The first thing that I found a little hard to believe was
the amount of traveling the Paleolithic people did. If they all originated in
Africa, they did a good job of getting around the world. Given the fact that
their average lifespan was about 35 years, this must have taken many years and
generations. It just seems amazing to me giving the fact that all they had to
use was their legs in the beginning. The
Paleolithic people traveled in small groups between 25-50 people. This did not
allow them to carry to much food along with them not having anything to carry
the food in. They stayed pretty close to the water. The men and women had
different duties but both contributed. The Paleolithic people primarily lived on
gathering and hunting until the emergence of agriculture. This is what allowed
them to somewhat settle down and began to harvest their own food. They did not
have many tools but were able to make some out of rocks and stones. The Neolithic people became better with the
agricultural process and began inventing new tools and domesticating certain
animals to help. Some animals were not available in different regions of the
world. This did limit certain agricultural
products. Boats made travel much easier as well as increased the distance
groups could travel. Once agricultural became a more common practice, small
groups of people became larger and became known as civilizations. They did less travel and became more organized.
Otzi the iceman is proof that the Neolithic people became more efficient and
using the resources they had. He was able to make a cap, water-proof shoes, a
jacket, as well as better weapons and tools.
They were able to build stronger structures as well. Life in Egypt was
more balanced compared to the Mesopotamian civilizations. Men and women were
looked at as equal in Egypt where this was not the case in the Mesopotamian
civilizations. The pictures in these
first 2 chapters of the statues the buildings seem so advanced to me to the time
when they were created. I am definetly impressed with the detail.
