STS 1-6

• Three-age system


  A system of classifying ancient ages into groups based on tool developmental stages
• Scientific revolution


  Period of great scientific intellectual achievements that contributed to essential changes in scientific investigations
• Industrial revolution


  Period of complex technological inventions that eventually replaced human and animal forces
• Information age


  The period characterized by the change from traditional industry to an economy that is founded on computerization of information
• The three-age system was introduced in the early 19th century by Christian Jurgensen Thomsen, an archaeologist and a curator of the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, through his book entitled Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed Oldkyndighed (Guide to Scandinavian Antiquity)
• This system was originally formulated to classify artifacts in the possession of the museum based on the materials to which they were made of
• This gave birth to the three chronologically successive prehistorical periods, namely Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, whose dating is very approximate
• Stone Age periods


  • Palaeolithic
  • Mesolithic
  • Neolithic
• Palaeolithic period


  • Longest phase of human history which began approximately two million years ago and ended between 40,000 to 10,000 years ago
  • Humans were hunter-gatherers who used tools made of stones, flints, bones and even antlers
  • Gradually developed from a single, all-purpose artifact to a collection of different highly specialized tools each serving a specific function
  • People used to live in small bands and were either nomadic or semi-nomadic
• Palaeolithic periods


  • Lower
  • Middle
  • Upper
• Lower Palaeolithic period


  • Marked the age of human evolution and was characterized by the development of simple tools
  • Included stone choppers believed to be made more than a million year ago by Australopithecus
  • Also comprised 100,000- to 500,000-year old stone tools made by Homo erectus
• Middle Palaeolithic period


  • Encompassed the cultural development involving Neanderthal man, who existed 40,000-100,000 years ago
  • Neanderthals used fire, stone tools of flake types for hunting, and bone implements such as needles
  • Evidence of painting the dead before burial suggested religious practice
• Upper Palaeolithic period


  • Dominated by Homo sapiens groups like Cro-Magnon man and Grimaldi man
  • Known for communal hunting, extensive fishing, supernatural beliefs, cloth sewing, sculpture, painting, and making personal ornaments
  • First manmade dwellings called pit houses were built
  • Various late Palaeolithic tools were discovered including flint and obsidian projectile points and blades and other highly refined weapons
  • Palaeolithic art arose after cave walls were decorated with carvings and paintings
• Mesolithic period


  • Involved the gradual change in the way humans lived due to the retreat of glaciers and growth of forests and deserts
  • People began to learn fishing along rivers and lake shores, make pottery and use bow
  • Gradual transition from food gathering to agriculture or food production
  • Made use of stone tools known as microliths which were comparatively smaller and more delicate than those of Palaeoliths
• Neolithic period


  • Characterized by wide domestication of plants and animals, use of stone tools, and pottery and weaving in numerous settled villages
  • Agriculture continued to expand across most of the inhabited regions of the world giving rise to a variety of urban civilizations
  • Marked by the introduction of metal tools
• Stone Age tools and objects

  • Handmade tools and objects found in nature - cudgel, club, sharpened stone, chopper, handaxe, scraper, spear, harpoon, needle
  • Bow and arrow, fish basket, boats
  • Chisel, hoe, plough, yoke, grain pourer, loom, earthenware (pottery) and weapons
• Bronze Age


  Period when tools and weapons were widely made with copper or bronze
• Bronze was achieved through metal extraction from ore (a process known as smelting) and melting and pouring it into a mold for shaping
• Smelting was originally done with copper, a soft metal, but it was discovered by Sumerians of Mesopotamia that a harder and stronger one (i.e. bronze) could be made by blending copper and tin
• Bronze Age timeline


  • 3700 BC - Bronze Age started at different areas of the world
  • 3769 BC - Bronze was already in use in Near and Middle East
  • 3500 BC - Bronze Age began in Bohemia
  • 2500 BC - Indus Valley civilization used bronze
  • 2400 BC - Bronze used by Longshan people in China
  • 2300 BC - Bronze Age started in Europe
  • 1700 BC - Shang Dynasty in China used bronze regularly
  • 1650 BC - Mycenaean civilization in Greece used bronze
  • 1640 BC - Egyptians started using bronze
  • 1500 BC - Bronze started to be found in Western Europe
  • 1250 BC - Bronze swords and helmets made in Alps and Central and Eastern Europe
  • 1122 BC-221 BC - Chou Dynasty in China continued to use bronze-working techniques
  • 1000 BC - Chinese introduced bronze-working to Korea
  • 300 BC - Japanese used bronze and iron tools
• Iron Age


  Period when articles were made of iron, beginning when smelting pits made sufficient advancement to produce higher temperatures that could smelt iron ore
• Iron age also diffused in different regions slowly to North Africa, and then to sub-Saharan Africa where diffusion of bronze technology was halted by the Sahara desert
• Middle Ages


  Period in history from 450 A.D. to 1450 A.D., subdivided into Dark (450 - 1000 A.D.) and High Middle (1000-1450 A.D.) Ages
• Major developments in science and technology in China during the Middle Ages

  • Agriculture - Farming began in Huang Ho and Yangtze Rivers, large-scale silk production started
  • Economy - Bronze production became more sophisticated
  • Physics - Weight is force, motion is caused by force, convex and concave mirrors, studies on magnetism
  • Astronomy - Calendars, cataloguing of stars and celestial bodies, models of the universe
  • Mathematics - Decimal numbers, square roots, sliding calipers, solutions to equations
  • Medical Biology - Beliefs about disease causes, exercise and water therapy, acupuncture
  • Technology - Paper, seismograph, animal harness, water-power, mechanical clock, hydraulic engineering
• Mathematics


  • Numbers expressed in decimals
  • Knowledge on determining square roots introduced
  • Sliding calipers widely used in artisan works
  • Solutions on cubic, quadratic and intermediate equations presented
• Medical Biology


  • Diseases believed to be caused by excess of: heat, cold, light, darkness, wind and rain
  • Exercise, water therapy and wine anesthesia prescribed by physicians
  • Diagnoses involved observations, auscultation, questioning and pulse counting
  • Acupuncture began to effectively cure the most known body illnesses
• Major Chinese technological advancements during the Middle Ages

  • Paper
  • Seismograph
  • Animal harness
  • Water-power
  • Mechanical clock
  • Hydraulic engineering works
  • Wheel barrow
  • Gun powder, guns and cannon
  • Printing press
  • Magnetic compass and stern-post rudder
• Feudal system in Europe

  • Peasant
  • Lord (Lay or clerical)
  • Overlords (Kings and bishops, Pope or emperor)
• The Church provided the intellectual and administrative expression of the feudal system
• Universities established in Europe

  • Paris (1160)
  • Oxford (1167)
  • Cambridge (1209)
  • Padua (1221)
  • Napples (1224)
  • Salamanca (1227)
  • Prague (1347)
  • Vienna (1367)
  • St. Andrew (1410)
• Major discoveries and inventions in Europe during the middle ages

  • Horse-collar
  • Clock/watch
  • Magnetic compass
  • Water-mill and windmill
  • Lenses with spectacles
  • Gunpowder and cannon
  • Paper and printing
• Superstition and dogmatism flourished in medicine
• Diagnosis was generally limited for urine inspection
• Medical therapy involved magic, prayer, charms, faith healing and the use of different herbs
• There was poor hygiene and sanitation in general
• Contributions of Mayan civilization

  • Pyramids made of limestones
  • Mayan houses made of poles and leaves of palms
  • Large sculptures for recording of significant Mayan events
  • Cocoa beans used as monetary units
  • Decimal notations with zero represented by an oval shape
  • Mayan solar calendar of 365 days in 18 months
• Contributions of Aztec civilization

  • High temples built for their deities
  • Decimal notations with zero represented by an oval shape
  • Social calendar of 365 days in 18 months
• Contributions of Inca civilization

  • Terraced field farming with canals for irrigation
  • Chili and avocado cultivation
  • Clothes from llama and alpaca wools
  • Decimal system of counting
  • Calendar of 365 days
• India gathered information on diseases and drugs, and astronomical bodies
• India had a year divided into 12 months with a total of 360 days