Human Origins: the Neolithic and Paleolithic Eras

1. Describe the great climatic and environmental changes that shaped the earth and eventually permitted the growth of human life.

2. Identify sites where archaeologists have found evidence of the origins of modern human beings and explain current theories of how human groups moved from Africa over time into the continents now known as Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. Give examples of how ongoing archaeological research adds new data that changes interpretations of how migrations and habitation sites are dated.

3. Explain that the term Paleolithic Era refers to the period of earliest human history, beginning c. 2.6 million years ago to c, 11,700 years ago, characterized by the first use of stone tools, fire, hunting and gathering weapons, and, about 50,000 years ago, by cave painting, sculpture, tools, and artifacts using diverse materials such as bone, shell, stone, mineral pigments, and wood).

4. Explain that the term Neolithic Era refers to the period beginning about 10,000 years ago to c. 4500 or c. 2000 BCE in different parts of the world, in which the technologies of agriculture (growing crops and the domestication of animals) and metallurgy (mining and working of metals) were invented and refined, and in which complex societies begin to appear.

5. Explain how complex societies that practice agriculture may differ, some developing into permanently settled communities, some being nomadic and moving livestock from place to place, some cultivating land temporarily and moving to another location when a plot of land is no longer productive.

6. Explain that scholars have attempted to define the characteristics of a complex society (sometimes called “civilization”) since the early 20th century, and although debates are ongoing, many cite these characteristics:

   1. 1. 1. • an economy that produces food surpluses

            • dense populations in distinct areas or cities

            • stratified social classes

            • specialized occupations

            • developed systems of government, religion, and learning

            • achievements in technology, art, and monumental architecture

            • systems of record keeping, either written or oral

7. Explain the ways in which complex societies interact and spread from one region to another (e.g., by trade, cultural or linguistic exchanges, migration, religious conversion, conquest, or colonization).

Construct and interpret a timeline that shows some of the key periods in the development of human societies in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras. Use correctly the words or abbreviations for identifying time periods or dates in historical narratives (decade, age, era, century, millennium, CE/AD, BCE/BC, c. and circa). Identify in BCE dates the higher number as indicating the older year (that is, 3000 BCE is earlier than 2000 BCE).