History

MAN IN THE
STONE
AGES
CLASS-VI
 MAN IN THE STONE AGES

INTRODUCTION

History is the story of the achievements of man on Earth. It tells us how our forefathers
struggled through the ages i.e., from the cave age to the nuclear age.

How man started living in groups, clans and societies? The marked development in each of the
three ages, i.e., Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic will be discussed at length.

Human progress from generation to generation and from society to society and its continuity
is important features of history which will be understood by the students.

Today‘s students living in the metropolitans and leading a fast paced life need to be told
about the life and times of the three ages. The discovery of fire and the wheel changed the
progress of the life of mankind towards betterment.

STONE AND STONE AGES – An Overview

The material that gives its name and a technological unity to these periods of prehistory is
stone. Though it may be assumed that primitive man used other materials such as wood,
bone, fur, leaves, and grasses before he mastered the use of stone, apart from bone antlers,
presumably used as picks in flint mines and elsewhere, and other fragments of bone
implements, none of these has survived.

The stone tools of early man, on the other hand, have survived in surprising abundance and
over the many millennia of prehistory; important advances in technique were made in the use
of stone. Stones became tools only when they were shaped deliberately for specific
purposes, and, for this to be done efficiently, suitable hard and fine-grained stones had to be
found and means devised for shaping them and particularly for putting a cutting edge on
them. Flint became a very popular stone for this purpose, although fine sandstones and
certain volcanic rocks were also widely used. There is much Paleolithic evidence of skill in
flaking and polishing stones to make scraping and cutting tools. These early tools were held in
the hand, but gradually ways of protecting the hand from sharp edges on the stone, at first by
wrapping one end in fur or grass or setting it in a wooden handle, were devised. Much later,

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the technique of fixing the stone head to a haft converted these hand tools into more
versatile tools and weapons.

With the widening mastery of the material world in the Neolithic Period, other substances
were brought into the service of man, such as clay for pottery and brick; and increasing
competence in handling textile raw materials led to the creation of the first woven fabrics to
take the place of animal skins. About the same time, curiosity about the behaviour of metallic
oxides in the presence of fire promoted one of the most significant technological innovations
of all time and marked the succession from the Stone Age to the Metal Age.

1. USE OF STONE ARTIFACTS AS SOURCES TO RECONSTRUCT THE PAST

Archaeology is the scientific study of past, human culture and behavior, from the origins
of humans to the present. Archaeology studies past human behavior through the
examination of material remains of previous human societies. These remains include the
fossils (preserved bones) of humans, food remains, the ruins of buildings, and human
artifacts—items such as tools, pottery, and jewelry. From their studies, archaeologists
attempt to reconstruct past ways of life. Archaeology is an important field of
anthropology, which is the broad study of human culture and biology. Archaeologists
concentrate their studies on past societies and changes in those societies over extremely
long periods of time.

Most of the information gathered in archaeology comes from the study of objects lying on or
under the ground Archaeologists refer to the vast store of information about the human past
as the archaeological record. Archaeological study covers an extremely long span of time and
a great variety of subjects. The earliest subjects of archaeological study date from the origins
of humanity. These include fossil remains believed to be of human ancestors who lived 3.5
million to 4.5 million years ago. The earliest archaeological sites include those at Hadar,
Ethiopia; Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli, Tanzania; East Turkana, Kenya; and elsewhere in East
Africa. These sites contain evidence of the first appearance of bipedal (upright walking),
apelike early humans. Laetoli even reveals footprints of humans from 3.6 million years ago.
Some sites also contain evidence of the earliest use of simple tools.

Archaeologists have also recorded how primitive forms of humans spread out of Africa into
Asia about 1.8 million years ago, then into Europe about 900,000 years ago. The first
physically modern humans, Homo sapiens appeared in tropical Africa between 200,000 and

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150,000 years ago—dates determined by molecular biologists and archaeologists working
together. Archaeological studies have also provided much information about the people who
first arrived in the Americas over 12,000 years ago. Archaeologists have documented that the
development of agriculture took place about 10,000 years ago. Early domestication—the
planting and harvesting of plants and the breeding and herding of animals—is evident in such
places as the ancient settlement of Jericho in Jordan and in Tehuacán Valley in Mexico.
Archaeology plays a major role in the study of early civilizations, such as those of the
Sumerians of Mesopotamia, who built the city of Ur, and the ancient Egyptians, who are
famous for the pyramids near the city of Giza and the royal sepulchers (tombs) of the Valley
of the Kings at Thebes.

Archaeological research spans the entire development of phenomena that are unique to
humans. For instance, archaeology tells the story of when people learned to bury their dead
and developed beliefs in an after life. Sites containing signs of the first simple but purposeful
burials in graves date to as early as 40,000 years ago in Europe and Southwest Asia.

Archaeology also examines more recent historical periods. Some archaeologists work with
historians to study American colonial life, for example. They have learned such diverse
information as how the earliest colonial settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, traded glass beads
for food with native Algonquian peoples; how the lives of slaves on plantations reflected their
roots in Africa; and how the first major cities in the United States developed. Prehistoric
archaeology is practiced by archaeologists known as pre-historians and deals with ancient
cultures that did not have writing of any kind. The bones of some animals, including rodents
and many invertebrates, can also provide clues about ancient climates. Archaeologists
carefully record their excavations in a way that allows them to piece together culture
histories—chronologies (time perspectives) of past cultures. Excavations reveal the order in
which remains were deposited, while laboratory analysis can give the actual age of remains.

Show the PPT

Neolithic Revolution

Names and dates

Archaeologists have given lengthy names for the time that we are studying. They call the
earliest period the Palaeolithic. This comes from two Greeks words, ‗palaeo‘, meaning old,

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and ‗lithos‘, meaning stone. The name points to the important of finds of stone tools. The
Palaeolithic period extends from 2 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago. This long
stretch of time is divided into the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. This long span of
time covers 99% of human history.

The period when we find environmental changes, beginning about 12,000 years ago till about
10,000 years ago till Mesolithic (middle stone). Stones tools found during this period are
generally tiny, and are called microliths. Microliths were probably stuck on to handles of bone
or wood to make tools such as saws an sickles. At the same time, order varieties of tools
continued to be in use.

2. Categories of Stone Age

With the help of a flow chart and the pictures, teacher will discuss the stages of Stone Age
and motivate the students to form a simple story on the life of Early Man during Paleolithic
Age. The teacher will motivate the students into research – ‗How was Fire discovered‘? Ask
the groups to imagine the uses of fire and then dramatize by going back to the Stone Age. The
importance of agriculture needs to be explained with the help of pictures of different tools.
The Stone Age is a broad pre-historic period lasting about 2.5 million years ago during which,
humans and their predecessor species from Australopithecus to Genus Homo widely used
exclusively stone as their hard material in the making of implements.

These implements had a sharp edge, a point or a percussion surface. Bone was used during
this period as well, but finds of bone tools are rare compared to the millions of stones tools

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that have been collected from the surface or excavated. Jeans Jacob Warsaw in 1859
proposed a division of the Stone Age for the first time. He based his work on the theory given
by Danish Kitchen that began in 1851. He divided the Stone Age into older and younger parts.
The major sub-divisions of the Three Stone Age cross two epoch boundaries on the geologic
time scale. They are:

a) Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)

b) Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)

c) Neolithic (New Stone Age)

CASE STUDY - NOMADIC LIFE

The early man spent most of his time in search of food. He ate roots, wild fruits, flesh
of birds and animals. Besides being a powerful hunter, the early man was a nomad. He
wondered from place to place in search of food and shelter. The caves or the leafy
branches of trees were his only home; he did not know how to build huts. When he
wanted protection from cold or rain or wild beasts he hid himself in caves or among
rocks.

A. PALEOLITHIC AGE:

The Paleolithic coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865 is

a pre-historic era distinguished by the development of stone
tools. It covers the 99% of human history of earth extending
from 2.5 or 2.6 mya. It began with the introduction of stone
tools by hominids such as homohabilis to the introduction of
agriculture. During this age man lived in groups depending on
plants and also hunted animals. The Paleolithic age is
characterized by the use of Knapped stone tools whereas man
also used bone and wooden tools. During the end of Paleolithic specifically the middle or
upper Paleolithic, human began to produce the earliest works of art and engaged in religious
and spiritual behavior such as burial and rituals. The climate during the Paleolithic period

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consisted of a set of glacial and inter-glacial period in which the climate periodically
fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures.

B. MESOLITHIC AGE:

The period during the end of the last ice age, was characterized by the rising sea levels Some
Mesolithic settlement were villages of huts, other were walled cities. The earliest known
battle occurred during the Mesolithic period at a site in Egypt known as Cemetery 117. They
wore fur, and leather and hemp based fabrics, wool from sheep was also used. They may have
used bird‘s feathers for ornamentation. Natural dyes from plant sources may also have been
used. Some tribes still live a 'Mesolithic' way of life even today in our modern era in the
Amazon jungles. Discovery of fire is a valuable gift of this era to the man kind.

Mesolithic implements

CASE STUDY - RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

The wonders of nature such as floods and lightening created fear in man‘s mind. In
order to protect himself from these dangers, he performed some religious rites. He
perhaps worshipped such animals as the lion, the tiger and the snake. The early man
also believed in life after death. So he buried his dead with tools which he thought
might be needed in the next world.

He also worshipped the Sun, Fire, Trees and mother Goddess.

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C. NEOLITHIC AGE:

The first Neolithic culture started around 7000

B.C. in the Fertile Crescent. Later, it spread
to the Mediterranean, the Indus Valley, China
and South East Asia. Tools used for grinding,
cutting and chopping were widely used.
Ground stone and polished stone artifacts
became much more wide spread. The first
large scale constructions were built including
settlement towers and walls example Jericho
and Ceremonial sites example Stonehenge. It
shows availability of sufficient resources and
cooperation to enable large groups to work on
these projects. Carved entrance stone to a Neolithic chamber
tomb (c. 3200 BC) at Newgrange, County
Meath, Ireland. Length 3.2 m.

The earliest evidence for established trade exist in the Neolithic with newly settled people
importing exotic goods over distance of many hundreds of miles. Sakkara Brae located on
Orkney Island of Scotland is one of Europe‘s best examples of a Neolithic village. The
community contains stone beds, shelves and even an indoor toilet linked to a stream. This age
is also credited for the invention of pottery.

Various stone and flint tools made in about 2700

to 1800 BC, during the Neolithic period, were
Neolithic Implements found in Essex, England

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 Chart work

Make a chat featuring the lifestyle of the Neolithic people. Your chart may
include drawing of the various animals that the Neolithic people domesticated
and the houses in which these people lived.

Female figurine in the form of a jar, incised and with traces of paint, clay, Neolithic,
c. 3000 BC. From Vidra, Bucharest, Romania. In the National Antiquities Museum,
Bucharest, Romania. Height 42.5 cm.

Do You Know
Neolithic Age – This period is characterized by very finely flaked small tools, also
known as BLADES. Some of the stone blades were so sharp that even today‘s modern
blades cannot match their cutting edge.
Better tools were made from copper and bronze which came into existence during
Chalcolithic Age.

3. USES OF STONE IMPLEMENTS AND TOOLS:

Australopithecus widely used exclusively ‗Stone‘ as their hard material in the manufacturing
of implements with a sharp edge, a point or a percussion surface. ‗Bone’ was also used to
make tools which were rarely found in comparison to the millions of stone tools. Innovation of
the technique of smelting ore ended the Stone Age and began the age of metals. The first
most significant metal manufactured was bronze, an alloy of copper and tin each of which

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was smelted separately. Stone tools were made from a variety of stones .For e.g.-flint and
chert were shaped (or chipped) for cutting tools and weapons, while basalt and sand stone
were used for ground stone tools, such as quern-stones. The period from 2.9 million years ago
encompasses the first use of stone tools in Gona, Ethiopia. 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.

a. Fire

The use of fire was another basic technique mastered at some unknown time in the Old Stone
Age. The discovery that fire could be tamed and controlled and the further discovery that a
fire could be generated by persistent friction between two dry wooden surfaces were
momentous. Fire was the most important contribution of prehistory to power technology,
although little power was obtained directly from fire except as defense against wild animals.
For the most part, prehistoric communities remained completely dependent upon manpower,
but, in making the transition to a more settled pattern of life in the New Stone Age, man
began to derive some power from animals that had been domesticated. It also seems likely
that by the end of prehistoric times the sail had emerged as a means of harnessing the wind
for small boats, beginning a long sequence of developments in marine transport.

Do You Know???

The History of wheel

The wheel is perhaps man‘s greatest invention. Invention of wheel will always remain a
mystery as to who invented the wheel and when was the wheel actually invented?

According to archaeologists the wheel was invented around 8000 BC. The earliest known use
of the wheel was a potter‘s wheel which was not a proper wheel but rather it was a shallow
bowl or a platter in which potter placed the clay. The first use of the wheel for transportation
was probably on Mesopotamian chariots in 3200 BC.

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Before the discovery of wheel different methods of transportation were used to move heavy
objects. Man used logs, being round, giving man the ability to roll heavy objects that were
physically impossible for man to carry or move.

It was not long before someone realized the importance of using this principal resulting the
birth of the wheel. Hence invention of the wheel has been the greatest invention of human to
the modern world. The wheel is used in cars, planes, trains, machines, wagons and in most of
the factory and farm equipment.

b. Tools and weapons

The basic tools of prehistoric peoples were determined by the materials at their disposal. But
once they had acquired the techniques of working stone, they were resourceful in devising
tools and weapons with points and barbs. Thus the stone-headed spear, the harpoon, and the
arrow all came into widespread use. The spear was given increased impetus by the spear-
thrower, a notched pole that gave a sling effect. The bow and arrow were an even more
effective combination, the use of which is clearly demonstrated in the earliest
―documentaryǁ evidence in the history of technology, the cave paintings of southern France
and northern Spain, which depict the bow being used in hunting. The ingenuity of these
primitive hunters is shown also in their slings, throwing-sticks (the boomerang of the
Australian Aborigines is a remarkable surviving example), blowguns, bird snares, fish and
animal traps, and nets. These tools did not evolve uniformly, as each primitive community
developed only those instruments that were most suitable for its own specialized purposes,
but all were in use by the end of the Stone Age. In addition, the Neolithic Revolution had
contributed some important new tools that were not primarily concerned with hunting. These
were the first mechanical applications of rotary action in the shape of the potter's wheel, the
bow drill, the pole lathe, and the wheel itself. It is not possible to be sure when these
significant devices were invented, but their presence in the early urban civilizations suggests
some continuity with the Late Neolithic Period. The potter's wheel, driven by kicks from the
operator, and the wheels of early vehicles both gave continuous rotary movement in one
direction. The drill and the lathe, on the other hand, were derived from the bow and had the
effect of spinning the drill piece or the work piece first in one direction and then in the
other.

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Developments in food production brought further refinements in tools. The processes of food
production in Paleolithic times were simple, consisting of gathering, hunting, and fishing. If
these methods proved inadequate to sustain a community, it moved to better hunting grounds
or perished. With the onset of the Neolithic Revolution, new food-producing skills were
devised to serve the needs of agriculture and animal husbandry. Digging sticks and the first
crude plows, stone sickles, querns that ground grain by friction between two stones and, most
complicated of all, irrigation techniques for keeping the ground watered and fertile—all these
became well established in the great subtropical river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia in
the millennia before 3000 BC.

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c. Building techniques

Prehistoric building techniques also underwent significant developments in the Neolithic

Revolution. Nothing is known of the building ability of Paleolithic peoples beyond what can be
inferred from a few fragments of stone shelters, but in the New Stone Age some impressive
structures were erected, primarily tombs and burial mounds and other religious edifices, but
also, toward the end of the period, domestic housing in which sun-dried brick was first used.
In northern Europe, where the Neolithic transformation began later than around the eastern
Mediterranean and lasted longer, huge stone monuments, of which Stonehenge in England is
the outstanding example, still bear eloquent testimony to the technical skill, not to mention
the imagination and mathematical competence, of the later Stone Age societies.

Do You Know; The Deccan

Tools belonging to the Palaeolithic Age have been found in the Deccan plateau

The main tool consists of a variety of blades, scrapers made of flakes.

The artifacts of this age have also been found at several places near the river Narmada
and in the South of the river Tungabhadra.

d. Manufacturing

Manufacturing industry had its origin in the New Stone Age, with the application of techniques
for grinding corn, baking clay, spinning and weaving textiles, and also, it seems likely, for
dyeing, fermenting, and distilling. Some evidence for all these processes can be derived from
archaeological findings, and some of them at least were developing into specialized crafts by
the time the first urban civilizations appeared. In the same way, the early metalworkers were
beginning to acquire the techniques of extracting and working the softer metals, gold, silver,
copper, and tin, that were to make their successors a select class of craftsmen. All these
incipient fields of specialization, moreover, implied developing trade between different
communities and regions, and again the archaeological evidence of the transfer of
manufactured products in the later Stone Age is impressive. Flint arrowheads of particular
types, for example, can be found widely dispersed over Europe, and the implication of a
common locus of manufacture for each is strong.

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