The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [8]
The first true “humans” were the Homo sapiens and they developed in Africa (says the latest theory) by around 150,000 BC, then spread to Europe about 50,000 BC. We classify this period as the Old Stone Age or the Paleolithic because of the type of tools used and the houses Homo sapiens lived in. As the human race advanced and the tools and houses became more sophisticated humanity moved into the Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic. The final era of the stone ages is the Neolithic or New Stone Age, again classified by the tools used and houses lived in. The chart below may help the reader understand the three stone ages.
Paleolithic
2.5 million years BC to 80,000 BC
Types of Tools: Pebble tools to Acheulian hand axe
Mesolithic
80,000 to 10.000 BC
Types of Tools: blade tools, micro-lithe blades formed
15,000 BC
10,000 BC
Coldest period of Ice Age ends
Interglacial begins
Neolithic
10,000 to 5000 BC
Types of Tools: obsidians and flint blades well made pottery, and agriculture.
(All dates approximate)
Note, the New Stone Age brings in agriculture; and this was the greatest advance in the long history of humanity.
In prehistory there is no writing, and this makes investigating the era especially hard. We do have bits of physical evidence left by prehistoric peoples and it tells us a lot. People lived in groups, learned to build houses with hearths and shelves, and often buried their dead in cemeteries. Some graves contained bodies along with jewelry and clothing. Other burials involved cremating the body and placing the ashes into urns, followed by a burial of the urn (the Urnfield culture). Artistry included brightly colored realistic pictures inside caves, impressive carvings, and pottery. Our ancestors constructed very simple to very sophisticated stone tools, consumed a large variety of animals, grains, nuts, fish, and fowl from the areas they inhabited, and they eventually developed trade with other sets of people outside their area. Archeologist have found woven and died clothing dating from 26,000 BC, and clay cooking pots from 12,500 BC. These assertions are based on solid physical evidence from archeological sites, accordingly, there is little speculation about the fundamental facts; however, some books and articles on prehistory are based on the surmises of those studying the period, and this guesswork is not fact.
Figure 1 Neolithic Cave Painting 30,000 BC
(See front cover for color)
Let us discuss an illustration of speculation. Beautiful cave paintings found in France (Lascaux) and Spain date from 30,000 BC. The paintings are far inside the caves in all but inaccessible places. Animals and animal life are the main subjects, and some are painted with what appear to be spears or arrows in the animals. The infrequently depicted people are poorly drawn stick figures. Nearly everyone writing about the paintings classify them as high art or art with a ritual purpose. The best paintings are beautiful, containing well-executed color usage and lifelike qualities for the animals; however, are they the Rembrandts of their era? Could the paintings be graffiti placed there by wayward youths? After all, graffiti in large cities is often well executed, colorful, and generally pleasing except for its location.
Most textbooks explain that the paintings were spiritual in purpose, and played a vital part in tribal customs; however, without writing we do not know why these paintings came to be, and explanations telling