People of the Stone Age

Hunters and Gatherers

Theories on prehistory and early man constantly change as new evidence comes to light. - Louis Leakey, British paleoanthropologist

Theories on prehistory and early man constantly change as new evidence comes to light. - Louis Leakey, British paleoanthropologist

65 Million Years Ago•No matter what you may have seen in the movies, early man did not live during the same period in history as dinosaurs!

•Dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago. The first human did not appear until around 4 million years ago.

3 Million Years AgoFour million years ago, our planet was teeming with life!

There were deer, giraffes, hyenas, sheep, goats, horses, elephants, camels, beavers, cave lions, ants, termites, woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, giant sharks, dogs with huge teeth, and all kinds of birds, plants, and fish.

Very Early HumansIt was during this time that early man first appeared.

How do scientists know about an early man who lived millions of years ago?

Lucy told them!

Lucy•In 1974, a skeleton was found in Africa. The bones were those of a female, about 20 years old when she died. Scientists named her Lucy. •About 3 million years ago, when Lucy was alive, she was about 4 feet tall and weighed about 50 pounds. Scientists suspect that she fell into a lake or river and drowned. •Scientists are like detectives. They can tell a great deal from a skeleton, whether it's one year old or 3 million years old!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Lucy_blackbg.jpg/220px-Lucy_blackbg.jpg

Prehistory is everything that happened before written records.

Writing developed in different places at different times.

This means that, technically, the dates for prehistory vary around the world.

Prehistory is the time before the very first human writing, about 5,000 years ago.

What Is Prehistory?

The earliest humans probably lived in Africa. They spread to the

rest of the world over the next tens of thousands of years as they hunted and gathered food to survive. This time is called the Paleolithic Age.

Hunters & Gatherers: The Stone Age people were hunters and gatherers. We know this because scientists have found fossils and artifacts, which reveal traces of their life. These people did not plant crops. They gathered wild fruits, nuts, berries, and vegetables. • The role of men

was to do the hunting

• The role of women was gathering and caring for children

The animals they killed provided meat for food, bones for tools, and hides for clothing.

Hunting

Nomads: People who depend on wild plants and animals to survive. They followed where the food supply went and gathered seeds and nuts.

Nomads

They set up seasonal camps in caves or rock shelters wherever the animals were plentiful.

Bands migrated when food (plants or animals) became scarce in one location.

Spreading Around the World

•About 100,000 years ago, people began to slowly leave Africa and populate the world. They spread to Asia and Europe first.

•Then to the Americas! They did not need a boat. The Ice Age was here! They traveled across giant walkways of frozen ice, over what later would become vast rivers and seas.

•Scientists have found artifacts of their tools and weapons, which help us to understand how they lived, where they went, and how they got there.

Reasons for the Migrations Scarcity of food Growing population Changing climate

(desertification) Following animals on

the move (hunting)

Migration Video

During the last ice age between 100,000 B.C. and 8000 B.C. the water level in the oceans dropped

revealing a land bridge over the Bering Strait connecting Asia and North America

Old Stone Age

• 2,500,000 to 8000 BC• Made stone chopping tools• Hunter-gatherers• Humans migrated across the globe• Cave paintings and small carvings• Simple clothing• Some jewelry• Figured out how to make fire• Began an oral language• Domesticate dog

Paleolithic Age

Mesolithic Age Began after the last Ice Age around 10,000 BC Gradual shift from gathering and hunting to farming Towards the end of this age, some settled near rivers and other

bodies of water to farm Others continued hunting and gathering Attached sharpened tools to handles for better hunting (spears)• Cured and stored food for the winter• Used traps to catch food. Fisherman used nets woven from vines

and fishhooks. • Built rafts and canoes to catch bigger fish• Wove clothing and blankets• Bow and arrow

New Stone Age

• 8000-3000 BC- depends on location• Pottery• Permanent settlements• Agriculture (farming)• Animal domestication• Begin to make tools out of metal• Trading• Writing• Simple calendar

Neolithic Age

Being able to make fire changed everything! People began to cook their food, which helped to reduce disease.

People collected around the fire each night, to share stories of the day's hunt and activities, which helped to develop a spirit of community.

Because they could make fire, they were free to move about in search of food. They made warm clothes from animal skins. At night, they built a campfire to cook the food and to stay warm.

Fire

The Stone Age refers to the material (stone) used to make manmade tools.

Over time early people’s tool-making skills were considerably improved. Their weapons included stone axes, spears, and knives.

Prehistoric Stone Tools

Image courtesy of Wikipedia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Levallois_Point-Animation.gif

Cave Paintings are artifacts too. Animals were well drawn and filled in with natural colors to give them even more shape and substance. They drew stick figures for hunters. They drew stencils of hands. http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/00.xml

In your Social Studies notebook, explain how early humans adapted to their environments. Some examples are given below to get you started.

• Use of Fire

• Weapons and Tools

• Animals

The Neolithic Revolution

(8000BC-3500BC)•Sometimes termed the Agricultural Revolution.•Humans begin to slowly domesticate plant and animals.•Agriculture requires nomadic peoples to become sedentary (they sit).•Populations begin to rise in areas where plant and animal domestication occurred.

Changes to Way of LifeAgricultural Surplus• As farming technology improved people were

able to grow the food they needed. Because of this not everyone had to work on providing food anymore and so people could do other things.

Artisans• People who made crafts such as textiles

(fabrics), pottery, jewelry, etc. . . • People could do what they were good at instead

of having to farm.

Specialization of Labor• Because people could focus on one particular thing

technology and skills improved.

Storage of Food• Pottery and other devices were invented as ways to

grow extra food. This extra food was vital for feeding a growing population.

Trade• As artisans made goods they began to exchange goods

with other villages, and later cities, who had different goods. This was a barter system.

Changes to Way of Life

Africa (Nile River

Valley)

5000 BCE

Wheat, barley

Central America and

Mexico

5000 BCE

Beans, corn,

squash

China

6000 BCE - Millet

5000 BCE - Rice

India (Indus River

Valley)

5000 BCE

Cotton

Iraq (Mesopot

amia - Fertile

Crescent)

5000 BCE

Wheat, barley

Peru

3000 BCE

Tomatoes,

potatoes

Agriculture around the World

Interactions Between Nomadic Peoples and Sedentary Agricultural

Peoples •Some nomadic peoples engaged in pastoralism (farming animals).

•Some practiced slash & burn agriculture. •The violent and peaceful interaction between nomads and agriculturalists endures throughout history. (Trade & raids)

•High starch diets slowly allowSedentary populations to grow.

•First plow invented c.6000BC;crop yields grow exponentially by 4000BC.Pop. grows from 5-8 million to 60-70 million. •Eventually agricultural populations begin to spread out, displacing or assimilating nomadic groups; farming groups grow large enough for advanced social organization.

Sedentary Agriculturalists Dominate

First Towns Develop

Catal HuyukModern Turkey

First settled:

c. 7000BCE

JerichoModern Israel

First settled:

c. 7000BCE

Notebook: List Effects of Community LifeAdvantages Disadvantages

Advantages• Common culture expressed• Mutual protection• Near farms• Grain and seed storage• Population growth• Organized society

Disadvantages• Disease spreads more rapidly

among a dense population• Grain stores were tempting to

raiders• Permanent settlements suffered

from natural disasters (drought, fire, floods)

• Heavily reliant on success of crops

Why Live in a Settled Community?

Catal Huyuk (Cattle Ho0/yook)

Typical Catal Huyuk interior (restoration).

Wall mural of Catal Huyuk.

Found in Anatolia (Modern Day Turkey)Its walls enclosed 32 acres and up to 6,000 people.Grew many different crops and developed artisans and trade.

• One of the world’s very first permanent settlements– 7500-5700 BC

• Located in what is now Turkey• Population of approximately 6,500 people– 1,000 dwellings crammed together– No streets – people climbed out through

ladders in their ceilings• Supported by agriculture and animal

domestication– Barley, peas, wheat– Cattle, sheep

Catal Huyuk

Found in ancient Palestine near the Dead sea. It was in existence by 8000 B.C.

Neolithic Village: Skara Brae in Scotland

Towns Present Evidence of:

•Religious structures (burial rites, art)

•Political & Religious leaders were the same

•Still relied on limited hunting & gathering for food

Roles of Women

•Women generally lost status under male-dominated, patriarchal systems.

•Women were limited in vocation,worked in food production, etc.

•Women may have lacked thesame social rights as men.

Metal Working: From Copper to Bronze•The working of metals became

very important to early human settlements for tools & weapons.•Early settlements gradually shifted from copper to the stronger alloy bronze by 3,000BC—ushers in the Bronze Age!•Metal working spread throughout human communities slowly as agriculture had.

Advanced Civilization: The Next Step?•By 3500BC, relatively large, advanced

preliterate societies had developed along the Indus, Huang He, Nile, and Tigris & Euphrates Rivers.

•As societies grew in size and need, sedentary human beings were once again faced with pressures to adapt to changing natural and human environments.