Stone

• Historians believe that human beings first appeared on Earth

  About 1.5 million years ago
• Earliest humans

  • Food gatherers
  • Hunters
  • Nomads
  • Always in search of food and shelter
  • Wandered from place to place
  • Hunted animals
  • Gathered fruits, roots, seeds and nuts
• When there was shortage of animals or plants in one area

  They moved to another area in search of food
• Early humans

  • Considered it safer to move in groups rather than wander about all alone
  • A group generally consisted of a few men and women and children who stayed together with the elders
  • Led a primitive life
  • Remained without clothes during summers
  • Wore animal skins, leaves and the bark of trees to keep themselves safe from severe cold in winter
  • Spent their nights on trees or in rock shelters and caves, that protected them from wild animals when asleep
• We come to know a lot about the earliest human beings from their evidences in the form of stone tools and weapons
• During the prehistoric period, human beings

  • Defended themselves against all types of wild animals using stones by attaching them to handles of bones or wood
  • Made weapons in the form of spears or arrows
  • Hunted animals with these weapons
• The stones were used to

  • Hunt animals
  • Remove the skin of animals, cut meat and bones
  • Cut trees and clear forests
• The main object used by early humans was stone. They depended on stones for their survival; that is why this period is called the Stone Age. On the basis of development of different stone tools, anthropologists have divided the Stone Age into different stages.

  1.palaeolithic age or old stone age

  2.mesolithic or middle stone age

  The main object used by early humans was stone. They depended on stones for their survival; that is why this period is called the Stone Age. On the basis of development of different stone tools, anthropologists have divided the Stone Age into different stages.St
• Stone Age is classified into three sub-periods an the basis of the type and quality of stone tools used by early humans 1.palaeolithic age or old stone age 2.mesolithic or middle stone age 3.neolithic age or new stone age
• It is considered that evolution of humankind started in this period. It roughly began around 500,000 BCE and ended around 10,000 BCE. 5,
• This period is further subdivided into three phases on the basis of changes in climate and stone tools used. (i) Lower Palaeolithic Age or Early Old Stone Age (ii) Middle Palaeolithic Age or Middle Old Stone Age (iii) Upper Palaeolithic Age or Upper Old Stone Age