The first people in europe
During the period of the last ice age (about 118,000 to 10,000 BC) the first people who came to
‘Europe’ were hunters and gatherers. They hunted and ate large animals and they gathered whatever fruit was in season, nuts, mushrooms and roots. Their diet also included vegetables, fish
and birds. When prehistoric people discovered fire, they started to cook their food. They roasted
meat over the fire and the first flat bread was cooked on flat stones in the fire.
Prehistoric people didn’t have forks. They ate with their fingers but they used sharp flint stones
to cut meat.
Archaeologists named these first people “Neanderthal man” because the
oldest findings were discovered in a valley1 in western Germany called ‘Neanderthal’. The
Neanderthal man was short, heavy-boned2 and powerful3. He was built very much like a modern
man. He walked upright4, had a broad face and powerful teeth. Those first people always ate
their food right away. They didn’t store it. They followed the herds5 of animals and stayed where
they found enough food. They were nomads6 who lived in caves. Therefore we often call prehistoric people ‘cavemen’.
People were able to protect7 themselves against the cold of the period by covering8 themselves
with animal skins.
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Lexis
Read the text about THE FIRST PEOPLE IN EUROPE carefully and try to remember:
What did people eat?
x2
What did people wear?
x4
Where and how did people live?
x6
What did people look like?
x8
What work did people do?
x9
Multiply the number
of answers by the
numbers next to the
questions and add the
results.
Check the final number with the solution
on the answer page.
hunt
gatherers
nuts
powerful teeth
caves
fruit
roots
fish
meat
powerful
flat bread
animal skins
heavy-boned
upright
vegetables
birds
mushrooms
short
nomads
SOLUTION:
Why do modern people call me a ‘caveman’?
Write a list of German/English words. Translate the words in the word chain:
AU FR EC HTFISC H FLEISC HGEMÜSEKRÄFTIGEZÄH N EHÖH LENJAGDKU RZKRAFT
VO L LS C H W E R K N O C H I G N OM A D E N KU C H E N = F L A D E N B ROTN Ü S S E O B STP I L Z E
SAMMLERTIERHÄUTEVÖGELWURZELN
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VG 2 – bilingual – prehistory – 13
Words in context
Use page 12 and the German/English wordlist on page 11 to complete the sentences:
1. The first people who came to ‘Europe’ were . . . . . . . . . . . . and . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2. The Neanderthal man was . . . . . . . . . . . . , heavy- . . . . . . . . . . . . and . . . . . . . . . . . .
3. He walked . . . . . . . . . . . . , had a . . . . . . . . . . . . face and powerful . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.The Neanderthal man hunted large animals and ate his . . . . . . . . . . . .
5. These early people gathered and ate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.Being nomads, they followed the herds and mostly lived in . . . . . . . . . . . .
Look at the picture on page 12. True or false? (Solution: see the answer page)
Prehistoric people didn’t cook their food.
They ate with their fingers and didn’t have forks.
The Neanderthal man made ‘knives’ from flint stones.
The first people stored their food in caves.
They made clothes from animal skins.
They were already able to use fire.
There’s a bear which lives in caves.
There are three rhinoceros.
Two men are roasting meat.
Four men are frightening the bear to keep it away from the cave.
It is winter.
There are two children in the picture.
Follow the lines and find more words:
BC
findings
discover
before Christ
to find out
nomads
14 – VG 2 – bilingual – prehistory
a span of time
people with no fixed
place to live
period
the parts which
are found
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Hunting
Unjumble
the letters
to make
words:
UCBL
ASERP
RHPONOA
Prehistoric hunters were very skilful. The first men used clubs and large stones for hunting.
Later they made spears, arrowheads and fish-hooks out of flint and bones. They constructed
harpoons and spears which they used for hunting fish and smaller animals. Hunting large
animals such as the mammoth was especially difficult. But the hunters knew how to set
traps. They even followed herds of reindeer or wild horses for several days.
Match the pictures on page 16 and the sentences (A - I): (Solution: see answer page)
They stuck lances into the ground and covered the pit with branches.
When the mammoth was trapped they used long spears to kill it.
When the hunters saw a herd of mammoths, they picked up their weapons and went
after them.
A mammoth gave them ivory from its tusks, a lot of fur and meat.
E First the hunters looked for a good place and dug out a huge pit.
1
They cut it with sharp flint stones. It could feed the whole tribe for some days.
Women used the ivory of the tusks to make needles. Thread was made of intestines or
tendons.
They ran after the oldest mammoth which had problems walking. They frightened the
animal by shouting and chased it toward the pit.
Grease from mammoths was used to make oil for lamps.
Cut out the pictures and
glue them into your book in the correct order.
Find a good title and add the text. Then find the correct sentence order (1–9)
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