1.1.3-+Humans+&+Early+Tools

=1.1.3- Humans & Early Tools=

 Humans & Early Tools
 By: Ally Kane

 - In ancient times, when the human species lived in Africa about  100,000 years ago, they had a very limited technology of  stone tools.  - Before this, humans had relied on wood and bones to make tools out of.
 * When: **

 - The Paleolithic Era was the period when the  emergence of stone tools rapidly sprang up,  generally before 8000 B.C.E.  - Later on, in the Neolithic Era, technology developed  that dealt with the cultivation of farming.  - The Neolithic Era emerged after 8000 B.C.E.  - The Bronze Age took place in the latter part of the Neolithic Era.

 - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Paleolithic Era took place over a vast area, for the nomadic people were always moving. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Humans were innovating and using tools everywhere <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Mesopotamia, the case study, was a region in between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, now near modern-day Iraq <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Who:** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Humans <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - During the Paleolithic Era, foragers and nomads took up most of the population <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-The Neolithic Era contained mostly farmers, but there were soon artisans, merchants, and other types of workers that emerged out of job specialization. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Humans have learned to adapt to the environment by creating new tools and developing technology to make their work, as well as survival, easier. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -First of all, in the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1c4587; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paleolithic Era <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1c4587; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">humans used basic stone tools such as hand axes and “choppers” to adapt to their environment.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Where: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What: **



<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Hand axes were often used to stun animals and slow them down enough to kill them for meat. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -They were also used for defense against predators <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- During the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1c4587; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 18.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Neolithic Era <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, new technology began to emerge as people started to cultivate farming into their lifestyles. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">➸ Transitioning from the Paleolithic Era, people in the New Stone Age took stone tools to an all new level. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stone Axe <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - forest clearance <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- woodworking <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - building structures <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Farming Tools <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -Ploughs <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Rakes <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Wheels

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -Metals <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - first metal used was copper

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Bronze Age: (3,000 - 1,200 B.C.E.) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - more intricate tools and designs

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Iron Age <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - strongest metal yet <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -weapons for protection <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- The new technology and tools invented during early human civilization took place because people wanted to find new ways to survive that would require less work and be more efficient for them <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- The tools allowed humans to adapt to the environment by giving them the chance to manipulate the environment in ways that had never been done before. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Humans could now stay in one place by shaping the land around them for their benefit <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - gives people a permanent sense of home <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*these tools allowed for more efficient work, which thus allowed people to spend more time in job specialization. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- civilizations were able to grow
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How: **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Humans are always looking for news ways in which to make their work easier <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- With the emergence of farming and the domestication of animals, old tools were not compatible with the type of work needed to far, so people developed stronger, more efficient technology <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- New tools also came about with the migration of people. As humans moved from one place to another, they brought their culture and technology with them.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why: **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> A specific example of a tool used by humans in the ancient Paleolithic Era is the hand axe. The hand axe was really one of the first tools that were small enough to conveniently carry around that had a sharp edge. Hand axes were used so often because of many purposes of it. People were able to cut meat, scrape hard surfaces, chop wood, and even throw at animals to slow them down enought to kill for the meat. The hand axe was such a crucial tool to develop, because it set a basis for more specialized tools. After this period came more carefully crafted axes that were sharper and larger, thus serving a wider variety of purposes. Most regions that contained ancient groups of humans had these hand axes, despite the fact that not all of them were exactly the same. It is important to note that, most groups of humans learned to deal with their environment by crafting such a tool. They adapted to their surroundings by making other tools or objects from their available resources using hand axes. This concludes that humans were constantly thinking of new tools they could use to work more efficiently or make their survival easier. If the small size and bluntness of the early hand axe wasn't compatible with more difficult tasks, then humans started to develop more suitable technology. This comes into play later one, when copper, bronze and iron axes were introduced.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Case Study: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Hand Axe **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Syncopate; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Final Summary**: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In short, the use of tools by humans to adapt to their environment has been a major continuity over time. Yes, times and technology have changed, but we have always been developing new and improved devices to help us better survive and work more efficiently. The use of tools by humans has affected all aspects of life. In terms of art, new tools have allowed us to create pictures, sculptures, carvings, bead work, pottery and more. This allowed for humans to express their creativity and the ideas presented in the world around them. This also proves that there was a food surplus, because people could then begin job specialization and focus less on surviving. The use of tools in that area also portrayed aspects of geography, because some groups used technology to shape the land around them for their benefit. In terms of military, bronze and iron tools were prime in making weapons, shields and armor. This proves that there were unfriendly relations between neighbors and a possible competition for resources, land, or other things. The use of tools can also help exemplify social structure, because more advanced tools were most likely in the hands of higher people in society. The same thing goes for politics: tools were often used to depict images of humans that showed what power they had in society, or if there was a central leader. Religion can be explained by sculptures of Gods or worshipped animals or figures that were constructed with specific tools. The intellectual aspect of the spectrum can be adressed by looking the case study. As humans, with time, realized that their tools were not satisfying their needs in the momst efficient manner, they began to think of new ideas. Technology was always changing as civilizations emerged and humans learned to deal with their surroundings by innovating with new tools. In terms of major changes throughout history, the advancement of tools through the ages is seen as one of the most prominent changes. The process of innovating and developing new ideas, however, is a continuity.The use of tools by humans to adapt to an environment has been one of the most important continuities of all, for without innovation and technology, it would be impossible for societies to grow and move past their problems.

__**References:**__ "Mesopotamia." //Wikipedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2011. [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia#Geography].

"Mesopotamia: Lots of Water, Lots of History." //Princeton Review//. 2012th ed. N.p.: n.p., 2010. Print.

Strayey, Robert w. //Ways of the World: A Global History with Sources//. N.p.: n.p., 2011. Print.

"Paleolithic Period." //Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online//. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. <[]>.

Ryckholt, Holland. "Neolithic Period." N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2011. [].

"Stone Age hand_Axes." N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2011. [].

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