MESOLITHIC AGE
SAT Vocabulary• Source• Isotope• Disintegrate• Fossils• acclimate• Emerge• Migrate• Nomad• Austere• Boisterous
Credence Dearth EstheticFallacy GregariousHarry laconic NeologismObfuscateParagon
Archaeology: The study of past societies through the examination of artifacts.
Artifacts are anything that people modify or use. They can include:
Tools and Weapons Art and Sculpture Pottery
Jewelry Human Remains
Ancient Ruins
Time before writing.So, we have to rely on archeology to understand what happened.
History The study of the past by written artifacts.
The study of human life and culture
The remains of plants and animals.By studying fossils archaeologists and anthropologists can learn about what people ate, what animals they had around, and their way of life.
Carbon dating The paragon of dating, it can be used to date organic artifacts, or any thing that lived.
All living things have a radioactive isotope of Carbon called Carbon 14 from the sun.
Carbon 14 disintegrates by half in 5730 years (±40 years).
Scientists can measure how much Carbon 14 an artifact has today.
So, they can tell how old it is.
This method measurements back 200,000 years.
It measures the light given off by electrons trapped in the soil surrounding fossilsand artifacts.
Microscopic and biological analyses of organic remains—such as blood, hairs, and plant tissues left on rocks, tools, and weapons—give archeologists more information.
Analysis has shown that blood molecules may survive millions of years.
Thermoluminescence dating
It is useful in telling archeologists more about humans, their use of tools, and the animals they killed.
Ancient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is providing new information on humanevolution.
The analysis of plant remains on stone tools yields evidence on the history of farming.
Thermoluminescence dating
60 Million years Ago
The age of giant reptiles comes to an end, when a comet hits.
Paleo: Old
Lithic: Stone 250,000 BC – 10,000 BC
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Humans used simple stone tools.
Around 40,000 BC , someone put a rock on a stick to make a spear, high tech in the Paleolithic age.
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Lucky humans lived in caves. They had laconic and austere lives .
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By 10,000 BCE, they made fire by friction.Fire cooked food, gave warmth, and allowed greater
migration.
Fire was critical for humans to acclimate and migrate. The Ice Age ( 100000 8000 BCE) had extremely fridge weather.
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They lived in small gregarious family groups called clans.
They had to find and hunt food (a hunter and gathering society).
Once food became dearth, they moved on to the next place ( Nomadic society).
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Women usually gathered food and took care of the camp. Gathering supplied the
majority of the food.
AGE Division of labor
Most likely, women ruled the camps (a matriarchal society).
AGE Division of labor
Usually, men hunted. Woolly Mammoths were the biggest game.mammoth hunt - Yahoo! Search Results.flv
AGE Division of labor
Hunters would ambush, surround and harry herds of mammoths , so that the titanic game might
stampede off cliffs.6 - Mammoth Journey 3.avi.flv
COLBY SITEMAMMOTH KILL SITE
NORTH CENTRAL WYOMING USA
Artists recorded life on cave walls.
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Lascaux France has famous esthetic examples of cave art.
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Altamira, Spain.
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Patagonia, Argentina
Ennedi, Sahara desert
Altamira Catal HuyukLascauxOlduvai GorgeStonehenge
They even imagined death.
They buried their dead with artifacts and believed in religion and magic.
The first gods were women (Mother Earth goddess) , which gives credence to the theory of Paleolithic matriarchal rule.
Neolithic Female Figures
The Ice Ages ends (20,000 BC-8,000BCE). The world became warmer (Cause).
(Effect) More trees grew.A plethora of Trees (Cause).
Humans invent tools using wood. (Effect)
Ice Age Interglacial Cycle.flv
Middle Stone Age 10,000-8,000 BCE
People moved out of the caves and built huts
MESOLITHIC AGE
They invented wooden bows and arrows for hunting, boats for fishing.
MESOLITHIC AGE
They still used stone tools like these fishing hooks.
MESOLITHIC AGE
They domesticated wolves, that became dogs. Clans grew larger..
MESOLITHIC AGE
People made pottery
to store food.
MESOLITHIC AGE
and jewelry!
MESOLITHIC AGE
MESOLITHIC AGE
Still they retained nomadic lives. They hunted, fished out, and gathered all the food in an area, then moved on
to a new place.
Hunting yields improved with techniques. Before We Ruled the Earth 2 Of 2 -Mastering the Beasts (2 5).flv
MESOLITHIC AGE
REVOLUTION
V. Gordon Childe coinedthe neologism “The Neolithic Revolution” in 1932.
8000-1000 BCE
8000-1000 BCE New Stone Age.
The most crucial inventions were farming and large scale animal domestication.
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5000-1000 BC New Stone Age.
People no longer had to migrate as nomads. The Agricultural Revolution let people live in villages and cities.
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Systematic Agriculture has two parts, farming
and animal domestication.
Neolithic humans tamed many animals as
livestock (cows, sheep, pigs, goats, ass).
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Systematic agriculture gave humans a steady food supply.
In time, individual farmers produced surpluses (extra food).
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Men took over the work of farming. Men became the primary food-providers. Women became the family caregiver. Society transformed into a male-dominated (patriarchal) institution in most places
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War raids and stealing ones neighbors food stuff increased greatly.
Then as now its always easier to steal then to assiduously work to make things.
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Megaliths were built as calendars and altars to an expanding pantheon of gods and
goddesses.
Job specialization: priest/magician class expands.
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In England, Stonehenge was probably finished around 2500 BC
As a calendar it marked the spring and fall equinoxes and the summer and winter soloists. It let people know when to plant seeds.
The Grain-King story is from Neolithic England.
Some special individual (whom embodied male fertility) would besacrificed for the good of the community.
Without human sacrifice, the crops would not grow.
Bloody human sacrifice marks it as an alter to the gods.
A new young Seed King would be put in his place, to be sacrificed the followingSpring.
Eventually, magical symbols and rituals replaced human sacrifice.
Religions became much more complex.
• Human figure, from Ain Ghazal, Jordan, c. 6750-6250 BC
• Plaster, painted and inlaid with shell and bitumen, 3’6’’ (Louvre)
• Houses built of irregularly shaped stones, plastered and painted
• Ritually buried• Function unknown• Beginning of monumental
sculpture in the ancient Near East
Human sacrifice in the First Dynasty DR. KATE SPENCE
The Grain Kings became the first priests, and who better than the war/raid leader to fill the role?
In most places, animal and plant sacrifice replaced human sacrifice to the Gods.
This lead to the first real division of society, into ruler and ruled.
Religions became much more complex.
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Society needed more organization, and a social class of rulers began.
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The food surplus (Cause) allowed some people to develop different skills and jobs.
(Effect) Job specialization: People became full time weavers, potters, jewelry, tool and weapon makers.
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People built permanent
structures out of stone and brick.
Job specialization: stone mason, brick maker.
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AGE Towns and cities of
stone began to emerge.
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Çatal Hüyük 7,000 BC
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was a brick and stone city almost 100,000 square meters. Its population of 5,000 to 8,000 people included farmers, artisans, craftsmen, and traders.
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Here is a typical house in Çatal
Hüyük.
You entered home threw the roof!
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In Israel, Jericho was founded around 11,000 BCE.
Over time, 20 towns and cities were built on top of each other.
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Some artifacts dating to around 8000 BC.
.The discovery of copper working marks the end of the stone age.
CopperThe first metal used was copper. This is a natural metal that can be easily cast into tools, jewelry, and weapons.Bronze AgeLater, copper was mixed with tin to make bronze a much stronger alloy.
Bronze AgeLater, copper was mixed with tin to make bronze. Bronze is much stronger than copper.
The first civilizations developed where the people were thickest.
These were in river valleys, the first in Mesopotamia,
Other river valleys include The Nile in Egypt, the Indus Valley in India, and the Yellow River in China.
These places became known as Cradles of Civilization.
NEXT TIME
Using Key Terms1. People who combined copper and tin to make tools are said to have
entered the _____.2. The _____ of animals provided humans with a steady source of meat, milk, and wool.3. The rise of cities, growth of governments, and development of religion are characteristics of _____ .4. The “modern” type of Homo sapiens is called _____.5. Lucy was an ____________.
6. The study of past societies by the analysis of the artifacts they have left behind is called _____.
7. The period of time before writing was developed is called _____.
8. The _____appear to be the first early people to bury their dead.
9. The _____designates the period when humans used simple stone tools.
10. Humans and other creatures that walk upright are called _____.
11. Remains of human and animal bones preserved in the earth’s crust are _____.
12. Skilled workers and craftsmen who made jewelry andweapons were the first _____ .
Reviewing Key Facts13. Science and Technology Explain how radiocarbon datingof fossils and artifacts differs from thermoluminescencedating.14. History List the defining characteristics of the PaleolithicAge.15. Culture What do the cave paintings found in both Lascaux,France, and Altamira, Spain, indicate about Paleolithichumans and their culture?16. Society Give four outcomes, or results, of the settlementof humans in villages and towns.17. History What is the Bronze Age and when did it occur?18. Economics Discuss early trade among different groupsof people.19. Society Describe the types of shelter and housing that wereused by Paleolithic peoples.20. History What is the most significant development of theNeolithic Age?21. Science and Technology What factors would lead scientiststo choose DNA analysis, rather than carbon or thermoluminescencedating, to determine the age of fossils and otherarchaeological remains?22. Culture What evidence has led historians to believe thatNeolithic peoples had religious beliefs?
The walled city of Skara Brae in Scotland built about 5,000 years ago.
Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the photo of Skara Brae . What does the village’s ocean location tell you about the way its Stone Age inhabitants lived?
Critical Thinking6. Describe changing gender roles throughout Paleolithic societies.
7. Sequencing Information Create a cause and effect diagram to show how changes during the Neolithic Revolution led to the emergence of civilization.
is located on the Salisbury Plain in England
4000 years ago it most likely looked like this.
Agricultural surplus. . . . Advanced civilization.
Culture:The way of life of a
group of peoplePOLITICSRise of cities.
POLITICSGovernment
(monarchy) and written laws
SOCIAL Complex religion;
priests take an active role.
ECONOMYJob specialization and social classes.
SOCIALWriting (first was
cuneiform in Sumer); art & architecture
ECONOMYPublic works projects(temples, roads, etc.)
60 Million years Ago
Giving mammals a chance to evolve. Among the mammals are the primates who like to swing about in trees.
CAUSE Comet Effect Mammals evolve
5 million years ago
One of the species of primates leaves the trees. They get up on their hind legs and begin using their hands to carry things.
5 million years ago
As they no longer swing around in trees. Their thumb grows longer and thenit becomes opposable.
2.5 -3.5 million years ago
A breakthrough occurs, the first artifact.
Something learned that flint could be shaped by other harder rocks.
Louis and Mary Leakey spent most of their lives searching for fossils of early hominids. They worked at Olduvai Gorge in East Africa. They discovered the first australopithecus fossil. They named her Lucy.
1903-1972 1913-1996
Hominids: Living creatures that walk upright on two feet and use tools.
As hominids came down from the trees, their diet changed from herbivores to carnivores. CAUSE
This allowed the big jaw muscles to relax and the cranial cavity to expand. EFFECT
Hominids: Living creatures that walk upright on two feet and use tools.
lived in East Africa between 3-4 million years agomade simple stone tools.
Homo erectus, “upright man,” lived 1.5 million years ago. Made use of larger and more varied tools, perhaps fire.First hominids to leave Africa and migrate into Europe and Asia.
Kenyanthropus platyops—the flat-faced man of Kenya— about 3.5-4.5 million years old.
About 250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged
in Africa (Knowing Man).
Two groups: Neanderthals and Homo sapiens sapiens
Homo Sapiens Sapiens
Neanderthals
Found in the Neander Valley in Germany.
100,000 to 30,000 years ago, they used advanced stone tools and buried their dead.
They had larger brains and stronger bodes than us.
Their fate has obfuscated archeologists, some argue that they were killed off by Homo Sapiens Sapiens; others that both interblended.
One fallacy states that they live on as “bigfoot” or the “Yeti”.
Modern human beings lived in Africa 250,000 years ago.By 10,000 BCE, they had migrated throughout the world.
Asia and North America were connected by
the Bering land bridge from
100,000 to 8000 BCE. The water
level was low because of the
Ice Age.
All humans today, whether they are Europeans, Asians, Americans, Australian Aborigines, or Africans, belong to the same subgroup of human beings.
There is only one race! The human race!
Asia and North America were connected by
the Bering land bridge from
100,000 to 8000 BCE . The
water level was low because of
the Ice Age.
Hominids: Living creatures that walk upright on two feet.