Chapter 2 Section 1
Paleolithic Age
• Paleolithic Age - second part of the Stone Age
beginning about 750,00 to 500,000 years BC and
lasting until the end of the last ice age about 8,500
years BC
• Stone Age - the earliest known period of human
culture, characterized by the use of stone
implements
Vocabulary
• Prehistory – the time period before written
history
• Civilization- a time when people progresses
culturally and began settling in cities.
• Migrate – to move, mass movement
• Bands – groups of people
• Home Territory – areas where hunters and gathers
live
• Olduvan Pebble Tools – Earliest stone tools found
in Eastern Africa
• Homo habilis – skillful man, 1st humans
• Homo erectus – man who walks upright
• Homo sapiens – man who thinks, modern humans
developed from this group
• Neanderthals – a group of humans that lived along
the Neander River in Germany
• Pitfalls – a large hole that was covered with leaves,
branches, and dirt, when a large animal walked over
it they would fall into the hole trapping it ;
therefore making it easier to kill
• Cro-Magnons – A group of early humans that lived
in the area of modern France, they were named
after the rock shelter where archaeologists found
their remains
• Burin – Tool invented by the Cro-Magnons, similar
to a chisel
• Spear Thrower – devices that made spears fly
through the air faster and farther, early form of an
arrow
1. Where did the first humans
originally live?
• Grasslands of eastern and southern Africca
2. What made it possible for humans
to spread out all over the earth from
this area?
• The global climate changed
• Ocean water froze into huge glaciers at the
poles exposing land in the middle of the earth
• Land bridges that connected Africa, Asia, and
Europe making it easier for humans to move
into new areas
3. What happened to the size of the
bands of humans when the food
supply was good?
• The population grew
4. What happened to most children
during the Paleolithic Age before their
first birthday?
• They died from either disease or were killed
by animals
5. What are some ways the hunters
and gathers of the Paleolithic Age
obtained food?
• Women – gathered nuts, berries, honey, and
roots
• Men – small animals with rocks, stones, and
their bare hands
6. How did humans first make fire?
• By rubbing two sticks or stones together or
turning a stick in a hole in a dry log
7. What purpose did fire serve the
early humans?
• To stay warm and dry
• As a weapon
• To clear land
• To cook food to make it easier to eat
8. What did the first humans use as
clothing?
• They began to use animal hides
• It allowed them to move to cooler climates
9. How did the Paleolithic humans
communicate? How did the invention
of language change the way humans
interacted with one another?
• Hand signals
• Language helped humans to be able to work
together, pass on beliefs, and also to educate
younger humans so that progress could be
made
10. What two skills did the
Neanderthals master? What
advancements did they make in these
areas?
• Hunting – Pitfalls
• Building – made houses out of mammoth
bones and animal skins
11. What were the Neanderthals the
first to do?
• Bury their dead
12. How did Cro-Magnon tools affect
hunting? What effect did this have on
population and culture?
• They were able to make better weapons for
hunting that were able to take down larger
animals and keep the hunter safer
• Hunting became less dangerous and more
productive, so the population grew with the
food supply
13. What effect did the axe have on
the Cro-Magnon?
• It allowed them to create water going vessels
such as rafts and canoes
• This allowed them to migrate all over the
world
14. What is the significance of the cave
paintings found in Cro-Magnon caves?
• Anthropologists believe that they may have
had something to do with religion
• They may have believed that the drawing
helped them to gain power over the animal’s
spirit
• This would help them to find and kill the
animal
15. How did the bands of Cro-Magnon
work together?
• They had gatherings every so often to discuss
things such as herd movement and to trade
with one another