Paleolithic Mesolithic Neolithic Slideshow

Humans have been on the Earth for millions of years.

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The earliest evidence goes back 2.5 million years ago.

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Multiple Choice

What is the earliest evidence mentioned in the image?

• A. The first written record

• B. The earliest archaeological find

• C. The oldest artifact

• D. The initial oral tradition

This time has been called the Paleolithic Period, or the

Old Stone Age.

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Multiple Choice

What is another name for the Paleolithic Period?

• New Stone Age

• Old Stone Age

• Bronze Age

• Iron Age

At this time, people were hunters and gatherers.

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Men would hunt for food, and the women would go

out to gather fruits and vegetables they could find.

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Multiple Select

What did women gather according to the image?

• Fruits

• Vegetables

• Grains

• Flowers

This is the time of the Neanderthal or what we think of

as Cave-men.

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These people were also very nomadic. They moved from

place to place following the animals they would hunt.

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Multiple Choice

Fill in the blank: These people were also very ________. They moved from place to place following the animals they would hunt.

• nomadic

• stationary

• sedentary

• settled

This is when people first started forming small

communities called bands.

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Multiple Choice

This is when people first started forming small communities called _______.

• bands

• tribes

• villages

• clans

The most important tool or invention of this time was

fire. Fire was mainly used for cooking and warmth.

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But they needed other tools as well to hunt and prepare

food. Almost all their tools were made from stone.

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Multiple Choice

What material were most of their tools made from?

• Wood

• Metal

• Stone

• Bone

People had axes, spears, and other stones they would

sharpen to hunt with.

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The Paleolithic Period is the longest time period in all of
human history. It makes up 99% of all the time from the

beginning of mankind to now.

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The Paleolithic Period ended with the last ice age in

9600BC when the Earth started warming up.

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Multiple Choice

When did the Paleolithic Period end?

• 9600BC

• 8000BC

• 5000BC

• 3000BC

The next time period is known as the Mesolithic Period.

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The Mesolithic Period was still a time of nomadic travel

and hunting and gathering.

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But people were learning to make better tools.

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The tools were made from smaller chipped stones that were
polished. Scientists call them microliths because they were

so tiny.

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A common tool was the adze. It had a wooden handle

and blade and was used to carve wood.

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Multiple Choice

An adze is:

• A type of tool used for cutting wood

• A musical instrument

• A type of bird

• A mathematical term

During the Mesolithic Period, dogs were first

domesticated. They were used for hunting and

protection.

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Finally, this was the time that people learned how to

use fishing hooks and nets.

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So, where was all of this occurring?

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Although it was happening in different areas, most of it was

in the Eastern Hemisphere, in an area called the

Fertile Crescent.

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The Fertile Crescent is an area today we know as Iran

and Iraq.

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Multiple Choice

Where is the Fertile Crescent today?

• Iraq & Iran

• Egypt

• France

• Saudi Arabia

The Fertile Crescent was an area that had lots of water

supply and rich soil.

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It was for this reason, that people started to actually settle

in this area, and so started the Neolithic Period or New

Stone Age.

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The Neolithic Period was a very important time and

had many important changes that occurred.

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During this time, people learned how to grow crops

rather than having to gather whatever they could find.

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In order to protect the crops they were growing,

people had to stay in one area.

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This was the beginning of land ownership, and it

changed everything.

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Laws were developed to protect people’s land. And,

eventually this led to the first army being formed.

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Multiple Choice

What were laws made for?

• Protect land

• Make money

• For fun

• Why not?

Now that people could grow food, there was more

than enough; there was a surplus.

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People would keep some of the surplus for times when

crops did not grow. They also kept some to use to

plant new crops in the next growing season.

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There were some very important inventions during the

Neolithic time as well.

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The most important invention of all was the wheel.

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Multiple Choice

What was the most important invention?

• Wheel

• Shoes

• Phone

• Blankets

The wheel was made out of stone, and it allowed

people to move heavy objects far distances more easily.

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Other tools were created as well to help with the

farming like plows.

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The plows could be used by the men or pulled by the

animals that had been domesticated.

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Multiple Choice

What does the word 'domesticated' mean in the context of the Mesolithic Period?

• Tamed and kept as a pet or on a farm

• Wild and undomesticated

• Used for hunting purposes

• A type of plant species

At this time, sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs were the main

animals that lived and worked in the communities.

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People were also learning how to take plant fibers and
weave them into cloth. This led to the invention of the

loom.

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The communities were often made up of homes where
entire families would live. They were not homes like we

have today, however.

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People often lived in hollowed out tree trunks or homes
made of woven tree branches and bricks made of mud.

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Multiple Choice

What were homes made of?

• Steel

• Drywall

• Mud

• Styrofoam

These homes are referred to by scientists as long homes,
because they were most often built in a long rectangular

shape.

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Finally, the famous archeological find, Stonehenge located

in England was constructed during the Neolithic Period.

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Scientists are not really sure how people were able to move

the 50 ton rocks or why it was even created.

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The changes that occurred in the Neolithic Period,

changed the way we live today: in homes,

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close to others,

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protected by laws,

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and food grown on farms. All of these were largely a

result of the Neolithic Period.

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