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Chapter 2: Early People
Lesson 1: Hunters and Gatherers
Big Idea: Early people lived and worked together to survive
First Paragraph
Vocabulary
1) descendants: those who followed their ancestors
(children’s children).
Where did the first modern humans live? Eastern and Southern Africa.
When? 100,000 years ago.
How did they survive? By hunting and gathering food.
What did their descendants do? They slowly migrated to other parts of the world.
Living and Working Together
Vocabulary
1) bands small groups of people made of related families.
2) consequences results that follow a given cause(effects).
3) extinct animals that have died out and no longer exist.
4) technology the use of knowledge and skills to make the
work of everyday life easier.
Living and Working Together
How many people were in a typical band? 30
What did they spend a great deal of time doing? They spent most of their time
searching for food.
What did women usually do? Women usually gathered wild fruits, nuts, roots and
seeds.
What did men usually do? Men usually hunted large animals.
List three things that animals were used for:
1) Meat for food
2) Skin for clothing and shelter
3) Bones to make tools
Why is the time of hunters and gatherers sometimes referred to as the Old Stone Age?
This period of history is sometimes called the Old Stone Age because stone was a very
important resource for people during that time. It is also referred to as the Paleolithic
period.
Living and Working Together
What did early people use animal bones for?
1) They made hooks for fishing.
2) They made needles for sewing animal skins together.
How did they create tools for hunting? They sharpened animal bones and stones into
spear points and tied them to wooden poles.
What did they use rope for? They used it to make nets and to carry objects.
One early invention was the atlatl,
atlatl which
allowed spears to be thrown farther and
faster.
How did people cooperate to hunt successfully?
1) They worked together to chase animals off of cliffs.
2) They disguised themselves in animal skins and snuck up on prey.
Why didn’t early people have permanent homes? They did not have permanent homes
because they were always on the move, looking for food.
Early People on the Move
How long did the average hunter/gatherer person live? About 20 years.
How did the last Ice Age help people move to most parts of the world? The earth was
so cold that glaciers formed. The ocean levels dropped (because so much of the ocean
was locked up as ice), which revealed “bridges” of dry land between islands and
continents.
Human Migration:
Modern humans began on the continent of Africa.
90,000 years ago: People arrived in southwestern Asia.
65,000 years ago: People arrived in eastern Asia.
40,000 years ago: People arrived in Australia.
30,000 years ago: People arrived in western Europe.
12,000 years ago: People were able to move into North America and
South America because some glaciers started to melt.
Early Cultures and Societies
Vocabulary
1) artifacts objects made by people.
2) specialize an individual performs one kind of task based
on his or her skills and the band’s needs.
3) culture the unique ways that a group of people does
things. Different cultures have different clothing,
artifacts, art, and ideas.
4) society any organized group of people with shared
customs, traditions, and ways of life.
How did the development of a spoken language benefit early societies?
Early people shared their feelings and let each other know about their needs.
• They passed on customs, traditions, and history to younger members of the
group.
• They shared new ideas, warned of dangers, and worked better as a group.
• It helped some bands unite to become a society.
•
How did specializing benefit societies? People were able to work faster and use
natural resources more efficiently.
An early cave painting
from South Africa shows
a band of hunters
cooperating.