The Axial Age in China • We all have our own assumptions about how the world works • In an era of liberation, we are living in world of globalization • We have TONS to learn from the rest of the world and throughout human history, and it sheds a light on the world we take for granted o Examining the past results in us looking at our own world differently • Attempts to break from the times that came before has been going on for quite a long time • Today’s lecture is a jump through the world’s history • When did it begin? When we were getting these hierarchical societies and such? o About 10,000 years ago was when domestication began, settling down took place o Emergence of cities and such o This then gave way to the development of complex societies • Metallurgy came into play and is making societies hierarchical o Aristocracy was using bronze o This was the Bronze Age (3000-2000 BCE) o These materials were spreading across all of Eurasia ▪ Societies began to form which looked all very similar • Crucial turning point: 1 st millennium BCE: All of the societies which had recently formed began to crumble o People began to realize a natural substance was able to replace bronze ▪ IRON!