The Stone Age: From Hunting and Gathering to Farming



The Stone Age: From Hunting and Gathering to Farming

Human ancestors began to use tools. They used stones as hammers. With these hammers, they chipped sharp flakes from soft volcanic rock. They used the points they made to cut plants or meat.

This first use of stone to create tools began what we now call the Stone Age. The Stone Age gets its name from the fact that people made tools and weapons mainly from stone. These tools were very simple. Gradually, people began to make more complex tools from stone. Scientists think that the Stone Age continued for hundreds of thousands of years, until people learned to use metal for tools and weapons.

Archaeologists divide the Stone Age into two periods, the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age. During the Old Stone Age, people did not yet know how to farm. They lived by hunting animals and gathering roots, berries, leaves, and seeds. They used stone to make hunting weapons and tools to cut meat, scrape animal hides, cut skins to make clothing, and many other things. They also used other materials – bone and animal horns and tusks.

Gradually, Old Stone Age people learned to hunt in groups. Soon, they had developed the skill of cooperating in the hunt. Almost all of human prehistory took place during the Old Stone Age.

Fire!

About 500,000 years ago, there was another important development in human prehistory – the discovery of fire. No one knows for sure how it happened. Perhaps one day a small band of hunters saw a grass fire caused by lightning on the open plain. Terrified by the fire, they probably ran from it.

A great advance came when humans discovered how to make fire when they wanted it. They probably did this by rubbing two sticks together or by striking stones together to produce a spark. With the ability to make fire as they needed it, people could move to areas that had cold climates.

Settling New Areas

As people developed the use of tools, they left their original homes in Africa. This may have begun as early as 1 million years ago. Many Stone Age people became nomads, or people who had no single, settled home. They moved around to places where they were sure they would find food. These nomads stayed at a campsite for several days. When they had gathered all the food around, they moved on.

Humans eventually spread out over much of the Earth. There is evidence that people were living in Asia and Europe at least 500,000 years ago. Perhaps 30,000 years ago, humans crossed from Asia into North America. By 10,000 B.C., human had reached Peru in South America. Though few in number, people lived in regions as different as the steamy rain forests in Asia, the cold lands near the Arctic Circle, and the very high altitudes of the Andes Mountains in South America.

The Beginning of Farming

For tens of thousands of years, humans continued to live as hunters and gatherers. Then about 11,000 years ago, people in Southwest Asia made an amazing discovery. They learned that if they planted the seeds of wild grasses, new crops of grass would come up. Thus began the New Stone Age in Southwest Asia. It was called the New Stone Age because people began to grow their own food. They were no longer nomads, although they still depended on the stone tools. However, in many other parts of the world, the Old Stone Age continued for many thousands of years. In some areas, Old Stone Age societies existed into the 1900s.

Since in most societies women were responsible for gathering plants and seeds, they may have first gotten the idea of planting seeds. Men usually were the hunters. Women began planting and harvesting their crops in the same place year after year.

Farming in Other Places

Some places were better for farming than others. Soil in some areas was very fertile, which means that the soil contained substances that plants need to grow. Plants also need light and warmth, so areas that had long springs and summers were good places to farm. Gentle rains were important sources of water for plants. In several places around the world, many miles apart, people discovered that the soil, the water, and the length of the summers were good for plants. These people took up the farming way of life. About 7,000 years ago, Chinese farmers began planting rice and other crops. A little later in Central America, people began to grow corn, beans, and squash.

While the kinds of plants grown by those first farmers are still important today, they looked very different. When people first began to plant seeds, they carefully chose the biggest, best-tasting plants. They selected those seeds to plant. Gradually, this careful selection of the biggest and best seeds and roots from each crop led to the kind of food that we eat today. For example, the earliest corn came from cobs only two or three inches long. Today, the corn-on-the-cob we eat may be four times that size.

Taming Animals

Humans learned another important skill during the New Stone Age. They learned to domesticate, or tame, animals. The first domesticated animals may have been dogs, because they were valuable in hunting. By taming sheep, cows, and pigs, people developed a ready source of meat, milk, wool, and skins. Through careful breeding, the herders developed animals that were gentler than their wild ancestors and gave more milk or wool. By about 3000 B.C., cattle, camels, horses, and donkeys were trained to carry heavy loads.

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