Human Prehistory and
the Neolithic
Revolution2.5 Million BCE-8000 BCE
Prehistory• Era before writing was developed
• Studied by archaeologists and
anthropologists
• 2.5 million BCE-8000 BCE
• Paleolithic : 2.5 Million BCE-12,000 BCE
• Mesolithic: 12,000-8,000 BCE
• Neolithic: 8,000 BCE-5,000 BCE
Human Beings
• Earliest hominid fossils are from 2-2.5 million years old
• Australopithecine: First to walk upright
• Homo Erectus (1.5 million years ago): First to use fire
• Homo Sapiens Sapiens: 240,000 years ago in Africa
-Migrated around the world
Human Migration
Paleolithic Age
• Used simple stone tools
• Developed complex
speech
• Ice Age Adaptations
• Shelter in caves
• Used animal hides as
clothing
Hunter-Gatherers• Small kinship groups of 20-30 people
• Nomads: followed their food
• Egalitarian: Everyone was equal
• End of the Ice Age (14,000 BCE-12,000 BCE):
population increased and hunting yields decreased
Neolithic Revolution
• Development of agriculture and domestication of animals
• Developed independently around the world
• 10,000 BCE in the Middle East
• 2000 BCE in West Africa
• 5000 BCE in the Americas
• Pastoralism: mobile societies led animal herds through grasslands in Afro-Eurasia
Effects of Agriculture
• Advantages
• More reliable food source
• Can support a larger population
• Cooperative effort to clear land and set up irrigation
• Disadvantages
• More work than hunting and gathering
• Growing the same crops means less plant diversity
• Overgrazing leads to soil erosion
• Irrigation systems can impact water sources
Effects of Neolithic Revolution• Settlement: farming villages emerge and provide
common defense
• Catal Hüyük settled in 7000 BCE
• Food surplus led to job specialization and trade
• Artisan and warrior classes
• Trade with neighboring groups and villages
Technology• Pottery and Basket-weaving: needed to store
food and carry water
• Metallurgy: replaced stone tools with metal
• Copper Age-4000 BCE
• Bronze Age-3000 BCE
Social Structures• Greater separation between rulers and subjects in
agricultural and pastoral communities
• Accumulation of wealth: elites concentrated
power
Patriarchy: Men assumed political and religious
leadership roles
Civilization
• Basic characteristics
• Economic surplus
• Social hierarchy and division of labor
• Less inclusive definition requires
• Cities
• Formal political organization
• Writing
• Artistic and intellectual activity