old europe – When “old” means truly old “Neolithic Europe” lasted from 10.000 BC to 2000 BC. The Neolithic people were indigenous Europeans who were late…
Humans first made art during the Stone Age, but it evolved drastically as the eras moved from Paleolithic to Neolithic. The methods for making art became more varied as tools were developed and humans learned to make crafts like pottery.
Just the facts! Digital or Printable Students will understand and explain the basics of Neolithic and Paleolithic people using the 5W's and How. In this Guided Social Studies unit, students will process the most important facts about our earliest ancestors without wading through a wordy text. No fluff, just facts! Designed for older students at a low reading level, this pack teaches the content in an easy-to-read manner. The unit contains simple language and color-coded vocabulary designed to expose students to academic language at a reasonable pace, with eye-catching images and supporting sentence frames. This pack includes a Teacher's Guide, Observations page, Vocabulary, Reading Passages, Assessment, and an interactive notebook. Just print, project, or share, then teach! *Note that flipbook is printable only* Looking for more Social Studies "Just the Facts" resources? Explorers 5W's and How Colonists 5W's and How Pioneers 5W's and How Presidents Non-Fiction Reading Passages The First Thanksgiving 5W's and How Ellis Island Immigration 5W's and How Lewis and Clark 5W's and How Please check out the preview to see if it's a good fit for your students! Questions? Everyone Deserves to Learn Check out my blog at Everyone Deserves to Learn Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches • Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about this store.
Neolithic settlement.
The Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, consists of two settlement mounds — the remains of houses continually built over old ones — that have yielded many treasures since archaeologists began excavations in the 1960s.
A very rare statue representing a stylized man, sitting, resting his head in his hands in the attitude of the “Thinker of Cernavoda”. Found in the Balkan region. (map)
The Venus figurines is a term given to a collection of prehistoric statuettes of women made during the Paleolithic Period, mostly found in Europe, but with finds as far as Siberia.
19th Century engraving of Danish Neolithic tools.A.P Madsen. Personal collection.
Up to 10 to 15 years ago, the first settled life for human beings in terms of animal feeding and agriculture, the so called “Neolithic Age” society, was being marked in history as B.C. 9500 by the …
Up to 10 to 15 years ago, the first settled life for human beings in terms of animal feeding and agriculture, the so called “Neolithic Age” society, was being marked in history as B.C. 9500 by the …
The Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, consists of two settlement mounds — the remains of houses continually built over old ones — that have yielded many treasures since archaeologists began excavations in the 1960s.
Here in the present we do not have the luxury of future archeological discoveries. We can only collect and synthesize what we know, and compare that with the abyss of prehistory. This is not to say we know nothing about the time, while many personal details are obscured a general narrative is not. The story behind this little island begins not with humans, but with even earlier hominins. Neanderthals found their way to Crete around 130,000 years ago, having made canoes or used floats to cross the sea. They left Acheulean hand axes, the earliest deposited hominin tools on the island and in a sense the beginning of its recorded history. Over 100,000 years later, around 12,000 BCE Homo Sapiens crossed the sea, coming to an island filled with pygmy elephants and giant rodents. These earliest settlers killed off these creatures, or at least assisted their slow death during the last Ice Age. With no carnivorous animals on the island, it was quickly dominated by humans and has been ever since. Acheulean tools found on Crete, most likely made by Neanderthals A comparison of a pygmy elephant and a human, from Sameerprehistorica.deviantart.com The history of the island quickly picks up around 7,000 BCE, when another large invasion brought Neolithic people to the island. Throughout the next 500 years Neolithic Cretans changed their daily habits, switching from hunting, gathering, and fishing, to a more settled lifestyle of farming and rearing animals. By 6,500 BCE these newly settled Neolithic Cretans had invented pottery. People lived in groups of 50-100 in semi-subterranean huts dug into the ground. People farmed einkorn and emmer wheat, barley, lentils, and peas as well as raising sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, and dogs. While farming and rearing animals were becoming popular, people still certainly foraged or wild fruits and hunted wild animals. People made tools out of flint, obsidian, and bone, and unique hooked bone objects from this period are presumed to be belt adornments. People also made figurines from unfired or semi-fired clay, and jewelry from clay, stone, bone, and sea shells. This period marks the beginning of identifiable sedentary human cultures on Crete, a period which continues today. Around 7,000 BCE the wider Mediterranean area was flourishing as well, nearby Catalhoyuk in southeastern Anatolia was at its peak at this time, and by 6,500 BCE as Cretans invented pottery the town of Sesklo in Thessaly was founded. During the 7th millennium Seskloans made mud houses, and adopted seal stones for their aesthetic value (not yet signing documents with them). A map of neolithic sites across Greece Site plan of Nea Nikomedeia, an early neolithic (6,500-5,800 BCE) settlement on mainland Greece After a thousand years, by 5,500 BCE, the town was flourishing with a few hundreds to even a few thousand inhabitants. By the 6th millennium BCE these people were no longer living in mud houses, but ones made of unfired adobe mixed with hay which sat upon stone foundations. By this millennium hearths and ovens were put between houses or in common areas, and some houses were even two stories high. Seskloan potters produced colorful painted geometric pottery in a creative explosion during this period, especially after the invention of fired pottery. Between 5,500-5,000 BCE painted pottery was more commonly found in the “citadel” area of settlement as opposed to the “town” section, evidence of an early social stratification. A clay model of a house, from Sesklo, Thessaly. Made around 5,000 BCE A reconstruction of a middle neolithic (5,800-5,300 BCE) house with a stone foundation from Greece A reconstruction of Sesklo Warriors from Sesklo in the 6th millennium BCE, by Giuseppe Rava A picture of the remains of Sesklo today A red patterned clay cup from Sophades, Thessaly. Made between 5,000-4,000 BCE Clay cup from Sesklo, Thessaly. Made between 5,800-5,300 BCE Clay bowl from Sesklo, Thessaly. Made between 5,800-5,300 BCE While the most dense region of middle neolithic settlement was in Thessaly, the inhabitants of Crete also lived a culturally intricate lifestyle. Tantalizing clues to their life often comes from bits and pieces of figurines from this period, indicating fine clothing and jewelry. A middle neolithic (5,800-5,300 BCE) figurine from Franchthi Crete, showing clothing A middle neolithic (5,800-5,300 BCE) figurine from Knossos, showing body decoration A late neolithic (5,300-3,000 BCE) figurine from Makriyalos Crete, with a box highlighting jewelry Between 5,300-4,800 BCE (called the Pre-Dimini phase) people began settle all over Greece, especially in the plains. The population boom during this period is also seen in an increase in the variety of regional pottery, and novel rectangular and megaron style buildings. Hearths and ovens were now placed inside people's houses, showing that cooking had become a familiar instead of a communal affair. Villages were surrounded by ditches 4-6 meters wide and 1.5-1.7 meters deep, to protect against foraging wild animals as well as other humans. The earliest lakeside village in Greece existed during this period (at Dispilio-Kastoria), people had built timber-post framed platforms in order to raise their towns above the water. During the Pre-Dimini phase the population of local villages skyrocketed, going from the prior 50-100 average to 100-300. People invented new foods like bread wheat, millet, rye, oats, and chickpeas. A vase from Dimini, Thessaly. Made between 5,300-4,800 BCE A reconstruction of the town of Dimini as it existed during the 5th millennium BCE A reconstruction of the town of Dimini as it existed around 3,700 BCE As the cultural geography and population density shifted, so did the focus of artistry and craftsmanship. By the middle of the 5th millennium BCE (between 4,800-4,500 BCE) the village of Dimini began to outshine its neighbor Sesklo. During this millennium the shift towards plains settlements continued and was aggrandized. While communities continued to be around 100-300 strong, certain activities became specialized such as: pottery workshops, sea shell jewelry carvers, and obsidian arrowhead manufacturers. These novel “professions” became localized in a workshop, and utilized by a local specialist. During the 5th millennium BCE silver and copper beads are rarely found, suggesting a continuation of class stratification. The “House of the Potter” in Sesklo is a beautiful snapshot of the time period, being destroyed/preserved by a fire around 4,400 BCE. Cup of Urfinis ware, southern Greece, made between 5,000-4,500 BCE Urfinis ware table or footstool made of clay, southern Greece, made between 5,000-4,500 BCE While the evidence for regional trade is not as widespread as it is during the early Minoan (EM) period, neolithic Greeks traded using exchange networks. Obsidian from the Aegean island of Melos is found across the Aegean, even reaching Macedonia. Jewelry from Dimini in Thessaly went as far as the Balkans and central Europe, as did ring idol pendants. The sophisticated pottery made at Sesklo, Sophades, and Dimini certainly found its way into the hands of prospective buyers hundreds of miles away from its site of origination. The question remains, how far were such objects traded by a single person, or by people generally? While people did trade precious objects, painted pottery, and raw materials, it is also an open question whether each town's culture also traveled along these trade routes. Sesklo is the presumed originator of massive amounts of female figurines which are found as far north as the Karanovo culture (in Bulgaria) and the Koros culture (in eastern Hungary). It is completely unknown what these female figurines represented, but trading symbolic figurines is very different than trading painted pottery. Owning beautiful pottery is still valued today, but finding one particular reason for owning a schematic figurine is much more mysterious. It is certainly possible that they were only used as toys, and that Sesklo had become a popular site of such production. The question remains completely unanswered, but the neolithic period shows the birth of well developed regional exchange networks. These networks would cement routes and associations which early Minoan traders later exploited. Votive figurines from Sesklo Clay model of a decorated boat, from the late neolithic (5,300-3,000 BCE) period on Crete Map of late Neolithic cultures across Europe and Anatolia, generally of the 6th millennium BCE Neolithic chronology of the Aegean and surrounding regions In comparison to the Minoan golden age, much less is known of Neolithic Crete. Even with that lack of information, the early settlements at what would become future Minoan cities (like at Knossos and Phaistos) point to an increasingly urban population on Crete. There is one curious fact which ties neolithic Cretans to the glorious palaces of the late bronze age Minoan civilization: the initial neolithic settlement on Crete was at Knossos, directly at the future site of the central court at its palace. By the Minoan era, this court was to be the central feature and focus of the palace hierarchy and ritual, as the court of each city's palace held high importance in Minoan culture generally. This connection is remarkable, while the Minoans had no idea who their Neolithic forebears were many thousands of years prior, through some process of agglomeration this specific spot kept its importance. For thousands of years the village at this site grew and expanded, blossoming and evolving into the peak Minoan town of Knossos by the 2nd millennium BCE. At its peak this town was the largest and presumably strongest of the Minoan cities. The palace surrounding that central court was the largest and most elaborate on the whole island. If only the Minoans knew how deeply connected they were to their ancestors many thousands of years prior. The site of the earliest settlement on Crete, Neolithic Knossos, around 9 kya, shown as it existed during the Minoan golden age (the early and middle 2nd millennium BCE) as the central court of the Palace of Knossos The central court at Knossos now References Acheulean Hand Axes on Crete http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html Prehistoric Crete on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Crete Neolithic Pottery in Greece, from IME.Gr http://www.ime.gr/chronos/01/en/nl/mn/mn_potfr.html Small amount of info on Sesklo and Dimini http://users.hol.gr/~dilos/prehis/prerm6.htm The House of the Potter at Sesklo http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh251.jsp?obj_id=5148 Figurin' Out Neolithic Crete, by Marina Mina http://bit.ly/1E4L7PE Aegean Neolithic Transition, What-When-How http://bit.ly/1KO6cCz The FN to EBA Transition in Crete, Nowicki http://bit.ly/1DIzTTL
Yperboreon daumaue odos. The wonderful road of the Hyperboreans. In the history of megalithic monuments of Dacia, an important place has a long uninterrupted series of several thousand boulders, or…
By Charles Kessler The other day, I saw Werner Herzog’s new 3-D movie about the Chauvet cave paintings — Cave of Forgotten Dreams (now playing at IFC in New York). The Times reviewer doesn’t agree, but I thought it was a terrible movie: the 3-D effects will give you a headache (especially scenes shot in the cramped spaces of the cave), the music is an obnoxious distraction, there are too many irrelevant, sometimes silly, interruptions, and the movie is self-indulgent and heavy-handed — typical Herzog Germanic romanticism. BUT SEE IT! It’s well worth putting up with Herzog’s nonsense just for the opportunity to see the Chauvet cave paintings. Due to the fragile nature of the cave and artifacts, custody of the cave was taken over by the French Government (the official government website for the cave is here), and it has been closed to all but a few experts since its discovery in 1994 by the French speleologist Jean-Marie Chauvet and his colleagues Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillaire. Herzog persuaded the French government to give him, and a crew of three, access to the cave to film for four days on the condition he worked under careful supervision. These paintings might be the oldest art ever discovered, possibly an incredible 32,000 years-old - twice as old as the next oldest, the Lascaux caves. But, the thing that’s so remarkable about this work, and other prehistoric cave painting, is it’s as good as any art that’s ever been made. In other words, art hasn’t improved in 32,000 years; it's just changed. Four aurochs (left), two rhinoceroses fighting (below) and a panel of four horses (extreme right) [Credit: Wikimedia Commons] - click to enlarge. The skill of these artists is astonishing. In many cases a single line delineates contours of the animals — and with anatomical accuracy too. Other times the animals are carefully modeled. Not only are the animals realistically drawn with great economy of means, but they're also compellingly expressive. The eyes of the animals are tense and alert, and their bodies are dynamic and powerful. Detail of lions hunting panel. [Credit: Wikimedia Commons] These artists were even able to portray motion. Several animals are depicted with multiple pairs of legs, as if their legs were rapidly moving (like the Futurist Giacomo Balla's Dynamism of a Dog On a Leash, 1912), or are shown in multiple places in time (like Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, 1912) — effects probably heightened by flickering light. And the means they used to create the paintings were varied and sophisticated. They carefully prepared the walls so they were smooth and white, they incised the wall along contour lines to emphasize the line, and they made use of the curve of the wall to aid in the illusion of volume. There are no signs that prehistoric man lived in the Chauvet Cave; it was used exclusively for ceremonial purposes. And what a dramatic ceremonial space it must have been! Can you imagine what it must have been like to enter into this strange and dangerous cavern, an open space with tons of rock miraculously suspended above? Originally (before a rock slide sealed the cave about 20,000 years ago) they would have entered through a sort of outside antechamber that had red hand prints on the far wall. Then, going into the cave proper, with only torches for light, they would dimly see drawings of bears and panthers as their eyes adjusted to the dark. Further in they would come to two chambers with vast herds of bison, rhinos, horses and other animals -- more than 400 paintings in all! It must have been awe-inspiring — it still is, even just watching it on film. This is clearly not the work of amateurs -- this isn't random scrawls or indiscriminate graffiti. It is clearly the work of highly trained specialists. (We can even identify one of the artists because his hand prints have a crooked finger). It’s pretty impressive when you think of it. This subsistence culture, as marginal as their existence was, must have believed that making art was so important that they would excuse certain people from hunting and other jobs and provide for them so they could devote their time to making art (or at least what we today call art). Charles Kessler is an artist and writer, and lives in Jersey City.
Kultur der Steinzeit I. Eolithikum und älteres Paläolithikum. Kultur der Steinzeit II. Das jüngere Paläolithikum. Kultur der Steinzeit III. Die Kunst des jüngern Paläolithikums
Three-quarters of handprints in ancient cave art were left by women, study finds.
