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Terms
Historical Periods in Early History
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Prehistory
Paleolithic Stone Age
Neolithic Stone Age
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Prehistory
Prehistory
• Prehistory refers to early human societies that
did not leave written records.
• Does not mean that they had no significant
change during these periods
• Does not mean that they had no technological
innovations
• Some cultures recorded their past in other
ways.
• This stage will occur at different times for
different civilizations
Neanderthals
• Lived 100 000- 40 000 years ago in Europe and
Asia during the last ice age
• They were strong people, able to bench press
400 lb and wrestle large game to death
Neanderthal Society
• Males worked together to track and kill large
game
• Harsh live, based on a day to day survival
• Likely males lived away from women and
children
• No permanent family relationships
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Neanderthal Society
• No formal leadership
• No rules or laws that people were to follow
• No primitive religion known and if there was it
had few rituals
• No moral code to guide life
• While they wore clothes, they were just wraps
thrown over themselves
Neanderthal Women
• Females and children spent more time close
to the cave fire
• Preparing plant foods they gathered
• Scraps brought to them by males
• All gathering done by women and children
were critical to survival
What happened to Neanderthals
• There is uncertainty as to why they died off
• Did the humans from africa, Homo sapiens
sapiens invade and kill them off?
• Homo sapiens had better weapons and tools?
• Did they have superior intelligence?
• More than likely died off by killing, disease
and displacement
• Assimilation? Homo sapiens sapiens hybrid
Neanderthal Men
• Scavenged for food as much as they hunted
• Horses head excavated in many sites
Skeletons of Neanderthals
• Skeletal remains show a difficult life
• Most children died in childbirth or the first
dew years of life
• 80% of Neanderthals died before age 40
What has been discovered Quite
recently
• There is some Neanderthal genes in the
human DNA in a significant amount
– First suggested offspring would not be viable as
they had a 12 month pregnancy, now not so sure
• There is now art work present to suggest they
did have culture
• Their tools have been discovered to be more
complex then first thought.
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Homo sapien sapien: The Great Leap
Forward
• 35 000 years ago something remarkable
happened, known as the “Great Leap Forward”
• Innovation and creativity
• Tools made of thin stone blades
• Spears
• Needles to make clothes
• Items for preparing food
• Axes for cutting wood
Paleolithic Age- “Old Stone Age”
• 50 000- 10 000 Years Ago
• -social hierarchies, alliances, marriage, customs,
religion, refined artistic beauty
• Trade
• Small family groups
• Leadership, social classes
• Better hunting, lethal weapons
• Ability to sew clothes
• Adapt to changes in environment
More Innovation
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Barbed harpoons
Darts
Throwing spears
Bows and arrows
Watercraft
Trade
Culture ??
Paleolithic Society- Women
• Gathering of food was done by women and
children accounting for 60-70 of the diet
• Made clothing
• Nurtured the young
• The wisdom and story tellers were elder
women
Paleolithic Art
• Cave paintings
• Sculpture
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Neolithic Age-The New Stone Age
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Refers to around 9000 BC
Ground and polished tools
Abandon nomadic life to begin farming
Planting Crops, Domesticating animals
Humans can now control their food source
Neolithic Food
• Animals domesticated- cattle, sheep, goats,
pigs
• Supplied meat, leather, and milk (Cheese and
butter)
• Grains were grown. Two drinks enjoyed were
mead and beer
• Late period, began metallurgy- copper made
knives, cups, buckets, and pots
Neolithic Society
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Permanent towns
Specialized in crafts
Hierarchical class system
Agriculture allowed them to develop art,
music and sports,
• Religion
7 Characteristics of a Society
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Centralized Government
Agricultural Intensification
Specialized Occupations
Class Structure
Merchants and Trades
Development of Science and Writing
State Religion
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Bronze Age
Bronze Age
• Bronze Age would be followed by the Iron Age
but not always
• More broadly, the Bronze Age of any culture is
the period during which the most advanced
metalworking (at least in systematic and
widespread use) in that culture uses bronze.
• This could either be based on the local smelting
of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze
from production areas elsewhere.
• Copper/tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact
that there were no tin bronzes in western Asia
before 3000 BC. Many, though not all, Bronze Age
cultures flourished in prehistory.
• Some cultures developed extensive written
records during their Bronze Ages.
Iron Age
• The Iron Age typically follows the Bronze age
(But not always)
• Stage in the development of any people in
which tools and weapons whose main
ingredient was iron were prominent.
• The adoption of this material often coincided
with other changes in society, including
differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs
and artistic styles.
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