Early Humans 4000 BCBCE Pg 9 15 Early

Early Humans – 4000 BC/BCE Pg. 9 -15

Early Humans • History: Story of humans in the past. • Historians: People who study and write about the human past. • History begins when people began to write, roughly 5, 500 years ago. • Time before writing is known as Pre-History.

Tools of Discovery • Past items help us understand early humans. • Archaeologists hunt for buried evidence and study the artifacts (tools, weapons, etc. ) people left behind. • Also study fossils, traces of plants and animals preserved in rock. • Early humans history is known as the Stone Age…why? • Because people made tools and weapons from stone.

Tools of Discovery • Earliest part of the period, the Paleolithic or “Old Stone Age. ” • This time period was from about 2. 5 million years ago to 8000 BC/BCE.

Who were Hunter Gatherers? • Early Humans that spent much of their time hunting animals and gathering nuts, berries, and plants for food. • Always on the move, thus they are nomads. • Women stayed closer to campsite/home. • Men went on longer “walks” hunting animals.

Adapting to the Environment • Depending on the environment, determined how early humans had to adapt. • If it was a warm climate, then they needed little cloths and shelter. • If the climate was cold, more cloths and shelter needed. • The Paleolithic people of the “Old Stone Age” discovered fire, which lit the darkness, heated food, supplied heat, and scared wild animals away.

Ice Ages • Lasted from 100, 000 BC/BCE to 8000 BC/BCE. • Thick ice sheets covered parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. • The Ice Age forced humans to adapt their diets, shelters, and clothing. (ADAPTATION) • Fire helped people survive. How?

Language • Development of common language helped people work together and pass knowledge. • Language was then passed through art and religion.

Invention of Tools • Paleolithic people were the first to use tools. • People used a stone called flint. • Could make flint into pieces with sharp edges used for axes, weapons, and other tools. • As time went on people became better tools makers using even better materials.

Neolithic Times • Period of time from 8000 BC/BCE to 4000 BC/BCE. • This time period is when humans first learned they could grow and raise their own food. • This would lead to no longer being huntergatherers.

Importance of Farming • The change from hunting and gathering to farming is known as the Farming Revolution. • Some refer to this “revolution” as the greatest human event in history. Why? • People in different parts of the world began to discover the idea of farming about the same time. • First farming: Central America, Northern South America, Europe, Mid-Africa, South/SE Asia, and Middle East (pg. 13).

Growth of Villages • People that farmed could settle in one place. • As more people learned to farm, they no longer had to go search for food. • As a result, more people began to settle, thus creating villages or communities. • Earliest village was Jericho, near today’s Israel. • Jericho dates to roughly 8000 BC/BCE.

Benefits of Settled Life • Benefits of a settled life: – Steady food supply. – More workers, produce larger crops. – Specialization, or development of specific jobs. – As a result, more trade as people traded their specialized goods. – As a result, people began to produce better items such as copper, and eventually Bronze which turned to the Bronze Age 3000 BC/BCE to 1200 BC/BCE.