Stone Age and
Early Cultures
Chapter 2
Holt McDougal,
Chapter 2 Timeline
4-5 Million
Years Ago
2.6 Million
Years Ago
500,000
Years Ago
200,000
Years Ago
11,000
Years Ago
10,000
Years Ago
Early
humanlike
creatures
called
Australopith
ecus
developed
in Africa
Hominids
make the
first stone
tools
By this
time
hominids
live all
across
Europe
The first
modern
humans
appear in
Africa
Humans
occupy all
of the
continents
except
Antarctica
Ice Ages
end and
people
begin to
develop
agriculture
Holt McDougal,
Chapter 2 Timeline
Poleolithic
Era
Mesolithic
Era
Neolithic
Era
Until 10,000
Years Ago
10,000 to
5,000 Years
Ago
Begin About
10,000 to
5,000 Years
Ago
The first
part of the
Old Stone
Age when
people
began to
make tools
The Middle
Stone Age
when
people
began
making
more
complex
tools and
shelters
The New
Stone Age
when
people
learned to
make fire
and grow
crops also
called the
Agriculture
Revolution
Holt McDougal,
Lucy
Discovered
1959
1974
1994
Mary Leakey
found bones
in East
Africa
belonging to
a hominid
that was
more than
1.5million
years old
Donald
Johanson
found the
bones of a 3
million year
old hominid
he named
Lucy:
Proved
Hominids
walked
upright
Tom White
found the
remains of a
hominid that
lived as long
as 4.4
million years
ago
Section 1: The First People
The Big Idea
Prehistoric people learned to adapt to their environment, to
make simple tools, to use fire, and to use language.
Main Ideas
• Scientists study the remains of early humans to learn about
prehistory.
• Hominids and early humans first appeared in East Africa
millions of years ago.
• Stone Age tools grew more complex as time passed.
• Hunter-gatherer societies developed language, art, and
religion.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
Scientists study the remains of early humans
to learn about prehistory.
• To study prehistory, the time before writing, historians
rely on the work of archaeologists and anthropologists.
• Key Hominid Finds:
– Mary and Louis Leakey found bones of early ancestors
of humans, called hominids, in East Africa.
– “Lucy” was found by Donald Johanson. Tests
showed that she lived more than 3 million years ago
and walked on two legs.
– Tim White found even older remains from as long as
4.4 million years ago.
Holt McDougal,
Early Human Sites page 29
Holt McDougal,
Archeologist Mary Leakey
• Mary Leakey found bones in east Africa that
were more than 1.5 million years old. They
belonged to an early hominid, an early
ancestor of humans.
• This discovery showed early humans first
appeared in Africa.
Holt McDougal,
Richard Leakey
And
Donald Johanson
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
Hominids and early humans first appeared in
East Africa millions of years ago.
• Groups of hominids appeared about 3
million years ago.
• A group of hominids called Homo erectus, or
upright man, appeared in Africa about 1.5
million years ago.
• Many scientists think that modern humans
appeared about 200,000 years ago in Africa.
Holt McDougal,
Early Hominids page 30-31
Holt McDougal,
Hominids and Early Humans
Homo habilis
• “handy man”
• Became more
like humans
over time
•
•
Found in
1960s by
Louis Leakey
Closely
related to
humans
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens
• “upright man”
• “wise man”
• Scientists
believe they
walked
completely
upright, like
modern people.
• Everyone
alive today
belongs to this
group.
• Scientists also
believe they
knew how to
control fire.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 3:
Stone Age tools grew more complex
as time passed.
• The first humans and their ancestors
lived during the Stone Age.
• The first part of the Stone Age is
called the Paleolithic Era, during
which people used stone tools.
• A tool is a handheld object that has
been modified to help a person
accomplish a task.
Holt McDougal,
Many great mammals such as
wooly mammoths, wooly
rhinoceros, and cave lions
inhabited places like Siberia during
the Pleistocene.
Holt McDougal,
Paleoindians hunting a glyptodon.
Glyptodons were hunted to extinction
within two millennia after humans'
arrival to South America.
Holt McDougal,
First Tools
• Earliest tools found in East Africa
• About 2.6 million years old
• Each stone was hit with another to create a
sharp edge.
• One unsharpened side could be used as a
handle.
• Scientists think these first tools were used
mostly to cut and grind food.
• Tools called choppers were used about
2 million years ago.
Holt McDougal,
Later Tools
• Improved tools were made out of flint.
• People learned how to attach wooden handles
to tools.
• Because they no longer had to stand next to
the animals they were hunting, people were
able to kill larger animals from a distance.
• Later people developed the hand ax and
learned to attached wooden handles to tools.
Holt McDougal,
Hunter-Gathers page 32
Holt McDougal,
Old Stone Age Shelters and Clothing
• At first early people took shelter in
caves. To keep warm they learned to
sew animal skins together. Then the
first humans made pit houses in the
ground with roofs of branches and
leaves. Later people made shelters
framed from mammoth bones and
covered them with animal skins.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 4:
Hunter-gatherer societies developed
language, art, and religion.
• Early humans formed societies.
• They were hunter-gatherers.
• The most important development
of early Stone Age culture was
language.
Holt McDougal,
Stone Tools page 33
Holt McDougal,
Hunter-gatherer Societies
• A society is a community of people who share a
common culture.
• Anthropologists believe that early humans lived in
small groups.
• Lived in caves
• Hunter-gatherers: hunted animals and gathered
plants and seeds to survive.
• Developed cultures with language, religion, and
art
– Allowed more relationships to form
– Easier to hunt
– Allowed food distribution
Holt McDougal,
Hunter-gather Achievements
• Learned how to make tools
• Learned to use fire
• Learned how to create art
Holt McDougal,
Cave Paintings page 34
Holt McDougal,
Section 2: Early Human Migration
The Big Idea
As people migrated around the world, they
learned to adapt to new environments
Main Ideas
• People moved out of Africa as the earth’s
climates changed.
• People adapted to new environments by
making clothing and new types of tools.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
People moved out of Africa as the earth’s
climates changed.
• Ice ages caused people to
migrate, or move, to new places.
• Early people migrated around
the world. Complete global
migration took hundreds of
thousands of years.
Holt McDougal,
Effects of the Ice Age on Humans
• Early humans were forced to
move to new environments
due to the Ice Age.
Holt McDougal,
The Ice Ages
• About 1.6 million years ago, many places
around the world began to experience long
periods of freezing weather, called the ice
ages.
• The ice ages ended about 10,000 years ago.
• Huge sheets of ice covered much of the
earth’s land.
• Many areas that are now underwater were
then dry land. A land bridge, or strip of land
connecting two continents, probably
connected Asia and North America.
Holt McDougal,
Land Bridge
• Land bridges allowed
Stone Age peoples to
migrate around the world.
Holt McDougal,
Settling New Lands
• Early hominids migrated from Africa to Asia
about 2 million years ago.
– They eventually spread to India, China,
Southeast Asia, and Europe.
• Humans began to migrate to South Asia
around 100,000 years ago.
– From South Asia, they moved to Europe,
North Asia, and then North America.
• By 9000 BC, humans lived on all continents
except Antarctica.
Holt McDougal,
Early Human Migration page 37
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
People adapted to new environments by
making clothing and new types of tools.
• Early people had to adapt to new environments.
– They learned how to sew animal skins together
for clothing.
– They found new shelters, such as pit houses and
caves. Then, created structures made out of
animal skins, wood, stone, and bones.
• They had to create new tools and technologies.
– New tools defined the Mesolithic Era (Middle
Stone Age).
– Invented hooks, fishing spears, and the bow and
arrow
– New technologies such as canoes and pottery
Holt McDougal,
Life in the Mesolithic Era
• People made advances that
allowed them to adapt to new
environments.
Holt McDougal,
Mesolithic Era
• Migration caused people to adapt to new
areas by sewing animal skins together for
clothing. They also needed shelters to
survive. They began to make shelters called
pit houses. They were pits in the ground
with roofs made of branches and leaves.
Later they built structures with wood roofs
and mammoth bones. People who lived near
water invented hooks and fishing spears.
Other groups invented the bow and arrow.
People invented canoes to travel. The began
to make pottery and domesticate animals.
Holt McDougal,
A Mammoth House page 39
Holt McDougal,
Section 3: Beginnings of Agriculture
The Big Idea
The development of agriculture brought great
changes to human society.
Main Ideas
• The first farmers learned to grow plants and
raise animals in the Stone Age.
• Farming changed societies and the way
people lived.
Holt McDougal,
Early Domestication page 40-41
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
The first farmers learned to grow plants and
raise animals in the Stone Age.
After the
Middle Stone
Age came a
period of time
that scientists
call the
Neolithic Era,
or New Stone
Age.
People learned
how to make
plants more
useful through
a process
called
domestication.
Holt McDougal,
Farmers also
began
learning how
to use
animals for
their own
benefit.
Neolithic Revolution
•The Neolithic Revolution
(Agriculture Revolution)
was the shift from food
gathering to food
producing.
Holt McDougal,
New Stone Age
• Began as early as 10,000 years ago, in
Southwest Asia
• People learned how to polish stones, make
fire, and produce food.
• Ended 5,000 years ago in Egypt and
Southwest Asia, when toolmakers began
using metal
• People began using seeds to grow crops.
Holt McDougal,
Domestication
• Process of changing plants or animals to
make them more useful to humans
• People learned they could plant seeds and
grow their own crops.
• People learned to plant the biggest and
sweetest crops for better yields.
• The domestication of plants led to the
development of agriculture, or farming.
Holt McDougal,
Domestication of Plants
• Domestication involves
changing the plants to make
them more useful to humans.
Holt McDougal,
Animals
• Hunters didn’t need to follow wild animals
once they learned how to keep and use
animals.
• Sheep and goats were used for milk, food,
and wool.
• Larger animals were used to help with
farming.
• Learning to use animals to help with
farming increased people’s chances of
surviving.
Holt McDougal,
Domestication of Plants and Animals
• People in the New Stone
Age had a different
relationship to plants and
animals due primarily to
climatic changes and
human innovations.
Holt McDougal,
Early Farming Society pages 42-43
Holt McDougal,
Megaliths
•Megaliths were huge
stone monuments used
as sites for religious
gatherings.
Holt McDougal,
Religion of Early People
•Early people based
their religion on
nature and their
environment.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 2:
Farming changed societies
and the way people lived.
More certain
survival
People could focus on activities other
than finding food.
Domestication
Domestication of plants and animals led
to the use of fibers to make clothes.
Permanent
settlements
Domestication led to the need to stay in
one place. Farming communities grew
into towns.
Holt McDougal,
The Agriculture Revolution
Effects
• People began to
guild permanent
settlements,
raise crops, and
domesticate
animals
Holt McDougal,
Results
• Food supplies
became more
reliable, other
jobs were
created,
civilizations were
created
Chapter Review page 45
Holt McDougal,