Chapter 1: First peoples Populating the Planet to 10,000 B.C.E

Chapter 1: First peoples

Populating the Planet to 10,000 B.C.E

• Humans adapted to different environments?
• Instead of using metal tools (Page 12), they used stone and that is why they are called the Stone Age or Paleolithic peoples.
• Many historians disregard the Paleolithic era because there was no writing.
• The 150,000 first years were African adventure, the first human’s steps of humans began and that helped to relate and create a new culture.
• 250,000 years ago is when Homo sapiens first came to be.
• (13) 100,00 years ago is when the first humans started to move out of Africa into Eurasia, Australia and Americas, sometime later they also moved to the pacific.
• Ice age 20,000 years ago.  Created bridges for humans to cross to different places. Humans did this entire long journey with stone tools and some hunting technology to help them survive.

Into Eurasia:

First humans and the first migration happened and that was into the middle east (16). Then westward to Europe about some 40,000 years ago and also east into Asia. Some evidence also shows that the ice age climates around “20,000 years ago pushed north Europeans to the south t warmer climates. There is where they increased their hunting skills”.

Into Australia:

Over ten thousand years all these people have developed many skills, including speaking about 250 languages, collected roots, seeds, fish, and other Marine life.

A drug that guides them through their circles in the fire with songs, dances and stories helped them ritualize or have rituals. That drug altered the state and usually shaman like humans will be in that altered state.

Into the Americas:

There is a Debate. Historians say that the move was, between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago through the Bering Strait, or by sea, downs the west coast of North America.  The first culture found is the Clovis culture, 12,000 thousand years ago to 11,000 years ago.  This is the people who according to archeologist were hunting the big animals, like the mammoth and basin. It’s interesting how the single killing of a mammoth could provide food for weeks for a small community. The thing is that later on in about 10,900 years ago the Clovis people begin to disappear because of the extinctions of mammoths and other species. There is still a debate over what happened but some call it the mega faunal extinction.  Although hunters on the plains kept hunting the basin and others learned how to live on the dessert. The Clovis people still somehow disappeared.

Into the Pacific: The last human migration happened in the Pacific Ocean. Some say that it happened about 3,500 years ago near Bismarck. It was a water migration on canoes. Different from other migratory this people were agricultural smarts and carried plants, and animals in their canoes. Therefore everywhere they went they generated a new way of thinking or developments were created. One was “the creation of highly satisfied societies to chiefdoms, of which ancient Hawaiian society is a prime example”(19).  The other development was the impact that the migrations made to these new environments with their domesticated animals and their new plants. Many animals became extinct and “especially the large flightless birds”(20).

I am just amazed about how intelligent all this Paleolithic people were. What is also interesting is how they thought of carrying plants, fish, and other things with them while traveling to use in their ne place.

          We often have the kind of thinking that our ancestors were superstitious people that were vague and did not know how to deal with problems. It is interesting how innovative many of the tribes were. Some of them like the Chumash (29) had their own currency and own way of making business. It is very interesting on how the San from South Africa who were in someway living some utopia dream. They were very equal. One example that makes me realize how great it would have been to live with the San during that time was the fact that they did not let anyone feel better than others. One way that I will always remember them is because; when the young would go hunting and than would hunt a big animal the San elders will demonize the animal to make the young boy realize that he is not better than them, to humble him and to make him a simple person. I wonder how they got that idea. That also makes me understand that maybe that’s why we, even now, have those principles of morality and prudence (how to be humble and why it is important to be humble). I believe that instead of criticizing our ancestors, we should thank them because it is through them that we are who we are.