The Paleolithic Era and the Neolithic Era
From hunter-gatherers to farmers
The Paleolithic Era
• The Paleolithic Era (Old Stone Age) began when hominids first made tools.
• These tools were used to make their lives easier.
• Humans living during the Paleolithic Era were hunter-gatherers.
• This means they moved around hunting animals and gathering plants to eat.
• Hunting and gathering did not always provide the people with a steady supply of food.
• If there were no animals and plants where the people were the people would have to leave to find plants and animals to eat.
• Paleolithic people lived in temporary shelters like tents or caves because they were nomads.
• A nomad is a person who does not have a permanent home and moves around a lot.
• Paleolithic people were nomads because they moved around to follow their food sources.
Prehistoric human footprints!
They were on the move A LOT!
• Paleolithic people lived in small groups of no more than 60 people because being nomadic made living in large groups difficult..
The Neolithic Era
• The Neolithic Era (New Stone Age) began when humans invented agriculture and started making tools out of metal instead of stone.
• Neolithic people learned how to farm and domesticate animals.
• Domesticate means to train a wild animal to be useful to humans. Sheep were among the first
animals to be domesticated
by humans!
• Growing crops and domesticating animals is called agriculture and this began in the Neolithic Era.
• These people farmed in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Humans domesticated wheat. They would harvest it, grind it up, and use that to make other foods!
• A lot of Neolithic people began living in the Fertile Crescent.
• The Fertile Crescent was a place where the land was fertile (good for growing plants).
Sometimes historians call the Fertile Crescent the “Cradle of Civilization”
• Neolithic people were not nomadic. They settled down in towns and built houses because they were able to farm and needed to be close to their fields.
• They began to form villages around the fields they farmed and they learned how to make many new things like: jewelry, pottery, bigger houses, better clothing, and stronger tools.
Neolithic Homesite
• Once people began building houses and living in towns life got easier.
• They divided up the work; some people farmed, some took care of animals, some built houses, some made tools, some made clothing, some made pottery, and others traded.
Wall painting from a Neolithic village of a man with cattle and deer.
• After starting agriculture Neolithic people began to focus on making their lives comfortable and beautiful.
• They began decorating their clothing, pottery, and jewelry; some women even began wearing makeup!
• Trade began during the Neolithic Era. • Trade is buying and selling/exchanging goods.• Neolithic people began to trade for things
they wanted, so some people became traders.
• They wanted resources they did not have.
• These resources could be used to make things in their own villages.
• These traders would meet with traders from other villages and exchange or sell goods for things their village did not have.
Carvings of bull’s heads found in a Neolithic village
So to sum everything up!
• Overall, life during the Paleolithic Era was tough.
• Paleolithic people moved around a lot, depended on wild animals and plants for food, and did not have permanent homes.
• Life improved greatly during the Neolithic Era when people began farming, settling down in permanent homes, and trading.
Pictures from:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Knapp_of_Howar_2.jpg
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87atalh%C
3%B6y%C3%BCk• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_tool• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Age• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat#History