Engraving of Two Cattle in the Sahara, ca. 5000 B.C.E. Around 10,000 B.C.E. people settled in the central Sahara and began to engrave rocks with pictures of animals. The engravings display an expert knowledge of animal stance, movement, and anatomy. Fig. 1-CO, p. 4
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Evolution of the Human Brain. These drawings of skulls show the extensive cranial changes associated with the increase in brain size during the 3 million years from Homo habilis to Homo sapiens. p. 8
Evolution of the Human Brain. These drawings of skulls show the extensive cranial changes associated with the increase in brain size during the 3 million years from Homo habilis to Homo sapiens. p. 8
Evolution of the Human Brain. These drawings of skulls show the extensive cranial changes associated with the increase in brain size during the 3 million years from Homo habilis to Homo sapiens. p. 8
Evolution of the Human Brain. These drawings of skulls show the extensive cranial changes associated with the increase in brain size during the 3 million years from Homo habilis to Homo sapiens. p. 8
Fossilized Footprints. Archaeologist Mary Leakey (shown at top) found these remarkable footprints of a hominid adult and child at Laetoli, Tanzania. The pair had walked through fresh volcanic ash that solidified after being buried by a new volcanic eruption. Dated to 3.5 million years ago, the footprints are the oldest evidence of bipedalism yet found. p. 9
Map 1.1: Human Dispersal to 10,000 Years Ago. Early migrations from Africa into southern Eurasia were followed by treks across land bridges during ice ages, when giant ice sheets lowered ocean levels. Boats may also have been employed. Map 1-1, p. 10
The Lion Panel in Chauvet Cave, France.
Making Stone Tools. About 35,000 years ago the manufacture of stone tools became highly specialized. Small blades chipped from a rock core were mounted in a bone or wooden handle. Not only were such composite tools more varied than earlier all-purpose hand axes, but the small blades also required fewer rock cores—an important consideration where suitable rocks were scarce. (From Jacques Bordaz, Tools of the Old and New Stone Age. Copyright 1970 by Jacques Bordaz. Redrawn by the permission of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.) p. 14
The Iceman. This is an artist’s rendition of what the Iceman might have looked like. Notice his tools, remarkable evidence of the technology of his day. p. 15
Interior of a Neolithic House. This stone structure from the Orkney Islands off Scotland shows a double hearth for cooking and a small window in the center, along with stone partitions. Elsewhere, few Neolithic houses were made of stone, but wood was scarce in the Orkneys. p. 16
Map 1.2: Early Centers of Plant and Animal Domestication. Many different parts of the world made original contributions to domestication during the Agricultural Revolutions that began about 10,000 years ago. Later interactions helped spread these domesticated animals and plants to new locations. In lands less suitable for crop cultivation, pastoralism and hunting remained more important for supplying food. Map 1-2, p. 18
Domestication of Animals. Carved in Egypt ca. 2380 B.C.E., this limestone relief sculpture shows two workers leading a prize bull. It is from the funerary chapel of Ptahhotep, a high-ranking official who lived in the period of the Old Kingdom (see Chapter 2). p. 19
Passage-Tomb at Newgrange, Ireland. Dating to around 3200 B.C.E., Newgrange is one of the oldest and most impressive Neolithic structures. A wall of white quartz stones rises above a row of horizontal megaliths on either side of the entrance, from which a passage leads to a spacious interior chamber. For several minutes each year, at sunrise on the winter solstice, the chamber is illuminated by a shaft of light that passes through the “roof-box” above the entrance. p. 22
Passage-Tomb at Newgrange, Ireland. Dating to around 3200 B.C.E., Newgrange is one of the oldest and most impressive Neolithic structures. A wall of white quartz stones rises above a row of horizontal megaliths on either side of the entrance, from which a passage leads to a spacious interior chamber. For several minutes each year, at sunrise on the winter solstice, the chamber is illuminated by a shaft of light that passes through the “roof-box” above the entrance. p. 22
Neolithic Goddess. Many versions of a well-nourished and pregnant female figure were found at Çatal Hüyük. Here she is supported by twin leopards whose tails curve over her shoulders. To those who inhabited the city some 8,000 years ago, the figure likely represented fertility and power over nature. p. 23