The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age
Richard Rudgley
The Free Press 1999
*page divisions show different sources*
BASE INFORMATION
A standard account of the Stone Age – the vast time period from the origin
of early man to the origin of the historical civilizations.
The Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
The Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
The Neolithic (New Stone Age)
The Paleolithic period is the longest of
the three, beginning with the earliest-known stone tools in Africa (2.4 million
years ago) ending 10,000 years ago.
Subdivision
Lower (2000,000 years ago)
Middle (200,00 - 40,000years ago)
Upper Paleolithic (40,000 - 10,000
years ago)
The lower period is the time the earliest humans lived. Known as hominids.
(any of a family (Hominidae) of erect bipedal primate mammals comprising
recent humans together with extinct ancestral and related forms: http://webster.com).
All hominids belong to the family of Hominidae and are divided into those
of the genus Australopithecus (any of a genus (Australopithecus) of extinct
southern and eastern African hominids that include gracile and robust forms
with near-human dentition and a relatively small brain. http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=australopithecine)
and those of the genus homo.
Fossil remains of Australopithecus from East Africa date to at least 3 million
years ago and perhaps much earlier.
The first tools are believed used by Homo habilis (2.2 to 1.6 million years
ago) the earliest known member of our own genus.
No fossils have been found outside of Africa.
The next species to develop in Africa was Homo erectus (1.6 – 0.5 million
years ago) accredited for being the first to leave Africa about 1 million
years ago and colonizing Asia and Europe. Homo erectus developed Acheulian
(bifacial tools with round cutting edges) a more sophisticated stone tool.
The making of tools was continued by the archaic population of Homo sapiens
who 1st emerged ~ 500,000 years ago.
Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens Neanderthaleusis ) arose ~ 100,000 years ago
in Europe & Western Asia as a regional development of archaic Homo sapiens.
They disappeared ~ 33,000 years ago.
Anatomically modern Homo sapiens 1st emerged from Africa at least 100,000
years ago. Like Homo erectus long before they spread to populate the
world.
Upper Paleolithic (40,000 – 10,000 years ago) ended about 10,500 years ago
with the last ice age and was followed by the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
this began about 10,000 years ago in the Near East. The mainstay was
farming.
Neolithic (New Stone Age) period began about 10, 000 years ago.
Tho no major biological transformations of our own species took place 40,000
years ago many see Upper Paleolithic as a time when behaviorally modern humans
emerged, an explosion of creative energies on all fronts. The birth
of art, magic and religion as well as causing rapid advances in technology
and social organization was born.
Mesolithic period saw fishing and development of new tools, particularly
for use in woodworking. In outlying areas like Britain the Mesolithic
period continued until the 4th millenium BC when farming life characteristics
of Neolithic finely took root.
Neolithic ~ 10,000 years ago in Near East is characterized by food production.
Mainstay was farming & livestock. Communities living in villages &
towns replaced Mobil societies. Pottery is seen as
the key diagnostic traits of the Neolithic. Many of the cultures were named
after their distinctive form of pottery. Writing is considered one of the
main features to be considered civilized. No writing
discovered yet for this period. Toward the end of the Neolithic period copper
metallurgy emerged in some regions.
Tho Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic are used to describe the sequence
of cultural events in Europe and parts of Asia they are not generally used
in discussing the prehistoric archaeology of other parts of the world like
the Americas and Australia. Tho evidence clearly points to both Australia
& America were populated from Asia during the upper Paleolithic periods.
What happened subsequently on those continents can not be adequately explained
with in the terminology of Old World archaeology.
Starting point
The numerical system of the Egyptians was highly developed before the Dynastic
period (a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable
time http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary ). 1,422,000 was shown in hieroglyphics
symbols on Narmer’s http://www.ancient-egypt.org/kings/0101_narmer/palette.html
mace head showing intellectual development occurred before the supposed
advent of civilization.
The largest human settlement site yet discovered from the early part of the
Neolithic era is Catal Huyuk, 32 miles SE of Konya in the southern part of
Anatolia (Turkey). It’s estimated to have supported a population of
7,000 people founded more than 8,000 years ago. It appears to have
been a thriving community for 1,000 years or more.
Buildings made with sun dried mud brick and numerous shrines within to a
Goddess have been found. High level of craftsmanship. Objects
found imply the importance of the female.
There are more then 40 Neolithic Stone Temples on Malta & Gozo (2nd largest
Island in the Maltese archipelago). These belong to the period 4500
to 2500 BC & demonstrate how without the use of metal tools they were
able to construct monumental buildings using blocks of stone weighting as
much as 50 tons.
Objects found such as ovens, clay chairs, figurines & vases point out
this period was not ‘the dark ages’ of European pre history.
Read rest but didn’t’ take notes. Skull surgery is found in the Neolithic
age.
Not satisfied with what I’ve found so far. The term STONE AGE is still
used for tribes that have not progressed beyond the use of stone tools to
this day (2003 AD).
This added little to finding the ‘beginning’ of the human race. The product
of human life was found 2.4 million years ago but still doesn’t explain out
side evolution of species where life came from. The bible text of early
life is far different. Or, is the interpretation of the bible text
in error?
04/22/03 letting go, for now. May revisit in the future.
************************************************************************************
A few general observations: The first stone (or artificial stone, i.e. brick,
adobe, etc) buildings in Europe & the Middle East seem to date from the
Neolithic period -- lots of excavation done at places like Jericho &
Catal Huyuk. Also the megalithic monuments of Europe, & stone chamber-tombs.
Agriculture itself was invented -- IIRC this is part of the definition of
the Late Stone Age. The domestication of various plants & animals was
an ongoing process for a very long time, with different targets & rates
of
progress in different places. Some plants & animals seem to have been
domesticated at multiple times by different groups of people -- I gather
frex there's some uncertainty whether the 2 major forms of domestic cattle
are all descended purely from the European aurochs, or the humped cattle
of India & Africa have some other strain mixed in too.
It's been speculated that beer was brewed before bread was baked – the archaeological
evidence is apparently inconclusive but suggestive, & the quest for mind-altering
substances seems to be pretty universal.
Ceramics are also a key development, which imply a host of support technologies.
The clay has to be dug, prepared, & transported to the place-of-use,
the making of the vessels typically involves at least a little equipment
& training, firing the clay requires an oven or kiln, glazes involve
obtaining & preparing additional substances, etc. I'm not
sure when & where the potter's wheel first appeared -- it's a fairly
sophisticated machine, but spread quickly once it was invented.
Nomad-tech generally seems to put a premium on transportability (thus you
get ingenious ways to construct tents) and/or seasonal regularity, as opposed
to durable infrastructure like bridges & aqueducts. Their metal-working
too emphasized portable objects, like weapons, tools & jewelry, over
larger machines, & depended for materials on easily-worked sources like
meteors (iron) and river-deposits (gold), or trade, rather than heavy-duty
mining and smelting.
http://www.nocturne.org/world/archives/0106/0043.html
*********************************************************************************************
Misc sites with info.