PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD

Prehistoric Period

• Encompasses the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods, transitioning into the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age)

• Spanned from approximately 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 B.C.
• Early humans lived as hunter-gatherers and resided in caves or simple huts
• Basic stone and bone tools, including crude stone axes were used for hunting.
• Controlled fire was used to cooked prey like mammoths, deer, and bison.

Art and Literature in the Paleolithic Period

• Ancient humans were the first to create art, using minerals, ochres, burnt bone meal, and charcoal mixed with liquids to etch humans, animals, and signs
• Small figurines were carved from stones, clay, bones, and antlers.

Parietal Art or Cave Art

• Refers to art found in caves or rock shelters under cliff overhangs
• A subset of rock art, typically found on rock walls, ceilings, or floors
• Term applied primarily to prehistoric art.

Forms of Cave Art

• Rock art presents globally in culturally diverse settings throughout human history
• Cave paintings are a type of rock art
• Petroglyphs are carvings or scratches on rock surfaces
• Sculpted rock reliefs are a type of rock art
• Geoglyphs are formed on the ground as a type of rock art.

Caves in the Maros-Pangkep Karst

• The caves are located in South Sulawesi, Indonesia
• The caves contain paintings from the Paleolithic period.
• The paintings contain some of the earliest figurative art known globally
• The paintings are dated to at least 43,900 years ago

Petroglyphs

• Images created by removing part of a rock surface through incising, picking, carving, or abrading
• Petroglyphs were a form of rock art
• Examples exist worldwide with the exception of Antartica
• Highest concentrations of petroglyphs are in parts of Africa, Scandinavia, and Siberia
• Many examples date to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago near the Neolithic and late Upper Paleolithic boundary

Geoglyphs

• Large designs or motifs created on the ground using durable landscape elements
• Elements used include stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth
• Geoglyphs are a type of land art.
• Hill figures are created on slopes for visibility from a distance. Stonehenges
• Prehistoric megalithic structure on SalisburyPlain, Wiltshire, England
• Located two miles west of Amesbury
• Construction occurred in phases from about 3100 BC to 1600 BC
• The large sarsen stones were placed between 2600 BC and 2400 BC
• The earliest monument phase, the circular earth bank and ditch, dates to about 3100 BC

End of the Last Ice Age

• Marked by extinction of many large mammals
• Rising sea levels occured along with climate change
• Climate change caused humans to migrate

Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age)

• The period occurred from approximately 10,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C.
• Small stone tools were further polished and points were added
• Tools crafted with points were attached to antlers, bone, or wood to serve as spears and arrows
• People lived nomadically in camps near rivers and other bodies of water
• Agriculture was introduced leading to permanent settlements in villages

Neolithic Period (Early Stone Age)

• Occurred from about 8,000 B.C. to 3,000 B.C.
• Humans shifted from hunter/gatherer lifestyles to agriculture and food production
• Animals were domesticated and cereal grains were cultivated
• Polished hand axes and adzes for plowing and tilling the land were used
• Settlements began to form in the plains
• Advancements took place in farming, home construction, and art.
• Pottery, sewing, and weaving became widespread during the period

Bronze Age

• Occurred from approximately 3,000 B.C. to 1,300 B.C.
• Metalworking advances led to the discovery of bronze
• Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin
• Bronze was used for weapons and tools.
• Bronze replaced its stone predecessors
• The ox-drawn plow and the wheel came to light
• Advances in architecture and art took place
• The potter's wheel was invented
• Clothing consisted of wool items like skirts, kilts tunics, and cloaks
• Dwellings transformed into roundhouses with walls of circular stone, hearths, and turf roofs.
• Villages and cities began to form
• Organized government, law, and welfare were established.
• Egyptian pyramids were built during the time.
• Egyptian hieroglyphs and petroglyphs are dated to this era

Iron Age

• Occurred from about 1,300 B.C. to 900 B.C.
• The discovery of how to heat and forge iron marked the beginning of the period
• Iron was more precious than gold at the time
• Wrought iron was easier to manufacture.
• Wrought iron was eventually replaced by steel once smelting iron was possible
• Mass production of iron tools and weapons began
• Homes were expanded into four-room homes some including stables
• Hill forts, royal palaces, and temples were built.
• City planning developed with homes erected along paved or cobblestone streets with water systems
• Agriculture, art, and religion became sophisticated
• The use of writing systems and documentation came to light and ushered in the Early Historical Period

Significant Developments through the Ages

• Hunter-gatherer lifestyles transitioned to permanent agricultural settlements
• Cave and wooden dwellings transitioned to building of stone walls for communities
• Tribal systems evolved into full fledged governments
• Weapons made of stones and sticks transitioned to smelted metallic weapons
• Tribal leaders transitioned to kings and queens

Code of Hammurabi

• One of the earliest and most complete sets of written legal codes
• Created by Babylonian King Hammurabi from 1792 to 1750 BC
• Hammurabi expanded the city-state of Babylon along the Euphrates to unite all of southern Mesopotamia.
• Hammurabi created a code of 282 rules and laws that set standards for fines and punishments to meet the requirements of justice.

Significant contributions of Ancient Civilizations

• Law and criminal justice systems
• Diplomacy
• Military
• Property
• Monetary systems
• Governance

Herodotus

• Known as "The Father of History"
• His book "Histories" covered the Greco-Persian War
• It covered the lives of prominent kings and famous battles (Marathon, Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale)
• The rise of the Achaemenid Dynasty and Cyrus the Great
• Also covered the Peloponnesian War