Chapter 1 Section 1
Pre-History
PREHISTORIC TIMES
• Between 4,000,000 B.C.
•
•
– 3500 B.C.
1st sign of hominids 3.6
million years ago
Hominid: a creature
that walks upright
rather than on all fours
Why is Prehistory hard to study?
• Prehistory lacks written
•
records such as letters,
dairies, ledgers, and
tablets
Writing wasn’t invented
until 5,500 years ago
• Homo Sapiens: “Thinking
Man” is up to 300,000
years ago
Who and What is studied in
Prehistoric times?
• ARCHEOLOGISTS,
•
•
•
SOCIETY, CULTURE
Society: network of
people who interact with
each other
Culture: the way of life
that a group of people
develop and pass on to
their children
Archeologists: a person
who studies the remains
of ancient societies
Historians rely on the following
kinds of information
• Artifacts- a human made object like a tool,
weapon or ornament that represents a
stage of human development
• Fossils- a trace or fragment of ancient
plants and animals
Methods of dating fossils and
artifacts:
• Radiocarbon dating
• Thermo-luminescence
• DNA - Microscopic and biological analysis
Dating Methods
• Relative Dating
– Location and comparison of objects
• Absolute Dates
– Carbon 14 dating
– Layers of clay
– Tree ring dating
Early Human Origins found in
Ethiopia “Lucy”
• Southern Ape
• 3 million year old
•
•
female classified as a
Australopithecine
3 to 5 feet
Brain size was about
a third the size of
modern humans
Homo Habilis “Skillful”
• Between 2.5 million and
•
•
•
2 million years old
Founded in eastern
Africa
50% larger brain than
Australopithecines
Made stone tools mostly
out of lava rock
Evolution of the Brain
Homo Erectus “Upright Man”
• 1.6 million years old
• Average male believed to be about 6 feet
tall
• Brain was ¾ the size of human brain
today
• First hominid to leave the continent or
migrate “Out of Africa Theory”
• First hominid to use fire
Homo sapiens:
• “wise human”
• lived around 100,000 to 200,000 years
ago
• rapid brain growth
• mastered fire
Ch 1 Section 2
Neolithic Revolution
• The Neolithic Revolution was marked
by the shift from hunting of animals and
gathering of food to systematic
agriculture.
• During the Neolithic Age humans began
planting crops. The domestication of
animals also occurred during this period
Definitions
• Systematic Agriculture
The keeping of animals and the growing
of food on a regular basis.
• Domestication
Adapting animals to human use
Question
• What were some of the results systematic
agriculture and the domestication of
animals?
Permanent Settlements
• In Çatalhüyük, people were able to enter
other occupations other than farming.
Skilled workers, such as artisans, made
weapons and jewelry and traded them
with neighboring people.
Metal Tools
• Discovery of how to make metal tools
brought an end to the Neolithic Age,
which was followed by the Bronze Age
and the
Iron Age.
Civilization
• What is a civilization and is it different
than a village?
Culture
• A civilization is a complex culture in
which large numbers of human beings
who share a number of common elements
live together.
Key Characteristics
• A civilization is made up of 6 key
Characteristics
• Cities , Religion, Government, Social
structure, Writing, and Art
The End