The Beginnings of human society: prehistory

1. Ch. 1, Sec. 2 (Prehistory-2500B.C.) The Beginnings of human society: prehistory

2. Lesson Objectives • 1. Students will discover how hunter-gatherers lived during the Stone Age. • 2. Students willlearn about the beginning of farming.

3. Outline • Prehistory • Stone Age Hunting and Gathering • Earliest Human Culture • Fire! • Settling New Areas • The Beginning of Farming • Early Farmers • Farming Around the World • Plant Selection • Raising Animals • The Challenge of Domestication

4. Key Terms • Stone Age – a period of time during which early humans made lasting tools and weapons mainly from stone; the earliest known period of human culture • Nomad – a person who has no settled home • Fertile – rich in the substance plantsneed to grow well; describes both soil and land • Domesticate – to adapt wild plants for human use; tame wild animals and breed them for human use

5. Stone Age Hunting and Gathering • By studying tools used over 3 million years ago, we are able to learn about our ancestors, and the development of human culture

6. Earliest Human Culture • The Stone Age is the earliest known period of human culture, signified by using stones as tools • Humans also made tools from wood and animal bones during the stone age • Scientists believe that this period lasted for hundreds of thousands of years, until people began using metal for tools

7. Earliest Human Culture • The Stone Age is divided into 3 periods by archaeologists: Old, Middle & New • Old Stone Age • Humans did not know how to farm • People survived only by hunting and gathering • Almost all of human prehistory takes place during this time period

8. FIRE! • Between 1,400,000 and 500,000 years ago, our ancestors learned how to use fire • No one knows for sure how they learned • Theories: • They saw fire started by lightning and figured out how to keep it going • Rubbing sticks together • Rubbing flint rocks together • This allowed people to stay in areas with much colder climates!

9. Settling New Areas • Many of our Old Stone Age ancestors were nomads, people with no settled home. • They moved to places where they thought they would find food, gathered all the food around them, then moved on • Humans eventually spread all over the earth

10. Settling New Areas • Many scientists agree that modern humans originated over 100,000 years ago in Africa and spread over the world. • They contend that modern humans have been in North America for about 30,000 years, coming from Asia • While not nearly as populated, humans managed to survive in many different climate conditions

11. Checkpoint Question What was life like during the Stone Age? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

12. Checkpoint Question What was life like during the Stone Age? People made tools from stone, wood, and bones. They got food by hunting and gathering and most lived as nomads.

13. The Beginning of Farming • The Middle Stone Age is characterized by those humans who used more advanced tools to hunt and gather • The New Stone Age is characterized by the beginning of farming.

14. Early Farmers • About 11,000 years ago in Southeast Asia, people made an amazing discovery. • If they planted small seeds of wild grasses, new crops of grasses would come up. • Thus, this began the New Stone Age in Asia. • People were able to grow their own food and not depend entirely on nature. • People no longer had to be nomads, even though they still had stone tools

15. Early Farmers • This was the beginning of the New Stone Age, but not everywhere changed during this time period. • Many places existed in the Old, as well as the Middle Stone Ages for thousands of years after this, unable to adapt to farming.

16. Early Farmers • During this time, many people became pastoral nomads, meaning they raised livestock and traveled from place to place in search of grazing areas for their animals. • This type of lifestyle still exists, especially in the Middle East

17. Early Farmers • In most societies, women were responsible for gathering plants and seeds • Men were usually the hunters. • Women began planting and harvesting their crops in the same place, year after year

18. Farming Around the World • Some places were better suited than others • Soil in some areas was very fertile • Places with long springs and summers were the best suited for farming • People began to discover what soil, amount of water, and length of the growing season worked better for each type of plant. • As these things were discovered, more people took up farming as a way of life.

19. Plant Selection • While the kinds of plants grown by those first farmers are still important, they looked very different • People began to domesticate plants, choosing only the best, largest seeds, from the best- tasting plants. • Very gradually, this careful selection of seeds and roots from each crop led to the kind of food we eat today.

20. Raising Animals • Just as people domesticate plants, they also done so with animals • During the New Stone Age, humans learned to tame wild animals and breed them for human use • Dogs may have been the first, since they were valuable for hunting • By taming larger animals (pigs, sheep, and goats) people developed a ready supply of food. • This also brought about an abundance of milk, wool, and skins • By about 2,500 B.C. cattle, camels, horses and donkeys were also domesticated and trained to carry heavy loads.

21. The Challenge of Domestication • Over the course of history, people have tried and failed to domesticate many animals • Many animals have been captured in the wild and tamed • This proved to be a major challenge, since animals were not easy to breed in captivity • Only a few species have turned out to be valuable to agriculture and transportation

22. Checkpoint Question What skills did people develop during the New Stone Age? __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________

23. Checkpoint Question What skills did people develop during the New Stone Age? They were able to grow their own food and domesticate animals.

24. Review • 1) How did people of the Old Stone Age survive? • 2) What important skills did they use to find food? • 3) How did survival skills change as people began to settle? • 4) What marked the beginning of the New Stone Age? • 5) What affects did geography have on people of the New Stone Age?