Notes: Prehistory
- 1. World History: The Big Picture
- 2. Pre-history • What is prehistory? • It is defined as the time before the invention of writing, roughly 5,000 years ago.
- 3. Scientists • Archaeologists – Scientists who learn about early people by excavating and studying the traces of early settlements. • Anthropologists – Study cultures, or people’s unique way of life. • Paleontologists – Study fossils: evidence of early life preserved in rocks.
- 4. The Old Stone Age • Also known as the Paleolithic Age. – Lasted from 2.5 million years ago to 8000 B.C. – The oldest chopping tools date back to this era
- 5. Great Leap Forward When? 50,000 b.p. Emergence of: • Fish hooks, Arrows, Bows, Needles, Engravers, Awls • Art • Jewelry (Beads at first) • Navigation/Boating? (Australia from New Guinea) Proposed Causes: • Voicebox development / language • Brain organization change Lascaux Caves, France
- 6. New Stone Age • Also known as the Neolithic Age – Began around 8000 B.C. and ended around 3000 B.C. – People during this era learned to polish tools, make pottery, grow crops, and raise animals. • Old and New Stone Age both occurred during the Ice Age.
- 7. When did Humans arrive on the scene? • Age of hominids? 7 million years • Age of homo sapiens? 500,000 years • Neanderthals? 140,000-50,000 y.a. – Separate evolutionary line: First genocide? • Cro-Magnon? 40,000 y.a. (fully modern anatomy)
- 8. Hominid Development? • Homo erectus was found 1.6 million years ago in Africa. Homo erectus means, “upright man” – 1st to migrate, use fire and develop language. • Homo sapiens mean, “wise men”
- 9. Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons • Neanderthals – 1st to develop religious beliefs and performed rituals like burial for their dead – Vanished about 30,000 years ago • Cro-Magnons – Identical to modern-day humans
- 10. People of the Old Stone Age • Nomads: – Wander from place to place; these people were always depending on hunting animals and collecting plant foods – They were also known as hunter-gatherers.
- 11. Neolithic Revolution Domestication of Plants and Animals Occurred around 10,000 years ago Also known as the Agricultural Revolution Farming Methods Slash-and-burn farming: Farmers cut down trees and grasses to clear a field. Ashes would be used to fertilize the crops farmers would plant.
- 12. Neolithic Revolution Domestication of Animals · Dog was probably first. · Early domesticated animals: cattle, oxen, pigs, sheep, goats, guinea pigs, llama • role in agricultural production and success · Relationship to success of particular cultures: Indo- European Horsemen
- 13. Neolithic Revolution Primary effects: · Urbanization · Social Stratification · Occupational Specialization · Increased population densities Teotihuacan