Prehistoric History - Unit 8: The Origin Of Humankind PDF

UNIT 8: PREHISTORY The origin of humankind Prehistory: an introduction What is prehistory? human evolution - Have you ever seen this picture? - Do you know what does it mean? - Do you think it is a realistic representation of human evolution? Explain your answer Are humans s...

UNIT 8: PREHISTORY The origin of humankind Prehistory: an introduction What is prehistory? human evolution - Have you ever seen this picture? - Do you know what does it mean? - Do you think it is a realistic representation of human evolution? Explain your answer Are humans special? - Which species do we belong to? - Which species is our nearest ancestor? - Have you ever heard about Homo floresiensis? And about Neanderthal man? - Do you know where is Atapuerca and how is it so important for understanding human evolution? Hominisation Life in Palaeolithic age What was life like in the Palaeolithic age? Early tools Write on your notebooks all the words in bold, then write their definitions and translate them into Spanish Was the Neolithic age a revolution? The beginning of agriculture and livestock farming - About ten thousand years ago, people learnt in nowadays Turkey, Syria, Palestine and Iraq how to grow plants and look after animals. - AGRICULTURE: it started when people noticed that some wild plants that they ate grew after seeds fell on the ground. The first crops were WHEAT, BARLEY, RYE, LENTILS, PEAS, AND MILLET. Later, rice, maize (corn) and potatoes were grown too. - LIVESTOCK: first domesticated animals came from wild animals that came near the crops and were captured by humans. These animals were DOGS, SHEEP, GOATS, OXEN AND PIGS. - With crops and domesticated animals, people were able to produce their own food, although they continued hunting and fishing. - They also became sedentary, because they need to live near their crops, so first villages appeared. Look carefully at the map and say in which date the different species of animals that are represented were domesticated for the first time. Technological advances - Important technological advances took place during Neolithic age: - Tools made of polished stone were invented: axes for cutting, hoes for ploughing, sickles for harvesting cereals and hand mills to grind grain. - They also invented textiles, made with basic looms. - Finally, they invented ceramic (pottery), pots for storing grain and bowls for eating and cooking were made by hand  What changes happened in metal ages? The first metal objects - 7 000 years ago, humans discovered how to work with metals in Anatolia and Middle East. The stages were: - Copper age: copper was the first used metal. It was not very strong. - Bronze age: it was made by mixing copper and tin and was stronger than copper. - Iron age: it was stronger and more abundant than copper and bronze. - To work with these metals humans invented two techniques: casting and forge. - Metals were used to make tools, weapons and jewels New ways of life… - Trade developed between the regions which had metals and the ones that didn’t have them. - Some villages began to grow and turned into towns with thousands of people. - The rulers of these towns began to fight between them to control the economic resources (metals, crops, cattle…) - New specialised jobs appeared in towns: - Warriors defended the towns with their metal weapons. - Priests carried out religious rites. - Merchants trade goods - Chiefs, warriors and priests were richer than the rest of the population, so social division appeared … and new inventions - The changes caused by the use of metals influenced also in new inventions: - The wheel was firstly used to make pottery and then to improve trade using carts. - The plough, which made easier and quicker to work the land. - The sail allowed to use wind force to move boats, so they were made bigger and faster, and were able to transport larger and heavier objects (cargo). Prehistoric art The Palaeolithic age - Humans began to do paintings on the wall of caves between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their characteristics are: - They show individual animals (deer, bison, mammoths, horses…), but they are not integrated in scenes. It is also common to find human hands. - Drawings are realistic, using sometimes the surface of the cave to give the impression of volume. - Drawings are made using several colours, above all black and red. - Perhaps they were made as a part of religious rites, praying for fertility or success in hunting. - Palaeolithic humans also did engraving and little statues made of stone, ivory or bones. The Neolithic age - During Neolithic, the way in which humans did their paintings changed a lot: - Scenes, for example hunting scenes, began to be depicted. - The paintings are located normally in outdoor shelters, not in caves. - They represented schematic figures of animals and also human beings. - They only used one colour (black or red) Metal ages: megalithic art - At the end of Neolithic age, humans began building large monuments with stones. - These monuments are called megaliths and there are three main types: