Geography and History 1º ESO
Unit 5 Prehistory
Unit 5 Prehistory
Contents of the unit:
I- Concept of Prehistory
II- The process of hominisation
III- Palaeolithic
IV- Neolithic
V- Metal age
I- Concept of Prehistory
Prehistory is the history of humankind from the appearance of the first human being
until the first written documents. Of course this is al lot of time, so historians have
considered different periods in order to understand better such a long time. Traditionally
these divisions were made due to the technology of each period, so we had the Stone
Age and the Metal Age. Nowadays we study not only these facts, but the economy,
society, culture, art, etc.
Prehistory is divided into three periods:
The Palaeolithic Age or Old Stone Age began with the appearance of our first ancestors,
about 2 million years ago. It was the longest phase of human history, so historians have
divided it into lower, medium and upper Palaeolithic. Palaeolithic peoples were
generally nomadic hunters and gatherers.
The Neolithic or New Stone Age began when the agriculture was discovered (9000
BC). In this period, groups of human beings started to live in settled villages. They
practised agriculture, domesticated animals and invented pottery and textiles.
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Geography and History 1º ESO
Unit 5 Prehistory
The Age of Metals began when human beings learned to use metals to make objects
(5.000 years BC), mainly copper, bronze and iron. They built monuments with big
blocks of stone, called menhirs, dolmens and stone circles.
II- Concept of hominisation
If you think about the definition of Prehistory, you could realise that it is 99% of our
existence as specie. We must even think that this period includes the different species of
hominids, from Homo Habilis to Homo Sapiens Sapiens. This process of evolution is
called “hominisation”, and it refers to the changes which occurred in the new species of
hominids. From one shared ancestry (a primate), the different species were developing
over millions of years. All these changes were developing during the upper Palaeolithic.
Hominisation started in Africa because of a climate change. The jungle where the
primates lived disappeared and became savannahs with fewer trees. This way, the
primates had to live on the grassland and only those who adapted survived. The genus
Homo adapted to the new life and the mutations passed on the next generation. When
this change becomes hereditary we can find a new specie. This theory was announced
by the naturalist Charles Darwin in the 19th century, although many people still believed
in the Creationism (one God who created the World and the humankind as we known).
Evolutionism Vs Creationism
To sum up, we can say that the main anatomical changes we can find in the different
species of hominids were produced because of the
necessity of live on the ground and let the former life over
trees. The physical changes also created cultural and social
changes.
- Bipedalism, which occurred as a result of the necessity of
seeing over the high herb of the savannah. The upright
position came because of different changes in the anatomy
of the pelvis and skull. These hominids walked using their
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Geography and History 1º ESO
Unit 5 Prehistory
legs and they could use their front limbs to
use tools (stones and sticks).
- Opposable thumbs, that is to say the ability
of press the thumb against the other fingers
and hold objects and create tools with
greater precision.
- The upright position enabled the gradual
increase of the brain because the forehead
could be more vertical. Moreover, the changes in the diet (hominids started to eat meat)
increased the energy used in the brain and both combined processes made each specie
more intelligent than the precious one.
- Changes in the whole skull and the reduction of the jaw and teeth allowed the
development of the larynx. This change and the increased size of the brain was very
important for the origin of the articulated language which created more sociable tribes.
The different species appeared throughout the Palaeolithic, most of them in the Upper
Palaeolithic, so we have to travel far away to the past to find the first ones of them. It is
a period of time with not many sources to study, so every fossilised bone or artefact that
arqueologists find can change many of the previously accepted theories. In fact we are
still searching for the “missing link” to join our genus, Homo, with the prehominids.
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Geography and History 1º ESO
Unit 5 Prehistory
The following species are the most important ones you have to know to understand our
origin as specie and the travel of our ancestors during the Palaeolithic:
Australopithecus
It means “southern ape”, because the first discovery took place in South Africa and they
were very similar to chimpanzees, they were prehominids. However, they walked on
two feet. They were about 1, 30 m tall and their brain was between 400 to 550 cm3.
They gathered wild fruit and lived about four million years ago in Africa (For example,
Lucy, “grandmother of humanity”).
Homo habilis
It means skilful, because they made stone tools, the choppers. These hominids appeared
two million years ago. Their brain was bigger (650- 800 cm3) and they were taller (1,
40 m). They lived from hunting and gathering fruits, seeds, roots, meat, etc.).
Homo erectus
These appeared one and a half million years ago. They walked upright (that is why they
are called “erectus”). This was the first species to live outside Africa (in Europe and
Asia) because their height was 1.60- 1.80 m and they could travel longer distances by
walk in every generation . They discovered fire and made bifaces (a two-sided stone
tool). They were excellent hunters.
Homo antecessor
They are the oldest human remains in Europe that were found in Atapuerca, Spain. They
are called antecessor because they might be the direct antecedent to the next species,
Neanderthal in Europe and sapiens Sapiens in Africa (but this theory must be probed
yet). They could have practiced cannibalism. They lived more than 1, 2 million years
ago, and their height was 1.60- 1.80 m.
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (Neanderthal)
The Neanderthal is named after the Neander valley (Germany), where there were found
fossils of this specie. They lived in Europe 150.000 years ago. They were stronger that
we are but shorter (1.70 m and 100 Kg the males), and their brain size was 1500 cc.
Neanderthal was perfectly prepared for living in the Ice Age hunting such big animals
as mammoths. They were the first species to bury their dead following rituals and
preparing them for the “afterlife”. It seems they were able to speak, play music and
paint inside the caves. They lived together with our specie in Europe for almost 10.000
years, and nowadays scientist has discovered that both Neanderthal and Sapiens had
offspring, and we all have DNA of them. They disappeared 30.000 years ago, so today
our specie is the only one hominid on the Earth.
Homo sapiens sapiens
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Geography and History 1º ESO
Unit 5 Prehistory
It means wise man, and maybe
that is the reason why some
scientist called our specie “the
story tellers”. Our specie
appeared in Africa about 130,000
years ago. Homo Sapiens were
slimmer
but
taller
than
Neanderthals, we use less energy
when walking and probably are
better adapted to different
environments. It doesn´t mean
that we are more intelligent than them; in fact our brain size is more or less the same
(1500 cc.). They spread from Africa across all the continents, and although they were
able to make finer tools of bones, horns and flint, probably they copied techniques of
Neanderthal to Moreover, they created art and developed different religious rituals.
To be continued...
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