The Dawn of HistoryReview 1

Aim: To understand Prehistory

Prehistory

• Prehistory – refers to the time period before the invention of writing—anything before 5,000 years ago.

• Without writing, archeologists must study artifacts – things left behind – to understand our human past.

• Anthropologists study human culture – our way of life.

What is CULTURE

Where do we come from?

• All people today belong to the species homo sapiens. Homo sapiens first inhabited the world 50,000 years ago.

• In 1974, Donald Johanson found part of a humanlike skeleton in Ethiopia. “Lucy” is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago. Lucy was an ancestor.

• Scientists think that our ancestors lived in East Africa because of these remains.

The Old Stone Age

• The earliest period of human history is known as the Old Stone Age, or the Paleolithic era (about 10,000 BC).

Paleolithic People• Paleolithic people lived in small

hunting and food-gathering groups of 20 or 30 called CLANS.

• Everyone helped to collect food.– Men hunted or fished– Women/children gathered berries, fruit,

nuts, roots, etc.

• They were NOMADS, moving place to place following animals and fruit.

On the Move…

• During the Old Stone Age there were several Ice Ages when thick glaciers, or sheets of ice, spread across the continents.

• In order to survive, people made fur clothing and built fires to stay warm.

• They also made basic tools from stone, bone, and wood. The wheel was invented around 5,000BC.

During the last ice age the water level in the oceans dropped revealing a land bridge over the Bering Strait connecting Asia and

North America.

Art & Religion

• About 30,000 Years ago, people began to leave evidence of a belief in an afterlife.– Cave paintings depict animal spirits.– Small statues show worship of “Earth-

Mother.”

• Toward the end of the Old Stone Age, people began burying their dead with care with tools and weapons.– What did this practice show?

Speech

• At some point Old Stone Age people developed speech to communicate during hunting and gathering.

• Original speech was very basic, like grunting, similar to animal noises.

The Paleolithic Era

Nomads Hunter-Gatherers

Basic Tools (Fur, fire,

stone)

Art & Belief in an

afterlife

The New Stone Age

• The Neolithic Revolution refers to the New Stone Age that followed the Paleolithic Era about 10,000 years ago.It is often called the *Agricultural Revolution*

• This is the time when the first nomadic hunters learned to FARM and DOMESTICATE ANIMALS (taming).

THIS CHANGED THEIR LIFESTYLE IN A BIG WAY!!!

What changed?People could stay in one

place because they had a steady food source.

Populations grew because there was more

food.(More food More

people)

The first villages developed as a

result.

Free Time! = Writing• Because of advancing technology, shared

responsibilities, and the fact that people no longer needed to move around…they had more free time.

• This free time allowed Neolithic people to:– Develop new technology like art, writing!!, and

calendars– Make more material things

Catal Huyuk

• Village in modern day Turkey• Covered 32 acres• 8,000 years ago it was home to

5,000 to 6,000 people• Homes were made from brick• Had many wall paintings and

religious shrines to earth mother

The Village