Figure 1.--These depiction of early man in Africa shows a mother and child collecting berries. It was an exibit at the Nirobi Museum October 2001. Image courtesy of the Fergusson Image Library.

The Paleolithic was the early stone age. It is by far the eariest period of human existence. There is no precise date for the beginning of the Paleolithic period, but about 2 million years ago is a good rough estimate. It approximately marks the point at which people became human. The first humonoid species was Homo habilis, demonstrating the importance of tools in the making of modern man. Habilis lived in Africa. A sucessor species, was also found in Africa about 1.8 million years ago, but spread all over the Old World. Erectus had a larger brain reflected in more sophisticated tools. He may also have discovered the use of fire. Homo sapiens or modern man originated in Africa about 0.4 million years ago. These people also spread throughout the Old World and even reaching the New World. These Paleolithic people were nomadic hunter gatherers. They were nomadic because they would quickly exhaust the available food supply in any area they may settle for any time. They also made seasonal migrations to capitalize on the different resources available at different time. The limitedcfood available in nature and the constant movement meant that human communities were primarily small bands. The demands of this life style, the dangers, and problems finding food meant that most people had fairly short life spans. People fashioned stone tools. At first they simply used items found in nature like rocks, bones, antlers, teeth, and other items. Gradually Paleolithic began to manipulate and modify these tools to make them more effective. The earliest tools were probably weapons (defense and hunting) or food production/prepration tools. Of course we can not know just how these people thought, there are some indications such as cave paintings. They suggest that people developed religious beliefs from a very early period. A hint of such beliefs is offered by cave paintings. Early religious beliefs wee animistic. Burials tells us that there was a developing belief in life after death because food, tools, ornamrents, and weapons are often found in graves. Language developed during the Paleolithic which may have begun as grunts and other simple sounds. An early discovery was how useful fire could be. Over time people learned how to actually make fire. Hunting was critcal to early people and they learned to use every part of the prey. They meat was used for food, but people gradually learned to use much more of the carcass. The pelt could be used for for food and shelter. The bones, teeth, horns, and antlers were useful for tools and weapons. Anthropologists debate as to the social roles of men and women. Anthropologists have debated at what stage in human evolution did people begin to wear clothes. Almost certainly the first clothes were animal skins. More contentious is when people started wearing animal furs, presumably initially for warmth. There is little evidence that anthropolgists have been able to develop about clothing worn in prehistory. One aspect that is difficult to determine is the extent of body hair of early men like Neanderthals. Man's transition from hairy to hairless and the development of clothing are critical stages in both biological and cuktural evolution. While anthropolgists can sudy focilized bones to assess physical evolution, the fact that fur and fabric rot mean that there is not physical evidence available to provide insights as to when people first began to wear clothes. Some fascinating finds in the Middle Eastern desserts or the Ice man in the alps provide fascinating information about the clothing of erly man, but not about when man began wearing clothes. Interesting DNA evidence from lice are providing some possible insights.

Homonoids

There is no precise date for the beginning of the Paleolithic period, but about 2 million years ago is a good rough estimate. It approximately marks the point at which people began to become human. Anthropolgists have found many early ape species in Africa. Most are evolutioinary dead ends. A few or in the lneage of modern man. The first homonoid species was Homo habilis, demonstrating the importance of tools in the making of modern man. Habilis, like all the ape species in the human evolutionary line, lived in Africa. A sucessor species, was also found in Africa about 1.8 million years ago, but spread all over the Old World. Erectus had a larger brain reflected in more sophisticated tools. He may also have discovered the use of fire. Homo sapiens or modern man originated in Africa about 0.4 million years ago. These people also spread throughout the Old World and eventually reaching the New World.

Body Hair (1 million years ago)

One aspect that is difficult to determine is the extent of body hair of early men like Neanderthals. Man's transition from hairy to hairless and the development of clothing are critical stages in both biological and cultural evolution. A new report based on Human DNA suggests that peope became hareless about 1 million years ago. [Rodgers]

Neanderthals (130,000-30,000 years ago)

Neanderthals were a neolithic people that dominated Europe for 100,000 years. They inhabited most of Europe and western Asia. Neanderthals developed a culture similar to that of early man. They wore clothes and used fire. They were nomadic hunters. I am not sure to what extent if any that they developed agriculture. They made stone, but no metal tools. Their principal weapons were spears and clubs. Neanderthals disappeared after the arrival of modern man. It is widely believed that they perished because they could not compete with modern man, but there is little actual evidence. Neanderthals were heavily built and squat, more powerful, but apparently less intelligent than modern man. The last Neaderthal traces date back to about 30,000 BC. One enduring debate in anthropology is whether is how Neanderthals are related to modern men. We know that the two groups coexisted before Neanderthals disappeared. Some believe that modern man outcompeted and displaced Neanderthals. Others that Neanderthals merged with and interbread with modern man. A recent study based on an assessment of sculls have found substantial differences which suggest that the two were different species rather than related sub-species. [Harvati] Teeth studies suggest that Neanderthal children grew faster than human children. Some anthropologists believe that Neandethals may have been anatomically adult by about age 15, but not all anthropologists accept this theory. Prelininary DNA studies also suggest there was little or no mixing.

Stages

Anthropolgists have studied a variety of stages in pre-history. Technological developments are of great importance, including fire, tools, pottery, and metal working. Clothing is one of the important developments. Anthropologists have debated at what stage in human evolution people begin to wear clothes. Many of these developments occurred before the Holocene (past 10,000 years.) Other major developments in pre-history include religion, writing, and kingship.

Economic Organization

The primary ecomic organization for much of pre-history was hunter-gathering including fishing. This by its very nature was small tribal activity. These Paleolithic people were nomadic hunter gatherers. They were nomadic because they would quickly exhaust the available food supply in any area they may settle for any time. They also made seasonal migrations to capitalize on the different resources available at different time. The limitedcfood available in nature and the constant movement meant that human communities were primarily small bands. The demands of this life style, the dangers, and problems finding food meant that most people had fairly short life spans. Hunting was critcal to early people and they learned to use every part of the prey. They meat was used for food, but people gradually learned to use much more of the carcass. The pelt could be used for for food and shelter. The bones, teeth, horns, and antlers were useful for tools and weapons. Anthropologists debate as to the social roles of men and women.

Tools

People fashioned stone tools. At first they simply used items found in nature like rocks, bones, antlers, teeth, and other items. Gradually Paleolithic began to manipulate and modify these tools to make them more effective. The earliest tools were probably weapons (defense and hunting) or food production/prepration tools.

Fire

An early discovery was how useful fire could be. Over time people learned how to actually make fire.

Religion

Of course we can not know just how these people thought, there are some indications such as cave paintings. They suggest that peopke developed religious beliefs from a very early period. A hint of such beliefs is offered by cave paintings. Early religious beliefs were animistic. Burials tells us that there was a developing belief in life after death because food, tools, ornamrents, and weapons are often found in graves.

Language

Language developed during the Paleolithic which may have begun as grunts and other simple sounds. Many anthropolgists believe that labguage ability and the resulting development of language was the key step that led to the technological advance of modern man.

Early Clothes (40,000-25,000 years ago)

Almost certainly the first clothes were animal skins. More contentious is when people started wearing animal furs, presumably initially for warmth. This was a major development because until man could make clothing, he could not survive in the colder climate found north of Africa in Europe and Asia. There is little evidence that anthropolgists have been able to develop about clothing worn in prehistory, primarily because clothing deteriorates over time. Some fascinating finds in the Middle Eastern deserts or the Ice man in the Alps provide fascinating information about the clothing of early man, but not about when man began wearing clothes. Anthropolgists believe that needles and other artifacts suggest that people were sewing clothes at least 25,000 years ago and possibly as much as 40,000 years ago. Some anthropolgists speculate that man first using animal skins about 100,000 years ago, but these are only rough estimates with no real evidence to support them. Also unknown us precisely when people first took the step from just draping animal skins on them to actually fashioning crude garments.

Figure 2.--Figure 1 is an imaginative guess at a prehistoric scene. This is an actual piece of pre-historic evidence. This is an actual adult and child foot print. The story seems to be that a mother and child probably went to a river to collect water. They leave their foot prints behind and the sun bakes them. Hundreds of thousands of years later the Leaky family find them. It was an exibit at the Nirobi Museum October 2001. Image courtesy of the Fergusson Image Library.

Importance

Clothing was a major step in the human experience. Clothing was an enormous step in the expansion of human inhabitation and the appearance of culture. The key activity to early humans became food production, but the production of clothing became the second most important activity. Determining when people began fashioning clothes is of interest to antrhropolgusts because it represents a cultural step of huge importance. Once people began creating clothing it expanded the environments which they could exploit. It also meant the fise of fashion, affording people to convey information about tribal identity, social status, fertility, and other mnatters--all imprtat cultural matters.

Research Difficulties

While anthropolgists can sudy focilized bones to assess physical evolution, the fact that fur and fabric rot mean that there is not physical evidence available to provide insights as to when people first began to wear clothes. As such any evidence from this era is extremely tantilizing. One fascinating glimse is the preserved impressions seen here of pre-historic foot steps (figure 2). This is an actual piece of pre-historic evidence. This is an actual adult and child foot print. The story seems to be that a mother and child probably went to a river to collect water. They leave their foot prints behind and the sun bakes them. Hundreds of thousands of years later the Leaky family find them. Actually there is even more to the footprint story. The Leaky's believe that there are three sets of footprints. The third set is inside the larger adult one. The scene from thousands odf years ago comes to life. A child, laughing as the little one plays a game of walking inside the footprints of mum while the other child walks in the water by mum's side.

DNA Evidence

Interesting anthriopolgists are developing new DNA evidence to uncover information about man's pre-history. Here information can be gleaned not only from human DNA, but also the DNA of plants, animals, and insects associated with man. These effirts are just behinning ans anthropolgists are just beginning to develop promising tecniques. Much of the initial worknis still quite controversial. One intreaguing study has detected subtle difference in the DNA of head lice and body lice (which live in clothing) and are using the difference to assess just when clothing was first worn. Initial assessments suggest that man may have lived in Europe after arriving from Africa for tens of thousands of years before beginning to fashion clothing. There are large numbers of lice species and they are increadibly specialized to live on specific hosts or even specificlocations in those hosts. Initial studies compiled by a group at the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropolgy in Leipzig, Germany led by Mark Stoneking suggest that body lice developed destinctly from head lice about 72,000 year ago, suggesting that this is when clothing appeared, althogh the inprecission of exiting methods means that the actual range is some time between 30,000 to 114,000 years ago. While these studies are still controversial, as our understanding of DNA expands, it is likely that increasingly sophisticated techniques will lead to important insights on prehistory. DNA work has, for example, provided important evidence about human migration out of Africa.

Human Migration

Anthropolgists by the mid-20th century after World war II finally conclusively proved through the discovery of the fosil remains of a number of early Homonoid that man evolved in Africa. They were unable to reach agreement on any accepted theory on just which homonid migrated out of Africa, just when this occurred, and what path they took. DNA work at the turn of the 21st century has combined with the earlier anthropolgical work to provide new theories that seem to provide a coherent theory as to how man peopled the globe. Before a migration out of Africa was possible, however, humonoids needed to develop a mind capable of creating the technolgies (tools, clothing, ect.) necessary for such a migration. Here the intelectual leap early homonoid took was probably strongly related to language development. The impetus for the movement out of Africa is not known. It could have been climate change, over population, or other developments. The first homomoid to move out of Africa could have been Homo rhodesiensis, Rhodesian man who appeared about 0.8 million years ago. He has a strong resemblence to Homo heidelbergensis which peoples Western Asia and Europe as Neatherthals. Next Homo erectus evolved into Homo spaiens. Anthropolgists are not yet sure if the transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapien took place before the migration began or during the migration. The transition appears to have occurred about 120,000 years ago. DNA researchers believe that a remarakably small number of individuals were involved in these migrations. Some people believe that the first homonoids that moved out of Africa were related to the modern San people in southern Africa. There seems to have been an initial migrration that followed the coast of Asia and finally reached Indonesia and Australia. As this migration was a coastal one. This may have been explained by climate and resource availability. Virtually no physical evidence exists of this coastal migration in terms of tools and other remains. The evidence is purely genetic. The Australian aborigenes are the modern descendants of these peoples. The coastal migration out of Africa was followed by a second wave of Homo sapiens. They are believed to have headed north into central Asia. They did not move into Europe through Asia Minor. It is not clear just why. Perhaps the mega fauna of the great Eurasian plain attracted them. Some researchers speculate that the existing Neanderthal populations blocked their way east into Europre. This suggests that at the beginning of the their migration, Homo spaien may not yet have been technologically more advanced than Neanderthal. From central Asia Homo Sapiens split. It is after this split that modern races developed as climatic adaptations. Some groups headed west into Europe. Others moved east into eastern Asia and others into south Asia. The East Asians split into China and southeast Asia. Some of the northern east Asians continud into the far north, evenually crossing the Bearing Sea land bridge and populating the Americas.

Iceman

The fragility of prehistoric clothing makes the discovery of the iceman Italy/Austria and the bog peoplein northern Europe especially important. The icemam wore a cape made out of plant leaves. His footwear was made out of grass.

Sources

Harvati, Katerina. New York University. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2004 .

Rodgers, Alan. Universiuty of Utah.

Weiss, Rick. "Creative search for naked truth," Washington Post August 19, 2003, p. A1, 7.

Created: August 19, 2003
Last updated: 3:34 AM 5/27/2008