PACKET #1
From Hunter Gatherers to the Neolithic
Beginning at 2.5 million years ago…
PACKET #1
This packet includes information on the following topics:
 Out of Africa
 Paleolithic life/Hunter Gatherers
 Neolithic Revolution
Out of Africa
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The first 150,000 years of human existence (yes, this course starts with the phrase
“the first 150,000 years of human existence!) was exclusively in Africa.
Between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, human beings began the trek out of Africa
and into Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas. Later to the islands of the Pacific.
Globalization From where did
they migrate?
When did the
migration occur?
Significant
Accomplishments
Society
(women/religion/rituals etc)
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Australia
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America
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Pacific
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Eurasia
Include: Dreamtime, Clovis Culture
Textbook pp. 16-20
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Social
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Paleolithic Life/Hunters and Gatherers
2.5 million years ago-10,000BCE
Paleolithic Era: Characterized as the Stone Age when humans used stone tools
Paleolithic societies were small
Small bands of twenty five to fifty people
Relationships were intensely personal and normally understood in terms of kinship
(kin-related bands of people)
Slow rate of population growth
Seasonally mobile groups of nomads following animals (on which they depended)
The low productivity of a gathering and hunting economy normally did not allow
the production of much surplus, and because people were on the move so often,
transporting an accumulation of goods was out of the question.
Life expectancy was low (avg. 35 years)
Dangerous life and very dependent on nature.
Religious or spiritual dimension of Paleolithic culture has been hard to pin down
because bones and stones tell us little about what people
thought. Art is subject to interpretation.
There seems to be a rich ceremonial life
Shamans—people skilled at dealing with the spirit world
emerged
Some were monotheistic (belief in one god)- most were
polytheistic (belief in many gods)
Prevalence of Venus figurines (pictured to the right) and other
symbols all across Europe has convinced some scholars that
Paleolithic religious thought had a strongly feminine
dimension, embodied in a Great Goddess and concerned with the renewal of life.
Political:
 Highly egalitarian society – lacking many inequalities of wealth and power that
came with later agricultural and urban life
 No formal chiefs, kings, bureaucrats, soldiers, nobles, or priests.
Economic:
 Hunting and gathering economy
 Lacked specialization – most people possessed the same set of skills, although male
and female tasks often differed sharply. However, they were seen as all equal.
o In southern Africa plants, normally gathered by women, provided 70% of the
diet, while meat, hunted by men, accounted for only 30%.
o Gender based division of labor—men and women had different roles
 Worked fewer hours to meet their material needs than people of the agricultural or
industrial societies. They wanted and needed less
Environment:
 People acted to alter the natural environment
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Deliberately set fires to encourage the growth of particular plants in Australia for
example.
Extinction of large animals followed fairly quickly after the arrival of human beings
SOCIAL
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
Neolithic Revolution or Agricultural Revolution:
Social and Environment:
 Occurred about 10,000 years ago
 MAJOR turning point in world history
 Neolithic means “New Stone,” however using stones was not the most significant
change introduced.
 Biggest change was the shift from hunting animals and gathering plants for
sustenance to producing food by systematic agriculture. The planting of grains and
vegetables provided a regular supply of food, while the taming of animals, such as
sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs, added a steady source of meat, milk, and fibers such as
wool for clothing.
 Larger animals could be used as beasts of burden
 Humans started to domesticate animals and plants
o Domesticate: Tame (an animal) and keep it as a pet or for farm produce
 Also applies to taming of plants
 This created a new relationship between humans and the environment.
 People began to settle in communities
 The Neolithic revolution was a gradual process.
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Systematic agriculture developed independently in different areas of the world
between 8000 and 5000 BCE
Growing crops on a regular basis gave rise to relatively permanent settlements,
which historians refer to as Neolithic farming villages or towns.
The oldest and most extensive ones were located in the Middle East. Jericho, in
Palestine near the Dead Sea, was in existence by 8000 BCE. Catal Huyuk (modern
Turkey) was an enclosed 32 acre space and had about 6000 people at one point.
People lived in mud brick houses
People no longer relied on hunting to survive.
Religious shrines have been found in Catal Huyuk –an indication that religion
became prominent in Neolithic villages
Gender roles changed: men assumed the primary responsibility for working in the
fields and herding animals, jobs that kept them away from the home. Women
remained behind caring for children and weaving cloth, making cheese from milk,
and doing household tasks. In time- work outside the home was perceived as more
important than work done in the home. Men came to play a more dominant role in
human history, a basic pattern that is consistent with history through today.
Fixed dwellings, regular farming, division of labor, men in power—all are a part of
the human story.
Economic:
 Food surpluses made it possible for people to do things other than farming
 Some people became artisans and made weapons and jewelry that were traded
between villages
 People began to specialize in certain crafts and a division of labor developed.
 Pottery was made from clay and baked in fire to make it hard
 Pots were sued for cooking and to store grains
 Woven baskets also used for storage.
Political:
 Most early civilizations did without kings, chiefs, bureaucrats, or aristocrats
 Many agricultural societies, in Africa, and elsewhere, conducted their affairs without
formal centralized states or full-time rulers
 In other places, agricultural villages came to be organized politically as chiefdoms, in
which inherited positions of power and privilege introduced a more distinct
element of inequality, but unlike later “kings” chiefs could seldom use force to
compel the obedience of their subjects.
 Chiefs usually derived from a senior lineage, tracing their descent to the first son of
an imagined ancestor. Had religious and secular functions.
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Topics
GENDER
ROLES
GOVERNMENT
RELIGION
LABOR
Population
Trade
SOCIAL
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
BEFORE the NEOLITHIC
REVOLUTION
AFTER the NEOLITHIC
REVOLUTION
PACKET #1
Vocabulary
Clovis Culture
Dreamtime
Paleolithic
Era
Kinship
Monotheistic
Polytheistic
Venus Figures
Neolithic
Revolution
Domestication
Catal Huyuk
Definition