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Chapter  1

Prehistory

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Assignment Checklist

What you should do: Where? When?

Read the introduction and objectives.

Read Chapter 1: Prehistory.

Participate in the discussion activity.

Try the learning activities/objects.

Complete the quiz.

Other assignments

Notes:

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Introduction

“For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened that unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk,” states Professor Stephen Hawking, Director of Research in the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.

Humans are curious about their origins. In this text, questions of origin will be asked, or more specifically, students will discover the importance of those questions to the societies studied in the scope of the course: prehistory through the Middle Ages.

In certain periods, such as that of the Greek Empire, questions like “Who are we, and why are we here?” became so important that much energy was devoted to answering, or at least attempting to answer, those questions. Philosophy was born. In other periods, such as during the Roman Empire, humans seemed too busy to expend much energy on the burning philosophical issues, but these issues still existed, nonetheless, sometimes taking on the form of religions, and they may have been a contributing factor to the fall of the Empire.

Scientists date the age of the Earth at about 4 billion years. “On Earth, life began at least 3,500,000,000 years ago, no more than 1,000,000,000 years after the planet had achieved more or less its present shape,” writes Isaac Asimov in his book Exploring the Earth and the Cosmos (3). What is a billion years? That alone is tough to grasp. Comprehending the appearance of humans from the Earth’s beginnings through present day is daunting. If age estimates range from 3.5 to 4.5 billion years, what is a billion years, give or take a few? To understand “our” time (the appearance of humans), it might be helpful to visualize a clock. If time is started at 4 billion years, then humans are arriving way late to the Earth party—a comparative example would be arriving shortly before midnight of when a new year begins!

Learning Objectives

When you complete this chapter, you should be able to

• Demonstrate critical thinking and make reasoned choices by acquiring, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating knowledge. After studying this chapter, students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the terms “history” and “prehistory” as well as “culture” and “civilization.”

• Evaluate through academic analysis the development of the human history from prehistoric times (Paleolithic and Neolithic) to the early civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia

• Demonstrate an understanding of the time span that humans have been on Earth• Identify and analyze traditions and practices specific to ancient cultures, and describe how

they help shape the texts produced within those cultures• Interpret, analyze, and evaluate the key developments that laid the foundation for the

modern world

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• Classify and analyze works of art and architecture in the context of individuals, society, time, places, and circumstances existing and transpiring within the time frame of this course

• Analyze particular historical issues, and academically and cogently argue your positions on those issues

Key Terms

BCE: Before the Common Era

Bronze Age: The period of human development between the Stone Age and the Iron Age

Civilization: An advanced state of human society where a high level of culture, science, and government has been reached

Culture: The sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings from one generation to another

Haplotype: On a single chromosome, a group of alleles of different genes (as of the major Histocompatibility complex) that are linked closely enough to be inherited, usually as a unit

History: A record of past events and times, especially in connection with the human race

Hominid: Any of the modern or extinct bipedal primates of the family Hominidae, including all species of the genera Homo and Australopithecus

Hypothesis: A provisional theory set forth to explain some class of phenomena either accepted as a guide to future investigation or assumed for the sake of argument and testing

Law: In science, a statement of a relation or sequence of phenomena invariable under the same conditions

Mesolithic: Transitional period of the Stone Age between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods

Neolithic: Last phase of the Stone Age

Prehistory: Human history in the period before recorded events known mainly through archeological discoveries, study, and research

Paleolithic: The early phase of the Stone Age, usually divided into three periods (Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, and Upper Paleolithic)

Species: The major subdivision of genus and subgenus, regarded as the basic category of biological classification, composed of related individuals that resemble one another, are able to breed among themselves, but are not able to breed with another species

Theory: A coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena such as Darwin’s theory of evolution

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Prehistory, History, Culture, and Civilization

To understand the basics of this chapter, there are four key terms that will need to be understood: prehistory, history, culture, and civilization.

Prehistory and history are two sides of the same semantic coin. History involves written records (think “his-story”), and prehistory is before written records. If no written records are available, scientists rely on archeology to learn about humans and the way they lived before written records. As a result, scientists work with a “best guess” scenario, building and revising hypotheses with the most up-to-date evidence. This is why time spans frequently range between tens of thousands of years to millions of years in some cases.

Culture, as defined by Gloria Fiero in her book The Humanistic Tradition, “proceeds from the manipulation of nature; and the appearance of tools and weapons—constitutes the primary act of extending control over nature” (1). Robert Lamm, in his book Humanities in the Western Culture, incorporates the term “culture” into the next phase of human development. Culture equals cultivation, which equals agriculture, according to Lamm. “For millennia, nomadic tribes had followed the seasons as they hunted game and gathered plants and fruit. At some point, the puzzle of propagation was solved and the connection made between seeds and germination, mating and gestation” (12). Thus, by gaining more control over nature (or at least understanding how it worked), tribes grew and stored food. So even though storms, floods, and droughts could wreak havoc on crops, the cultivation of agriculture led to a more predictable and easy life than the life led by Paleolithic hunter/gatherers, who were completely at the mercy of nature.

Civilization is culture advanced to the point where cities begin to develop. “The birth of civilization (the word derives from the Latin civitas, or ‘city’) marks the shift from rural/pastoral to urban/commercial life,” Fiero states (1).

orIgIns

In the mid 1800s, Charles Darwin proposed a theory to explain the evolution of life in general and humans specifically. “Survival of the fittest” was the phrase used to explain the continuity of life over a lengthy period of time in his work On the Origin of Species.

Looking at a map of human history can be as complicated as trying to figure out directions in the subway station. For instance, a map of human ancestry shows the branches of hominids with humans, or Homo sapiens, as the very last “stop.” In sum, the chart depicts the genealogy of humans and their ancestors. The graph begins six million years ago and continues to the present day. Along the timeline are branches with the Latin names of bipedal primates thought to be the ancestors of modern humans. At about 2.5 million years ago on the graph, a name appears—“homo,” the Latin word Charles Darwin

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for “man.” The creature was called Homo habilis, or “handy man,” by anthropologists Louis Leakey, Phillip Tobias, and John Napier, who discovered the species in 1964 (What Does It Mean). Homo habilis merges at about 1.9 million years ago with another species, Homo rudolfensis. Together, the two form Homo ergaster, explained as follows by researchers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History:

Traditionally, scientists have referred to this species as Homo erectus and linked this species’ name with a proliferation of populations across Africa, Europe, and Asia. Yet, since the first discoveries of Homo erectus, it had been noted that there were differences between the early populations of “Homo erectus” in Africa, and the later populations of Europe, Africa and Asia. Many researchers now separate the two into distinct species Homo ergaster for early African “Homo erectus,” and Homo erectus for later populations mainly in Asia. Since modern humans share the same differences as H. ergaster with the Asian H. erectus, scientists consider H. ergaster as the probable ancestor of later Homo populations. (What Does It Mean)

Homo erectus (upright man) therefore split from Homo ergaster about 1.6 million years ago.Many scientists now believe this species was found mainly in Asia. Common thinking among

researchers is that Homo heidelbergensis appeared approximately 500,000 years ago perhaps in a lineage from Homo ergaster. It is from Homo heidelbergensis that Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis stem. And for a time those two species coexisted.

Why study prehistory? By definition it is one of the most dynamic aspects of the humanities. Much is known about the historical civilizations and cultures due to the prevalence of their written records, but prehistory is still a vast and, in many ways, unknown field. It could be that by digging into the distant past, researchers will find clues for modern man’s troubles. For instance, chronic conditions such as diabetes and allergies and even acute illnesses such as appendicitis might be linked to autoimmune diseases and the structure of the human

body, which developed over millennia (Hurley 51, Zhang 14). Prepared to battle external pathogens, in a contemporary and relatively clean environment, contemporary bodies begin to battle themselves because there is no outside enemy, or so the thinking goes. Thus, studying lineage of the human family is not just an academic exercise. By examining the precedence set by earlier humans and their genetic tendencies, researchers can ascertain the consequences of their actions and the actions of the Homo sapiens of today.

Figure 1.1 Evolution of Life

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Facts about evolution

Fact 1 Evolution is a series of changes that occur over time.

Fact 2 Evolutionary changes can occur in organisms, in Earth, and in the universe.

Fact 3 Organisms evolve as a survival mechanism in response to changes in their natural environment.

Fact 4 Many organisms that exist today evolved from common ancestors that lived long ago.

Fact 5 Earth erosions occur through natural processes such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and wind and water erosion.

Fact 6 Earth may also evolve as a result of human action, such as the creation of air pollution.

Fact 7 The universe evolves as old stars die and new stars are born.

human mIgratIon?In the early 1900s, scientists discovered the fossilized remains of what has become known as a

hominid, a human-like animal. From findings such as these, anthropologists believe that about three or four million years ago, Australopithecus (living near present-day South Africa) began to use tools for weapons and hunting. From Australopithecus, Homo habilis or “tool-making human” likely emerged.

Just as there are divergent views on the origins of the universe and Earth, there are two dominant theories about what happened after the hominids. Fiero says, “Two theories have emerged to explain the evolution of the genus homo, that is, modern humans and their closest now-extinct relative: One, the “Out of Africa” or “replacement” theory, holds that modern humans evolved only in Africa and then migrated elsewhere across the globe(1)” Fiero mentions a second theory, multiregionalism, which contends that different groups of humans evolved at the same time in separate continents but with no common ties. Fiero says that multiregionism was once a more popular theory. However, “Out of Africa” has been gaining ground since the mid 1990s because of DNA testing and the decoding of the human genome in the early 2000s. The Human Genome Project, which began in 1990, has estimated that there are three billion base pairs in human DNA with just one percent or three million base pairs differing from person to person. This means all humans are 99% alike (Jacquot). For more information on these theories, students may wish to consult Spencer Wells and the National Geographic Genographic Project or the Human Genome Project. The exact addresses of these Websites are located in the reference section of this book or in the external resources of your online course management system.

To understand scientific arguments, it is helpful to know the language scientists speak relating to their work. Hypotheses, theories, and laws are levels related to experimentation and understanding. A good explanation can be found in Random House Webster’s College Dictionary:

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Paleolithic age (c. 7 Million–10,000 bce)

Mesolithic age (c. 10,000 BCE)

Neolithic age (c. 8,000–4,000 BCE)

upper (c. 7 million to 2 million–10,000 BCE)

Middle (c. 150,000–40,000 BCE)

loWer (c. 40,000–10,000 BCE)

signiFicant events in huMan history

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Theory and hypothesis are used in non-technical contexts to mean an untested idea or opinion. A theory in technical use is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena: Einstein’s theory of relativity. A hypothesis is a conjecture put forth as a possible explanation of phenomena or relations, which serves as a basis of argument or experimentation to reach the truth: This idea is only a hypothesis.

The Paleolithic Age (c. 7 Million–10,000 BCE)

the neanderthal extInctIon?Although there is some debate, recent scientific evidence suggests that the Neanderthals

were a separate species from Homo sapiens although they shared a common ancestor in Homo heidelbergensis, so named for the area in Germany where remains have been found.

“Almost all of the mitochondrial and Y-chromosome haplotypes found among Europeans today derive from haplotypes that still exist in the Middle East,” says Steve Olson in his book Mapping Human History (159). Olson says that the Homo sapiens were newcomers into a land occupied by Neanderthals, hominids who showed a social structure similar to the early humans who migrated from the Middle East. Neanderthals hunted, used tools, cared for their sick, and buried their dead. “But their culture was no match for that of the newcomers from the Middle East,” Olson say (159). Similarly, two anthropologists from the University of Arizona have proposed another hypothesis: It was a division of labor between the sexes that led to Homo sapiens’ success and Neanderthal demise. Steven Kuhn and Mary Stiner have pointed out that the Neanderthals were “‘living fast,’ with very high caloric intake from high-yield but risky subsistence resources” (959). This means that while Homo sapiens were dividing the labor of men, women, and children, the Neanderthal “women, children, and men all participated actively and consistently in the acquisition of large animals” (958). Kuhn and Stiner conclude that having everyone involved in the hunt was a risky proposition.

Also, Paleolithic culture was developing during the Ice Age, a period of extreme cold and glaciers advancing down into Europe. The European climate apparently affected Neanderthal physical traits in the same manner as it did Homo sapiens. Scientists in Europe have come across genetic evidence that suggests at least some of the Neanderthals were fair-skinned and red-haired. Remains of Neanderthals discovered in Spain and Italy contain a mutation of DNA that is responsible for lighter coloring. This past decade, anthropologists were leaning toward the belief that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens did not interbreed (“World Roundup”). It appeared as though, for whatever reason or combination of factors, Homo sapiens were the sole survivors. However, the most up-to-date DNA research indicates that, indeed, some cross breeding did occur---likely in what today is known as the Middle East. As a result, nearly everyone alive today has some Neanderthal genes and probably up to four percent of the genome is Neanderthal.

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art

As a prehistoric culture, there is not much written evidence, but what history does exist is in the form of art. Cave paintings and carvings have been found in southern France near the Spanish border. Called the Lascaux paintings, the artwork was thought to have been created in the timeframe between 15,000 and 10,000 BCE. In their book Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities, Janetta Rebold Benton and Robert DiYanni emphasize the importance of animals to Paleolithic people and their paintings. The authors describe how creatures that exist today (bison, reindeer, boars wolves, and horses) and extinct species (mammoth) “gracefully jump, run, and romp conveying a remarkable sense of animation”(5). Benton and DiYanni explain a theory of depicting animals: primitive man wished for more animals and their fruitful reproduction. “Associated with this theory is the possibility that the superimposing, or layering, of animals was intended to show them mating” (5).

The desire for fertility is also evident in a much older work of art, which is dated around 25,000-20,000 BCE. Discovered in Austria and known as “Venus” of Willendorf, the sculpture, small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand, is quite obviously a salute to motherhood with enlarged breasts and extended abdomen. As with the cave paintings of Lascaux, Benton and DiYanni say it is probable that “Venus” was an idol encouraging humans to multiply during an era when food could be extremely scarce (6-7).

The Neolithic Age (c. 8000–4000 BCE)

the fIrst farmers

The human transition from hunter/gathers to farmers, as explained earlier by Lamm, occurred in the Neolithic Age. This was a colossal jump in the progress of human culture. Stonehenge is a perfect study in prehistory and in the challenges faced by researchers investigating this period. It has long been believed that the stones are evidence of an interest in astronomy. However, archeologists have recently claimed that Stonehenge had been used for burials since its inception. As with most prehistoric studies, determining truth is a best guess. Other archeologists dispute the claim saying that burial grounds are inconsistent with evidence of farming. Mike Pitts, in his article “The Henge Builders” in the publication Archaeology, cites a scientist who would likely agree that the burial hypothesis does not make sense for Stonehenge. Pitts states that Timothy Darvill, professor at Bournemouth University, believes Stonehenge was important to the residents living at the time. Pitts says that Darvill draws on a Greek text as a source:

Researchers believe Stonehenge is associated with the study of astronomy.

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Around 333 BCE the historian Hecateus of Abdera wrote about the Hyperboreans, as the ancient Greeks called the northern peoples, and described a large island on which Apollo was honored at “a notable temple . . . spherical in shape.” Darvill interprets this as a literal reference to Stonehenge. While not suggesting a direct link between Classical Greece and Neolithic Britain, he believes people of both regions drew on a common religious tradition that reached from northern Europe to the Middle East. In classical mythology, Apollo was a solar deity associated with healing who spent the winter among the Hyperboreans. At Stonehenge, Darvill guesses that the tallest pair of megaliths, the great trilithon at the site’s center, represents the local equivalent of Apollo and the female lunar deity Artemis. (53)

Stonehenge continues to intrigue, but the biggest surprise in recent years came with the radiocarbon dating in 1995, which indicated that Stonehenge was as old as the Neolithic period. Before then, the accepted era was the Bronze Age of 1500-1400 BCE (Pitts). Olson sees parallels between working with nature and building monuments: “The hunter-gatherers of northwestern Europe needed to change how they thought about the world before they could commit to agriculture. Monumental architecture created the attitudes that made farming acceptable to these people. It provided a sense of place, a bond with a particular location, which allowed them to use that location in new ways” (170).

Farming and agriculture would precipitate the next notable phrase of development in human civilization—a historic period with written records. The next chapter will explore the advance of two great civilizations in the Fertile Crescent: Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Summary

This chapter on Prehistory began with the “dawn of time,” but what exactly is the “time” and how can humans be expected to comprehend a concept so far removed from our own limited life spans? With the age of Earth estimated to be about 4 billion years and life on Earth about 3.5 billion, it is helpful to think to think in terms humans can relate to—such as a clock—in order to visualize the “just before midnight” arrival of humans. If history is defined as written records, then in this chapter on prehistory, the presented evidence available to examine cultures and civilizations before written records were kept leads to the hypotheses about prehistory. The cultures and civilizations that evolved in prehistoric times will be investigated more closely in the next chapter. The rise of civilizations occurred with the emergence of cities, specifically those of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Works Cited

Asimov, Issac. Exploring the Earth and the Cosmos. New York: Crown, 1982. Print.

Benton, Janetta Rebold, and Robert DiYanni. Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities.Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2008. Print.

Fiero, Gloria. The Humanistic Tradition: Book 1. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990. Print.

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Hawking, Stephen, perf. “Keep Talking.” Pink Floyd. Division Bell. Columbia, 1994. CD.

Hurley, Dan. “Child’s Plague.” Discover May 2010: 51-57. Print.

Jacquot, Jeremy. “Numbers.” Discover May 2010: 12-13. Print.

Kuhn, Steven, and Mary Stiner. “What’s a Mother to Do?” Current Anthropology 467.6 (2006): 953-981. Print.

Lamm, Robert. The Humanities in Western Culture: A Search for Human Values. NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 1996. Print.

Olson, Steve. Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Though Our Genes. New York: Houghton, 2002. Print.

Pitts, Mike. “The Henge Builders.” Archaeology January/February 2008: 49-55. Print.

Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 2001. Web. 2 March 2010. <www.randomhouse.com/features/rhwebsters>

What Does It Mean to be Human? Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, 2010. Web. 2 March 2010. < http://humanorigins.si.edu>

“World Roundup.”Archaeology. January/February 2008: 10-11. Print.

Zhang, Bo. “Biology Beat.” Discover May 2010: 14. Print.