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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