The Stone Age

Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages

Bell Ringer

Group A1. What do you see? 2. What do you think these footprints feel like?

Group B3. Write a one-paragraph (4-6 sentences) story

about the person who left these footprints.

Group C4. What can these footprints tell us about the early

humans who left them behind? Write at least 5 sentences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dzb_XwxtB0

The oldest human footprints in the world were unearthed at Laetoli, near Olduvai Gorge, in Tanzinia.

The oldest human footprints in the world were unearthed at Laetoli, near Olduvai Gorge, in Tanzinia.

These footprints led Owen Lovejoy to conclude that even these early hominids walked with an upright,

striding gait just as modern humans do.

• The Old Stone Age or the Paleolithic Era, was a period of time that lasted from about 2 million BC to 10,000 BC

•Man survived by hunting animals and gathering roots, berries,

leaves, and seeds.

Where did people live during the Paleolithic Era?

• People were nomadic.• There were no permanent homes. • Because people hunted and gathered, they

would have to move where the food was.• Homes were temporary places like caves, huts

or animal-skin tents.

http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/flint/images/sandel.jpg

Tools

• Simple tools and weapons, made from materials at hand– Stone, bone, wood

• They could not make smooth stone, so their tools were chipped stone and not sharpened.

How did people dress during the Paleolithic Age?

• Invented clothing• Clothing was made

primarily from the fur of the animals that had been killed for food.

• The climate during the time was cold, so people dressed to stay warm.

Government

• Tribal society: Clan controlled by elders or the powerful (according to age)

Economy

• There was no concept of private property. Everything was shared and belonged to the tribe.

Bell Ringer

Same groups as yesterday• Group A– What is a hunter-gatherer society? (2 sentences)

• Group B– How is a hunter-gatherer lifestyle different from

our own today? (3 sentences)• Group C– Explain why hunter-gatherers were nomadic. (3

sentences)

Paleolithic Age & Cave Art

• Found all over Europe, Asia, Australia & Africa• Painted deer, horses, buffalo, bulls, cows, & stick-

figure people• Lie deep in the caves• Main colors were red & black, with a little yellow,

maroon & violet. – Paint was made out of materials ground into animal fats.

• The following pictures are from a Cave in Lascaux, France:

Discoveries

• Fire• Rough Stone Tools

In a handful of pierced seashells found in a South African cave, scientists believe that they have discovered the world’s oldest known jewelry and the earliest reliabile evidence of creative symbolic thought at work. The 41 tiny shells, unearthed at Blombos Cave, were strung as beads more than 75,00 years ago, making them at least 30,000 years older than any other reliably dated personal ornaments….

http://www.krsh.com/morningshow/blindedarchive/JewelryEverAppropriate.htm

• The New Stone Age or The Neolithic Era started in about 7,000 BC.

• Man began to change his diet and eat grains and

small animals.

• Agriculture is the raising of crops and animals.

• The development of agriculture began over a long period of time and in more than one place.

• People no longer needed to travel great distances to gather food.

• People learned how to domesticate plants and animals.

• To domesticate means to train something to be useful to people.

• Early people learned to care for plants such as corn, wheat and beans

• The first farmers also domesticated wild goats, cattle, and sheep.

• Man domesticated wild wheat.•Ancient charred wheat grains are shown in the

picture above.

• Thousands of years ago, an ear of corn did not make much of a meal. (top)

• It took thousands of years of careful breeding for ears of corn to reach their present size. (bottom)

• During the Neolithic Era, people began

to settle in one place

(sedentary lifestyle).

• People still used stone, bone, and wooden tools, but some new tools were added by using copper and bronze.

• These early farming tools date back to around 8,000 years ago. The axe, bottom, was used for clearing; flint sickles, left, were used for harvesting cereal crops; a

flat rock and rounded stone, center, were used for grinding flour; and perforated clay slabs, upper right, were probably used to ventilate bread ovens.

Clothes

• Animal skins• In some places, people were able to make

fabric from the wool of their sheep

Government

• Military and religious leaders had authority• Monarchy (kings and queens) emerged.

Economy

• Private Property—ownership of land, livestock and tools

Health

• Neolithic people were shorter and had lower life expectancy.

• Diseases like tooth cavities and typhoid emerged.

• Women had more children because the lifestyle was no longer nomadic.

Art

• Wall Paintings

Main Discovery

• Agriculture• Tools with Polished Stone