SS3-WORLD HISTORY
LECTURE NOTES– PREHISTORY
SY 2009-2010
GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. Why is it important to understand origins or beginnings? Do you believe that “your origin defines
who you are”?
2. What is it that makes us human or what does it mean to be human?
3. What lessons or insights can we gather from the Paleolithic and Neolithic societies?
I. Review : What is Prehistory?
 “Prehistory” refers to the story of humanity during the time before people invented systems of
writing. This term pertains to the study of the early human societies which we only know about
through the examination of remaining evidences like fossils and artifacts. Artifacts are objects made by
humans such as tools, items of clothing, shelter, etc.
 Since Prehistory pertains to story of early human societies, it is inevitable to discuss it in the context of
‘ORIGINS’ and ‘BEGINNINGS’. In Prehistory, we ask the ff. questions: How and when did first humans
emerge? How were the first humans like? How can we describe the geography of the EARTH during
prehistory and how did it affect humans? Going deeper and further back in time, how did everything –
life on Earth and the Universe—begin in the first place?
II.
CONTEXT OF PREHISTORY: If we’re going to draw a timeline on a 100-yard-long strip of paper we can
estimate the scales as such:
Event
(years Before Present or BP)
Big Bang: Origin of the Universe (13 Billion BP)
First Stars and Galaxies (12 Billion BP)
Our Solar System: Sun and Planets (4.6 Billion BP)
Oceans on Earth (4 Billion BP)
Life on Earth (3.8 Billion BP)
First Life on Land (400 Million BP)
First Dinosaurs (220 Million BP)
Disappearance of Dinosaurs (67 Million BP)
First Ancestral Humans (2.4 Million BP)
First Homo Sapiens (200,000 BP)
Dawn of Agriculture (10,000 BP)
Birth of Jesus Christ / Start of Modern Calendar (2,000 BP)
Industrial Revolution (250 BP)
III.
Location
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7’ 8”
64’ 7”
69’ 3”
70’ 9”
96’ 11”
98’ 4”
99’ 6”
99’ 11-3/4”
100’
100’
100’
100’
In the beginning
a. For humans, beginnings are fundamentally important in their attempt to understand their existence.
This is why earlier societies strived to explain how the world and man came to be through various
Creation Myths. Common to these Creation Myths is the idea that man’s existence holds some central or
pivotal meaning. “While these myths may not accurately explain the world’s origins, they reveal
significant information about the ways of life of the people, societies, and civilizations that conceived
these myths”i
b. Science tells us that the beginning was a gigantic explosion 13 billion years ago. Life on earth evolved
from the first appearance of multi-cellular organism some 600 million years ago.
c. Our solar system was born 4.6 b.y.a, while life on Earth began 400 m.y.a. The Austalopithecines, bipedal
primates, emerged 4 mya. The Homo Habilis, the earliest hominids we know, did not emerge until 2.4
million years ago. Modern Humans has walked the planet for only about 200,000 years. Relatively, we
are “new comers” to this planet.
IV. What is it that makes us human?
A. ‘Thinking, loving, dreaming meat” –Terry Bisson
B. Features that set us apart:
1. Homo is a genus characterized by larger brain size, and the presence of culture (which includes use of
tool and language)
2. The Merriam-Webster defines human as a “bipedal primate mammal”.
- Bipedalism is the process of walking (upright) on two legs. It is known as “the single most defining
feature of all human ancestry”. It was the adaptation that distinguished our “first ancestors” from other
hominids. Australopithecines are bipedal hominids, recognized as a probable ancestors of Homos.
- Theories on how bipedalism emerged is linked with climate change.
2. “Larger brain set us apart from the Australopithecines” – Becoming Human
The second “genetic split off” leading to the emergence of the genus Homo is the larger brain size.
The increased cranial capacity was coterminous with the development of stone tools; the sophistication of
tools was parallel with the development of brain size
It is also possible that the more diversified diet brought about by the creation of stone tools prompted the
further development of the brain size (i.e., from Habilis to Erectus to Sapiens)
Larger brain is associated with behavioral complexity and the emergence of stone tool making was parallel
with the enhancement of social behavior
The Homo Erectus had about 40% greater cranial capacity than the Homo Habilis. The Homo Erectus’s
intelligence was perhaps the enabling factor for it to be the first hominid to leave Africa and possibly to
migrate to Europe and Asia.
The larger brain size paved the way for the development of language (which is the open communication
system characterized by the use of displacement and symbols to convey meaning)
The development of larynx largely improved the Homo Erectus’s use of language. They also improved their
social skills, learning to cooperate in big-game hunting as well as in distributing food. They also learned how
to use fire (about 400,000 years ago).
Large brain size in proportion to body size is only roughly correlated with intelligence. Based on The Physical
Characteristics of Humans from the Washington State University:
“Human brain size varies considerably, just as body size does. The brain size of recognized "geniuses" can
vary from 1000 cc to 2000 cc in modern humans… one has to examine far subtler features of the brain to
understand the relations between physical characteristics and intellectual capacities or between brain physiology
and social or cultural behavior.
“Surprisingly, a big brain is not an obvious evolutionary advantage… For example, a large brain requires an
inordinate amount of care and feeding--a diet high in protein--and exquisite temperature control in order to
function properly. About 25% of our metabolism is devoted to brain function, which represents a huge investment
of energy--and therefore a huge risk in terms of the overall chances for survival of the species.”
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3. Culture: way of living built upon by a group and passed on from one generation to another. It includes
behavior such as courtship or child-rearing practices; material things such as tools, clothing, and shelter;
and ideas, institutions, and beliefs.
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“All those things not inherited biologically”; a collection of “strategies to adapt” that are passed down from
one generation to another, not inherited biologically.
Culture permits more rapid adaptation to changing conditions than biological adaptations
The development of culture is intricately linked with “enabling physical characteristics”. For instance, larger
brain size and the larynx gave us facility for language which is an important cultural element—it is used to
facilitate inter-generational learning or acquiring of culture. Also, the development of opposable thumb
permitted more dexterous use of the hands for the creation of more sophisticated tools. The consequence of
larger brain is that humans extended their period of maturation—we are born with smaller brain, and soft skull
which will allow growth of brain into full adult size. This lengthy period of maturation (for infancy to teenage
years) requires attention and care from parents. This perhaps was the factor that required the creation of
families and later, small bands, to better facilitate the simultaneous food-gathering and child-rearing.
Some of the important aspects of early human cultures:
o Stone tools: “Man is a tool-producing animal” – Benjamin Franklin
o Clothing - to provide bodily protection from harsh weather or elements
o Shelter – man lived in the open but eventually developed tents and, especially in cold climates,
dwelled in caves. In the Neolithic Period, humans constructed houses because of their sedentary
lifestyle.
o Belief in the afterlife and the supernatural – burying the dead, development of early belief systems
(animism)
o
V.
VI.
Language and Art – man used language and developed it as it passed down from one generation to
another; man painted nature and drew abstract lines either as a form of expression or as a part of
belief in “magic” or the “supernatural”
Paleolithic and Neolithic defined
 The Paleolithic Period pertains to the “Old Stone Age” and the Neolithic Period, the “New Stone Age”.
 Actually, the Paleolithic and Neolithic distinction is based more on the difference in their economic
way of life than in the kind of tools they made. Of course, the reason why their tools differed in the first
place was because of the different intended functions of such tools.
a. Paleolithic and Neolithic economic way of life
 The Paleolithic Period
o This is the period when humans were hunters, fishers, and gatherers
o The Paleolithic Period is also known as the “food-gathering stage”. Because of the nature of
hunting, humans during this period were nomadic.
o It is divided further into three stages, based on the type of stone tool technology:
 Lower Paleolithic – the earliest and longest period of stone tool development. The tools
developed during this period are mostly pebble, flake and core types, used for the
purpose of cutting meat or mashing fruits and leaves.
 Middle Paleolithic –it roughly pertains to the developments made by the Neanderthals,
who used more specialized tools in group hunting such as stone-tipped spears made by
by attaching sharp stone to wooden shafts.
 Upper Paleolithic –started 30-35,000 BCE. There was an increase in the speed of
progress in making tools. Also, intellectual progress and improvements in social
organization are suggested by the appearance of cave paintings, bone and ivory
carvings, as well as beads and jewelries.
 The Neolithic Period
o began with the emergence of agriculture, around 8000 BCE coinciding with the first evidences of
sedentary (permanent settler, as opposed to nomadic) communities in the Near East (ancient
Turkey, ancient Palestine, and ancient Iran).
o The shift from Paleolithic to Neolithic happened with the invention of agriculture and
domestication of animals. The Neolithic is also known as the “food-producing stage”.
o So radical were the changes brought about by the invention of agriculture to human societies
that it is dubbed as the “agricultural revolution”—an event similar to the “industrial
revolution” and “technological revolution” in the extent of change it introduced to the human
way of life.
o During this period, man exerted more control over nature. Instead of depending on the
presence of game, humans raised animals and developed farming to keep a steady food supply.
They started settling down because of the nature of farming. They also developed more complex
social structures to suit the growing population brought about by the more steady food supply.
o Aside from refining stone tools for the purpose of farming, they developed other technologies
related to farming such as pottery (for storing harvest), calendar (or a devise to measure time),
clothweaving (out of vegetable fiber), weapons, etc.
Paleolithic and Neolithic Analyzed
a. Why did the Paleolithic last for such a long time?
i. Because hunting and gathering worked. Hunting and gathering demanded less time than
agricultural activity.
b. Why did humans shift to agriculture and domestication of animals?
i. Climate change – The era between 35,000 and 12,000 years ago had been an “Ice Age” (daytime
temperature averaged about 16⁰C in summer and -1⁰C in winter). However, as the last glaciers
receded northwards by around 10,000 BCE, the herds of cold-loving game migrated
northwards. Some humans moved up to follow the game but others stayed behind, and
developed new strategies to meet their needs.
ii. The melting glaciers had raised water levels and thereby introduced huge quantities of fish in
newly created bays and swamps. Therefore, some turned to marine resources for food.
iii. Between 9000 and 8000 BCE humans in Iran had taken the first step to domesticate animals:
sheep and goats. Agriculture began also in the Middle East, particularly Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and
Iran and became the central mode of human survival in this area by 6000 BCE.
c. Themes of the human story during Paleolithic and Neolithic
1. Control: Man over nature and man over instinct
2. Progress: Is Positive Change clearly seen from Paleolithic to Neolithic?
3. Order: Man organized himself and his environment
4. Diversity: “There is no one way by which he must live”
d. What does it mean to be human?
i. Man lived to do more than simply hunt for food
ii. Man is a social creature who adapts by learning from others
iii. Man is a “rational being”
1.
Consciousness is defined as a higher level of mental activity, of awareness, especially awareness
of something within one’s self.
iv. Man is rational but his actions are ‘unpredictable’.
v. Man is a “transcending” being –one who exceeds or go beyond usual limits
i
World History for Us All (Landscape Lesson 1)