Early Man California State Content Standards 6.1 Students describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution. 1. Describe the hunter-gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire. 2. Identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments. 3. Discuss the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing and shelter.

1. Describe the hunter-gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire.
Hunter-gatherer societies are believed to have lived in small groups, called bands or clans, migrating from one place to another in search for food and shelter. Hunter-gatherer societies worked together in order to survive. They often hunted in small groups and gathered wild plants, seeds, fruits, and nuts to survive. Overtime these societies developed language. While nobody knows exactly how or why language was first developed, many believe it was to make hunting easier. In addition, many believe that language was created as a way for people to form relationships with one another, or to help resolve issues like food distribution. Hunter-gatherer societies also expressed themselves through art. Scientists have discovered carved figures made out of stone, ivory, and bone. They also painted simple scenes in caves using natural resources. Nobody is sure why they painted in caves, but it is speculated that the cave art may have served as a “how-to” guide to hunting or had religious meaning.

Early hunters and gatherers used basic tools to help them hunt, build shelters, and make clothing. About 3 million years ago early-man used sharpened stones for chopping and scraping. Tools were sharpened by striking them against each other, creating a sharp, jagged edge along one side. Overtime tools developed to become more sophisticated and useful. Early man used stone tools like a hand axes and throwing spears by attaching a wood handle to the sharp stone section. By creating tools you could throw hunters didn’t need to get as close to the large, dangerous animals as they did before in order to kill them for a meal.

Long ago, people could harness the strength of fire to cook, keep warm, and protect themselves only when it was created by natural causes, such as a lightening bolt striking the ground. It is believed that the Homo erectus knew how to control fire, but it wasn’t until the Homo sapiens that people learned how to create fire themselves. Knowing how to build and start a fire helped early-humans live in a variety of regions and climates around the world. Fire enabled them to cook more easily, stay warm, and protect themselves from wild animals.

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2. Identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments.
As the climate began to change in Africa people began to migrate to new places, such as Europe and Asia. During the ice ages (approximately 1.6 million - 10,000 years ago) people were able to travel across land bridges from Asia to North America. Eventually, people following animal herds and settled in North and South America. During this time people also migrated to Australia. Although a land bridge never fully connected Asia with Australia, some scientists believe people built rafts to travel there. By 9,000 B.C. people lived on all the continents of the world except Antarctica.

As early-humans migrated around the world they had to learn to adapt to a variety of environments. These adaptations can be seen in their clothing, houses, tools and technologies. People sewed animal hides together with sinew and used them for clothing and shelter walls. In some areas where large animal hides were not available people used the natural resources of their environment by building houses out of wood, stones, clay, and/or animal bones. During the Mesolithic Era, or Middle Stone Age, people began to develop new technology and tools based on what was available in their environment. Some people used bones and stones in new ways, while others who lived near water invented fishhooks and fishing spears, while those who hunted large animals invented bows and arrows. People also began to make canoes and pottery during this time.

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3. Discuss the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing and shelter.

The Neolithic Era, or New Stone Age, began approximately 10,000 years ago. During this time people learned to polish stones to make primitive tools like saws and drills. People also learned how to make fire. The Neolithic Era ended about 5,000 years ago when people began to make tools out of metal. A warming trend during the Neolithic Era brought about a warmer climate. The warmer climate affected farming and helped aid in the creation of more advanced societies.

The warmer climate brought an end to the ice ages. During this warming period, people began to plant seeds for crops, eventually becoming dependent on them as a stable source of food. Due to the warmer climate, more people began farming and raising animals in one place rather than living as nomadic groups traveling from place to place searching for food. The domestication of plants and animals allowed early civilizations to use these natural recourse as sources for clothing and it allowed them to begin forming basic societies. Many people used sheep and goats for their wool and horses for their skins. Also, plant fibers were to make clothes. Farmers could raise animals for food and use them to help with farming chores, such as carrying heavy loads. The first civilizations began to settle near large rivers. These rivers, such as the Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Huang He, Yellow River, and Tibris, provided a means for food, water for crops, and acted as a highway for trade and travel.

As a result of the warmer climate and domestication of plants and animals, people could focus on activities other than survival, such as forming civilizations with governments, written language, religion, art, and architecture, to name a few.

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