Reading Comprehension on Paleolithic People and Neolithic ...



Home Reading on Paleolithic People

Directions: Read the following selection. As you read, highlight the bold words and their definitions. Next, write the words and definitions in your History Notebook.

Dr. Thomas could not have been happier. He was sure that the hip bone and the femur (leg bone) that he found in East Africa belonged to an Australopithecus Afarensis which had lived over 3.75 million years ago. Once he received the lab report he would know the fossils’ true age. Dr. Thomas knew that the shape of the hip bone revealed the fossil belonged to a female who had once walked upright. The length of the femur bone told him the creature had only been about 3 ½ feet tall. Furthermore, he had already sent in a skull fragment that once contained a brain that was about ¼ the size of a modern human brain; the lab had sent him a report verifying its age to be at least 3 million years old! Most importantly, Dr. Thomas found a jaw bone with molars that were well worn, telling him this was an adult not a child. If all these fossils were part of the same being, then the facts pointed to this find or hominid being an Australopithecus fossil.

Dr. Thomas did not find any tools at the dig site which made sense because Australopithecus did not use tools. The Australopithecus, with its brain size being ¼ the size of modern humans, was not a great hunter. In fact once early humans learned to hunt, their brain size doubled. No hominid hunted or used tools until about 2.5 to 1.5 million years ago when Homo habilis (aka Handy man) began using simple tools. These tools were most likely stones used to skin animals and cut meat. Their brains were larger than Australopithecus but their long arms, fingers, and toes allowed them to easily climb trees as well as walk on the ground. It was not until about 1.8 million years ago that a hominid with a larger brain known as Homo erectus (aka Upright Man) finally left the trees and began to just walk upright or erect.

Homo erectus was around 5 to 5 ½ feet tall. They used better tools like a stone axe for butchering animals, cutting wood and digging roots to eat. It is believed that they were the first to discover and use fire. Though their speech was simple, they could communicate verbally. They left Africa and migrated to Asia and Europe.

The species known as Homo erectus died out about 100,000 years ago. The next hominid with an even larger brain, face, and teeth lived between about 600,000 and 100,000 years ago in what is now Germany. It was known as Homo heidelbergenisis.

Later, another type of early human fossil was found in the Neander Valley area of Germany and it was thus called Neanderthal. The Neanderthals had a large bony ridge that stuck out above their eyebrows, a wide nose, and big, strong chests. They lived in temporary camps in groups of about 20 to 50 people. Scientists have learned that they buried their dead with flowers, tools and weapons. This leads us to think that they believed in some kind of after-life. This is an early form of religion. It is believed that they lived about 230,000 to 30,000 years ago and then died out.

Around 130,000 the modern human known as Homo sapiens (aka wise man or thinking man) appeared. For a short time, it lived at the same time as the Neanderthal; it would eventually replace the Neanderthal which would die out. Although Homo sapiens originated (came from) in Africa, they soon migrated (moved) to the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Modern humans are considered Homo sapiens. The type of Homo sapiens that replaced the Neanderthal was known as Cro-Magnons.

Cro-Magnons got their name from the cave where their fossils and cave wall paintings were first found. Generally, it is believed that all Homo sapiens made different tools for different jobs instead of using the same tool for everything the way that Neanderthal had done. In fact, Homo sapiens had large spear points for hunting hippopotamus and other large game (animals), thin scrapers for cleaning animal hides (skins), and harpoons with sharp barbs. They had special tools called awls for making holes in animal hides which were then sewn together with bone needles and worn as clothing. They even had fishhooks made from either bones or antlers! Some even made beads out of ostrich eggshells and wore them as jewelry. Homo sapiens used fishing nets too. In all, over 100 different kinds of tools have been found. In order to make and trade these items, the Cro-Magnon clearly had to have some form of spoken language. Their language was much more advanced than the first language used by earlier Homo erectus and the brains of Cro-Magnon were about the same size as modern humans.

Instead of written language, Cro-Magnons only had spoken language. We call this time prehistory. The period of time after the invention of written records is known as history. Cave paintings found in Lascaux, France give us evidence that they were also able to communicate through art. They probably mixed fish oil with ground stone or berries to make the paint. Most of the paintings were of animals that they hunted, like horses and bulls. Cro-Magnon left us other artwork like small carved statues made of bone, ivory and antlers. Remarkably, in China, a flute carved from an antler was found. Archaeologists tested it and discovered that it could still be used to play music. All these artifacts created by early humans are known as primary sources.

Primary sources left behind by the Cro-Magnon include cave paintings, fossils, tools, weapons, and the like. In order for something to be a primary source or an original source, it had to be created by or witnessed by the person telling us about it. Today primary sources include original letters, diaries, photos, paintings done by someone who witnessed the event and original speeches. When someone studies these original or primary sources and then writes about them, they are known as secondary sources. Secondary sources include your textbook, a painting done by someone who had not witnessed the event, and information received secondhand as opposed to information received by the person who witnessed the event.

From the primary sources left by Cro-Magnon, it is known that these early human were nomadic or wandered from place to place in search of food and shelter. They lived in animal skin tents or caves. All these early humans were considered Paleolithic or Old Stone Age because they were hunters and gatherers and used only stone tools and weapons, wore fur for clothing and of course were nomadic. Paleolithic humans had no surplus or extra food. They spent most of their time looking for food. They followed the game (animals) wherever they went. Since they were constantly on the move, Paleolithic people could not have permanent homes. They had virtually no surplus time to do other things, like create a written language or figure out how to weave cloth.

Ninety nine per cent of human history took place during the Paleolithic period. It would not be until the Neolithic Revolution or the discovery of farming that human beings could finally settle in one place.

Sample of Highlighting Method

Home Reading on Paleolithic People

Directions: Read the following selection. As you read, highlight the bold words and their definitions. Next, write the words and definitions in your History Notebook.

Dr. Thomas could not have been happier. He was sure that the hip bone and the femur (leg bone) that he found in East Africa belonged to an Australopithecus Afarensis which had lived over 3.75 million years ago. Once he received the lab report he would know the fossils’ true age. Dr. Thomas knew that the shape of the hip bone revealed the fossil belonged to a female who had once walked upright. The length of the femur bone told him the creature had only been about 3 ½ feet tall. Furthermore, he had already sent in a skull fragment that once contained a brain that was about ¼ the size of a modern human brain; the lab had sent him a report verifying its age to be at least 3 million years old! Most importantly, Dr. Thomas found a jaw bone with molars that were well worn, telling him this was an adult not a child. If all these fossils were part of the same being, then the facts pointed to this find or hominid being an Australopithecus fossil.

Dr. Thomas did not find any tools at the dig site which made sense because Australopithecus did not use tools. The Australopithecus, with its brain size being ¼ the size of modern humans, was not a great hunter. In fact once early humans learned to hunt, their brain size doubled. No hominid hunted or used tools until about 2.5 to 1.5 million years ago when Homo habilis (aka Handy man) began using simple tools. These tools were most likely stones used to skin animals and cut meat. Their brains were larger than Australopithecus but their long arms, fingers, and toes allowed them to easily climb trees as well as walk on the ground. It was not until about 1.8 million years ago that a hominid with a larger brain known as Homo erectus (aka Upright Man) finally left the trees and began to just walk upright or erect.

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