Early humans and the rise of civlization

1. Who are archaeologists? Archaeologists are people who study artifacts. Weapons, tools, and other things made by humans are called artifacts. They also look for fossils, traces of plants or animals that have been preserved (saved for a long time) in rock.

2. What are homo sapiens? Homo Sapien is the scientific species name for humans. {For example, the scientific name for dogs is canine.}

3. Cradle of humankind The first human-like skeletons were found in South Africa in a place that we now refer to as the “Cradle of Humankind”.

4. Cave art Archaeologists have learned a lot about life in this time period from cave art. The oldest examples of cave art were found in France and Spain. Most of the paintings were of animals.

Complete the “art in ancient times” activity

5. The Paleolithic era The Paleolithic Era is also known as the “Stone Age”. Early humans spent most of their time searching for food. They hunted animals, caught fish, ate insects, and gathered nuts, berries, fruits, grains, and plants. They are often called “hunter-gatherers”.

6. Why was it called the stone age? People from this era made tools from stone. They made spears, traps, bows, and arrows to hunt with.

7. What are nomads? Nomads are people who regularly move from place to place. Since they were hunter-gatherers, they were forced to be nomads. They usually traveled in clans of about 30 members because it was safer and made the search for food easier.

8. Fire!!! Their lives were made much simpler when they discovered fire! Fire lit the darkness and scared away animals. Food cooked over the fire tasted better and was easier to digest. Smoked meat could be kept longer.

9. The ice ages Fire helped early humans survive during the Ice Ages. The Ice Ages were long periods of extreme cold. They had to build sturdier shelters and use animal furs to make warm clothing.

10. Language Spoken language was developed during the Paleolithic era. Language made it easier for people to work together and pass on knowledge.

11. technology Paleolithic people were the first to use technology. Technology is defined as tools and methods to help humans perform tasks. Some examples of technology from the Paleolithic era are needles made from animal bones and spears.

Complete the Paleolithic society reading

12. Neolithic revolution People learned how to domesticate animals. This means that they were able to tame them for human use. Animals provided meat, milk, and wool. They could also carry goods and pull carts.

13. farming Along with learning how to domesticate animals, people also learned how to farm. This was important because it meant that they could stay in one place. Farming replaced hunting and gathering.

14. specialization Specialization is the development of different types of jobs. Since learning how to farm, people had more time to develop other skills. People made pottery from clay to store grains. Plant fibers were used to weave mats and cloth.

15. tools Toolmakers made better farming tools, like the sickle for cutting grain.

16. bronze People learned that they could mix copper and tin to form bronze. Bronze was harder and lasted longer than copper. This time period became known as the “Bronze Age”.

17. Where were the first civilizations? They formed around river valleys for several reasons: Farming conditions made it easy to feed large numbers of people The river provided fresh water and fish The river made transportation easy

18. Early river valley civilizations Yellow River Valley- China Indus River Valley- Afghanistan Sumer (Mesopotamia)- Iraq

19. Religion These earliest civilizations were polytheistic, meaning that they believed in many gods.

20. How were the earliest civilizations governed? King / Monarch (one ruler) Divine Right, meaning that they believed that the ruler was given the right to rule by the gods.