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When did the Iron Age begin, and how was iron discovered?

This is one of those "google" questions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age

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Apparently the domestication of animals helped humans develop immunities to certain diseases by exposing them to new germs and illnesses, but this would also result in more people getting sick. So was the domestication of animals good or hurtful for the health of humans?

Great question. Whether this is good or bad depends on your perspective. If you're the beneficiary of genes passed down generation to generation that give you immunity to the disease, then you think this is good. After all, you get the benefit of using the animals for labor and use their milk and meat.

If, however, you were some of the early people who communicated these diseases (like smallpox, for example) from domesticated animals, then you weren't happy about it. This is also bad if you're a Native American, as we'll learn later this year. They did not have exposure to such diseases and when Europeans descended upon them, they brought germs that Natives had never been exposed to.

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How do the Phoenicians compare to other civilizations?

Size-wise they were not a massive civilization. Structurally, they were independent city-states. But their legacy is with their maritime exploration and colonization. By spreading out along the Mediterranean Sea, settling areas and trading with other peoples, they were the conduit for the spread of various cultures and technologies during the early civilization period.

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What is so important about monotheism? Why is this such a big deal?

I'm going to answer this from a historical perspective, not a modern, political perspective. Almost all early civilizations featured polytheism and a general belief that the gods played a certain role in our lives, dictating certain things.

Monotheism, beginning with the Jews, focused on a personal relationship with a singular, all-powerful, all-knowing god. For the Jews, it allowed for a common connection around this one god. Whereas in polytheistic societies, depending on what you did for a living, many of the gods were irrelevant to you.

It's also not just the monotheism that's important to note. The notion of dualism - good vs. evil, a heaven and a hell - that comes from this time period. We see it in the early Zoroastrianism (coming soon to our class). It's those two legacies that we see so prevalent today.

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which early river valley was the most powerful ?

I think this question deserves some discussion in class and can be part of our project.

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In centralized governments, who was more likely to be the sole leader: priests or someone else of "great importance?"

Interesting that you bring up priests as power players. Most early civilizations had a monarch of some kind. The strongest ones, however, didn't just claim earthly leadership, but divine power and leadership, too. We see this in Egypt and China, for example. The king and god were one in the same.

Priests, while powerful in most civilizations, would never be THE leader of any kind, but would certainly have power and even influence over the monarch in some cases.

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What sparked the beliefs of God, or multiple gods? Like where did that idea come from?

The unexplained is the easiest way to put it. Think about all that science and other disciplines have been able to help us understand the natural world. We know why a volcano erupts, thanks to science. Ancient people had no clue as to why it happened. In the human mind, we are always seeking answers. And when we can't find a logical one, we say "god(s) did it."

Today, this is referred to as the "God gap." Anything that can't be explained logically must be attributed to god. It's one of the reasons early people had multiple gods; a god for almost everything.

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Did really no one question the gods?

An interesting question as it really depends on the civilization and the specific time period. Taking Egypt as an example, there were "weak" Pharaohs at times and people obviously questioned them. In China, emperors claimed a connection with god and when things went badly at times, they were deposed from their position.

Now I know that answer sounds like I'm talking about kings, not gods, but remember they were connected at the hip in some civilizations.

In later civs, such as Greece and Rome, the educated people didn't truly believe in the power of the gods; they recognized them for what they were: myths to tell a story, teach a lesson

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How did power shift from Gods to man or vice versa?

Too broad a question to answer in blanket fashion when talking about all of humanity. Just be sure to know, that wherever there was a god, there was a man trying to latch onto his "power" to gain his own power.

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In what ways did the Neolithic trade roots impact roots in later eras?

Think of the early trade routes as neurons in a baby's brain. There aren't nearly as many neural connections in a baby's brain as that of a child. And a child doesn't have nearly as many as an adult. The early civ trade routes were like that of an infant: not too many, not too extensive, not heavily traveled. Later, we come to the Silk, Sea and Sand roads, which are like the neural connections of a child. An adult's neural wiring would be the equal of today as we have a totally interconnected world.

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Knowing that Judaism was the main religion of the time. We're there other religions practiced?

Hinduism is the only other religion that rivals Judaism in age that is still around today. All other religions of the time died out at various times.

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What caused the end of the River Valleys?

Read the last section of chapter 2!!!!!!!

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Did civilization sprawl out as slow as agriculture or was it more gradual or fast?

Good question. The spread of agriculture was at a snail's pace, while I suppose you could say civ spread at the pace of a turtle who later got injected with steroids. The turtle started out slowly, for sure, but once injected, we see an explosion in expansion for civilization.

You'll notice, if you pay attention to the geography, that all the early civilizations were places where agriculture first flourished.

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Jobs were created when communities started to develop, were these paying jobs with a certain currency or were they just were there for labor?

I'm not sure I know what you mean by "just there for labor." Unless you were a slave - and these early civs generally had some form of slavery - you were paid somehow. However, it wasn't necessarily with money. The currency paid to many workers in Egypt, for example, was beer!!! So just understand that currency is whatever is valued and will get you other things or get you labor.

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How did people develop the belief of a god when their mindset was originally on survival?

See the above question about god(s). But to address the part about survival, once humans began to settle down and we had job specialization, people begin to think about other things than survival, including philosophy, which leads to pondering about the unknown which leads to the potential creation of a god to explain it all.

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Why did everyone before Judaism believe in multiple gods?

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How did new trade routes lead to cultural connection.