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Prehistoric man

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   Stonehenge, England, erected by Neolithic peoples ca. 4500-4000 years
   ago
   Enlarge
   Stonehenge, England, erected by Neolithic peoples ca. 4500-4000 years
   ago

   Prehistory (Latin word præ = before and Greek word ἱστορία = history)
   is a term usually used to describe the period before written history
   became available. Paul Tournal originally coined the term
   Pré-historique in describing the finds he had made in the caves of
   southern France. The term has been used in French since the 1830s to
   describe the time before writing. It was introduced into English by
   Daniel Wilson in 1851.

   The date marking the end of prehistory (the date when written
   historical records become a useful academic resource), varies from
   region to region. In Egypt it is generally accepted that prehistory
   ended around 3500 BC whereas in New Guinea the end of the prehistoric
   era is set much more recently, at AD 1900.

Age systems

   Until the arrival of humans, a geologic time scale defines periods in
   prehistory. Archaeology has augmented this record and provided more
   precise divisions during human prehistory.

   Human prehistory in the Old World is often subdivided by the three-age
   system. This system of classifying human prehistory creates three
   consecutive time periods named for their respective predominant
   tool-making technologies. In the New World other naming schemes have
   been defined, such as the scheme listed in the Archaeology of the
   Americas.

   These very general systems of dividing up prehistory are being found to
   be increasingly inapplicable as archaeological discoveries suggest a
   much more complex view of prehistory.

Three-age system

     * Stone Age
          + Paleolithic Period
          + Mesolithic Period
          + Neolithic Period
     * Bronze Age
     * Iron Age

   The three-age system is a system of classifying human prehistory into
   three consecutive time periods named for their respective predominant
   tool-making technologies.

   The system is most apt in describing the progression of European
   society, although it has been used to describe other histories as well.
   The system has been criticised for being too technologically
   determinist.

Stone Age and its People

   Obsidian arrowhead
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   Obsidian arrowhead

   The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which humans
   widely used stone for toolmaking.

   Stone tools were made from a variety of different kinds of stone. For
   example, flint and chert were shaped (or chipped) for use as cutting
   tools and weapons, while basalt and sandstone were used for ground
   stone tools, such as quern-stones. Wood, bone, shell, antler and other
   materials were widely used as well. During the most recent part of the
   period, sediments (like clay) were used to make pottery. A series of
   metal technology innovations characterize the later Copper Age, Bronze
   Age and Iron Age.

   The period encompasses the first widespread use of technology in human
   evolution and the spread of humanity from the savannas of East Africa
   to the rest of the world. It ends with the development of agriculture,
   the domestication of certain animals and the smelting of copper ore to
   produce metal. It is termed prehistoric, since humanity had not yet
   started writing. Recorded history is the traditional start of history.

   The term "Stone Age" was used by archaeologists to designate this vast
   pre-metallurgic period whose stone tools survived far more widely than
   tools made from other, softer materials. It is the first age in the
   three-age system and was subdivided into the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic
   and Neolithic periods by John Lubbock in his now classic 1865 book
   Pre-historic Times. These three periods are further subdivided. In
   reality, the succession of phases differs enormously from one region
   (and culture) to another. Indeed, humanity continued to expand into new
   areas even during the metal ages, so it is therefore better to speak of
   a Stone Age, instead of the Stone Age. The old stone age, or
   Palaeolithic period, began with Homo habilis. Some 1.75 million years
   ago, a new species appeared. This Homo erectus (upright man), who
   spread from Africa as far as Europe and Asia. Homo erectus had a bigger
   brain than Homo habilis, made better tools, and was probably the first
   human being to use fire. Some time after 400,000 years ago, yet another
   human being came on the scene.This was Homo sapiens (wise man). The
   neanderthals people (named after a valley in Germany), Lived in Europe
   and the middle East until about 35,000 years ago. The Neanderthals
   successfully survived cold period of the Pleistocene Ice Age by living
   in caves.

Prehistoric Culture

   At least two types of Homo sapiens lived side by side - early homo
   sapiens (the Neanderthals) and a subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens, who
   looked more like mordern human beign.The Neanderthals were much larger
   and lacked a chin. They used simple tools and had probably developed a
   language to speak to one another. For some reason, the Neanderthals
   died out, leaving our species as the only humans on Earth. The
   surviving people -- such as the Cro-Magnons -- lived all over Europe
   during the stone age period. These prehistoric peoples built simple
   wooden huts, fished and hunted deer and wild cattle, moving onin search
   of food. They began to express themselves through art, drawing pictures
   on cave walls and carving stones into human shapes. There are famous
   example of detailed cave paintings in Lascaux in France and Altamira in
   Spain.

Copper Age

   The Chalcolithic (Greek khalkos + lithos 'copper stone') period, also
   known as the Eneolithic (Aeneolithic) or Copper Age period, is a phase
   in the development of human culture in which the use of early metal
   tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools.

   The literature of European archaeology generally avoids the use of
   'chalcolithic' (they prefer the term 'Copper Age'), while
   Middle-Eastern archaeologists regularly use it. The Copper Age appeared
   much earlier in the Middle East than in Europe. The transition from the
   European Copper-Age to its own full-fledged Bronze-Age, however, is far
   more rapid. The Europeans treated their prestige copper/bronze objects
   rather much like they did their stone objects, whereas the Middle East
   had progressed beyond this.

   The period is a transitional one outside of the traditional three-age
   system, and occurs between the neolithic and bronze ages. It appears
   that copper was not widely exploited at first and that efforts in
   alloying it with tin and other metals began quite soon, making it more
   difficult to distinguish distinct Chalcolithic cultures and periods.

   Because of this, the term is usually only applied by archaeologists in
   some parts of the world, mainly southeast Europe and Western and
   Central Asia where it appears around the 4th millennium BC. Less
   commonly, it is also applied to American civilizations which already
   used copper and copper alloys at the time of European conquest.

   The European Beaker people are often considered Chalcolithic as were
   the cultures which first adopted urbanisation in south west Asia. Many
   megaliths in Europe were erected during this period and it has been
   suggested that Proto-Indo-European linguistic unity dates to around the
   same time.

   Ötzi the Iceman, found in the Ötztaler Alps and whose remains have been
   dated to about 3300 BC, carried a copper axe and flint knife. He
   appears to have been in a region of Europe which was transitioning
   through this period at that time.

Bronze Age

   The Bronze Age is a period in a civilization's development when the
   most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use)
   consisted of techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally
   occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order
   to cast bronze.

   The earliest evidence of bronze metalworking dates to the mid 4th
   millennium BC Maykop culture in the Caucasus. From there, the
   technology spread rapidly to the Near East and after some time to the
   Indus Valley Civilization (see Meluhha).

Iron Age

   In archaeology, the Iron Age is the stage in the development of any
   people when the use of iron implements as tools and weapons is
   prominent. The adoption of this new material coincided with other
   changes in some past societies, often including differing agricultural
   practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles, although this was not
   always the case.

   The Iron Age is the last principal period in the three-age system for
   classifying pre-historic societies, preceded by the Bronze Age. Its
   date and context varies depending on the country or geographical
   region. Classically, the Iron Age is taken to begin with the Greek Dark
   Ages in the 12th century BC in Greece and the Ancient Near East, the
   11th century BC in India and between the 8th ( Central Europe) and 6th
   ( Northern Europe) centuries BC in Europe. The Iron Age is usually
   taken to end with the onset of historical tradition during Hellenism
   and the Roman Empire, or the Early Middle Ages in the case of Northern
   Europe.

   The Iron Age roughly corresponds to the stage at which iron production
   was the most sophisticated form of metalworking. Iron's hardness, high
   melting point and the abundance of iron ore sources made iron more
   desirable and "cheaper" than bronze and contributed greatly to its
   adoption as the most commonly used metal. The arrival of iron use in
   various areas is listed below, broadly in chronological order. Because
   iron working was introduced directly to the Americas and Australasia by
   European colonization, there was never an iron age in either location.
   Dun Carloway broch, Lewis, Scotland
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   Dun Carloway broch, Lewis, Scotland
   An Iron Age thatched roof, Butser Farm, Hampshire, United Kingdom
   Enlarge
   An Iron Age thatched roof, Butser Farm, Hampshire, United Kingdom

   The first signs of iron use come from Ancient Egypt and Sumer, where
   around 4000 BC small items, such as the tips of spears and ornaments,
   were being fashioned from iron recovered from meteorites (see Iron:
   History). Between 3000 BC to 2000 BC increasing numbers of smelted iron
   objects (distinguishable from meteoric iron by the lack of nickel in
   the product) appeared in Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus
   Valley (Pakistan and North India). However, their use appears to be
   ceremonial, and iron was an expensive metal, more expensive than gold.
   Some sources suggest that iron was being created then as a by-product
   of copper refining, as sponge iron, and was not reproducible by the
   metallurgy of the time.

   The earliest systematic production and use of iron implements appears
   from the 14th century BC in the Hittite Empire though recent
   excavations in Middle Ganga Valley in India done by archaelogist Rakesh
   Tewari show iron-working in India since 1800 BC. By 1200 BC, iron was
   widely used in the Middle East but did not supplant the dominant use of
   bronze for some time.

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