HIST 111:
TOPIC: PREHISTORY:
Neolithic Revolution, Origins of
Neolithic Man.
Lecture 2
29.1.2024
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon successful completion of this lecture, students
should be able to;
• Understand that Africa is the cradle of humanity.
• Understand and examine the term prehistory.
• Describe what Neolithic and Paleolithic eras means.
• Analyze the evolution of early humans.
• Describe who hunter-gathers are.
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Content Vocabulary.
• Prehistory: the period in human history before
writing was developed.
• Archaeology: the study of past societies
through an analysis of what people have left
behind.
• Artefacts/Artifacts: objects that archaeologists
examine, such as tools, pottery, paintings,
weapons, buildings, and household items.
Department of History, SOA Slide 3
• Anthropology: the study of human life and
culture.
• Fossils: remains of human, plants and
animals.
• Austrolopithecines: (‘southern apes’) the
humanlike creatures that lived in Africa three
to four million years ago. They had limited
intelligence.
Department of History, SOA Slide 4
• Paleolithic Age: (‘Old Stone Age’) the early
period of human history (approximately 2,
500,000 to 10,000 B.C.E) when humans used
simple stone tools.
• Nomads: people who moved from place to place
in search of food.
Department of History, SOA Slide 5
• Neolithic Age: the era in which people started
farming, building communities, producing goods
and trading.
• Domestication: the taming or adaptation of
animals for human use.
Department of History, SOA Slide 6
Africa & the origins of
Civilization.
• In the 1950s and 60s, the African genius Cheikh
Anta Diop (historian, linguist, scientist).
• Proposed the important thesis that Africa was not
only the cradle of humanity but also the cradle of
civilization (Diop, 1993).
• He was not the first to make such a suggestion but
he was the first African scholar to defend the
thesis in several provocative books.
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• The African Origin of Civilization (1974, 1993) and
Civilization or Barbarism (1991).
• Diop’s work challenged the very heart of the
doctrines of racism and the negative arguments that
had been made against Africa by many Europeans
and American authors.
• Diop argued that not only that Africa was home of
humanity and civilization but that Europe had
“stolen” or “distorted” much of the African record.
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Documentation of the origins
• Africa stands at the very beginning of the
origin of humanity.
• The early evolution of humans has been so
detailed on this continent that one could not
write a complete history of humanity without
delving into the prehistory of Africa.
• The word prehistory is used to refer to the
time before writing was available.
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• There is enough evidence from fossilized
bones and stone tools to allow scientists to
recover information that will generate
plausible arguments for African origin.
• Modern science can date these fossils with
highly developed techniques called Carbon-14
dating.
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Towards hominids & beyond.
• Austrolopithecines: ape-like in appearance but
had human characteristics (Southern Ape)
• Hominids: humans and other creatures that
walk upright. First discovered in 1920s
Southern Africa (‘Taung Child’), 1970s in
Hadar (Ethiopia), 1976 in Olduvai Gorge
Tanzania- archaeologists unearth
bones/tools (5m yrs).
• Homo habalis: “handy man”
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• Homo erectus: “upright human beings” a
hominid species that emerged around 1.5
million years ago and used fire and larger
tools.
• Homo sapiens: “‘wise/consciously
human beings” a hominid species that
emerged around 25,000 years ago and
developed into two subgroups
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• Homo Neanderthals: a subgroup of Homo
sapiens whose remains were first found in
the Neander Valley in Germany but do not
have direct descendants in modern
humans.
• Homo sapiens sapiens: (‘wise, wise human
beings’) the first anatomically modern
humans that appeared in Africa between
150,000 and 200,000 years ago.
Department of History, SOA Slide 13
Source: Legacy Saylor
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Source: Legacy saylor
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EARLY HUMANS.
• Historians tell us that history began
when people first began to write –
about 5,500 years ago.
• The time before this is called
prehistory. That is when the human
story really begins.
Department of History, SOA Slide 17
TOOLS OF DISCOVERY.
• Anthropologist study the earliest people
and the things they left behind.
• Archaeologist hunt for clues to the past by
digging underground.
• They discover artefacts and traces of plants
or animals in rock
Department of History, SOA Slide 18
WHO WERE THE HUNTER-
GATHERERS?
• Historians call the early period of human
history the Stone Age.
• It is named for the fact that people during
this time used stone to make tools and
weapons. The earliest part of the Stone
Age is Paleolithic or Old Stone Age (25m
years ago)
Department of History, SOA Slide 19
• Early humans spent most of their time
searching for food (foraging).
• They hunted for animals, caught fish, ate
insects and gathered nuts, berries, fruits,
grains and plants.
• Paleolithic people were always on
the move (nomads).
Department of History, SOA Slide 20
• At each new place, people camped
near a stream or water source…
Why?
• Paleolithic people also learned to
tame fire.
Department of History, SOA Slide 21
Source: Legacy saylor
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IMPORTANCE OF FIRE.
• It provided warmth and light.
• It scared away wild animals.
• Food cooked over a fire, tasted
better, was easier to digest and
would keep longer.
How was fire started?
Department of History, SOA Slide 23
LANGUAGE, ARTS & RELIGION.
• Paleolithic people developed language.
• This made it easier for people to work
together and pass on knowledge.
• Early people used both words and arts.
• They painted animals on cave walls.
Department of History, SOA Slide 24
THE NEOLITHIC
REVOLUTION.
ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE.
• The term ‘Neolithic era’ means
‘New Stone Age’ (8000 BCE -4000
BCE).
• Archaeologists, Evolution biologist use
the term Neolithic because of refinement
in tool-making technique.
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WHY WAS FARMING
IMPORTANT.
• Neolithic Age – Farming
Revolution
1. Ensure more food, encouraged growth,
domesticate animals.
2. Brought about Population Explosion.
3. Emergence of Villages and Towns
4. Specialization of labour; pottery, metallurgy,
textile production etc.
Method of early farming: Slash & burn
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