Prehistory to History:

Issues and beginnings!

I. How do we signify time?

• B.C./ A.D.Before Christ, Anno Domini Example: 64 BC, AD 2007• BCE/ CEBefore Common Era, Common EraExample 64 BCE, CE 2007• Both use the year 1 as the start for the

Common Era

II. Periodization: Time as a man-made construct

Calendar Year New Year’s Day

Gregorian: Jesus

2007 C.E. or A.D.

January 1

Islamic:

Hijira

1428 A.H.

(Anno Hijra)

January 10

Hebrew: Creation

5727 September 23 (Rosh Hashanah)

Chinese :

Yalu Emperor

4704

Year of the fire pig

February 7

III. Paleolithic Era: “Old Stone Age” 250,000-10,000 years

ago• Hunter-gatherers/foraging• LONGEST era of human history• Got what they needed w/ out

transforming their environment• Created symbolic language which

allowed them to adapt to a wide range of environments

• This prehistoric time period is studied by:

Archaeologists

= The material life of hominids (artifacts)

Anthropologists

15,000 years old!

=look at cultural and spiritual

For tens of thousands of years, humans survived by hunting game and gathering edible plants. Men

hunted and women gathered. They are called nomadic “hunter-

gatherers”.

About 10,000 years ago ( BCE 8,000) this changed, independently all over the world as humans began to settle

down in one place. WHY?

= Neolithic Revolution

• The major change in human life caused by the beginnings of farming (from food gathering to food producing)

• Your book claims that this is one of the great breakthroughs of history. Do you agree with the book? Using your significance tool, the text on pages 14-16 (all graphics, maps, charts included), create a REASONED and EVIDENCED response to the book’s claim.