prehistory the period of time before people developed writing

Prehistory

The period of time before people developed writing

CIVILIZATION

• A TIME when people progressed culturally and began to live in cities

Paleolithic Age

• Old Stone Age ( no iron !)• Time period in which people first lived• 2.3 million years ago until 10,000 years ago

• People were food gatherers and food hunters

Land bridges

• Land that became accessible, or easily reached, when the water froze or receded

Important vocabulary

• Migrate: make your way to another location, to commute

• Bands: ancient groups or members of about 30 people

• Home territory: the area in which a band searched for food; approximately 2 square miles

Food and Tools

• Food that was gathered: nuts, berries, fruit, eggs, honey and meat was hunted• Olduvan pebble tools: tools found in the Olduvai Gorge, AFRICA which are considered to be the earliest known to exist• Flake tools: tools made from “flakes” or “chips” of broken stone• Fire: Used to cook food, scare animals, heat, clear brush

Language Development

• Having a language made it possible for early man to:• Work together• Share ideas• Pass on their beliefs and stories to younger generations

Types of Early Man• Australopithecus – pre-human; earliest, most complete skeleton was named “Lucy” (3.2 million years old)• Homo habilis – “skillful man”man who had abilities -created and used tools• Homo erectus – “upright man” walked in a standing position• Homo sapiens – “man who thinks” – a highly developed brain examples – Cro Magnons and Neanderthals

Neanderthals

• Named after Neander River Valley in Germany• Lived about 300,000 – 200,000 years ago• Good hunters, used traps and pitfalls to catch animals• Good builders, used bones and animal skins to make shelters• First people to bury their dead; buried them with food, tools and flowers

Cro-Magnons• Named after a rock shelter in France• Lived about 100,000 years ago• Considered by archaeologists to be the “first modern human beings”• Skillful tool makers

• Burin: a chisel that was used to make other tools from antler, bone, ivory and shell• Axe: used to cut down trees, hollow out canoes, cut vines for rafts

• Skillful hunters, created a throwable spear; hunted in groups• Jewelry makers: used bone, ivory, shell and clay• Artists carved statues out of ivory and bone or molded it out of clay and created cave

paintings• Had yearly social gatherings!

The Neolithic Age• “New Stone Age” – people changed from food gatherers to food

producers through farming and herding

• This is known as the Neolithic Revolution: growing food and herding and domesticating animals• Domesticated: to be tamed; to lose the fear of humans; People use

this to breed and herd animals

Population is the number of people in a specific region• Population of early man increased because they had a better food

supply and they had permanent shelters!• They formed permanent shelters and villages of 150-200 people• Earliest know villages: Catal Huyuk, Jericho and Abu Hureyra

• Post and lintel – a form of architecture where a horizontal pole was placed across two upright roles to support a roof: first used in Catal Huyuk

Specialization

• The development of occupations (jobs) also started because of increased food supply• Potters• Weavers• Tool-makers• Farmers• Metal workers• Cloth makers

Neolithic civilizations had…..

• GOVERNMENT: The village chief settled disputes and directed village activities• Also had priests

• RELIGION: “Earth Mother” was the goddess of fertility; the most important religious force

Labels used for dating years

• B.C. – Before Christ• B.C.E. – Before Common Era

• A.D. – Anno Domini – during the life of Christ (in the year of our Lord)• C.E. – Common Era

• ***You may use whichever you are comfortable using!