Paleolithic Life

PaleolithicOld

Stone

PaleolithicOld Stone Age

Learning to use tools

Converting stone into long lasting tools

From Cave Man to Village Man

From mere stone to applying some laws of physics

Applied science istechnology

The Paleolithic focused primarily

on developing technologies for using stone to

improve human abilities and advance the

quality of human life.

The technology of shaping stone

implements applies principles of physics

related to the structure of certain rocks and how they react to carefully directed force.

Early human “science” was a matter of trial and error in discovering how an unknown principle of

science applied in a specific instance. Thus, technology came long

before anything we would call science.

Stone technology moved humans out

of the caves and into the villages.

Stone tools made possible cutting and shaping pieces of wood. Wood added to asharp point equals a spear and later an arrow. Carved wood bent by a leather “string” createdthe bow to which a modified spear was added asthe arrow.

Stone, wood, reeds, and animal hides wereused to create shelter. The first stone “houses”were built during the Paleolithic times.

Paleolithic people were artists of high quality

A cave paintingwas more thandecorating the old cave wallsto avoid thatdreary look. Paintings wereexpressionsof belief andhow these people viewedlive.

What is this a painting of?

What might be therelationship betweencave art and writing?

We know that writingstarted out as picturesused to represent words.

Skara Brae HouseHere are the remains of a Paleolithic

“house” called the Skara Brae House. These

homes were built to last.

People did not always live in them all year round. And they were

abandon when people moved

on to other locations

following their food sources.

Why do you think this “home” is near the body of water you see in the picture?

How do we know about life in Paleolithic times?

One group ofanthropologists arecalled archeologists.Archeologists studyhuman artifacts.Artifacts are anything made orused by man.

What were people doing in this cave? That’s the question archeologistsare trying to answer. By digging andlocating as many artifacts as they can,the archeologists hope to piece together what life was like for thoseliving in the cave.

All you see and many otheritems we might find are artifacts. Artifacts are the story of our life we leavebehind when we are longdead and gone.

We use the artifact that remainto try and recreate somethingthat could not survive, the societyof a given time.

Society is how we live together.

Are there dangers of making serious mistakes

in using artifacts to reconstruct long gone societies?

What are these people doing?

Do you know what these peopleare doing?

What do you think someone from 2000 years in the future might think these people are doing? Would they get it right?

These people are using special glasses to watch one of the very first 3D

movies.

You be the archeologist

This is a series of pictures takenon January first on the main street of Philadelphia, PA.

You are an archeologist from the 23 century. You have beengiven this series of “digital pictures” from the 21st century. They were taken 1 January 2009 on Broad Street, the main north/southstreet in the center of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States.

Explain what these people are doing? What would the picturestell us about life in Philadelphia at that time?