Stone age

• Sharing of hunted and gathered foods

  Equally among participants
• STONE AGE PERIOD was a time when people began to make stone tools
• As people continued to evolve

  Their teeth grew small and their jaws became weak to eat uncut meat
• This forced man to develop stone tools
• Stages of the Stone Age period

  • Early
  • Middle
  • Late
• Early Stone Age


  • Four million years ago to 50 000 BC, stone tools became widely used
  • Developed the hand axe for killing animals, skinning and cutting meat into pieces
  • Also began to make and use stone tools like cleavers, scrapers, knives and throwing stones
  • Gathering and hunting was a major pre-occupation
  • Gathered nuts, berries, bulbs and other fruits
  • Archaeological evidence in East Africa points out that trapping and poisoning of pools was used to catch fish
• Middle Stone Age


  • Started around 50 000 BC to 150 OOOBC
  • It was the period in which fire was made
  • Fire was used for scaring world animals from their caves, drying meat, warmth during winter days and to make glue through warming up juices from plants and insects
  • Fire was made from rubbing two dry sticks continuously
  • They also made spears from bones of animals
  • Scrapers continued to be used for scraping animal skins
  • Fire was also used to clear forests to easy the work of hunting
  • Stone Age people also made gums out of juices of herbs and insects to make poison arrows or spears
• Later Stone Age tools

  • Microliths
  • Bows and arrows
  • Barb
• Microliths


  Tiny-very small tools made from bones, used for cutting skins, making clothes, sawing, and putting on spears to increase sharpness
• Bows and arrows


  Projectile pins used for hunting and killing animals
• Barb


  Covers the front part of a spear or arrow to increase its sharpness and effectiveness
• Agriculture was the major development of the late Stone Age
• Agriculture


  • Rearing/keeping/domestication of animals and growing of crops
  • Crops grown included sorghum, millet, potato (yam), teff and rice
  • Cereal crops were used as staple food
  • New crops were used to supplement foods obtained from hunting and gathering
  • Animals domesticated included goats, cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens
• People began to make iron tools to replace the ineffective stone tools
• Rise of blacksmiths


  • Began to smelt iron and to iron tools like hoes, spears and later the plough which transformed agriculture
  • This led to the division of labour with some people becoming cultivators, and others remain hunters and others as traders
• Most women were crop cultivators
• Some people began to accumulate or get wealth through trade
• This is known as the master-slave relationship
• IRON AGE PERIOD was a period where iron technology was introduced, between 1st century AD and the 19th century AD, in the region of central and Southern Africa
• Neolithic Revolution


  The process of change from the Stone Age and hunter gatherer mode of production to the use of iron technology
• Changes brought by Iron Age technology

  • Farming - more land cultivated, more wild animals and fish caught, resulting in more varied food and longer life expectancy and increased population
  • Mining - people engaged in iron and copper mining, ores were smelted to produce tools and jewellery
  • Hunting became more organised and efficient through the use of iron arrow and spears
  • Man's mobility increased through the use of bigger canoes
  • Accommodation improved as iron axes and hoes made it easier to cut more wood and mould dagga for house construction
  • Formation of societies and leadership - societies became more settled and engaged in economic activities, new forms of relations developed among social groups
  • Division of labour - gender based division of labour and occupational based division of labour
  • Raiding - due to availability of better and stronger weapons
  • Trade - both internal and external trade in grain, livestock, tools and crafts, controlled by rulers
  • Tribute - rulers established a tributary system in which subjects paid tribute as a sign of allegiance/loyalty
• Uses of iron


  • To make light arrow-heads and spears
  • To make jewellery
  • To make knives, hummers and chisels
  • To pay lobola e.g. hoes
  • Blacksmith used iron to pay tribute to the chiefs
• Importance of iron


  • Increased man's ability and capacity to domesticate the environment to satisfy basic needs
  • Settled life encouraged the development of permanent settlement, better food security from farming, hunting and trade
  • Increased safety and security from enemies and wild animals through building houses in clusters
  • Development of specialization in farming, mining, manufacturing and trade led to increased production and prosperity
• Problems of iron technology

  • Disintegration of communal way of living and growth of inequality in wealth and power
  • Women regarded as commodities indicating wealth in marriage
  • Establishment of tributary system promoted the exploitation of man by man
• Stone Age tools were primarily made from materials such as flint, wood, bones, and antlers.
• People made fire using friction or rubbing sticks together
• Stone tools were used to hunt animals and gather food from plants
• The stone age is the earliest period of human history, when people lived by hunting animals and gathering wild plants.
• The development of tools during the Stone Age marked a significant advancement in human evolution, enabling better survival and adaptation to different environments.
• Tools like hand axes, arrowheads, and scrapers were commonly used during the Stone Age for hunting, cooking, and other daily tasks.
• Tools included handaxes, scrapers, blades, and points.
• Early humans migrated out of Africa into Europe about 100,000 years ago
• The first humans lived in Africa around 2 million years ago
• Stone tools were used to hunt animals and gather food from plants