PREHISTORY• Prehistory is the period when human beings existed on earth

but had not yet invented writing and therefore left no written records behind them– Knowledge of them comes from physical artifacts that

they left behind• Tools, weapons, ornaments, garbage, and their

skeletons• Limits what we will ever know about them–Will never know for sure that they thought about,

how they organized themselves, how they inter-related with each other, or why they behaved the way they did» This is all based on speculation

ORIGINS• 3 million years ago, a group of

small ape-like creatures appeared along the shores of the lakes of East Africa– Brain capacity was larger

than other apes of the region• Developed complex

social organization in which they lived together, and cooperated in hunting, food gathering, and defense• Developed ability to

make and use tools and weapons

EVOLUTION• Became dominant species in region– Made possible by superior

brainpower• Creatures evolved due to natural

selection– A biological process in which the

best traits in a species are passed on and amplified from generation to generation while negative traits are not

– Became larger, stronger, smarter and less ape-like in appearance

– Also began to migrate to other places in Africa

MORE CHANGE

• Process of simultaneous evolution, population increase, and migration continued over several million years– Caused more mental

and physical change– Caused groups of them

to leave Africa and settle in Middle East, Europe, Asia, and North and South America

THE BEGINNING OF US

• This long-term process of evolution and migration resulted in the appearance of homo sapiens sapiens– Around 200,000-100,000

BC

• Lived in small groups in virtually every habitable place on the globe– Beginning of the

Paleolithic Age

GROWING DIVERSITY

• Humans adopted behavioral patterns determined by the environment where they lived

• Minor variations also appeared among humans due to environmental conditions– People who lived in

northern regions lost much of the melanin in their chemical body compositions• Caused their skin to

become lighter in color

THE PALEOLITHIC LIFE• Paleolithic humans

supported themselves exclusively by hunting and gathering

• Did not establish permanent settlements but lived in temporary shelters– Moved on when supply

of food ran low• Formed bands of 30 or so

people and cooperated together to obtain food and protect themselves

PALEOLITHIC INNOVATIONS I

• Paleolithic humans made and used tools

CHIMPS AND TOOLS

Jane Goodall has observed chimpanzees taking a twig, stripping it of leaves, spitting on it, and then sticking it down an ant hill or termite mound to capture insects to eat

She has also seen male chimpanzees grab a stick and use it as a weapon in a fight

She therefore claims that chimps also make and use tools

But they do not save these items for future use, nor do they make any attempt to improve them

DIFFERENCE

• Humans shaped a variety of materials into tools and weapons– Stone, wood, bone– Corresponded to ideas

they had in their minds

• Preserved creations for future use and taught other people how to make and use them

TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS• Later generations would

improve on what they had been taught and make even better ones– Result was a continual

improvement in human technology

– Ancestors progressed from crude, sharpened stones to spears, knives, scrapers, fish hooks, fishing nets, and the bow and arrow

PALEOLITHIC INNOVATION II

• Spoken language was another great achievement of the Paleolithic Age

MAMMAL COMMUNICATION

• Some other apes and other mammals make sounds to express emotions and communicate with each other– Notably dolphins and

whales• But none of these animals

can give a name to an object nor can they describe something

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION

• Human beings developed capacity to describe things, name things (including each other), and share their knowledge, experiences, and feelings with each other– At first did so through a combination of primitive sounds and

sign language– In time, they developed spoken language• Allowed them to transmit everything they knew and had

learned to others; allowed them to cooperate with other; and allowed them to teach their children survival skills.

PALEOLITHIC INNOVATION III• Paleolithic people believed that the

forces of nature were living things– They acted with a purpose– Nature was thus unpredictable to

them• To make forces of nature act in a

predictable way that benefitted human beings, they made offerings to them– Gradually medicine men and

witchdoctors emerge who specialized in dealing with forces of nature through special chants, rituals, and ceremonies

GRAVES

• Humans also began practice of burying their dead– Bodies often posed in

fetal position– Sometimes with

offerings and the dead person’s tools and weapons

– Indicated the development of some sort of notion of an afterlife

PALEOLITHIC INNOVATION IV

• Paleolithic people produced the first art in human history

• Painted very skillful pictures of animals– In Africa, Asia, Europe, North

and South America• Painted wherever they happened

to be living but the only paintings to survive the ravages of time and weather were the ones painted inside of caves

PURPOSE• “Cave Art” had something to do

with magic– Many animals painted in

caves are wounded• Expressing desire for

successful hunt– Other paintings portray large

herds of animals• Expressing hope that

game would be plentiful• Paintings were part of rituals

that hunters engaged in before they went out for the day

BIRTH OF NEOLITHIC AGE

• Human beings who lived in hills of Middle East discovered agriculture and animal husbandry– 10,000 years ago– Ushered in the

Neolithic Age

THE FIRST FARMERS• Women who gathered barley and

wheat probably noticed that dropped seeds sprouted with time– After some experimentation,

they began to cultivate small plots of land devoted to these crops

• Advantages were obvious– Instead of wandering around

looking for edible cereals and stuff, people could now grow them near where they lived and have guaranteed source of food

DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

• First animals to be domesticated for meat were sheep and goats– Both of whom roamed

wild in the region• Advantage was that instead

of tracking wild animals over great distances without any guarantee that you would find any, they could now be penned up nearby and slaughtered whenever necessary

PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS

• Agriculture diminished the need for humans to stay constantly on the move– Since they were no

longer forced to continually follow the supply of game

– Led to the establishment of permanent settlements

HUMAN CONCENTRATION

• Hunting required that human social groups remain small– The more reliable production of

agriculture encouraged population growth and larger concentrations of people in a single area

• Agriculture encouraged population growth and the development of relatively large, permanent settlements of people

TRADE

• Appearance of permanent settlements gave rise to trade– Neolithic farmers produced

surplus of food which they traded to other groups of people elsewhere who possessed things farmers needed but did not produce themselves.

• Middle Eastern farming communities traded food to people in other regions for salt, volcanic glass, and iron ore.

DIVISION OF LABOR

• People within Neolithic communities began to manufacture items that farmers needed but did not have the time or talent to make themselves– Traded these items for

food– Pottery containers,

agricultural implements, etc.

PRIVATE PROPERTY

• Awareness of private property developed with agriculture– The concept that this land is “mine”

and that no one else could mess with it

• Certain families gained more property than others– They thus gained power over the

others and became “leaders”• Government and social hierarchy were

created in the Neolithic farming communities of the Middle East

JARMO

JERICHO

CATAL HUYUK

Agriculture would be later in other parts of the

world, either indepenently or as result of contact with areas that had already discovered it

Neolithic Age did not appear everywhere in the world at the same time. It appeared first in

the Middle East and then later in other parts of the world

NEOLITHIC TECHNOLOGY I

• Neolithic people made pottery containers for cooking and storing food and water

NEOLITHIC TECHNOLOGY II

Neolithic people invented the wheel

and the sail

Improved transportation on

both land and water

NEOLITHIC TECHNOLOGY III

• Neolithic people invented the plow–Made farming

easier and more productive

NEOLITHIC TECHNOLOGY IV• Neolithic people discovered the use

of metal– First to be employed was copper

• Easily shaped into tools and weapons, durable, and could be recast and reshaped when they items broke

– Later bronze was discovered• Alloy of copper and tin• Harder and more durable

than copper, making possible better tools and weapons

SUMMARY• During the Neolithic Age, food

supply became more reliable, permanent settlements were established, and population increased– Families that acquired more

land than others gained a higher status and became local leaders

• Human society was becoming more and more organized and complex– Approached the threshold of

civilization