BEFORE HISTORY: CHAPTER 1 - TRADITIONS AND ENCOUNTERS 6TH EDITION - AP World History

Paleolithic Era (Old Stone Age)

• Evidence
  • Archaeological finds
  • Extrapolation from modern hunter-gatherer societies (Extrapolation means to create a bigger picture from limited data)
• Nomadic existence preludes advanced civilizations
  • Groups of 30-50
  • Division of labor along gender lines
    • Women didn't hunt to prevent the risk of potential children being killed/bloodline not being carried

Relative Social Equality

• Nomadic culture precedes the accumulation of land-based wealth
  • More likely determinants of status: age, hunting skill, fertility, charisma
• Possible gender equality related to food production
  • Men: Protein from hunting
  • Women: Plant gathering

Big Game Hunting

• Evidence of intelligent coordination of hunting expeditions
  • Development of weaponry 
  • Animal skin disguises
  • Stampeding tactics
    • Lighting fires, etc. to drive game into kill zone
• Requires planning, communication

Cro-Magnon Peoples

• Physically similar to modern humans
• Greater capacity for speech
• "Homo sapien sapiens"
• Increased variety of tools
• Adornments, decorative furniture, cave paintings
• Venus figurines/cave paintings

Neolithic Era (New Stone Age)

• Distinction in tool production
  • Chipped vs polished
• Men: herding animals rather than hunting 
• Women: nurtured vegetation rather than foraging 
• Spread of agriculture 
  • Slash and burn techniques
  • Exhaustion of soil promotes
  • Transport of crops from one region to another

Surplus Food/The Specialization of Labor

• Emergence of villages/towns
• Discoveries at Catal Huyuk, Turkey, occupied 7250-5400 BCE
• Tremendous range of manufactured products
  • Pottery, jewelry, textiles, copper tools
• Development of crafts

Religious Values

• Elements of natural environment essential for functioning
• Archaeological evidence of religious worship; thousands of clay figurines, drawings on pots, tool decoration, other ritual objects
  • Fertility: Venus figurines 

Beginnings of Urbanization

• Jericho - earliest town, concentration of wealth, building a wall
• Craft specialization
• Social stratification
• Governance
• Cultural workers