THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
• The Neolithic Age began around 7000 B.C. and
lasted until 3500 B.C., when the written word
appeared and history began.
• We call this era Neolithic Revolution because
of the important economic and social changes
that occurred.
NEOLITHIC AGE
7000 B.C.
Agriculture
3500 B.C.
Written word
Revolution… What revolution?
What did
they eat?
Where
did they
live?
What was
society
like?
What did
they
make?
What was the natural landscape like?
• There was a climate change, which resulted in
an increase in the Earth´s temperature and
the melting of some part of the ice in Europe,
Asia and North America.
• New species of plants appeared:
o Barley and wild wheat in the Middle East
and Europe
o Millet and rice in Asia
o Maize, sunflowers and potatoes in America
New plant
species
appeared!
What did people eat?
• They were the first to grow plants for
agriculture and keep livestock.
• In this way, humans stopped being predators
and became producers: they did not just
consume nature´s product, they also produce
them.
• They discovered agriculture observing plants
growing and this helped them to start
cultivating them.
CROPS IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE
• They also developed livestock.
• People began to domesticate animals (sheep,
goats, pigs, oxen, asses) by keeping them
together and feeding them.
• They obtained meat, milk, hides and dung
(excrement from animals, used to fertilise the
land).
• Soon bartering (the exchange of products
among different groups) appeared.
ACTIVITIES
1. Relate crop and place.
Put each crop in its related place:
Sunflower, wheat, rice, millet, maize potatoes, olives.
America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Africa
2. Make a timeline with crops and places.
Relate these elements and put them in
chronological order:
America
Asia
Africa
Europe
Middle East
10.000 B.C.
5.000 B.C.
4.000 B.C.
3.000 B.C.
Where did they live?
• Now that humans had constant food, they
didn´t need to go out and look for it.
• So they stopped being nomads and became
sedentary.
• They built the firsts permanent settlement
made od circular or rectangular dwellings.
o Settlement: small community of people
o Dwelling: simple house
Neolithic dwelling in Skara Brae
(United Kingdom)
What was society like?
• In the settlement, people did different
activities or jobs: some worked in agriculture,
others with livestock, hunting, buildings,
basket-making, cloth-making, defence, etc.
• This kind of organisation is called division of
labour.
• Some historian believed that it was women
who introduced new agricultural methods, the
domestication of animals, basket-making,
spinning and weaving.
What did they believe in?
• They believed in spirits: they had religious rites
based on the spirits and they worshipped the
dead, who were buried with their personal
possessions (pots, jewel, tools, etc.) under the
houses or in cemeteries called necropolises.
ACTIVITIES
3. Answer the following questions.
a) What change took place in the landscape during the
Neolithic Age?
b) How did they get food for living?
c) Where did they lived?
d) What does the division of labour consist of?
e) What was a necropolis?
Stonework
Materials
Pottery
STONEWORK
• They continue making carved stoned but now
they also begin to make polished stone.
• The materials for this new method were marble
and granite.
• The main tools were:
o Ploughs for digging
o Scythes for cutting crops
o Axes for cutting wood
• They added to the stone tools wooden handles.
Neolithic tools
MATERIALS
• They began to use natural fibres to make
baskets and cloth.
• The fibres used were esparto grass, linen, cotton
and wool.
• First they spun the fibres to get thread.
• Then they wove them on a looms to get the
fabric.
• They also made shoes.
Neolithic women weaving
POTTERY
• They made pots by hand and baked them
directly in the fire.
• Later they invented a type of oven.
• Sometimes they decorated the pots with
incisions or relief using a sharp tools.
• They made watertight containers, in which they
kept and transported food and liquids.
Neolithic pottery
ACTIVITIES
4. Identify the tools. What is it used for?
• Digging
• Cutting grass and crops
• Cutting wood
•
•
•
•
ROCK PAINTING
Located in open air or in shallow caves.
Figures were more schematic: the human
body was represented by a vertical line, which
was sometimes split in two to represent the
legs. The head was a circle.
The painting shows scenes: hunting, food
gathering and ritual dances.
They probably had religious significance
associated with fertility rites of the land.
Barranco de la Valltorta, Castellón
FUNERAL IDOLS
• Representation or image of a god.
• Made of stone and bone.
• These figures had big round eyes and were
adorned with triangles and lines.
ACTIVITIES
5. Compare Neolithic and Palaeolithic
Find differences between live in the Neolithic
Age and life in the Palaeolithic Age and write
sentences.
Example:
In the Neolithic Age they grew vegetables but in the
Palaeolithic Age they gathered fruit from the countryside.
6. Speaking. Neolithic or Palaeolithic?
Which age would you prefer to live in? The
Neolithic or the Palaeolithic? Say way.
Example:
I´d prefer to live in the Neolithic Age because it was
warmer.
THE END
BY JOSÉ LUIS ALCAIDE
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY TEACHER
IES PUERTA DE LA AXARQUÍA
LA CALA DEL MORAL (MÁLAGA)