Paleolithic Era Through Bronze Age
 Early Migrations of People
 Historians think that people started in Africa about
90,000 years ago
 Moved to Asia, then to North America
 Also moved to Europe and Australia
 Group in Northern North America settled farther South and
West and became “Native Americans”
 Native Americans = Indigenous People
 Crossing the Bering Strait (Beringa Land Bridge)
 17,000 years ago (during last Ice Age) Ice increased and
sea levels fell, people first migrated from Asia to
America.
 These people were Nomadic Hunters following big game
from Siberia.
 Crossed the Bering Strait
 Between current day Siberia (Russia) and Alaska
 Eventually spread farther South and farther West
 During Paleolithic Era (2.6 Million Years ago until about
8,000 BC) most were H&G
 Tools
 Wood, Bone, Animal skins, Stone
 Fire
 Used for Protection, Warmth, Cooking Food
 Weapons
 Stone, Bone (Spearheads)
 Language
 Very basic language skills
 People who crossed Bering Strait were Hunters and
Gatherers
 Men hunted for Animals (Large game)
 Women gathered berries and fruits
 Stayed in small groups, small families
 Food supply wasn’t large enough to support big group
 Had to constantly move around to follow game and
find new food
 Not a stable food supply
 As Civilization developed, new ways of getting food
were discovered.
 Where it was warm = Farming (Agricultural
Revolution
 Where there was land for grazing, Pastoral Nomads
began herding animals
 Both Farming and Herding happened around the same
time, but depended on environment
 Pastoral society relies on a pasture. It is one that uses
the domestication of animals for its survival.
 The first pastoral societies emerged between 10,000
and 12,000 years ago, when some hunting and
gathering groups began to capture, breed, and tend
species of wild animals they previously had hunted.
 Why does this sound better than H&G?
 What other things could they have done to get food?
 This strategy has been adopted by many peoples living
in deserts or other regions that are not suited to the
cultivation of plants, but which contain animals--such
as goats or sheep—that can be readily tamed and used
as a food source.
 Many pastoral societies still exist in the modern world,
particularly in Africa and in the Middle East. In some
areas crop cultivation was severely limited because of
insufficient rainfall, too short a growing season, or
mountainous terrain.
 Also known as “Neolithic revolution”
 Occurred about 10,000 BC to 5,000 BC
 Happened in different parts of the world at different
times
 Agriculture = Farming
 Growing of crops and the raising of animals
 Where did it happen?
 Near Water
 Warm Climate
 Good Soil
 Enough Precipitation
 Benefits that arose from Agriculture
 Seasonal Harvests
 Specialized Crops / Division of Labor
 Biggest Benefit : More stable food supply
 More food means
 Families could support more Children
 Population Grew!
 Families could stay in the same place
 Started forming small villages
 People could save extra food (Surplus)
 Use surplus for trade or emergency
 Farming developed
first in the Middle
East, in an arc of
territory running from
present-day Turkey to
Iraq and Israel (Fertile
Crescent)
 Barley and wild wheat
were abundant
 What is it near???
 Farming then spread to
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

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parts of India, north
Africa, and Europe.
Agriculture spread
much later to Africa.
Agriculture was
invented separately in
the Americas much
later (around 5000
B.C.E.)
Followed by Southeast
Asia and Japan
And then Central Asia
Areas of Independent Development:
1. SW Asia (wheat, pea, olive, sheep, goat)
2. China & SE Asia (rice, millet, pig)
3. Americas (corn, beans, potato, llama)
•
Areas of Agriculture Through Diffusion:
1. Europe
2. West & Sub-Saharan Africa (?)
3. Indus River Valley (rice cultivation)
•
 The need for storage facilities for grains and seeds
prompted the development of basket-making and pottery.
 Agricultural needs also encouraged certain kinds of
science, supporting the human desire to learn more about
weather or flooding.
 Discovery of metal tools (4000 B.C.E.) in the
Middle East
• Copper was the first metal, followed by bronze
– a more resilient metal.
• High starch diets slowly allow
 Sedentary populations to grow.
• First plow invented c.6000BCE;
 crop yields grow exponentially by 4000BCE.
 Pop. grows from 5-8 million to 60-70 million.

• Eventually agricultural populations begin to spread
out, displacing or assimilating nomadic groups;
farming groups grow large enough for advanced
social organization
• Towns require social differentiation: metal
workers, pottery workers, farmers, soldiers,
religious and political leaders.
 (POSSIBLE B/C FOOD SURPLUSES!)
• Served as trade centers for the area; specialized
in the production of certain unique crafts
• Beginnings of social stratification (class)
Catal Huyuk – 7000 BCE
Jerico – 7000 BCE
 How did the environment favor one life style or
another?
 Hunters and Gatherers
 Must be large game to hunt, crops to pick, but not a
stable supply
 Pastoral Nomads
 Could settle in more challenging climates
 Agrarian (Farming) Society
 Needed water for irrigation, precipitation and a good
growing season