Nineveh.  Did he actually exist as a real person or was he just made up by the Sumerians?  We may never know.  But, according to the story, Gilgamesh was part god and part human with some of the powers of the gods. Gilgamesh was the first superhero!

According to the epics, Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu fought monsters, moved mountains and rivers, rescued people in need, and generally protected the people of Sumer.  The epic of Gilgamesh was written down in cuneiform on clay tablets and preserved at the Library of Nineveh."

http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/gilgamesh.html

Read the tale "Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest" 

Homework Directions: Read the tale "Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest." Then respond in your writing section of your binder in a few sentences. You can use 1 or 2 of the sentence starters to help you get started. 

Sentence Starters:

• I wonder what this means...
• I really don’t understand the part when...
• I really like/dislike this idea because...
• This situation reminds me of a similar situation in my own life. It happened when...
• My opinion of the illustrations, table, and figures is…
• As I watched, I felt…
• Questions I have after watching are…
• Something I learned from watching…

Language & Art for Homo Sapiens

Cave Art

 

Early people also expressed themselves through art. Some of this art can still be seen today, even though it is thousands of years old. For example, in 1879 a young girl named Maria de Sautuola wandered into a cave on her grandfather's farm near Altamira, Spain. She was startled by what she discovered on the walls of the cave:

 

"Maria entered the cave... and suddenly reappeared all excited, shouting 'Papa, look, painted bulls!' Maria had discovered one of the most famous animal-art galleries in the world."

-from Hands: Prehistoric Visiting Cards? by August Gansser

 

 

About ten thousand years before Maria's visit, Paleolithic artists had painted mysterious signs, including what looked like a heard of animals-horses, boars, bison, and deer-on the cave's ceiling. In 1940, a cave with similar paintings to those in Spain was discovered near Lascaux in southern France.

 

 

Paleolithic cave painting have been found all around the world. Early artists crushed yellow, black and red rocks and combined them with animal fat to make paints. They used twigs and their fingertips to apply these paints to the rock wall. They later used brushes made from animal hair. Early people created scenes of lions, oxen, panthers and other animals. Few humans, however, appear in these paintings.

 

Historians are not sure why early artists chose to make cave paintings. Early people may have thought that painting an animal would bring hunters good luck. Some scholars believe, however, that the paintings may have been created to record the group's history. They may have been created simply to be enjoyed.

 

-From "A History of the World" by Jackson Spielvogel 

Visit the cave of Lascaux

 

Respond:

What do you think of the cave art?

Why might it have been created?

What can we learn about early humans from it?

Homo Erectus Stands Upright

Homo erectus shows improvement in the ability to walk and a larger brain allows for more complicated tools to be made and for the control of fire.

 

 

 

Links to websites about Homo Habilis

 

Stone Age Toolkit Interactive  - Look at this one first!

 

Making Tools Graphic

 

Early Stone Age Tools - Smithsonian

 

Homo Habilis Overview - Smithsonian

 

Homo Habilis Overview - Australia Museum

After Visiting the Websites Respond:

Draw a tool that Homo habilis used and write a caption to explain what the tool does.

Tuesday's (10/3) Homework

Homework Directions: Watch the two short video clips below of Dr. Donald Johanson. Then respond in your writing section of your binder in 4-5 sentences. You can use 1 or 2 of the sentence starters to help you get started. 

Sentence Starters:

• I wonder what this means...
• I really don’t understand the part when...
• I really like/dislike this idea because...
• This situation reminds me of a similar situation in my own life. It happened when...
• My opinion of the illustrations, table, and figures is…
• As I watched, I felt…
• Questions I have after watching are…
• Something I learned from watching…

Finding the Lucy Fossil

How "Lucy" Got Her Name

Comparing Homo Sapiens to Australopitecus and Chimpanzees

Click on the pictures below to examine them in more detail. 

Compare the skeletons of humans (Homo sapiens) to Australopithecus afarensis and chimpanzees.

What similarities and differences can you find?