Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Metal Ages: Life, Art, and Religion

The Paleolithic Age

- The first and longest period in prehistory.

- It lasted from 4.2 million years to 10,000 BC. It is usually divided into:

• Lower Palaeolithic (4.2 million-200,000 BC)
• Middle Palaeolithic (200,000-35,000 BC)
• Upper Paleolithic (35,000-10,000 BC)

Life in the Paleolithic Age

- They were hunters and gatherers (they didn’t cultivate the land or keep animals). They hunted, fished and gathered.

- They were nomadic.

- They lived in caves in winter and in spring-summer in huts.

- They hunted in groups, for instance, skin, bones, fat…

- Tools from stone and bone, later more elaborate.

- Their groups were very small, twenty or thirty members.

Artistic representation

- Cave paintings: painting made on walls and ceilings of caves.

- The colours from natural elements (blood, coal and other minerals) and mixed with grease. Magical purpose: symbolising hunting.

Religious representation

- The first humans worshipped the natural elements (rain, thunder and lightning).

- They practised magic rituals to promote fertility and to help them in hunting.

- Commemorate their dead.

Cave paintings

- The style of paintings: realistic.

- What they painted: isolated animal figures (horses, bison, deer…) but, never the human figure. And, their own hands.

- How: with their hands, feathers ad sticks.

The Neolithic Age

- The Neolithic culture had its origin 10,000 years ago in the Middle East, in a region called the Fertile Crescent.

Life in the Neolithic Age, Productive societies

- During this period important changes occurred:

- Humans became producers with the introduction of farming (agriculture and animal farming).

- The first crops to be cultivated were cereals and the first animals to be domesticated were goats, sheep and pigs.

- Humans became sedentary and started to build houses made with clay.

- The population increased.

- Specialised tools were made: axes, sickles, pestle and mortars, hoes.

- Other crafts developed: baskets, pottery, textiles.

- An excess in any production permitted people to work in different activities. This brought a division of labour, and with it, the first signs of social inequality.

Art and religion

- The most notable artistic achievement is in pottery, with different shapes and decorations. Important pieces include pottery decorated with seashell marks.

- Religious beliefs can be seen in the cult of the stars, and especially the Sun because of its influence over crop growth. The cult of the dead is also very important and prompts the first necropolises to be built near the villages.

The Metal Ages

- Is the period from the fifth millennium BC to the first millennium BC.

- Metalworking had its origin in the urban societies of the Fertile Crescent.

- They were the first to make metal tools.

- The period can be divided into three stages:

• The Copper Age (from 4000 BC)
• The Bronze Age (from 2200 BC)
• The Iron Age (from 1000 BC until the expansion of the Roman Empire).

- Metal could be moulded into new shapes, this permitted many different instruments to be made:

- More durable tools for agriculture (hoes and sickles)

- Weapons of war (swords, spears and shields)

- Domestic utensils (vases and jars).

Life in the Metal Ages

- The use of metal brought a number of changes:

- New inventions were introduced. The wheel made transport easier and improved pottery with the use of the potter's wheel. The plough increased production.

- The economy was still based on farming (agriculture and animal farming), but they now used metal tools.

- Work was more diverse because metal artisans appeared.

- Trade developed because it became necessary to exchange metals for other products.

- Villages grew.

- Social inequalities increased. People and societies that had metals dominated over those that didn’t.

Art in the Metal Ages

- The most significant artistic achievements are the megalithic monuments. 'The name comes from Greek: mega, big and lithos, stone.

- These constructions had a funerary function. The most important types of megalithic monuments are the following:

- The menhir: a big stone standing vertically on the floor.

- The alignments: parallel rows of menhirs, such as the ones in Carnac, in France.

- The cromlech: the stones are ordered in a circle. The most famous one is Stonehenge in the United Kingdom.

- The dolmen: large standing stones supporting a larger horizontal stone.