The Paleolithic Era and the Neolithic Era

From hunter-gatherers to farmers

The Paleolithic Era

• The Paleolithic Era (Old Stone Age) began when hominids first made tools.

• These tools were used to make their lives easier.

• Humans living during the Paleolithic Era were hunter-gatherers.

• This means they moved around hunting animals and gathering plants to eat.

• Hunting and gathering did not always provide the people with a steady supply of food.

• If there were no animals and plants where the people were the people would have to leave to find plants and animals to eat.

• Paleolithic people lived in temporary shelters like tents or caves because they were nomads.

• A nomad is a person who does not have a permanent home and moves around a lot.

• Paleolithic people were nomads because they moved around to follow their food sources.

Prehistoric human footprints!

They were on the move A LOT!

• Paleolithic people lived in small groups of no more than 60 people because being nomadic made living in large groups difficult..

The Neolithic Era

• The Neolithic Era (New Stone Age) began when humans invented agriculture and started making tools out of metal instead of stone.

• Neolithic people learned how to farm and domesticate animals.

• Domesticate means to train a wild animal to be useful to humans. Sheep were among the first

animals to be domesticated

by humans!

• Growing crops and domesticating animals is called agriculture and this began in the Neolithic Era.

• These people farmed in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Humans domesticated wheat. They would harvest it, grind it up, and use that to make other foods!

• A lot of Neolithic people began living in the Fertile Crescent.

• The Fertile Crescent was a place where the land was fertile (good for growing plants).

Sometimes historians call the Fertile Crescent the “Cradle of Civilization”

• Neolithic people were not nomadic. They settled down in towns and built houses because they were able to farm and needed to be close to their fields.

• They began to form villages around the fields they farmed and they learned how to make many new things like: jewelry, pottery, bigger houses, better clothing, and stronger tools.

Neolithic Homesite

• Once people began building houses and living in towns life got easier.

• They divided up the work; some people farmed, some took care of animals, some built houses, some made tools, some made clothing, some made pottery, and others traded.

Wall painting from a Neolithic village of a man with cattle and deer.

• After starting agriculture Neolithic people began to focus on making their lives comfortable and beautiful.

• They began decorating their clothing, pottery, and jewelry; some women even began wearing makeup!

• Trade began during the Neolithic Era. • Trade is buying and selling/exchanging goods.• Neolithic people began to trade for things

they wanted, so some people became traders.

• They wanted resources they did not have.

• These resources could be used to make things in their own villages.

• These traders would meet with traders from other villages and exchange or sell goods for things their village did not have.

Carvings of bull’s heads found in a Neolithic village

So to sum everything up!

• Overall, life during the Paleolithic Era was tough.

• Paleolithic people moved around a lot, depended on wild animals and plants for food, and did not have permanent homes.

• Life improved greatly during the Neolithic Era when people began farming, settling down in permanent homes, and trading.

Pictures from:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Knapp_of_Howar_2.jpg

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87atalh%C

3%B6y%C3%BCk• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_tool• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Age• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat#History