Lesson 1 Early Gatherers and Hunters Studying Prehistory

Lesson 1: Early Gatherers and Hunters

Studying Prehistory What is prehistory? That long period of time before people developed systems of writing and written language.

archeology The study of past cultures through the things that remain such as buildings, tools, or pottery.

archeologist a scientist who uncovers evidence, or proof, from the past

artifacts objects made by people long ago

hunters and gatherers

Early Peoples • East Africa--- 3. 5 million years ago • Humans moved, or migrated, from East Africa and Asia thousands of years ago

Early Americans Clovis, NM Artifacts estimated to be about 11, 000 years old

Ice Age glaciers– huge ice sheets

Cave Art

A Migration Path Beringia

following the herd

Different Paths Monte Verde, Chile Artifacts estimated to 12, 500 years ago

Topper site in South Carolina Artifacts estimated to be 18, 000 years old

Lesson 2: Early Farmers

The Stone Age • Humans relied on stone tools. • They may also have used wood, bone, or antlers to make tools.

the Old Stone Age • about 3. 5 million years ago to about 10, 000 years ago • little progress made • technology, or the way in which humans produce the items they use, improved at a slow rate

the New Stone Age • about 10, 000 years ago until about 5, 000 years ago • great improvements in technology • humans began to domesticate, or tame, wild animals

Early Farming wheat, rice, barley

harvest to gather

excavation site where archaeologists dig up artifacts

Domestic Animals

agriculture the raising of plants and animals for human use

surplus extra supply

More Useful Creatures • Animals can meet many needs!! • • meat skin transportation honey wax for candles venom (medicine) silk

Village Life • A storm may have forced the people of Skara Brae to leave their village. • They left behind their belongings.

This allowed archaeologists to study what village life was like.

What was life like in Skara Brae? • farming • domestication of animals (sheep, cattle) • about 50 people lived there • used tools made from stone, beach pebbles, and bone • harvested fish and shellfish • decorated pottery

Food producers (farmers and herders) raised surplus food! • So what? ? – the village could divide up the work, forming social divisions – this change of lifestyle, from hunting and gathering to farming, led people to a new stage of development – people could concentrate on other things besides finding food

The Iceman Estimated to have lived 5, 300 years ago! • estimated to have lived during or after the New Stone Age • his ax had a copper blade • copper was used during the New Stone Age

Carbon Dating • a method of estimating the age of something after it has died • all living things contain the element carbon • scientists can date things based on what happened to the carbon over time

Carbon Dating

Lesson 3: Developing Cultures

Contacting Cultures culture includes the technology, customs, beliefs, and art the way in which individuals and groups react to their environment

Anthropology is the study of how people have developed and live in cultural groups.

Physical features such as plants and landforms encouraged the development of cultures.

geography climate

Late Stone Age (the end of the New Stone Age) • there were several diverse, or different, peoples living in the Americas • each culture relied on the resources available to them – desert: plant stems/fibers to make twine, nets, baskets, sandals, animal traps – near mountains: used rocks to make tools and weapons

Three Sisters: corn, beans, squash

Hunting and Fishing

People from the Southeast Asia region migrated to islands in the Pacific. developed ocean-going skills

Cultures Develop • The variety of landforms, climates, and soil produced many different cultures. • Farming allowed settlements to develop. • Cultures increased their use of available resources.

Prehistoric Art • Archaeologists use a culture’s tools and “throwaways” to learn about them. • They also use pictures drawn by prehistoric people. • Some of these pictures are 20, 000 years old.

What do the paintings tell us? • The artists lived with, and hunted, horses, bison, mammoth, deer, and occasionally panthers and rhinoceroses. • The colors (red, brown, black, white, yellow) came from ground up rock and stone. • Paints were made by mixing the ground rock with saliva or animal fat. • Paints were applied with fingers or simple brushes.

The Caves Offer Important Information: • • • torch fragments stone tools fire pits bones they served as places for spiritual and hunting rites • they leave many unanswered questions