7 Prehistory

leccionesdehistoria.
com
Unit 7:
PREHISTORY
@rosaliarte
1. In this unit…
This chapter is about Prehistory. Prehistory is the period from the appearance of
humans on Earth (around 2.5 million years ago) until they learn to write (about
3,500 BC).
We will look at three periods:
- The Palaeolithic Age, when humans hunt animals and gather berries
- The Neolitic Age, when people start farming and live in small villages
- The period when people make better tools and weapons from metals like bronze
and iron
There are no written records from this time, so we don’t know very much about these
people’s lives. What we know comes from archaeological remains.
leccionesdehistoria.com
1.1 The origins of man
Humans belong to a group of animals
called the hominids. Millions of years
ago, hominids started to develop in
different ways. Some of them started
walking on two feet. Their hands were
now free to use tools. Over time, these
hominids envolved into Homo Sapiens
(or modern humans).
Separately, other hominids envolved into
chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans,
so these are our relatives.
The human race was changing their physical appearance to adapt to the
environment in which they lived.
It is a mistake to think about humans come from the monkey. The apes
and the humans come from a common ancestor that was adapted
differently. Hominization is the evolution process of man until he
reaches the characteristics of people today.
HOMO
HOMO HOMO HOMO SAPIENS
AUSTRALOPITECUS Scientists think that Homo Sapiens
HÁBILIS ERECTUS NEANDERTHALENSIS
- 1-5 million first lived in Africa about 120,000
years ago - 1.6 - 2.5 million - 0.3 - 1.5 - 35,000 - 130,000 years ago. 40,000 years ago the
- Lived in years ago million years years ago spread to Asia and Europe. They
Africa - Lived in Africa ago - Lived in Africa, replaced Homo Erectus and Homo
- Similar to - First to make - Lived in Asia and Europe Neanderthalensis.
chimpanzees stone tools Africa and - First to bury their - were taller, slimmer and more
- Walked on - Lived from Asia dead intelligent than Homo
two feet hunting and - Discovered - Could speak Neanderthalensis
gathering fire Wore clothes made - Made better tools
- Hunted in of leather - Developed a more complex
groups language
- Created art
MAPA DE LA EXPANSIÓN HUMANA
Australopitecus Homo Habilis Homo Erectus
Homo Neanderthal
Homo Sapiens
Lucy fue la primera
Australopitecus
descubierta en 1974, en
el Valle del Rift. Estos
son los restos hallados
del cuerpo de Lucy. Le
pusieron este nombre
porque los arqueólogos
cuando la descubrieron
estaban escuchando la
canción de los Beatles
“Lucy in the sky with
diamonds”.
2. Palaeolithic Age
The Palaeolithic Age extends from the earliest use of stone tools
until 7,000 BC. Palaeolithic means “old stone”, so this period is
sometimes called the Old Stone Age. People live in groups of
20-30 people called bands. Sometimes the bands join together to
make bigger, more organized groups called tribes.
HOW DO PEOPLE GET FOOD?

In the Palaeolithic Age, people live by hunting
and gathering. This means:
- Hunting animals, like bison, deer and
mammoths
- Fishing
- Gathering (or collecting) fruit, nuts, eggs and
honey leccionesdehistoria.com
During the Paleolithic there was the hominization process, the
manufacture of tools, the creation of clans and the predatory
economy*. Inside the clan was a chief who directed the rest of the
people who submitted to his authority. In the clan everyone worked
to survive. Each member was specialized in different tasks: men in
hunting, women in gathering, etc.
WHERE TO THEY LIVE?
Palaeolithic people are nomads -
they have to move around to
find food. They stay in caves or
shelters made of animal skins or
of branches and leaves. That’s
why sometimes call Palaeolithic
people cavemen.
HOW DO THEY USE FIRE?
When people discover fire, they
can:
- Cook food
- Frighten away animals like lions,
wolves and tigers
- Light and heat their cavez - they
can now live in colder parts of the
world leccionesdehistoria.com
WHAT TOOLS DO THEY HAVE?
They make stone tools.
Gradually their tools get
better and more specialized -
they have different tools for
different jobs. They also start
to make tools, like needles
and harpoons, from bone and
horn.
WHAT CLOTHES DO THEY WEAR?
They wear clothes made of animal skins. They use bone needles to
make them.
WHAT DO THEY BELIEVE IN?
The people believe that they are surrounded by
spirits. The spirits can help them when they are
hunting, but they can also cause desease and
death.
They perform rituals to keep the spirits happy
and they believe in magic. They think that
painting an animal will help them to catch it i
Ejercicios en la libreta:
Para el próximo día tienes que tener los apuntes

de esta parte en tu libreta.
3. Neolithic Age
When temperatures increased after the last Ice Age, people started
farming. This changed people’s lives in lots of ways. The changes
were so big that we call this the Neolithic Revolution. This was the
start of the Neolithic Age, which lasted from 7,000 BC until 3,5000
BC. Neolithic means “new stone”, so the Neolithic Age is sometimes
called the New Stone Age.
WHAT IS THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION?

When people start farming, life changes completely:
- They grow crops like wheat, barley, rye, lentils, and
peas
- They domesticate animals like sheep, goats and pigs
When people start to grow their own food, they don’t need to
move around any more. They are sedentary, which means they live
permanently in one place. They start living in villages.
WHAT ARE THE VILLAGES LIKE?
- The villages are normally close to rivers, so that they can drink
the river water and use it to irrigate the crops
- The walls of the houses are made of mud bricks and the roofs are
made of branches
- Most people are quite equal in the villages, but some people own
more animals and fields than others. This makes them richer.
Creciente fértil
Primeros poblados, vida
en cabañas. Irán
creciendo hasta
convertirse en ciudades.
WHAT ELSE CHANGES?
In the Neolithic Age, people learn new
techniques, including:
- Stone polishing: they make smoother stone tools
- Textiles: they learn to make thread and weave
cloth
- Pottery: they learn to make pots; they use them
to store and cook food

They bury their dead with personal objects
like jewelry and tools. This may be
because they believe in life after death.
The people worship their ancestors, who
are buried in large necropolises
(cementeries). Necropolis means “city of
the dead”
4. USING METALS: The Bronze
Age and Iron Age
• In the Bronze Age, people started using metal. The first metal they used was
copper. In about 3,500 BC they learned to combine copper and tin to make
bronze, which is stronger than copper. The Iron Age began when people
started to use iron instead of bronze.
WHAT DO THEY USE METAL FOR?

They use metal for lots of different things including:
• Tools: one of the new metal tools is the plough
• Jewellery: including necklaces and bracelets
• Weapons: like swords, spears and helmets

HOW DO THEY MAKE THINGS FROM METAL?
• To start with, they just hit pieces of metal with a stone hammer
to make the shape they want.
• Later they learn to heat up the metal to make it easier to shape.
THE FIRST TRADE

The first trade starts when people exchange the new metal objects for
other things, like food. The wheel and the sail are invented, so there
are new forms of transport. It is now much easier to move things
around, so trade increases
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE WAY PEOPLE LIVE?
• When population wealth increase, some
villages get bigger and turn into towns.
• Making things from metal is difficult, so

there are specialist metal workers or
blacksmiths. Other people are specialist
craftsmen or artisans who make prottery
and jewellery.
• Specialisation means that for the first time
there are different social groups. Some of
these groups are richar and more powerful
than others.
• Some people become warriors to protect

the wealth of the town or village. One of
the warriors is chosen to be the chief or
king.
MORE WAR
In the Bronze Age, towns start to fight against each other because:
- When the population grows, there is more competition for the best
farmland
- People need metal, and will fight for it
The people who lived in this period wanted to defend themselves
against their enemies, so:
- They built their town on the top of a hill
- They built walls around it

The people believe in gods who represent the forces of nature, like
the sun, the wind, thunder and lightning.
There are also gods of the earth, sea and sky.
People perform religious ceremonies and make sacrifices to the gods.

5. PREHISTORIC ART
CAVE PAINTING
People started painting on cave walls over 30,000 years ago. The
most famous cave paintings are at Altamira in Spain and Lascaux in
southern France. We think the people painted the animals that they
wanted hunt.
PALAEOLITHIC CAVE PAINTINGS:

- Mainly of animals like deer, bison, horses and mammoths
- Very realistic
- Painted in several colours
NEOLITHIC CAVE PAINTINGS:

- Represent groups of people hunting, farming or dancing
- Are more abstract
- Only use one colour
ROCK CARVINGS
People also carved pictures on
rocks and animal bones.
STATUES
In the Palaeolithic Age, people
made small statues of women
from stone, bone and horn. We
call these Venys figurines. They
have exaggerated sexual
organs. We think they are
symbols of fertility.
6. MEGALITHS
At the end of the Neolithic Age, people
started making huge monuments, called
megaliths, from blocks of stone. The stones
can be up to 20 metros high, and there are
several different types:
MENHIRS OR STANDING STONES:

- are single blocks of stone standing
vertically. We thing their use was
related to the sun and the seasons.
DOLMENS:
- are made of several standing stones
with more stones across the top to make
a roof. Dolmens were used as tombs.
STONE CIRCLES:
- consist of lots of stones
arranged in a circle. The most
famous stone circle is
Stonehenge, but there are
more than 1,000 other stone
circles in Great Britain and
Ireland
MAPA CONCEPTUAL DE LA UNIDAD
REMEMBER:
You have more information about this unit

in this link:
https://leccionesdehistoria.com/1ESO/
historia/u-d-7-la-vida-en-la-prehistoria/

Ejercicio en el blog:
Para la fecha que indique la profesora, hay que realizar
el siguiente ejercicio en el blog:
- Investiga en internet y publica una entrada hablando
sobre la desaparición del Homo de Neanderthal
(Máximo 10 líneas)
- Puedes hacer una entrada extra para subir nota
hablando sobre el yacimiento de Atapuerca
Recuerda: Adjunta imágenes para que quede el blog

completo y elegante.
Glossary
http://www.students.linguaframe.com/gh1-audio-glossary
hominid, Palaeolithic Age, Neolithic Age, Bronze

Age, Iron Age, gathering, tribe, band, tools,
pottery, weave, jewellery, cave, spirit, ritual,
ancestor, crops, weapons, cave painting,
megalith, menhir, dolmen, stone circle
El texto de los siguientes apuntes han sido realizados con un total fin
educativo y no lucrativo. las imágenes extraídas para su elaboración han
sido recopiladas de webs de internet mencionadas, y en su mayoría de
Wikipedia. En el caso que reconociera alguna imagen como suya y tuviera
copyright, por favor, hágalo saber a leccionesdehistoria@gmail.com y
ésta será retirada lo más breve posible.

7 Prehistory

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

7 Prehistory

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

7 Prehistory

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

leccionesdehistoria.

HOW DO PEOPLE GET FOOD?

WHAT CLOTHES DO THEY WEAR?

Para el próximo día tienes que tener los apuntes

WHAT IS THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION?

WHAT ARE THE VILLAGES LIKE?

WHAT DO THEY BELIEVE IN?

WHAT DO THEY USE METAL FOR?

• Tools: one of the new metal tools is the plough

• Jewellery: including necklaces and bracelets

• Weapons: like swords, spears and helmets

• Later they learn to heat up the metal to make it easier to shape.

THE FIRST TRADE

• Making things from metal is difficult, so

• Some people become warriors to protect

WHAT DO THEY BELIEVE IN?

Para el próximo día tienes que tener los apuntes

PALAEOLITHIC CAVE PAINTINGS:

NEOLITHIC CAVE PAINTINGS:

MENHIRS OR STANDING STONES:

You have more information about this unit

Para el próximo día tienes que tener los apuntes

Recuerda: Adjunta imágenes para que quede el blog

hominid, Palaeolithic Age, Neolithic Age, Bronze

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.