The Beginnings
of
Human Society
Chapter 1, Section 2
The Stone Age
The Stone Age began when humans first
made tools out of stone.
This happened about two-hundred fifty
million years ago.
They used stones to hammer at soft volcanic
rock, and the volcanic rock chipped off into
sharp pieces.
Humans used the sharp pieces to cut plants or
meat.
The first tools were very simple, and the
Stone Age lasted for hundreds of thousands
of years.
The Stone Age: Three Periods
The Old Stone Age
During the Old Stone Age, people did not
know how to farm; they hunted animals and
gathered roots and berries.
They used stone tools to cut meat, cut animal
skins for clothes, and to protect themselves.
Most of prehistory takes place in the Old
Stone Age.
The Middle Stone Age
Some societies used more refined or
advanced tools characterizing the Middle
Stone Age.
The New Stone Age
The New Stone Age began about 11,000
years ago in Southwest Asia; when people
began planting seeds and farming.
Fire!
About 500,000 years ago, during the Old
Stone Age, people discovered fire.
It is thought that people began striking stones
together to make a spark, or maybe they
rubbed two sticks together.
When people learned how to make fire, they
could move to colder places.
They were also able to ward off animals.
Settling New Areas
When people developed the use of tools, they began to
leave their original homes in Africa. People in the
Stone Age became nomads, which are people who
wander and do not have a settled home. Nomads
move around from place to place, searching for food.
People began to spread out all over the earth.
Reading Check
What was life like during the Stone Age?
Hominids, including the first people, made
tools from stone, wood, and animal bones.
They got food by hunting and gathering.
They used fire and lived as nomads.
The Beginning of Farming
When people discovered farming, about
11,000 years ago, the New Stone Age began.
It is thought that women may have been the
first farmers, since men were always off
hunting.
Women gathered plants and seeds, and it is
likely that they discovered farming.
When people began farming, they did not
have to travel around anymore.
They could get food from the land that
they lived on.
People began building shelters that
looked more like houses.
When farming began, people settled in
lands with fertile soil.
Fertile soil is soil that has nutrients,
which help plants grow the best.
Shelter
This is a prehistoric shelter that
people in Russia used about 18,000
years ago.
They are built out of the bones of the Wooly
Mammoth, which was a very large animal that
resembled an elephant.
These shelters protected early humans from
the weather, and from predators.
Taming Animals
Humans learned another important skill
during the New Stone Age.
They learned to domesticate, or tame, wild
animals.
Dogs may have been among the first
animals that were domesticated, because
they could help early humans hunt.
Humans also tamed sheep, cows, and pigs.
This meant that they had a ready source of
meat - they could just kill one of their
domesticated animals when they needed
food, instead of going out and hunting.
The domestication of animals, along with
the beginning of farming, led to humans
staying in one place for longer periods of
time.
Reading Check
What skills did people develop during the
New Stone Age?
They developed the ability to grow their
own food and domesticate animals.
Section 2 Assessment
Comprehension and Critical Thinking
1. (a) Recall
Describe how hominids of the Old Stone
Age survived.
They hunted using stone weapons,
gathered wild plants, and moved around
constantly in search of food.
1. (b) Infer
What important skills did hominids
of the Old Stone Age use to find
food?
The ability to find good hunting
ground and knowledge of edible
plants.
1. (c) Synthesize
How did survival skills change as
people began to settle?
They used their skills to find places to
live that had good soil and
experimented with different types of
plants to find the ones that grew best in
their area.
2. (a) Identify
What marked the beginning of the
New Stone Age?
The beginning of the New Stone
Age was marked by people
growing their own food.
2. (b) Contrast
How was life in the New Stone Age
different from life in the Old Stone Age?
The major difference between the New
and Old Stone Age is that people settled
in areas to grow their own food rather
than traveling constantly in search of
food.
2. (c) Apply Information
What are the effects of geography
and climate on farming?
Geography and climate affect
whether certain types of plants will
grow well in an area.