Paleolithic Humans: 200,000 ya - 12,000 ya
AP Concept: 1.1 Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
Key Concepts
Early Humans and Migration
Survival
Culture
Key Concepts
- Paleolithic peoples adapted their technology and cultures to their environments.
- Paleolithic peoples formed communities with religious beliefs, burial customs, and artistic forms of expression.
- Anatomically modern humans, or Homo sapiens, emerged in East Africa around 200,000 years ago
- Between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago they began migrating out of Africa
- Moved to Asia and Europe via the Middle East
- Moved to Australia and New Guinea, thanks to Ice Age glaciers lowering sea levels
- Moved to the Americas
- Historians argue about the method: either via small boats, or over a land bridge linking Siberia to North America
- Humans then dispersed to South America and eastward towards the Atlantic Ocean
- Most of these migrations occurred because early humans relied on hunting and gathering and needed to look for untapped food sources
- They followed animals and sought out undisturbed land
- By about 20,000 BCE, humans lived in most habitable areas of the world except Antarctica
- This time period is known as the Paleolithic Era (Old Stone Age)
- Early humans in the Paleolithic era were hunter-gatherers
- They were nomadic, as they periodically relocated for better food sources
- They lived primarily in small kinship-based groups
- Population remained low throughout the Paleolithic period due to humans' nomadic lifestyle and lack of surplus food
- Humans adapted to their environments in the following ways:
- Reliance on hunting required cooperation and group communication
- They used tools made of stone, bone, and wood from their local environments, such as arrows, spears, axes, and knives
- Around 90,000 years ago they also developed harpoons and other fishing tools, which added fish to their diets
- Humans used animal fur and hides to make clothing in order to keep warm
- Humans developed the use of fire, which was helpful in the following ways:
- Could be used to keep warm
- Could ward off dangerous predators
- May have allowed groups living in colder climates to defrost and cook meat, thus contributing to survival
Paleolithic humans probably developed spoken language to express ideas and plans- Archaeological excavations of Paleolithic burial sites suggest that early humans developed basic religious beliefs, such as animism
- This is the belief that spirits live in the natural world and influence humans' lives
- Burial sites also indicate a respect for the dead, an important development in human culture
- Archaeologists have discovered evidence of early art, including:
- Cave paintings in France and Spain
- Aboriginal rock art in northern Australia
- African rock art depicting geometric and animal representations
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Related Links: AP World History Quizzes AP World History AP World History Notes The Neolithic Revolution: c. 10,000 BCE - 4000 BCE |