stone Age

Man lived within many time periods, he developed in each period in all aspects of his life, and with his development the nature of life was changing, and the quality of life became better and easier, before 3.3 million years ago, man lived in a time period called the Stone Age This prehistoric cultural stage is the stage in which man began to develop, and it includes 3 separate periods: the Old Stone Age, the Mesolithic (middle) period, and the Neolithic Age.] 1] The Old Stone Age is also called the Paleolithic era, a word consisting of two parts; The word (paleo) is of English origin, and it means prehistoric times, while (lithos) is a word of Greek origin, and it means stone. The human who lived in the Paleolithic era is called hominins (in English: hominins).[2]

The basics of paleolithic man's life

Through archaeological studies of the tools, drawings, and fossils left by primitive man, archaeologists and historians deduced a set of information related to the nature of human life in the Paleolithic era.

The following are the most important basics of life on which primitive man relied:

dwellings

The stone man chose to live in places protected from the fluctuations of the weather, and from predators. Man also chose to live near water, such as rivers and lakes. At the beginning of the Stone Age, man inhabited caves, and because the number of discovered caves is few; The prevailing belief is that humans used to live as groups inside one cave, and later some people resorted to living in tents and huts; Where a house was found in Siberia made of mammoth bones, and humans used walls, sticks, twigs, and straw; to make tents. [3]

food

Stone man in the older period relied on nuts, berries, wild plants, the remains of animal carcasses left by predators, and on collecting bird eggs; This is due to the unavailability of the necessary tools to collect food; Therefore, the molars of Neanderthals were large in size; To facilitate the breakdown of vegetable fibers, in addition to the fact that the digestive system was secreting specialized enzymes; To digest this food, and with the beginning of the manufacture of simple machines, hunting became the main form of providing food. Scientists have found that the stone people depended on meat by 65%; If man hunted deer, pigs, buffaloes, sheep, rhinoceros, and fish, and due to this change in the feeding pattern, the human jaw evolved to become less in size; This is because it does not need to be digested for long periods of time

Clothing

At the beginning of the Paleolithic era, man did not use any clothes, and this continued until he started making tools; He used the hides of the animals he hunted to make clothes to protect him from the cold, and the skins were tough; which forced him to chew it; This is to make it more flexible and easy. Then man discovered that exposing the skins to the smoke of fire works to make them soft. Simplicity continued in the clothes of the stone man until the end of the ancient era; He began making belted shirts, skirts, hats, and shoes.[5]

Tools

The ancient stone man made many of the tools he used in his life, mainly using wood, bones, and stones; For the manufacture of these tools, these tools were simple, and with the end of the Paleolithic era, tools began to become more sophisticated, such as the Aurignacian industry, the Solutrean, and other traditional handicrafts.[6] Among the most important tools he made. Stone man:[2]

Bone needles: they were used to sew clothes made of leather, or tree bark, or to sew materials for building shelter.

Stone hammer: It is a flat stone used to open nuts, and to make tools.

Hand axe: Hand axes were made of flint stones, or any type of stone that flakes, and were used to chop meat, break wood, and bark, in addition to killing prey.

Engraving tool: It is a chisel-like tool made of stone, which was used to engrave or carve bones and wood.

Spearhead: tools made of stones or bones, which were attached to sticks, and were intended to catch fish, or use them as a weapon; To protect against predators.

Scrapers: These are sharp-edged stones that were used for cutting animals, cleaning hides, and smoothing tree wood and bark.

Awl: They are long and pointed nails, used to pierce leather and wood.

fire discovery

Ancient man discovered fire after striking two flint stones together; Which gave him the first spark that made many things easier for him in his life; The fire contributed to improving the level of food, by cooking it over it, and the fire provided light at night; Which led to the removal of predators, and later constituted an important means for the manufacture of metal tools; by melting metals, forming them; For the manufacture of tools, weapons.

Social life in the Paleolithic era

Human life in the Paleolithic era was simple, characterized by social equality; Humans lived in groups trying to survive, and cooperate in hunting animals, as the members of these groups moved from one place to another; In search of more abundant areas in terms of food, and collective ownership was prevalent, where individual ownership was represented in small images, such as weapons, clothes, and some tools, but in terms of sexual superiority, this concept was not formed at the time; Because men were responsible for providing meat, while women were responsible for gathering vegetarian food, and social differences did not begin to appear between individuals until after concepts such as courage, intelligence, fertility, strength of character, and some other qualities appeared. [7

Art in the Paleolithic Age

The stony man was not satisfied with securing the basics of his life, as he expressed his artistic side with the tools and simple materials he owned, and the following are the most important aspects of the artistic aspect of the primitive man’s personality: [6]

Small statues: The stone man made small statues made of clay, bones, stones, or ivory. The stone man carved stone statues of women, in which the female parts associated with sex and fertility were found. Some animal and human statues were also found, and scientists believe that Some of these statues were used in magical rituals; To ensure successful hunting.

Drawings: Several drawings were found on the walls of caves, and these drawings took a dynamic character; Where clay drawings appeared, and drawings of different colors; To depict animals and nature with distinctive designs, and from the caves in which drawings dating back to the Paleolithic era were found, the Chauvet Cave with limestones, whose walls include many paintings and inscriptions.

Artistic inscriptions: Bone and ivory inscriptions are one of the distinctive art forms of the Paleolithic era, and among these inscriptions are bone flutes, or partial ivory, where these inscriptions were found in Hall Fels Cave near the city of (Ulm) in Germany, which dates back to 35,000 years ago.