Download Fusion Hunters and Gatherers The Paleolithic Era

Hunters and Gatherers – The Paleolithic Era
World History/Napp
The earliest humans were hunters and gatherers. The men hunted and the women
gathered edible plants. As hunters and gatherers, men and women were nomads. They
moved in search of food. They did not settle. This hunting and gathering way of life lasted
for thousands of years in a period of time known as the Paleolithic era or the Old Stone
Age. During the Paleolithic era, simple stone tools were made and cave paintings were
created. Paleolithic culture [a way of life of a group of people] was very different from
modern society. In Paleolithic culture, there were no rich people or poor people. As people
moved frequently, they did not accumulate property. Without an accumulation of
property, there were no social classes. Women were also treated better in Paleolithic
culture. The labor of both men and women were needed for the group to survive. Of
course, life was not perfect. It was difficult at times to find food. Paleolithic people
generally did not live to old age because accidents happened easily. At the same time, there
were benefits in Paleolithic culture such as no social classes and the relatively equality of
men and women [gender equality].
Terms to Define:
1- Paleolithic
2- Nomads
3- Gender equality
Questions:
 What were the earliest humans?

Explain the responsibilities of early men and women.

Why were early humans nomads?

What way of life lasted throughout the Paleolithic era?

Why were there no social classes during the Paleolithic era?

Why were women treated better in Paleolithic culture?

Why was life difficult in the Paleolithic era?

What were the benefits of the Paleolithic era?

Would you prefer to live in the Paleolithic era or the modern era? Explain.
What is accurate about Paleolithic
culture in this cartoon?
What is inaccurate about Paleolithic
culture in this cartoon?
A Different Perspective:
Generally, historians have regarded the movement from hunting and gathering societies
to farming societies as a positive development. But not all historians and intellectuals
agree. In history, there a many different points of view. In the reading passage that
follows, Jared Diamond views the hunting and gathering way of life as superior to the
farming way of life. Read the passage and be on the lookout for criticisms of our farmingbased lifestyles.
The Passage from The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race by Jared Diamond
“There are at least three sets of reasons to explain the findings that agriculture was bad
for health. First, hunter-gatherers enjoyed a varied diet, while early farmers obtained most
of their food from one or a few starchy crops. The farmers gained cheap calories at the cost
of poor nutrition, (today just three high-carbohydrate plants -- wheat, rice, and corn -provide the bulk of the calories consumed by the human species, yet each one is deficient in
certain vitamins or amino acids essential to life.) Second, because of dependence on a
limited number of crops, farmers ran the risk of starvation if one crop failed. Finally, the
mere fact that agriculture encouraged people to clump together in crowded societies, many
of which then carried on trade with other crowded societies, led to the spread of parasites
and infectious disease. (Some archaeologists think it was the crowding, rather than
agriculture, that promoted disease, but this is a chicken-and-egg argument, because
crowding encourages agriculture and vice versa.) Epidemics couldn’t take hold when
populations were scattered in small bands that constantly shifted camp. Tuberculosis and
diarrheal disease had to await the rise of farming, measles and bubonic plague the
appearance of large cities.”
Questions:
1- According to Jared Diamond, why was the diet of hunters and gatherers superior to the
diet of early farmers?
2- Why did early farmers run the risk of starvation?
3- Why did infectious disease spread more easily among farmers than hunters and
gatherers?
4- According to Jared Diamond, which lifestyle superior – the hunting and gathering
lifestyle or the farming lifestyle? Why?
More Questions:
1. The term “prehistory” means
(1) Before people wrote history books.
(2) Before people had written language.
(3) Before people had libraries.
(4) Before people could count.
(5) Before people could talk.
2. The term “Paleolithic” refers to the
(1) Old Stone Age.
(2) Middle Stone Age.
(3) New Stone Age.
(4) Old Stones.
(5) Old Writing.
3. An important cultural change from
Paleolithic to Neolithic is
(1) From nomadic to agricultural.
(2) From megalithic to caves.
(3) From pottery to sculpture.
(4) From warlike to peaceful.
(5) From illiterate to literate.
4. Which generalization is characteristic of
most traditional societies?
(1) people move from city to city seeking
new jobs
(2) sons learn the same trades as their
fathers
(3) a high degree of social mobility exists
(4) all people have the same economic
opportunities
5. Women in hunting and gathering societies
differed from women in agricultural
societies because
(1) Women had lower status in hunting and
gathering societies than agricultural
societies
(2) Women had higher status in hunting and
gathering societies than agricultural
societies
(3) Men and women were equal in both
hunting and gathering societies and
agricultural societies
(4) Women farmed in hunting and gathering
societies
Additional Questions:
Document 1
From Food Gathering To Food Producing
…Paleolithic men could not control their food supply. So long as they relied on
foraging, hunting, fishing, and trapping, they were dependent on the natural food
supply in a given area to keep from starving. But while Paleolithic men continued
their food-gathering pattern of existence in Europe, Africa, and Australia, groups
of people in the Near East began to cultivate edible plants and to breed animals.
Often described as the “first economic revolution” in the history of man, this
momentous change from a food-gathering to a food-producing economy
initiated the Neolithic Age. Paleolithic man was a hunter; Neolithic man became a
farmer and herdsman…
Source: T. Walter Wallbank, et al., Civilization: Past and Present, Scott, Foresman
and Company
1- According to the authors of this passage, what is one significant change that occurred
between the Paleolithic Age and the Neolithic Age?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Which document is considered a primary
source?
(1) encyclopedia article
(2) modern textbook
(3) biography
(4) personal correspondence
Which was true of food-gathering societies
in prehistoric times?
1. Society was highly industrialized.
2. The population tended to be small.
3. The concept of private property was
important.
4. There was a system of mass
production.
“I am lucky enough to have been involved
for half a century with work, mostly in East
Africa, that very much belongs to everyone,
since it concerns the human origins that are
common to the whole human race.”
~ Mary Leakey, Autobiography
In this quotation, the author is implying that
early humans
1. migrated from Africa to Eurasia
2. first appeared in Africa
3. invented tools and mastered the use
of fire
4. appeared shortly after the Neolithic
Age