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Unit 13. Prehistory

Look at this timeline.

It says "Prehistoric", and it shows events that happened millions years ago. However, your Science book considers that Prehistory started a long time later, with the appearance of human beings.

On TV cartoons we sometimes see human beings coexisting with large dinosaurs (reptiles)...

but this is not true! Dinosaurs extinguished many years before the appearance of human beings. Actually, it is said that it was their extinction that made possible the later evolution of mammals.

 

 Here you are an interesting web about Prehistory.

In the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) people lived in the open or in huts and caves.

 Interior of a cave. It provided shelter and protection to the primitive people.  Paleolithic settlement. Many people died of hunger in the cold seasons since animals were more difficult to hunt.

When these people could not find enough food, they moved on to live in a different place. They were nomads. Very often the animals they had to hunt were bigger and stronger than them.

They worked the stone to get weapons and tools for their everyday lives. They also used wood and bones.

Knives Axe Arrowheads Harpoons Needle

 

Click on the image and you will find more information.

Art is not something new. Human beings have always shown their feelings and express themselves. The artists of the Palaeolithic painted animals on the walls and roofs of caves. They also made small stone sculptures which represented women, the Venus figurines.

Actually, the next video shows information not only about the Palaeolithic Age but all the Prehistory. The word nomadic is not adequate for this video.

In the Neolithic (New Stone Age), 7000 years ago, people started to raise animals and cultivate plants like wheat and rice. It was the beginning of farming. In order to take care of their crops and animals they needed to stay in one place, so they were not nomads anymore and they became sedentary.

Neolithic settlements   Agriculture and livestock farming  

In the Neolithic people learnt to polish stone as well as cloth from the wool of animals (they used simple looms) and pottery.

Polished stone Hand mill Sickle to cut grain

A person weaves cloth in a simple loom Bowls Plate

In the Neolithic the paintings changed. They depicted hunting scenes and people dancing or gathering food. They had only one colour.

Hunting scenes  

Click on the comic stripes and watch videos that compare Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages.

The Metal Ages started when the human beings learnt how to melt and blend metals and use them to make objects (6000 years ago). This is called metallurgy.

The Metal Ages is the last period of Prehistory, when the first towns and cities were built, most of them near the rivers.

Human beings made megalith monuments. They were made with huge stones (megaliths). The next video shows many remarkable sites and buildings from that time.

Many new inventions were made at that time.

   
Wheels  Boat with a sail  Farmers using a plough to plough the soil

The end of the Metal Ages is also the end of Prehistory. History started with the invention of writing.

(Cave paintings, megalithic monuments as well as other interesting videos on archaeological excavations of Spain.)