Download PREHISTORY: Stone Age

UNIT 2
AGES OF HISTORY
• In previous classes it was stated
that history may be divided in a
chronological manner, in other
words through periods and ages
in a timeline.
• History thus is divided in:
–Prehistory
–Human history
PREHISTORY, is a term used to describe
the period before recorded history. This
age of time goes from the appearance of
the human being until the emerge of the
writing process.
There is a periodization of this Age of
History which can be define in a ThreeAge System, that consist in a three
consecutive time periods.
PREHISTORY: Three Age System
• Each age on this system is named for
their respective predominant toolmaking technologies
– Stone Age
–Bronze Age
–Iron Age.
PREHISTORY: Stone Age
• The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time
period during which humans widely used stone
for tool-making.
• It is the first age in the three-age system and its
subdivisions consist into the periods
– Paleolithic
– Mesolithic
– Neolithic
ETHIMOLOGY
Lithic:
Stone
Paleo: Old
Meso: Middle
Neo:
New/ Recent
PREHISTORY: Stone Age,
Paleolithic era
• It is the era in which the stone tools were started to
be developed. It covers about 99% of human history.
Starting with the introduction of stone tools by the
Homo Habilis about 2.6 million years ago, to the
introduction of agriculture around 10,000 BC. It
ended with the Mesolithic era.
• During this era, humans grouped together in small
scale societies denominated as “hunters and
gatherers” because they based their subsistence in
gathering plants and hunting wild animals to survive.
PREHISTORY: Stone Age,
Paleolithic era
• Paleolithic humans were
characterize by the use of
knapped stone tools, although
other kind of materials (wood
and bone) were used but in a
minor grade. During the mid
period of this era, humans
develop the ability of adapting
leather and vegetable fiber as
clothing.
PREHISTORY: Stone Age,
Paleolithic era
• During the end of the Paleolithic specifically
the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic humans
began to produce the earliest works of art and
engage in religious and spiritual behavior such
as burial and ritual. The climate during the
Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and
interglacial periods in which the climate
periodically fluctuated between warm and
cool temperatures.
PREHISTORY: Stone Age,
Mesolithic era
• This period started at the
end of the last ice age,
10,000 years ago. It
consisted on a lapse about
4,000 years. Mesolithic era
was characterized by rising
sea levels and a need of
adaptation by human being
to the constant
environmental changes.
PREHISTORY: Stone Age,
Mesolithic era
• Stone tools were used such as the period before,
however the tools then permitted more efficient
hunting. In addition, complex settlements were set,
fishing techniques were developed and probably
domestication of the dog as a hunting companion
dates to this period.
PREHISTORY: Stone Age,
Neolothic era
• This era was
characterized by the
adoption of agriculture
and the development of
clay pottery and polished
stone tools. In addition
the Neolithic human
need no more migration,
settling down for longer
periods.
PREHISTORY: Stone Age,
Neolothic era
• The first Neolithic cultures
started around 7000 BC,
spreading
culture
and
agriculture
from
NorthAfrican regions to the
Mediterranean, Indus valleys,
China and Southeast Asia.
The
first
large
scale
constructions were built,
including
towers,
walls,
ceremonial sites, and others.
PREHISTORY: Bronze Age
• The term Bronze Age refers to a
period in human cultural
development when the most
advanced metalworking with
bronze
included
different
techniques, either natural or
human-casted. The place and
time of the invention of bronze
are debated, thus pre-historians
debate the origins of this age
around 4,500 to 2,500 BC.
PREHISTORY: Bronze Age
• The Bronze Age was a time of
heavy use of metals in tools,
pottery, weapons, etc and of
developing trade networks. The
earliest cultures arose from the
spread of these metalworking
techniques to Europe, Central and
South Africa, China and Central
Asia. Civilizations such as
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Caucasian
and Persian were highly affected
in its development.
PREHISTORY: Iron Age
• This age is the last principal period of the Prehistory,
preceded by the Bronze and Stone Ages. Its dates
and context vary depending on the geographical
region but classically is taken to begin around 1500
BC. It consisted in cutting tools and weapons mainly
made of iron or steel.
PREHISTORY: Iron Age
• The adoption of this
material coincided with
many other changes in
society such as agricultural
practices, religious beliefs
and artistic styles. The Iron
Age in each area ended
with the beginning of the
historical
period;
this
means the beginning of
the written process.
PREHISTORY: Auxiliary Sciences
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Anthropology
Archaeology
Genetics
Geology
Linguistics
Arts
Paleontology
Biology
HUMAN HISTORY
• The Human History is the
recorded memory of the
experience of Homo sapiens. It
begins with the invention,
independently at several sites
on Earth, of writing, which
created the infrastructure for
lasting, accurately transmitted
memories and thus for the
diffusion and growth of
knowledge.
HUMAN HISTORY
• Human history may divide in different
periods of time:
• Old ages or antiquity
• Middle ages (early-low and high)
• Modern age
• Contemporary era
HUMAN HISTORY: Antiquity
• This period studies the written past from the
beginning of recorded human history in the Old
World to the Early Middle Ages in Europe. The
date goes around 30th century BC with Cuneiform
Script, the oldest discovered form of writing.
Classically, Antiquity is often used to study to
history since the beginning of recorded Greek
history in 776 BC (First Olympiad), which
coincides with the traditional date of the
founding of Rome in 753 BC, and the founding of
the Persian dynasty in 705 BC.
HUMAN HISTORY: Antiquity
• The ending of this period is disputed, whether it
ends with the fall of the Roman Empire, the death
of emperor Justinian I, the coming of Islam or the
rise of Charlesmagne. We will study it ends with
the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD.
HUMAN HISTORY: Limestones in
Antiquity
•
•
•
•
•
776 BC: First Olympiads in Ancient Greek
753 BC: Founding of Rome (traditional date)
653 BC: Rise of Persian Empire
551 BC: Confucius, founder of Confucianism, is born
539 BC: The Fall of the Babylonian Empire and liberation of
the Jews by Cyrus the Great
• 460 BC: First Peloponnesian War between Athens and
Sparta
• 447 BC: Building of the Parthenon at Athens started
• 385 BC: The Greek philosopher Plato, a former disciple of
Socrates, founds a philosophical school at the Akademia in
Athens—later famously known as the Academy. There, Plato,
and the later heads of the school, called scholarchs, taught
many of the brilliant minds of the day, including the famous
Greek philosopher Aristotle
HUMAN HISTORY: Limestones in
Antiquity
• 323 BC: Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon
• 221 BC: Qin Shi Huang unifies China, and orders the
construction of the Great Wall.
• 202 BC: Han Dynasty established in China, after the death of
Qin Shi Huang; China started to open trading connections with
the West (i.e. the Silk Road)
• 146 BC: Roman conquest of Greece
• 49 BC: Roman Civil War between Julius Caesar and Pompey
the Great
• 44 BC: Julius Caesar murdered by Marcus Brutus and others;
End of Roman Republic; beginning of Roman Empire
• 0 AD: Date for birth of Jesus of Nazareth
• 34: Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
• 68: Year of the four emperors in Rome
• 70: Destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Titus.
HUMAN HISTORY: Limestones in
Antiquity
• 117: Roman Empire at largest extent under Emperor Trajan
• 220: Three Kingdoms period begins in China after the fall of
Han Dynasty.
• 285: Emperor Diocletian splits the Roman Empire into
Eastern and Western Empires
• 476: Romulus Augustus, last Western Roman Emperor is
forced to abdicate by Odoacer, traditionally, the most
frequently cited date for the end of the Roman Empire
(although the Eastern Roman Empire, based in
Constantinople, would still continue to exist until 1453)