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Pre-historic Times
Table of Contents
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Introduction
Website Links
The Old Stone Age
The Middle Stone Age
The New Stone Age
Neanderthals
Cro-magnons
Prehistoric Art
Pre-history vs Historic Periods
Prehistoric = no writing
- There was no writing so we have no easy to
understand records of what happened.
- Have to be detectives
 Historic = writing
- Mankind started to record what happened
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Stone Ages
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Old Stone Age- 500,000-10,000 years ago
Middle Stone Age- 10,000-8,000 years ago
New Stone Age- 8,000-5,000 years ago
Stone Age
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Stone Age, the time, early in the development of
human cultures, before the use of metals, when tools
and weapons were made of stone. The dates of the
Stone Age vary considerably for different parts of the
world. In Europe, Asia, and Africa it began about 2
million years ago.
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In the most advanced parts of the Middle East and
Southeast Asia it ended about 6000 bc, but it lingered
until 4000 bc or later in Europe, the rest of Asia, and
Africa.
The Stone Age in the Americas began when human
beings first arrived in the New World, some 30,000
years ago, and ended in some areas about 2500 bc at
the earliest.
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Throughout the immense time span of the Stone Age,
vast changes occurred in climate and in other
conditions affecting human culture. Humans
themselves evolved into their modern form during the
latter part of it.
The Stone Age has been divided accordingly into three
periods: the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic.
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
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Longest period.
It began about 2 million years ago, when stone
tools were first used by humanoid creatures, and
ended with the close of the last ice age about
13,000 bc.
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The hunting and gathering of food was the
norm. At first, single tools, such as chipped
pebbles or flaked stone implements, were used
for all purposes. Over time, a variety of tools
were made for specific purposes.
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By about 100,000 years ago, Neanderthal cultures
had several types of tools and were using bone
implements.
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At the end of the Paleolithic period, modern
humans (Homo sapiens) made such specialized
tools as needles and harpoons. In the CroMagnon caves of Europe, wall paintings and
evidence of both religious cults and possible
social stratification point to the complexity of the
cultures.
Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
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After 13,000 BC
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Changing weather patterns resulted in the
greater availability of food.
In tropical and temperate forest regions,
Paleolithic tools, still chipped, were adapted to
the new conditions.
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Neolithic (New Stone Age)
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In both the Middle East and in Mesoamerica,
however, agricultural villages had begun to
develop by 8000 BC.
This is known as the Neolithic period, or New
Stone Age.
Stone tools became highly polished and varied. By
6000 bc pottery appeared in the ancient Middle
East, and copper was used for the first time in
some regions. In other regions, the Neolithic
arrived much later.
Leakey
Anthropologists
known for discovering
-East African Man,
-Homo Habiles
-Homo erectus
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3.5 million year old footprints
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A trail of footprints 3 1/2 million years
old found by Mary Leakey at Laetoli,
Tanzania. These footprints show that
human-like creatures were walking
upright in East Africa 3 1/2 million
years ago.
Although precise relationships
between the Australopithecine species
and modern man (Homo sapiens) are
still subject to debate, new discoveries
in Africa promise to continue pushing
back the frontiers of knowledge about
human prehistory.
Homo erectus, Neanderthal,
Cro-Magnon
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The reconstructed skulls of three
prehistoric humans. From left to right:
Homo erectus, Neanderthal, and CroMagnon. Homo erectus (formerly known
as Pithecanthropus erectus, a part of the
species which includes Java Man and
Peking Man) lived from 1 1/2 million to
250,000 years ago.
These people were more than five feet tall
and probably had spoken languages.
Although they used stone tools and fire, no
traces of industry were found associated
with them.
The Neanderthals, who lived from 100,000
to 35,000 years ago, are among the direct
ancestors of modern man (Homo sapiens);
their burial remains indicate a belief in an
afterlife. Cro-Magnon Man lived from
35,000 to 10,000 years ago, in the late
Paleolithic (Stone) age, and was similar to
modern humans. (GPB)
Neanderthals
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Neanderthals are the best known of the ancient
humans. The Neanderthals lived in Europe and
central Asia between 230,000 and 30,000 years ago—
longer than Homo sapiens, or modern humans, have
lived on Earth. They lived during the most recent Ice
Age, when vast sheets of ice covered many northern
parts of the world.
The term “Neanderthal” (also spelled Neandertal)
comes from the Neander Valley near Dusseldorf,
Germany. This is where scientists found the first
Neanderthal fossils in 1856.
What do you know about
Neanderthals?
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1.
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Neanderthal Video
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Main Ideas:
Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals
Scientists believe Homo sapiens first appeared about
120,000 years ago, which means they coexisted with
Neanderthals.
Scientists have two theories about the relationship between
modern Homo sapiens and Neanderthals:
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• Out of Africa: The theory states that Homo sapiens first lived in
Africa and eventually traveled into Europe and Asia. These humans
had evolutionary advantages that allowed them to outlive—and
perhaps cause the extinction of all other hominid groups (as opposed
to apes) such as Neanderthal.
• Multiregional: The theory states that modern Homo sapiens
evolved from Neanderthal and other hominid groups in Europe and
Asia.
Group Project
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Project Aim: Study the physical features and
lives of Neanderthals. Research the
following:
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• Physical features and cranial capacity
• Hunting and diet
• Tools and weapons
• Burial of dead and religion
• Shelter
• Art, music, and language
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Use the following websites and write a one page
group paper. Print out or sketch pictures you find
while doing research.
- In the Stone Ages (see A Neanderthal’s Day and
Follow Your Roots)
http://www.neanderthal-modern.com/
- Neandertals: A Cyber Perspective
http://dsc.discovery.com/stories/science/stoneages/s
toneages.html
- Homo Neanderthalensis
http://sapphire.indstate.edu/~ramanank/
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http://www.handprint.com/LS/ANC/hfs9.html
• Neanderthal for High School Students
http://members.iinet.net.au/~chawkins/frames.
htm
Gale Discovering
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/newm58356
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EBSCO http://search.epnet.com
Prehistoric Art
Cave Paintings
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A prehistoric bison painting from
the caves at Altamira, Spain.
This image was found in the
Painted Hall, a 300-yard deep
limestone cave.
This cave is a prehistoric gallery
of Cro-Magnon art that includes
25 other images of various
animals: bison, boars, horses,
deer, and a wolf.
The paintings date back to the Old
Stone Age, around 12,000 B.C.
Pictograph:
Petroglyph:
Painting on a surface like a cave wall.
Design carved into rock or other surface.
Kentucky
Rock Art
Cave of Lascaux, France
Discovered by
four boys in
1940.
Caves are filled
with pictographs
and petroglyphs
of hundreds of
animals.
There are almost 600 pictures of animals, mostly horses.
Other animals painted are stags, bulls, bison, and ibex.
Only one man is painted.
Why did they paint the cave?
What do the paintings mean?
Just the animals that were around at that time.
Instructions on how to hunt or not to hunt.
The cave was used for religious ceremonies.
Painting were for good luck in hunting.
PowerPoint created by Amy J McCray, WKU Anthropology Undergrad. 2005.
References
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Coy, Fred, Thomas C. Fuller, Larry G. Meadows, and James L. Swauger.
Rock Art of Kentucky. University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, KY,
2003.
Google Images. 1 December 2005.
<http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q=>
The Caves of Lascaux. 1 May 2005.
<http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/>