Dominic A. Pizarro

Professor Hollie Schillig

HIST 250-01

10 September 2014

5 Historical Questions

1. Given recent theories suggesting the Iceman was a shepherd, what major difference is displayed

between Paleolithic and Neolithic people’s treatment of animals?

2. Why is it odd that the Iceman was alone during the time of his final moments?

3. What prompted the Iceman and his fellow Neolithic population to explore new territory and

continue to populate previously unexplored areas?

4. What is a common connection between the Iceman and modern geographical locations

including Europe, southwest Asia, and India, and where did this common connection originate

from?

5. What process displayed the Neolithic people’s increased intelligence and ability to produce

products such as the arrowhead found within the Iceman?

!!!!!!!!!!

1. The Paleolithic people hunted numerous species in the Americas to extinction including

mammoths, mastodons, and horses with the sole focus of satisfying their hunger. However, the

Neolithic people saw a greater gain in capturing animals and domesticating them by providing

nourishment and conducting selective breeding amongst their cattle, sheep, and goats; this

choice of domestication rather than the previous stalking and killing method led to the

formation of large agricultural economies.

2. Neolithic people’s agricultural economy soon lead to rapidly increasing population and

required a new form of social organization. Focusing in their devotion to cultivation rather than

foraging, the Neolithic people chose not to continually migrate similar to the Paleolithic

people, but instead to settle near their fields in permanent villages. One of the earliest known

villages, Jericho, had 2,000 residents with residents working together in different specializations

of labor.

3. The possession of domesticated horses increased the Indo-European speakers’ ability to expand

lands far beyond their original homeland. A large population explosion caused by the

flourishing culture in southern Russia, caused many Indo-European speakers to migrate and

inhabit the eastern steppe and even further beyond the grasslands. This process was not a mass

migration, but instead a gradual process which resulted in the dispersant of the Indo-European

language and led to further expansion.

4. 18th and 19th century linguistic analysis displayed multiple similarities amongst the languages

of Europe, southwest Asia, and India. Understanding that it was impossible for each individual

culture to have independently developed similar languages, the linguists determined that the

Indo-European languages were descended from a common ancestor. This common ancestor and

the origin culture to utilize an Indo-European Language had a homeland located in modern-day

Ukraine and southern Russia, just north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

5. After developing their pottery industry, the Neolithic people focused upon metallurgy, mainly

working with the naturally abundant resource copper. Discovering that the use of heat made

copper more workable, the Neolithic people began to melt copper and pour it into molds to

create knives, axes, and other weapons as well as create jewelry. This foundation of copper

metallurgy would later lead to the Neolithic people’s developed expertise in working with gold,

bronze, iron, and other metals.