Mr. Curzan
Roots Of Civ.
NAME: ________________________________ DATE: ________________ PER: ____
Paleolithic People:
The Paleolithic Age
Key Terms: Define each term from the readings on the next few pages
prehistory -
civilization -
migrate –
bands -
home territory –
Making A Connection
What are some ways that you communicate? How would you communicate if you could
not use your language?
Organizing Your Thoughts
Use the web organizer below to help you take notes as you read the summaries that
follow. Think about the advances that Paleolithic people made.
Obtaining Food
The time beginning when people first appeared and ending when writing developed is
called prehistory. The time after writing developed is called history. This was the
beginning of civilization, or when people began to advance culturally and to live in
cities.
Even though prehistoric people had no writing, scientists have learned a great deal about
them. Many scientists believe that until about 900,000 years ago, our human-like
ancestors (called hominids) and afterward, early people, lived only on the grasslands of
eastern and southern Africa. Then the earth's climate changed, and it became colder.
Ocean water froze into huge glaciers. As the ice sheets grew, the sea level fell and
uncovered land that had been under water. So land bridges connected Africa to both
Europe and southwestern Asia. People were able to migrate, or make their way, around
the land bridges and around the desert of northern Africa. They made their way into
Europe and Asia, and much later to the Americas.
Scientists call the first age in which people lived the Paleolithic Age, or Old Stone Age. It
lasted from about 2.3 million years ago to about 10,000 years ago. During this age,
people got their food by hunting and gathering. Paleolithic people lived in bands, or
groups, of about 30 people. The people within a group lived and worked together. They
also shared their food.
Each band searched for food within an area known as its home territory. People set up
camps at various sites of the home territory. The band stayed at one site until the food
supply was used up. Then the band moved. Women and children of the band gathered
berries, nuts, and fruits. Men obtained meat. They caught fish with their bare hands and
hunted small animals with sticks and stones. Sometimes, they were able to kill a large
animal that was hurt or too old to run away. Then they were able to have enough meat to
last a few days.
How long did a band stay at one campsite?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How was the work of each group divided between the men, women, and children?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Explain why early humans only lived in Africa until around 900,000 years ago.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Making Tools
When people learned to make tools, their life became a little easier. The first tools were
sticks and stones that they found on the ground. Then people learned to shape stones to
make them more useful. The earliest shaped tools were pebble tools. The toolmaker hit
one pebble with another, removing chips and making a cutting edge. This edge was sharp
enough to cut meat. Later people knocked long, sharp-edged chips called flakes from
stones and used them as tools. They used flakes to cut up animals quickly and efficiently.
What were the earliest shaped tools?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Describe how tools would have made life easier.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Making Fire
During the Paleolithic Age people learned how to make fire by themselves. They created
a spark by rubbing two sticks or stones together. People used fire to keep themselves
warm and dry. They used it as a weapon, throwing burning sticks of wood at animals to
drive them away. They also used fire to cook food.
How did early people use fire?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Why would the discovery of fire be such an important turning point for humans?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Seeking Shelter
Early people usually camped out in the open. They dug pits in the ground to protect
themselves from the wind. Sometimes they protected themselves under an overhanging
rock or piled-up brush. At first, people used caves to escape from emergencies, such as
storms. But about 100,000 years ago, people in China, western Europe, and southwestern
Asia were living in caves more often. However in some parts of the world, caves were
rare and either too hard to find or too dangerous to occupy. Later on, depending on their
location and the materials that were available, people were able to build simple huts
above ground using bones, hides, rocks or branches.
How did early people first protect themselves?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Why would it be inaccurate to call early people “cavemen”?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Making Clothing
Early people found that they could use the animal skins of the big animals they hunted to
keep them warm. At first people wrapped the skins around themselves. Later, they
learned how to fasten skins together. Learning how to make clothing allowed people to
live in a variety of places. Before they knew how to make clothing, they had to live in
areas that were warm and dry. After they learned to make clothing they were able to
move into areas that were cooler and wetter.
How did learning to make clothing affect where people lived?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What parts of the world were probably the last areas to become settled by humans?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Developing Language
Early people also developed a language. At first they communicated by making sounds to
express meaning. They also used hand signals for things such as food and water.
Gradually, sounds and signals were no longer enough, and people began to develop
language. This was a great human achievement. It made it possible for people to work
together and share ideas. It resulted in greater progress being made in all areas of
civilization.
How did early people communicate before the development of language?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Provide an example of how language would help early people with a specific task.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
The Neanderthals
The first species of hominids (upright primates using only two legs for walking) to have
advanced human-like characteristics were known as Homo habilis, or "skillful man."
Next came Homo erectus, or "man who walks upright." These two species of hominids
led to the arrival of modern humans. Then between about 300,000 and 200,000 years ago
came the Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis).
A kind of species that is closely related to (and some say even belonged to) modern
humans or Homo sapiens was the Neanderthal. They were named after the Neander River
in Germany where their remains were first found. The remains of Neanderthal people
have been found throughout Europe and in parts of Asia and Africa. Neanderthals were
good hunters. They used traps to catch animals. Neanderthals were also builders. They
made houses by covering a framework of bones with animal skins. Scientists believe that
Neanderthal people were the first to bury their dead. Archaeologists have found graves of
people from this time.
Why do scientists believe that Neanderthals buried their dead?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
The word “Neanderthal” is sometimes used to describe someone as ignorant, dumb
and barbaric? According to what you’ve learned, why is this description incorrect?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Early Modern Man (Homo sapiens)
Between about 200,000 and 100,000 years ago came Homo sapiens, or "man who
thinks." Homo sapiens are modern humans and they first appeared on the continent of
Africa. All people on earth today are Homo sapiens regardless of our differences in
appearance. Any early form of Homo sapiens that archeologists have been able to study
is the Cro-Magnon. They are named after a rock shelter in France where their remains
were found. Cro-Magnons appeared in North Africa, Asia, and Europe about 100,000
years ago. Archaeologists consider them an important discovery since they were the first
discovery of early modern people. However, scientists today use “Anatomically Modern
Human” (AMH) or “Early Modern Human” (EMH) instead of Cro-Magnon because we
now know more about the origin and spread of modern humans and that they did not first
appear in Europe.
Early Modern Humans were skillful toolmakers. They invented a tool much like the
chisel. They could use the tool to make other tools from objects such as antlers and bone.
Having better tools made Early Modern Humans better hunters. This helped to increase
their food supply. Early Modern Humans knew how to make spear throwers, or devices
that made spears fly through the air faster and farther. This allowed hunters to stay a
greater distance from large animals, making hunting less dangerous.
Early Modern Humans also invented the axe. They used it to cut down trees. They
hollowed out the logs to make canoes. In southeastern Asia, they cut down stalks of
bamboo and tied them together with vines to make rafts. The rafts helped to carry the
people to other lands.
Early Modern Humans were also artists. They made statues out of ivory. They covered
the walls of some caves with paintings. Their paints were made from minerals.
Anthropologists believed that the cave paintings told a story about Early Modern Human
ceremonies or history.
Early Modern Human bands cooperated with one another. They often joined together to
hunt large animals. To do so, they had to agree on rules and on leaders. Every year they
gathered together to exchange information about the movement of animal herds.
What part of the world did Early Modern Humans (like us) first appear?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How did the invention of spear throwers affect Early Modern Human hunting?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How did Homo sapiens or Early Modern Humans make advances with their culture
or way of life? Provide an example or two.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
-------------------------------------------------------------In your opinion, what key achievement of the Paleolithic Age was the most
significant to changing human history? Why?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What achievement probably helped pave the way for farming (moving away from
the hunting-gathering age)? Explain.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________