Prehistory Learning Packet

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Prehistory Learning Packet

• Cultures and Civilizations began in Prehistoric
  Times

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Examining Prehistory

• People who study the skeletal remains of early
  humanlike creatures and try to determine how they
  look are called anthropologists.
  
• People who excavate ancient settlements and study
  artifacts are called archeologists.

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Compare/Contrast
Anthropologist or Archeologist?
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Examples of Artifacts
Buildings
Artwork
Furniture
Coins
Clothing
Toys
Weapons
Tools
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Prehistory Continued

• 4. Culture is what a human group acquires through
  living together and includes language, knowledge,
  skills, art, literature, laws, and lifestyles.
  
• 5. Prehistoric remains are assigned a date by
  using Radiocarbon Dating.

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Early Humanlike Creatures

• Anthropologists now know what humanlike creatures
  looked like millions of years ago.
  
• The oldest skeletal remains that have been found
  are over 3 million years old. It was discovered
  in 1974, and became known as Lucy.

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The First People

• Anthropologists have excavated bones to describe
  how the first people looked.
  
• The characteristics of the first humans are very
  strong and powerful jaws, sharply receding chins,
  and low foreheads, and heavy eyebrow ridges.

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The First People II

• 3. These people were vegetarians and sometimes
  used caves for shelter.
  
• 4. Later they added meat to their diet as they
  started to hunt animals.

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The First People III

• 5. As they became better hunters, they started to
  migrate over great distances in search of food.
  
• 6. Human populations started expanding from
  Africa to Asia.

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The Ice Ages

• 4 times in the last 1.5 million years, the earth
  has had periods of extremely cold weather.
  
• Each time, the northern polar ice cap moved south
  and joined glaciers.
  
• Each ice age lasted from 10,000 to 50,000 years.

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The Ice Ages II

• 4. People began to migrate to warmer Ice Free
  areas. This also resulted in the extinction of
  many plants and animals.
  
• 5. The sea levels dropped because so much water
  was frozen in the ice caps. This resulted in the
  creation of land bridges that temporarily
  connected North America to Asia.

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The Ice Ages III

• 6. Prehistoric people did not move into cold
  regions until they first learned to use fire and
  make warm clothes.

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Neanderthal People

• Anthropologists have discovered Neanderthal
  remains in caves in many parts of Europe, Asia,
  and Middle East.
  
• Neanderthals are humans that lived 30,000 to
  100,000 years ago.
  
• Neanderthals are famous for using fire, making
  clothes from animal skins.
  
• They were also the first humans to hunt and bury
  their dead.

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Cro-Magnon People

• After Neanderthals disappeared, the Cro-Magnon
  people emerged about 35,000 years ago.
  
• They made many tools and were the people who
  invented the spear.

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The Middle Stone Age

• 1. This era began at the end of the last Ice Age
  and led to the development of agriculture and
  domestication of animals. (THIS WAS THE AGE OF
  NEANDERTHAL AND CRO-MAGNON PEOPLE)

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The New Stone Age

• This time period is called the Neolithic Age and
  they were the first to settle in permanent
  villages because of two important developments
  
• Taming of different animals
• Development of Agriculture
• 2. This shift from a food gathering to a food
  planting society is called the Neolithic
  Revolution.

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Patterns of Living Paleolithic Period to the
Neolithic Revolution

• Lifestyle Advantages Disadvantages

• Hunting and Gathering
• Wild animals and plants for food.
• Migrating
• Live with family or tribe.

• Land supplies what is needed.
• Movement is easier.
• Encourages cooperation and language.
• Tools developed for hunting and digging.

• Always searching for food.
• Food is hard to store.
• People must carry everything while traveling.
• Only simple social organization possible.

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Patterns of Living Paleolithic Period to the
Neolithic Revolution II

• Lifestyle Advantages Disadvantages

• Settled Communities
• Raised animals.
• Plants, seeds, and crops.
• Lived in permanent settlements.

• Crops provide a reliable food supply
• Population growth
• Societies become more complex.
• Trade increases.
• Division of labor allows workers to specialize.

• Crop failures due to weather or pests causes
  famines.
  
• Floods, fire, or invaders could destroy
  villages.
  
• Disease spreads easier when people live together.

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Artifact Analysis

• In groups of 3-4 students analyze the envelope of
  artifacts.
  
• Have one member of your group complete the
  Artifact Analysis Worksheet.
  
• Have another member of the group report your
  findings to the class in 5 minutes.

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Todays Assignment- Pages 7-11 of your packet
STOP
Prehistory Test- Thursday, August 28th (A-Days)
Friday, August 29th (B-Days)
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Prehistoric People Chart- page 12
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Prehistoric People Chart- page 12
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Prehistoric People Chart- page 12
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Prehistoric People Chart- page 12
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Todays Assignment- pages 13-15 in your packet.
STOP

• Prehistory Unit Test- Next Thursday (A-Days),
  Next Friday (B-Days)
  
• Study Session- Wednesday (A-Days), Thursday
  (B-Days)

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The First Civilizations (p.16)
Asia
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Where were the 1st Civilizations?
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Environmental Factors Shape River Valley
Civilizations- pg. 17
CAUSE
EFFECT
People would settle in areas with water and
fertile soil for farming
The earliest civilizations formed in river valleys
Sumerians built fortified cities to help villages
protect themselves.
Sumerian villages were located on open plains
without natural barriers.
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CAUSE
EFFECT
The Nile River flowed through Upper and Lower
Egypt.
The Nile River helped unify the peoples of Upper
and Lower Egypt
Mountains and deserts were barriers to invasion,
which led to an enduring Chinese culture.
Chinas landforms featured mountains and deserts.
Trade developed between the Indus River
Civilization and other cultures.
The Indus River connected its civilization to the
sea.
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Four River Valleys- page 18

• 2. In the four river valleys mentioned, people
  developed the advanced form of culture known as
  civilization, which means
  
• A culture that becomes highly developed
• 3. The five major characteristics of most
  civilizations are
  
• Advanced technical skills
• Development of a calendar
• Some form of government
• Division of Labor
• Development of Writing

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Learning to Use Metals

• Just 6,000 years ago, people in the Nile and the
  Tigris-Euphrates River Valleys knew how to make
  copper weapons and tools.
  
• Copper tools finally failed because it is soft
  and loses sharpness.
  
• The next major metal to be used by the people of
  the Nile was bronze. It is considered an alloy
  because it is a mixture of copper and tin. The
  invention of bronze marked the end of the Stone
  Age and the beginning of the Bronze Age.
• About 3,200 years ago, people in Southwestern
  Asia made an even stronger metal called iron ore
  to produce weapons and tools, thus ending the
  Bronze Age and starting the Iron Age.

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Irrigation, Government, and Cities

• Because the four major river valleys were exposed
  to a rainy period every year, hot and dry
  conditions would prevail throughout the rest of
  the year.
• This caused a problem for farmers considering
  they had to get water to crops during the dry
  season.
  
• Farmers ended up digging ditches and canals to
  transport water to their fields. This was the
  first development of irrigation systems.
  

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Irrigation, Government, and Cities II

• 4. In an attempt to control floods, farmers had
  to build dikes to keep the rivers within their
  banks.
  
• 5. With everyone lending a hand throughout this
  time period of irrigation, people had to learn to
  work together.
  
• 6. Because so many people were working together,
  they needed rules to govern their behavior. This
  led to a system of government to plan, regulate,
  and direct their work. Along with this,
  population growth was on the rise which began to
  turn these villages into cities.

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Division of Labor- page 19

• Because the methods of farming were becoming
  advanced, more people were free to do other
  jobs.
  
• People were able to concentrate on one particular
  skill, thus creating a class of skilled craft
  workers known as the artisans. Other new job
  titles included merchants and traders.
• The movement of many merchants and traders led to
  a spreading of certain parts of cultures from one
  area of the world to another called cultural
  diffusion.

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Developing a Calendar

• With the interest of farming, people began
  observing the changes of the seasons. One way
  they could develop a method of time was to
  observe the moon and its changes along with the
  flooding.
• It was deemed that one new moon to the next would
  be a month. Twelve of these lunar months would
  equal a year.

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The Invention of Writing

• 1. Speech no longer sufficed as the only means of
  communication. People needed a written language
  to preserve and pass on ideas and information.
  The long and complex process of the development
  of writing can be summarized by these four chief
  steps

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A pictogram is a picture that represents a thing.
An ideogram is a picture that represents an idea.
A phonogram is a picture that represents a sound.
An alphabet is a picture that represents a
consonant or vowel.
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Assignment pages 20-24 in packet
STOP
Prehistory Unit Test- Next Class Meeting! Study
Session Tomorrow!