The Beginnings of Human Society

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The Beginnings of Human Society

• Chapter 1, Section 2 pgs. 12-19
• Prehistory
• TN SPI 6.2.3, 6.3.5, 6.5.2

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Objectives

• Discover how hunter-gatherers lived during the
  Stone Age.
• Learn about the beginning of farming.

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Key Terms

• Stone Age a period of time during which humans
  made lasting tools and weapons mainly from stone
• Nomad a person who has no settled home
• Domesticate to adapt wild plants or tame wild
  animals and to breed them for human use

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Stone Age Hunting and Gathering

• Stone Age a period of time when humans made
  lasting tools mainly from stone
• Tools were also made of wood and animal bones.
• Scientists think the Stone Age lasted for
  thousands of years.

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Objectives

• Discover how hunter-gatherers lived during the
  Stone Age.
• Learn about the beginning of farming.

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Stone Age

• Archaeologists (scientists who examine objects to
  learn about the past) divide the Stone Age into
  three periods
• Old Stone Age
• Middle Stone Age
• New Stone Age

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Old Stone Age

• During the Old Stone Age
• Humans had not yet learned to farm
• They were hunters and gatherers
• They survived by hunting animals and eating from
  wild plants
• Men were hunters Women were gatherers
• Most of Prehistory occurred during the Old Stone
  Age.

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Fire !

• Fire was discovered during the Old Stone Age.
• Even though it was discovered by man, it has
  always been around.
• No one knows for sure how. ??
• Perhaps lightning caused a fire??
• At first they were most likely terrified by fire,
  but they learned to keep it going.
• Fire could ward off dangerous
• animals.

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Fire !

• Early humans learned to create fire by rubbing
  two sticks together, or by striking stones to
  produce a spark.
• This was sometime around 7000 B.C.
• The ability to create fire was an important
  discovery.
• This allowed humans to move to areas with colder
  climates.

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Settling New Areas

• Evidence suggests that early humans migrated from
  homes in Africa to Southwest Asia, then to Europe
  and other parts of the world.
• Asia and Europe 500,000 years ago
• Crossed from Asia to North America 30,000 years
  ago
• South America by 10,000 B.C.

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Middle Stone Age

• This era in time is characterized by the use of
  more advanced tools.
• Used bows and arrows
• Used domesticated dogs to help in hunting
• Flint tools were used for working wood and bone
• Ate nuts, roots, and berries

13
New Stone Age

• The New Stone Age began with the discovery that
  planted seeds would produce new plants.
• The New Stone Age first began in Southwest Asia.
• Humans no longer had to be nomads, but they still
  depended on stone tools.

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Stone Age

• Each era of the Stone Age was not successive.
• In different parts of the world the Old and
  Middle Stone Ages continued for thousands of
  years.
• Some Stone Age societies even existed into the
  1900s.

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Pastoral Nomads

• At the same time people began to grow their own
  food, others raised livestock and traveled from
  place to place in search of grazing areas for
  their animals.
• Pastoral Nomads still exist today in places such
  as Iraq and Syria.

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Domestication

• Humans learned to tame animals for their own use.
• Sheep, goats, and pigs provided milk, meat, wool,
  and skins.
• By 2500 B.C., cattle, horses, and donkeys were
  trained to carry heavy loads.