Chapter 1: First Peoples, First Farmers PDF

# First Peoples, First Farmers: Most of History in a Single Chapter (to 3500 BCE) ## Out of Africa: First Migrations - Around 200,000-250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens first emerged in the grasslands of eastern and southern Africa. - This was the beginning of an exclusively African story. - Africa...

# First Peoples, First Farmers: Most of History in a Single Chapter (to 3500 BCE) ## Out of Africa: First Migrations - Around 200,000-250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens first emerged in the grasslands of eastern and southern Africa. - This was the beginning of an exclusively African story. - Africa was the place where the “human revolution” occurred and “culture” became more important than biology in human behavior. - The first, uniquely human activity recorded was stone blades and points fastened to shafts replacing hand axes. ## Landmarks for Chapter 1 * **The World** * 250,000-200,000: Earliest *Homo sapiens* * 16,000-10,000: End of the last Ice Age * 12,000-4,000: Earliest agricultural revolutions * 10,000: Human population of 6 million * **Africa** * 100,000: Earliest evidence of human ritual activity: South Africa * 100,000-60,000: Beginning of human migration out of Africa * 16,000: Collection of wild grains * 8,000: Domestication of the donkey * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of sorghum * **Eurasia** * 70,000: Human entry into East Asia * 45,000: Human entry into Europe * 35,000-17,000: Cave art in Europe * 12,000-10,000: Agricultural Revolution in the Fertile Crescent * 6,000-5,000: Domestication of horses * **The Americas** * 30,000-15,000: Human entry into the Americas * 13,000-11,000: Clovis culture in North America * 11,000: Extinction of large mammals in North America * 6,000-5,000: Beginning of domestication of corn in southern Mexico * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of potatoes in Andes region * **Oceania** * 60,000-40,000: Human entry into Australia (first use of boats) * 30,000: Extinction of large mammals in Australia * 3,500-1,000: Austronesian migration to Pacific islands (and Madagascar) * 1,000-800: Human entry into New Zealand (last major region to receive human settlers) ## **Controversies: Debating the Timescales of History** - *When does world history begin?* - *Does it matter?* - Professional historians until recently agreed that history began with writing. - From the mid-twentieth century, increasingly accurate scientific techniques allowed scholars to date artifacts and the movements of human populations. - This led to a much clearer understanding of early human history. - Many scholars-historians, archeologists, and others broadened the definition of “history” to incorporate people without a written record. - This led to the idea of "Big History," which integrates the human story into the frameworks of planetary and cosmic evolution. ## **Out of Africa: First Migrations** - Around 70,000 years ago, humans first migrated out of Africa and into the Middle East. - About 45,000 years ago, they migrated to Europe. - Some of the most carefully researched areas of early human settlement are in southern France and northern Spain. - Between 35,000 to 17,000 years ago, Paleolithic peoples created cave paintings depicting bulls, horses, and other animals in colors of red, brown, yellow, and black. - Images of human beings and various abstract designs also appeared in these cave paintings. ## **Landmarks for Chapter 1* ** * **The World** * 250,000-200,000: Earliest *Homo sapiens* * 16,000-10,000: End of the last Ice Age * 12,000-4,000: Earliest agricultural revolutions * 10,000: Human population of 6 million * **Africa** * 100,000: Earliest evidence of human ritual activity: South Africa * 100,000-60,000: Beginning of human migration out of Africa * 16,000: Collection of wild grains * 8,000: Domestication of the donkey * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of sorghum * **Eurasia** * 70,000: Human entry into East Asia * 45,000: Human entry into Europe * 35,000-17,000: Cave art in Europe * 12,000-10,000: Agricultural Revolution in the Fertile Crescent * 6,000-5,000: Domestication of horses * **The Americas** * 30,000-15,000: Human entry into the Americas * 13,000-11,000: Clovis culture in North America * 11,000: Extinction of large mammals in North America * 6,000-5,000: Beginning of domestication of corn in southern Mexico * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of potatoes in Andes region * **Oceania** * 60,000-40,000: Human entry into Australia (first use of boats) * 30,000: Extinction of large mammals in Australia * 3,500-1,000: Austronesian migration to Pacific islands (and Madagascar) * 1,000-800: Human entry into New Zealand (last major region to receive human settlers) ## **Controversies: Debating the Timescales of History** - *When does world history begin?* - *Does it matter?* - Professional historians until recently agreed that history began with writing. - From the mid-twentieth century, increasingly accurate scientific techniques allowed scholars to date artifacts and the movements of human populations. - This led to a much clearer understanding of early human history. - Many scholars-historians, archeologists, and others broadened the definition of “history” to incorporate people without a written record. - This led to the idea of "Big History," which integrates the human story into the frameworks of planetary and cosmic evolution. ## **Out of Africa: First Migrations** - Around 70,000 years ago, humans first migrated out of Africa and into the Middle East. - About 45,000 years ago, they migrated to Europe. - Some of the most carefully researched areas of early human settlement are in southern France and northern Spain. - Between 35,000 to 17,000 years ago, Paleolithic peoples created cave paintings depicting bulls, horses, and other animals in colors of red, brown, yellow, and black. - Images of human beings and various abstract designs also appeared in these cave paintings. ## **Landmarks for Chapter 1* ** * **The World** * 250,000-200,000: Earliest *Homo sapiens* * 16,000-10,000: End of the last Ice Age * 12,000-4,000: Earliest agricultural revolutions * 10,000: Human population of 6 million * **Africa** * 100,000: Earliest evidence of human ritual activity: South Africa * 100,000-60,000: Beginning of human migration out of Africa * 16,000: Collection of wild grains * 8,000: Domestication of the donkey * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of sorghum * **Eurasia** * 70,000: Human entry into East Asia * 45,000: Human entry into Europe * 35,000-17,000: Cave art in Europe * 12,000-10,000: Agricultural Revolution in the Fertile Crescent * 6,000-5,000: Domestication of horses * **The Americas** * 30,000-15,000: Human entry into the Americas * 13,000-11,000: Clovis culture in North America * 11,000: Extinction of large mammals in North America * 6,000-5,000: Beginning of domestication of corn in southern Mexico * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of potatoes in Andes region * **Oceania** * 60,000-40,000: Human entry into Australia (first use of boats) * 30,000: Extinction of large mammals in Australia * 3,500-1,000: Austronesian migration to Pacific islands (and Madagascar) * 1,000-800: Human entry into New Zealand (last major region to receive human settlers) ## **Controversies: Debating the Timescales of History** - *When does world history begin?* - *Does it matter?* - Professional historians until recently agreed that history began with writing. - From the mid-twentieth century, increasingly accurate scientific techniques allowed scholars to date artifacts and the movements of human populations. - This led to a much clearer understanding of early human history. - Many scholars -–historians, archeologists, and others –– broadened the definition of “history” to incorporate people without a written record. - This led to the idea of "Big History," which integrates the human story into the frameworks of planetary and cosmic evolution. ## **Out of Africa: First Migrations** - Around 70,000 years ago, humans first migrated out of Africa and into the Middle East. - About 45,000 years ago, they migrated to Europe. - Some of the most carefully researched areas of early human settlement are in southern France and northern Spain. - Between 35,000 to 17,000 years ago, Paleolithic peoples created cave paintings depicting bulls, horses, and other animals in colors of red, brown, yellow, and black. - Images of human beings and various abstract designs also appeared in these cave paintings. ## **Landmarks for Chapter 1* ** * **The World** * 250,000-200,000: Earliest *Homo sapiens* * 16,000-10,000: End of the last Ice Age * 12,000-4,000: Earliest agricultural revolutions * 10,000: Human population of 6 million * **Africa** * 100,000: Earliest evidence of human ritual activity: South Africa * 100,000-60,000: Beginning of human migration out of Africa * 16,000: Collection of wild grains * 8,000: Domestication of the donkey * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of sorghum * **Eurasia** * 70,000: Human entry into East Asia * 45,000: Human entry into Europe * 35,000-17,000: Cave art in Europe * 12,000-10,000: Agricultural Revolution in the Fertile Crescent * 6,000-5,000: Domestication of horses * **The Americas** * 30,000-15,000: Human entry into the Americas * 13,000-11,000: Clovis culture in North America * 11,000: Extinction of large mammals in North America * 6,000-5,000: Beginning of domestication of corn in southern Mexico * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of potatoes in Andes region * **Oceania** * 60,000-40,000: Human entry into Australia (first use of boats) * 30,000: Extinction of large mammals in Australia * 3,500-1,000: Austronesian migration to Pacific islands (and Madagascar) * 1,000-800: Human entry into New Zealand (last major region to receive human settlers) ## **Controversies: Debating the Timescales of History** - *When does world history begin?* - *Does it matter?* - Professional historians until recently agreed that history began with writing. - From the mid-twentieth century, increasingly accurate scientific techniques allowed scholars to date artifacts and the movements of human populations. - This led to a much clearer understanding of early human history. - Many scholars -–historians, archeologists, and others –– broadened the definition of “history” to incorporate people without a written record. - This led to the idea of "Big History," which integrates the human story into the frameworks of planetary and cosmic evolution. ## **Out of Africa: First Migrations** - Around 70,000 years ago, humans first migrated out of Africa and into the Middle East. - About 45,000 years ago, they migrated to Europe. - Some of the most carefully researched areas of early human settlement are in southern France and northern Spain. - Between 35,000 to 17,000 years ago, Paleolithic peoples created cave paintings depicting bulls, horses, and other animals in colors of red, brown, yellow, and black. - Images of human beings and various abstract designs also appeared in these cave paintings. ## **Landmarks for Chapter 1* ** * **The World** * 250,000-200,000: Earliest *Homo sapiens* * 16,000-10,000: End of the last Ice Age * 12,000-4,000: Earliest agricultural revolutions * 10,000: Human population of 6 million * **Africa** * 100,000: Earliest evidence of human ritual activity: South Africa * 100,000-60,000: Beginning of human migration out of Africa * 16,000: Collection of wild grains * 8,000: Domestication of the donkey * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of sorghum * **Eurasia** * 70,000: Human entry into East Asia * 45,000: Human entry into Europe * 35,000-17,000: Cave art in Europe * 12,000-10,000: Agricultural Revolution in the Fertile Crescent * 6,000-5,000: Domestication of horses * **The Americas** * 30,000-15,000: Human entry into the Americas * 13,000-11,000: Clovis culture in North America * 11,000: Extinction of large mammals in North America * 6,000-5,000: Beginning of domestication of corn in southern Mexico * 4,000-3,000: Domestication of potatoes in Andes region * **Oceania** * 60,000-40,000: Human entry into Australia (first use of boats) * 30,000: Extinction of large mammals in Australia * 3,500-1,000: Austronesian migration to Pacific islands (and Madagascar) * 1,000-800: Human entry into New Zealand (last major region to receive human settlers) ## **Controversies: Debating the Timescales of History** - *When does world history begin?* - *Does it matter?* - Professional historians until recently agreed that history began with writing. - From the mid-twentieth century, increasingly accurate scientific techniques, including radio-carbon dating, DNA testing, and advances in linguistics and archeology, allowed scholars to date artifacts and the movements of human populations. - This led to a much clearer understanding of early human history. - Scholars broadened the definition of “history” to incorporate people without a written record - The idea of "Big History," which integrates the human story into the frameworks of planetary and cosmic evolution, emerged. ## **Out of Africa: First Migrations** - Around 200,000 to 250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens first emerged in the grasslands of eastern and southern Africa. - This was the beginning of an exclusively African story. - Africa was the place where the “human revolution” occurred and “culture” became more important than biology in shaping human behavior. - The first, uniquely human activity recorded was stone blades and points fastened to shafts replacing hand axes. - As the last Ice Age ended, the amount of water frozen in northern glaciers lowered sea levels, creating land bridges among various regions. - This allowed for the expansion of *Homo sapiens* into Eurasia, Alaska, and Indonesia. ## **Into Eurasia** - About 70,000 years ago, humans migrated to the Middle East and then to Asia. - About 45,000 years ago, they migrated to Europe. - Southern France and Northern Spain hold some of the most carefully researched areas of early human settlement. - Between 35,000 to 17,000 years ago, these Paleolithic peoples created stunning cave paintings depicting bulls, horses, and other animals in colors of red, yellow, brown, and black. - These paintings often depict human beings, impressions of human hands, and various abstract designs. - Paleolithic peoples adapted to the Ice Age conditions in eastern Europe. - New technologies, including bone needles, multilayered clothing, weaving, nets, storage pits, baskets, and pottery emerged. - Underground dwellings constructed from the bones and tusks of mammoths provided shelter. - It is suggested that some of these people may have lived in more permanent settlements. - Numerous female figurines, carved from stone, antlers, mammoth tusks, or baked clay, existed in eastern Europe. - Some called these Venus Figurines. - They depicted the female form, often with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, hips, and stomachs. - These figurines were found across Eurasia. - It is debated whether this widespread distribution suggests a network of human communication and cultural diffusion, or if it suggests a movement from west to east or vice versa. - It is questioned what their significance was in terms of women's roles and status in Paleolithic societies? ## **Into Australia** - Around 60,000 years ago, people migrated to Australia from Indonesia. - This involved another first in human affairs – the use of boats. - Scholars estimate that there were 300,000 people in Australia in 1788, when the first Europeans arrived. - Paleolithic peoples developed approximately 250 languages. - They learned to collect a wide variety of bulbs tubers, roots, seeds, and cereal grasses. - They were proficient hunters of large and small animals, as well as birds, fish, and other marine life. - A relatively simple technology sustained Australia's Aboriginal peoples into modern times. - The “Dreamtime,” a complex outlook on the world, was developed by Aboriginal peoples. - Expressed in stories, ceremonies, and rock art, the Dreamtime recounted the beginning of things and linked the continent’s inhabitants to their past. - The journeys of the Dreamtime’s ancestral beings reflect networks of migration, communication, and exchange that linked a continent's many Paleolithic peoples. - Exchanges of stones, pigments, materials for ropes and baskets, wood for spears, feathers and shells for ornaments occurred over hundreds of miles. - Songs, dances, and stories also circulated. - It is suggested that Paleolithic Australia, like ancient Europe, was both many separate worlds and, at the same time, one loosely connected world. ## **Into the Americas** - The earliest settlement of the Western Hemisphere occurred much later than that of Australia. - It occurred as humans penetrated the frigid lands of eastern Siberia. - While it is debated precisely when the first migrations occurred, experts agree that it was sometime between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. - It is debated whether the migration was by land across the Bering Strait or by sea down the west coast of North America. - It is debated how many separate migrations occurred, and how long it took to penetrate to the tip of South America. - Some DNA evidence suggests that a separate migration by sea from Pacific Polynesia occurred. ## **Clovis Culture** - Around 13,000 years ago, the Clovis point, a distinctive projectile point, first appeared in North America. - The Clovis culture spread rapidly. - Scattered groups of Clovis people ranged over a huge area. - They camped along rivers, springs, and waterholes. - They hunted smaller animals and gathered wild plants, but they are most known for hunting large mammals. - They killed a single mammoth, which could provide enough food for many weeks. - The wide distribution of Clovis point technology suggests cultural diffusion and communication. ## **The Extinction of Large Mammals in North America** - Around 11,000 years ago, the Clovis culture and many species of large animals, including the mammoth, horses, and camels, disappeared. - It is debated whether this extinction of large animals (megafaunal extinction) was caused by the drier climate that emerged with the end of the Ice Age, or if it was caused by the Clovis peoples. ## **The Creation of New Cultures** - New cultures arose as people adapted to a new situation in the Americas. - Hunters on the Great Plains continued to pursue bison. - Others learned to live in the desert. - Those who lived near the sea, lakes, or rivers drew on local fish and birds. - Many peoples of the Americas retained their gathering and hunting way of life. - Others became farmers. - A few favored regions developed into cities and large-scale states. ## **Into the Pacific** - The last phase of the great human migration took place in the Pacific Ocean. - This began about 3,500 years ago. - Austronesian-speaking people from the islands of the Bismarck and Solomon Islands near New Guinea and from the islands of the Philippines began migrating. - This was a waterborne migration. - These people used oceangoing canoes and had remarkable navigational skills. - They settled every habitable piece of land in the Pacific basin within 2,500 years. - Other Austronesians sailed west from Indonesia across the Indian Ocean to settle the island of Madagascar off the coast of eastern Africa. - It is suggested that this was the most geographically widespread family of languages in the world because of trading networks. ## **Paleolithic Lifeways** - During their long journeys across the earth, Paleolithic people created a multitude of societies, each with its own history, culture, language, identity, stories, and rituals. - Gathering and hunting technologies using stone tools imposed some commonalities on these ancient people. ## **The First Human Societies** - Paleolithic societies were small. - They consisted of bands of 25 to 50 people. - All relationships in these societies were intensely personal. - Technology and the available resources allowed for a very low population density and a slow rate of population growth. - These societies moved frequently, with regular patterns, to exploit the resources of wild plants and animals. - The low productivity of a gathering and hunting economy did not allow for the production of much surplus. - People were on the move so often that it made carrying an accumulation of goods impossible. ## **Egalitarianism** - Paleolithic societies lacked the inequalities of wealth and power that came later with agricultural and urban life. - There were no formal chiefs, kings, bureaucrats, soldiers, nobles, or priests. - Paleolithic men and women likely lived more freely of human tyranny and oppression than any later kind of human society. - People were more constrained by the forces of nature. - As there were no specialists, people had the same set of skills, with the exception of men hunting big game. - This likely gave rise to one of the first criteria of masculine identity – success in killing large animals. ## **Relationships between Women and Men** - Relationships between women and men were more equal than in later societies. - Women provided the bulk of the family’s sustenance. - Based on a study of the San people, a surviving gathering and hunting society in southern Africa, plants, which were normally gathered by women, provided 70 percent of the diet. - Men, who hunted, provided 30 percent of the diet. - Anthropologist Richard Lee called this “relative equality between the sexes, with no-one having the upper hand.” - Among the San, teenagers engaged quite freely in sex play. - The concepts of female virginity, rape, wife beating, and the sexual double standard were unknown. - While polygamy was permitted, most marriages were monogamous as women resisted sharing their husbands. - Many women were able to leave unsatisfactory marriages easily. - Both men and women expected satisfying sexual relationships, and both occasionally took lovers. ## **Into Eurasia** - Around 70,000 years ago, humans first migrated out of Africa and into the Middle East. - About 45,000 years ago, they migrated to Europe. - Some of the most carefully researched areas of early human settlement are in southern France and northern Spain. - Between 35,000 to 17,000 years ago, Paleolithic peoples created stunning cave paintings depicting bulls, horses, and other animals in colors of red, brown, yellow, and black. - These paintings often depict human beings, impressions of human hands, and various abstract designs. - Paleolithic peoples adapted to the Ice Age conditions in eastern Europe. - New technologies, including bone needles, multilayered clothing, weaving, nets, storage pits, baskets, and pottery emerged. - Underground dwellings constructed from the bones and tusks of mammoths provided shelter. - It is suggested that some of these people may have lived in more permanent settlements. - Numerous female figurines, carved from stone, antlers, mammoth tusks, or baked clay, existed in eastern Europe. - Some called these Venus Figurines. - They depicted the female form, often with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, hips, and stomachs. - These figurines were found across Eurasia. - It is debated whether this widespread distribution suggests a network of human communication and cultural diffusion, or if it suggests a movement from west to east or vice versa. - It is questioned what their significance was in terms of women's roles and status in Paleolithic societies? ## **Into Australia** - Around 60,000 years ago, people migrated to Australia from Indonesia. - This involved another first in human affairs – the use of boats. - Scholars estimate that there were 300,000 people in Australia in 1788, when the first Europeans arrived. - Paleolithic peoples developed approximately 250 languages. - They learned to collect a wide variety of bulbs tubers, roots, seeds, and cereal grasses. - They were proficient hunters of large and small animals, as well as birds, fish, and other marine life. - A relatively simple technology sustained Australia's Aboriginal peoples into modern times. - The “Dreamtime,” a complex outlook on the world, was developed by Aboriginal peoples. - Expressed in stories, ceremonies, and rock art, the Dreamtime recounted the beginning of things and linked the continent’s inhabitants to their past. - The journeys of the Dreamtime’s ancestral beings reflect networks of migration, communication, and exchange that linked a continent's many Paleolithic peoples. - Exchanges of stones, pigments, materials for ropes and baskets, wood for spears, feathers and shells for ornaments occurred over hundreds of miles. - Songs, dances, and stories also circulated. - It is suggested that Paleolithic Australia, like ancient Europe, was both many separate worlds and, at the same time, one loosely connected world. ## **Into the Americas** - The earliest settlement of the Western Hemisphere occurred much later than that of Australia. - It occurred as humans penetrated the frigid lands of eastern Siberia. - While it is debated precisely when the first migrations occurred, experts agree that it was sometime between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. - It is debated whether the migration was by land across the Bering Strait or by sea down the west coast of North America. - It is debated how many separate migrations occurred, and how long it took to penetrate to the tip of South America. - Some DNA evidence suggests that a separate migration by sea from Pacific Polynesia occurred. ## **Clovis Culture** - Around 13,000 years ago, the Clovis point, a distinctive projectile point, first appeared in North America. - The Clovis culture spread rapidly. - Scattered groups of Clovis people ranged over a huge area. - They camped along rivers, springs, and waterholes. - They hunted smaller animals and gathered wild plants, but they are most known for hunting large mammals. - They killed a single mammoth, which could provide enough food for many weeks. - The wide distribution of Clovis point technology suggests cultural diffusion and communication. ## **The Extinction of Large Mammals in North America** - Around 11,000 years ago, the Clovis culture and many species of large animals, including the mammoth, horses, and camels, disappeared. - It is debated whether this extinction of large animals (megafaunal extinction) was caused by the drier climate that emerged with the end of the Ice Age, or if it was caused by the Clovis peoples. ## **The Creation of New Cultures** - New cultures arose as people adapted to a new situation in the Americas. - Hunters on the Great Plains continued to pursue bison. - Others learned to live in the desert. - Those who lived near the sea, lakes, or rivers drew on local fish and birds. - Many peoples of the Americas retained their gathering and hunting way of life. - Others became farmers. - A few favored regions developed into cities and large-scale states. ## **Into the Pacific** - The last phase of the great human migration took place in the Pacific Ocean. - This began about 3,500 years ago. - Austronesian-speaking people from the islands of the Bismarck and Solomon Islands near New Guinea and from the islands of the Philippines began migrating. - This was a waterborne migration. - These people used oceangoing canoes and had remarkable navigational skills. - They settled every habitable piece of land in the Pacific basin within 2,500 years. - Other Austronesians sailed west from Indonesia across the Indian Ocean to settle the island of Madagascar off the coast of eastern Africa. - It is suggested that this was the most geographically widespread family of languages in the world because of trading networks. ## **Paleolithic Lifeways** - During their long journeys across the earth, Paleolithic people created a multitude of societies, each with its own history, culture, language, identity, stories, and rituals. - Gathering and hunting technologies using stone tools imposed some commonalities on these ancient people. ## **The First Human Societies** - Paleolithic societies were small. - They consisted of bands of 25 to 50 people. - All relationships in these societies were intensely personal. - Technology and the available resources allowed for a very low population density and a slow rate of population growth. - These societies moved frequently, with regular patterns, to exploit the resources of wild plants and animals. - The low productivity of a gathering and hunting economy did not allow for the production of much surplus. - People were on the move so often that it made carrying an accumulation of goods impossible. ## **Egalitarianism** - Paleolithic societies lacked the inequalities of wealth and power that came later with agricultural and urban life. - There were no formal chiefs, kings, bureaucrats, soldiers, nobles, or priests. - Paleolithic men and women likely lived more freely of human tyranny and oppression than any later kind of human society. - People were more constrained by the forces of nature. - As there were no specialists, people had the same set of skills, with the exception of men hunting big game. - This likely gave rise to one of the first criteria of masculine identity – success in killing large animals. ## **Relationships between Women and Men** - Relationships between women and men were more equal than in later societies. - Women provided the bulk of the family’s sustenance. - Based on a study of the San people, a surviving gathering and hunting society in southern Africa, plants, which were normally gathered by women, provided 70 percent of the diet. - Men, who hunted, provided 30 percent of the diet. - Anthropologist Richard Lee called this “relative equality between the sexes, with no-one having the upper hand.” - Among the San, teenagers engaged quite freely in sex play. - The concepts of female virginity, rape, wife beating, and the sexual double standard were unknown. - While polygamy was permitted, most marriages were monogamous as women resisted sharing their husbands. - Many women were able to leave unsatisfactory marriages easily. - Both men and women expected satisfying sexual relationships, and both occasionally took lovers. ## **Into Eurasia** - Around 70,000 years ago, humans first migrated out of Africa and into the Middle East. - About 45,000 years ago, they migrated to Europe. - Some of the most carefully researched areas of early human settlement are in southern France and northern Spain. - Between 35,000 to 17,000 years ago, Paleolithic peoples created stunning cave paintings depicting bulls, horses, and other animals in colors of red, brown, yellow, and black. - These paintings often depict human beings, impressions of human hands, and various abstract designs. - Paleolithic peoples adapted to the Ice Age conditions in eastern Europe. - New technologies, including bone needles, multilayered clothing, weaving, nets, storage pits, baskets, and pottery emerged. - Underground dwellings constructed from the bones and tusks of mammoths provided shelter. - It is suggested that some of these people may have lived in more permanent settlements. - Numerous female figurines, carved from stone, antlers, mammoth tusks, or baked clay, existed in eastern Europe. - Some called these Venus Figurines. - They depicted the female form, often with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, hips, and stomachs. - These figurines were found across Eurasia. - It is debated whether this widespread distribution suggests a network