Prehistory. Social science 3rd grade JK

 

What is Prehistory?Prehistory means "before history". During this period, people couldn’t write.  Look at the timeline.

You can see three main periods of prehistory: Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Metal Age.

Palaeolithic

They lives in small groups called tribes and lived in cave.

They were nomads, this is, they never stayed in the same place. 

Always looking for food. This was hunting animals and collecting fruit.

They had very simple tools made with bones, stones and wood.

They painted on cave walls.

Neolithic

This period is characterized by a sedentary lifestyle, the appearance of the first settlements, the use of polished stone and pottery and the beginning of livestock raising and agriculture (farming).

Metal Ages

Humans learned to use metal to make objects.Remember that societies had changed, now they were sedentary. That gave people time to think, investigate and try new things. 

Metal Ages (Edad de los Metales) are divided in three different periods: Copper Age (la Edad del Cobre), Bronze Age (la Edad de Bronce) and Iron Age (la Edad del Hierro)

Cave paintings are paintings found in caves in the Prehistoric period.

In Spain, we can find two important caves: Altamira caves (Cantabria) and Atapuerca caves (Burgos) Click here for a virtual tour to Altamira Cave

ANCIENT AGE

The Ancient Age began at the end of the Iron Age, that is prehistory, and it starts with the appearance of writing around 3500 BC. It ended in 476 AD with the fall of the Roman Empire.

During this period of History emerged the great civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and India.

Mesopotamia was the first of human civilizations. The word Mesopotamia means "between two rivers" in Greek! So this civilization was named because it was situated between two rivers: Tigris (Tigris) and Euphrates (Éufrates).

Sumerians developed a writing system called cuneiform around 3.500 BC.

The first written language was invented!

Click here and visit The British Museum

Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest and most powerful civilizations of the past. It lasted for over 3000 years from 3150 BC to 30 BC. The monuments and tombs of their Pharaohs continue to stand today, 4,000 years later! Egypt (Egipto) is situated in the northeast corner of Africa (África).

The Nile (Nilo) provided the ancient Egyptians with fertile land which helped them to grow their crops and raise their animals.

Ancient Egypt was a highly organized society divided in classes.

At the top of the society there was a king called the pharaoh. They made the laws and controlled the land and its resources. Egyptians believed that pharaohs lived on as gods in the afterlife.

The Ancient Egyptians began to develop a writing system over 5.000 years ago, around 3.000 BC.

They used pictures of objects, people and animals to write down their language. We call this writing system Egyptian Hieroglyphs which means "sacred carving".

The Rosetta Stone is one of the most important discoveries. For centuries, historians tried to read hieroglyphs, but it was too complicated, there are too many symbols. 

The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799 and it is so important because it has a message written on it in three different languages: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphs and a cursive form of hieroglyphs. 

Religion played a big part in the lives of the Ancient Egyptians. They believed in more than two thousand (2.000) gods and goddesses, which means they were polytheistic. 

Each god took care of just a few things and any of them were identified with particular animals. There was often a connection between the god or goddess and the actions of the animal. 

Egyptians built tombs for their dead that were meant to last for eternity. This was most prominently expressed by the Great Pyramids. The ancient Egyptian word for tomb means 'House of Eternity'.

Click here to make your own mummy

Other important civilizations such as the Ancient Greeks and the Romans also developed during this period.

Ancient Greeks About 2,500 years ago, Greece was one of the most important places in the ancient world. The Greeks were great thinkers, warriors, writers, actors, athletes, artists, architects and politicians.

Greece was divided up into small city-states, like Athens (ATENAS) and Sparta (ESPARTA). Each had their own governments, laws and army. The governors were elected by free people's votes. This was de beginning of DEMOCRACY.

The Greeks loved sport and the Olympic Games were the biggest sporting event in the ancient calendar. These ancient games were also a religious festival, held in honor of Zeus, the king of the gods.

The Greeks had style! Their trademark red and black pottery was very fashionable, and it was bought and sold all over the Mediterranean and even parts of Asia.

They were great builders too. The Greeks built grand temples to their gods and superb sculptures of brave heroes. The Parthenon (PARTENÓN) is a masterpiece of architectural design and craftsmanship by the sculptor Phidias. This temple was built to honor Athena, the goddess of wisdom and protector of Athens (ATENAS). 

Ancient Rome was a powerful civilization. Romans started to expand around Europe and the North of África. 

Romans conquer the Iberian Peninsula and called it HISPANIA
Romans founded many cities protected by walls. They were great engineers and built all kinds of buildings and structures: roads, bridges, aqueducts, amphitheaters and temples. In the cities were a main square called FORUM.

The Colosseum (COLISEO) is one of Ancient Rome's greatest relics. 

The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, this is considerer the end of the Ancient World.