WHAT IS PREHISTORY?Prehistory is the time before there were written records.

                                

“Age of Reptiles”,220 million years ago

“Age of Fish”, 600 million years ago

Creation of Earth, 4.5 billion years ago

Early Man, 65 million years ago

Earth Dinosaurs Early Man Stone Age

Australopithecus 1-5 million years ago

Earliest forms of HOMINDS: upright, bipedal primate

mammals

More like apes than humans

Homo Habilis: “Handy Man”First human species

about 2 million years ago•30% larger brain

than Australopithecus

•Able to walk upright

•Use of toolsWhat is the

importance of being able to walk

upright?

Homo Erectus 400,000-2 million years ago

Changes in Homo Erectus

•50% larger brain that homo habilis•Used tools•First species to use & control fire•NOMADIC people•Hunters-gatherers•Originated in Africa; migrated to

Europe & Asia

Homo Sapiens

•Earliest form of modern man•Lived 300,000 – 400,000 years ago•Found throughout Africa, Asia

and Europe

Neanderthal Man (Homo Sapiens)

What common

misconceptions exist about Neanderthal

Man?

Homo Sapiens Sapiens: Modern Human Beings130,000 years ago - present

Compare the skulls of Neanderthal Man (left) and Homo Sapiens Sapiens (right)

•Improved tools & weapons•Cave Art•Venus figurines•Needles for sewing clothes

Carving of human head, 26,000 years old

Homo sapiens sapiensarrived during the

Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)

Paleolithic Cave PaintingsLascaux, France

Stone Age Venus Figures

Venus of Willendorf,Circa 28,000 B.C.

GagarinoVenus

What do these Venus figures tell us about the

role of women in prehistoric societies?

Venus of Dolni Vestonice

What was the STONE AGE?

Paleolithic Age: “Old Stone Age”•Began about 400,000 years ago•Nomadic people / hunters-gathers•Division of labor / possible equality of men and women•Made tools and weapons from stone, wood and bone•Use and control of fire•Traded with other groups

Neolithic Age: “New Stone Age”•Began about 10,000 – 12,000 years ago•Agricultural Revolution / domestication of animals•WHAT CHANGES MIGHT THIS HAVE

HAD ON THE SOCIETY?

The Emergence of Civilization…

Neolithic Village •Developed agriculture…•People no longer needed to

“hunt” and “gather” food, so they settled down…

•Development of cities•Formal set of laws•Hierarchical system•Ability to create large

buildings•Ability to keep written

records… therefore…

“HISTORY” begins…