The Three Ages: Understanding Periodization

Al Bayan 2015

Why Periodization is important…

An important theme of the AP exam is periodization. Periodization falls under the larger skill of chronological reasoning.

Chronological Reasoning has 3 skills:Historical Causation

Patterns of Continuity and Change Over Time

Periodization

A key component to being able to identify patterns of continuity and change is recognizing distinct characteristics of a given period in order to compare/contrast one to the next.

The Three AgesThe Three Age System: This framework revolves around the notion of three successive periods or ages: Stone Age, Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Each age was technologically more complex than the one before it.

Archeologists noticed that the artifacts discovered displayed regularity in terms of the material that they were made with: stone-made tools were always found the deepest, bronze artifacts were found in layers on top of those were stone artifacts were discovered, and finally iron-made artifacts were found closest to the surface. This suggested that metal technology developed later than stone-made tools.

The Stone Age

The Stone Age can be broken into 3 parts:Paleolithic/Old Stone Age

Mesolithic/Middle Stone Age

Neolithic/New Stone Age

Paleolithic PeriodCovers the greatest portion of humanity's time (roughly 99% of "human technological history," extending from 2.5 or 2.6 million years ago, with the first documented use of stone tools by hominids such as Homo habilis, to the end of the Pleistocene epoch around 10,000 BCE.

The Paleolithic period is characterized by simple bands of hunters. They did not know how to grow crops and raise livestock, nor did they build houses. Shelters of skins laid over bones may have been used, but mainly the people were cave-dwellers or wandering groups of hunters.

The Paleolithic period was also the time of the "Ice Ages" - times when the earth's climate cooled, and glaciers spread over much of the world. At such times the wandering tribes moved southward, then moved back as the weather warmed up again, probably over hundreds and thousands of years.

Putting the Paleolithic in perspective

Paleolithic Cont’dDuring this period hunters used "hand axes" - stones which had been chipped to give a rounded base suitable for holding in the hand, carved to a point which could be used for pounding and chopping, also smaller stone scrapers for skinning animals and preparing hides, and bone awls - pointed needles without eyes which could punch holes in a hide so that it could be laced together into some sort of garment.

During this period, spearheads were made from chipped stones, fastened to a wooden shaft. Some of the animals that were hunted during this period were larger and more powerful than one hunter alone could have killed. So men had likely learned to work together.

Societies were probably beginning to develop, in which different people had different functions –

hunters; flint, stone or bone workers

the artists who painted animal portraits in caves, probably as part of a religious ritual

those who tended the fire and the children

Paleolithic Artifacts

Mesolithic Period Mesolithic/Middle Stone Age: Begins around 8000BCE as the Ice Age ends and lasts until approximately 2700 BCE. The Mesolithic period, can range from as early 8,000 BCE to anywhere between 4,000 BC depending on the region of the world.

Towards the end of the Paleolithic, the earth's climate gradually became warmer, the Ice Ages ended, glaciers melted, and some of the cold-weather animals such as the woolly mammoth died out.

Hunters followed the reindeer and mammoth northwards, while others remained and learned to hunt the red deer and animals of the forests which grew with the warmer weather. Hunting in a forest demands other skills than hunting in the tundra.

Men developed tools and weapons made of "microliths" - small chips and flakes of sharp stone or flint which could be set into a piece of wood or bone to give a cutting implement, or which could be used as arrow points.

Neolithic PeriodNeolithic/New Stone Age:  Begins around 9000BCE depending on location lasting until the Bronze Age around 3600 BCE.

It is most frequently used in characterized by the development of agriculture, polished tools, and permanent settlements.

During the Neolithic period the development of agriculture, domestication of animals, settlements or semi-permanent dwellings, and eventually the invention of pottery emerged. Also, the stone tools were often made by grinding and polishing, rather than by chipping flakes.

A key to the development of the Neolithic period is the harvesting and cultivation of plants as crops - particularly grain, which could be stored, ground to flour, and cooked. In order to grow a crop and harvest it, meant people must’ve settled in a region, at least long enough for the plants to grow and come to harvest.

In the Middle East, Neolithic cultures started to develop at around 8,000 BC. In Greece and the Indus valley of India the earliest Neolithic cultures date from around 6,000 BC.

Bronze Age 3600BCE -1300BCE

Some of the best known Bronze Age civilizations include: ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Mycenae, the Indus Valley and the Shang Dynasty in China.

The Bronze Age is characterized by development of the first writing systems and use of bronze in replace of stone tools.

Bronze is an alloy or mixture of tin and copper.

Bronze alloy is harder than either of the metals from which it is made. It could be used to make a greater range of tools and weapons than had previously been possible.

Iron Age1300BCE – 700CE

Iron was tougher than bronze and could be shaped into finer and sharper objects. It required smithing (heating and hammering) to make into tools.

The manufacture, casting and trading of bronze required special skills and made those people who possessed these skills wealthy and powerful. Iron was more readily available than bronze and was easier to work.

Most Iron Age people worked and lived on small farms and their lives were governed by the changing of the seasons.

Evidence of Continuity/Change

Where within and outside of an age do you see evidence of continuity and change?