Outline of prehistoric technology facts for kids

Acheulean hand axes from Kent. These tools were used for a very long time in human history.

This guide helps you learn about prehistoric technology.

Prehistoric technology is all the amazing tools and methods people used before written history began. History is usually about what we know from written records. So, "prehistoric" means "before writing." Technology started about 2.5 million years ago when early humans, called hominids, first used stone tools. They might have used these tools to start fires, hunt animals, cut food, and even bury their dead.

What is Prehistoric Technology?

Prehistoric technology is about:

• Prehistoric means "before written records." The word "pre" comes from Latin and means "before." So, prehistory is the time before people invented writing systems.
• Technology is about making and using tools, machines, and special methods. It's also about the knowledge people gained to solve problems, make things better, or achieve goals.

Old World Prehistoric Technology

• Three-age system is a way archaeologists divide human prehistory into three main periods. Each period is named after the main material used for tools: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.
• Beginning of technology: The earliest technology started about 2.5 million years ago, at the very start of the Stone Age.
• Latest prehistoric technology: The level of technology reached before writing appeared was different in various parts of the world.
  • In the Near East, people developed writing first, during their Bronze Age.
  • In other parts of the Old World like Europe, India, and China, people reached the Iron Age level of technology before writing was introduced.

Stone Age Technology

• The Stone Age was a very long period, lasting about 2.5 million years. During this time, stone was the main material used to make tools with sharp edges or points. This period began with early humans and ended between 6000 and 2000 BCE when people started working with metals.

Paleolithic Technology (Old Stone Age)

• The Paleolithic period is the earliest and longest part of the Stone Age. It covers about 99% of human technological prehistory. During this time, the most basic stone tools were developed.

Lower Paleolithic Technology

• The Lower Paleolithic is the earliest part of the Old Stone Age. It began around 2.5 million years ago when the first stone tools appeared. It lasted until about 300,000 years ago.
  • Early Stone Tools: Early humans used stone tools like the hand axe. Their use of tools was similar to how some primates use tools today.
    • Homo habilis ("handy man") was the first "homo" species. They lived in Africa about 2.3 to 1.4 million years ago and made simple stone tools called Oldowan tools.
    • Homo ergaster lived in Africa about 2.5 to 1.7 million years ago. They improved Oldowan tools and created the first Acheulean two-sided axes.
    • Homo erectus ("upright man") lived about 1.8 to 1.3 million years ago in Asia and Africa. They are thought to be the first humans to hunt in groups, use more complex tools, and care for sick or weak group members.
    • Homo antecessor was an early human in Northern Europe, living from 1.2 million to 800,000 years ago, and also used stone tools.
    • Homo heidelbergensis lived between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. They used stone tools similar to the Acheulean tools of Homo erectus.
  • Control of Fire: Some sites in Europe and Asia, dating back 1.5 million years, suggest that H. erectus learned to control fire. A site in Israel from about 690,000 to 790,000 years ago shows controlled use of fire in a hearth.
  • Burial: The act of placing a deceased person into the ground.
    • Homo heidelbergensis may have been the first species to bury their dead about 500,000 years ago.

Middle Paleolithic Technology

• The Middle Paleolithic period in Europe and the Near East was when Neanderthals lived (around 300,000–28,000 years ago). Their main technology was the Mousterian tool-making style.
  • Homo neanderthalensis
    • Stone Tools: Neanderthals used Mousterian stone tools, which appeared around 300,000 years ago. These included smaller, knife-like tools and scrapers.
    • Burials: Neanderthals buried their dead in shallow graves with stone tools and animal bones. The exact reasons for these burials are still debated.
  • Homo sapiens (modern humans) originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Our greater mental abilities and ability to walk upright freed our hands for using tools, leading to much more advanced tool use.
    • Burial: Intentional burial, especially with grave goods (items buried with the dead), might be one of the earliest signs of religious practice. It suggests care for the dead beyond daily life. The oldest undisputed human burial is from 130,000 years ago in Israel.

Upper Paleolithic Revolution

• The Upper Paleolithic Revolution was a big change that happened between 60,000 and 30,000 years ago. It might have been when language began, leading to modern human behavior and huge advancements in technology.
  • Modern Human Behavior: Homo sapiens reached full modern behavior around 50,000 years ago. This was due to our highly developed brains, which allowed for abstract thinking, language, and problem-solving.
  • Tools: Tools from this period included Aurignacian tools, such as stone blades, and tools made from antlers and bones.
  • Clothing: Evidence like possible sewing needles from around 40,000 years ago suggests people were wearing clothes. Some scientists think humans might have started wearing clothes as early as 190,000 years ago.
  • Art: Art of the Upper Paleolithic included cave paintings, sculptures like the Venus figurines, carvings on bone and ivory, and musical instruments like flutes. Most art showed large animals that people hunted.
    • Prehistoric Music: Early flutes have been found from this period.
    • Cave Painting: Famous examples include the Altamira and Lascaux caves.

Mesolithic Technology (Middle Stone Age)

• The Mesolithic period was a time of change between the Paleolithic hunter-gatherers and the Neolithic farmers. It began around 11,660 years ago as the climate warmed. People had to adapt to new environments and food sources.
  • Stone Tool Changes: Small stone tools called Microliths, including tiny blades, became common during this period.
  • Weapons: Spears and arrows were found at an early Mesolithic battle site in Sudan. Holmegaard bows were found in Northern Europe, dating from this time.

Neolithic Revolution (New Stone Age)

• The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution. It was a huge shift from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering to a settled life based on farming. This change happened independently in six different places worldwide between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago.
  • Key Changes:
    • Farming: People started farming, which meant they stopped moving around and settled down. They used new tools like the plough, digging stick, and hoe (tool).
    • Domestication: Animals like dogs were tamed and kept by humans.
    • Pottery: Making pottery became a common skill in the Neolithic period.
  • Other Developments:
    • Architecture: People built houses and villages using mud-brick and wattle and daub. They also built storage places, tombs, and monuments.
    • Metalworking: The use of copper began as early as 9000 BCE in the Middle East.
    • Counting: Record-keeping started with a system of counting using small clay tokens in Sumer around 8000 BCE.
    • Proto-writing: Early symbols and pictures used to share information appeared in the early Neolithic period, around 7000 BCE. These were not full writing systems but were a step towards them.
    • Stone Tools: During the Neolithic period, people created ground and polished stone tools.
    • Religious Structures: Places like Göbekli Tepe, built about 12,000 years ago, show early religious structures.
    • Wheel: In the late Neolithic period, the wheel was invented and used for making pottery.

Prehistoric Bronze Age Technology

• The Bronze Age was a period when people widely used copper and its alloy, bronze, to make tools and weapons. Trade networks also grew during this time.

Prehistoric Iron Age Technology

• The Iron Age was a time when iron or steel became widely used. This period also saw other changes in society, including new farming methods, religious beliefs, and art styles.
  • Tools: The best tools and weapons were made from steel.

End of Prehistory and Beginning of History

• True Writing Systems: In the Old World, real writing systems developed from earlier symbols in the Early Bronze Age (4th millennium BC). The earliest true writing systems are generally thought to be Sumerian (proto-cuneiform) and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Both appeared around 3400–3200 BC.

How Writing Developed

• Writing developed through several stages:
  • Picture Writing: Pictures or symbols directly showed objects or ideas.
    • Mnemonic: Symbols were mainly reminders.
    • Pictographic: Pictures represented objects or situations (like a drawing of a sun meaning "day").
    • Ideographic: Pictures represented ideas (like a drawing of a sun and a mountain meaning "sunrise").
  • Transitional System: Symbols started to refer not just to the object or idea, but also to its name.
  • Phonetic System: Symbols began to represent sounds, no matter what their original meaning was.
    • Verbal: A symbol represented a whole word.
    • Syllabic: A symbol represented a syllable (a part of a word).
    • Alphabetic: A symbol represented a single sound (like our alphabet today).

Prehistoric Technology of the Americas

The history of the Americas began when early people like the Paleo-Indians crossed the Bering Land Bridge from Asia into North America. Experts have divided the prehistoric periods in the Americas into three main stages: the Lithic, Archaic, and Formative stages.

• The Paleo-Indian period was when the first people arrived in the Americas during the last Ice Age. They were big-game hunters who likely crossed the Bering Strait from Asia into North America between 45,000 BCE and 12,000 BCE, following herds of large animals.

Lithic Technology

• Lithic technology existed from 12,000 to 6,000 years ago. It included cultures like the Clovis culture and Folsom tradition. The Clovis culture was once thought to be the first to use special spear points for hunting in North America. However, a site in Washington found older evidence of spear points used to hunt mastodons.

Archaic Period Technology

• The Archaic lasted from 8,000 to 2,000 years ago. During this time, people hunted smaller animals like deer and rabbits, and gathered wild plants. They moved seasonally to different hunting and gathering spots. Later in this period, around 200-500 CE, corn became part of their diet, and people started making pottery to store and carry food.

Formative Stage Technology

• The Formative stage followed the Archaic period and continued until Europeans arrived. Cultures from this period include the Ancient Pueblo People, Mississippian culture, and Olmec cultures.

Prehistoric Technologies by Type

Primitive Skills

• Primitive skills are basic abilities and knowledge used by early humans.

Prehistoric Art

• Prehistoric art is art made by cultures before they developed writing or had significant contact with other cultures that kept written records.
  • Types of Prehistoric Art:
    • Parietal art: Art found on cave walls or rocks.
      • Rock art: Art carved or painted on natural rock surfaces.

* Cave painting: Paintings found inside caves.

• • • Prehistoric Sculpture: Three-dimensional art.
      • Venus figurines: Small statues of women.
    • Stone circle: Large circles made of standing stones.

Domestication of Animals

• Dogs were among the first animals to be tamed by humans.

Language and Numbers

• Language itself is a major prehistoric development.
• Prehistoric numerals are the early ways people counted and kept track of numbers.

Prehistoric Fishing

• Early humans developed ways to catch fish.

Prehistoric Hunting

• Hunting was essential for survival in the Paleolithic period.

Prehistoric Mining

• Mining for useful materials like flint and ochre began in prehistoric times.

Prehistoric Medicine

• Prehistoric medicine involved early attempts at healing and treating injuries.
• Dentistry also has prehistoric roots.

Prehistoric Tools

• Archaeological industry refers to different styles of tool-making.
  • Oldowan
  • Mousterian
  • Acheulean

Prehistoric Clothing

• Clothing developed over a very long time, starting in prehistory.
• Shoes also have a long history.

Stone Age Tools

• Biface (a tool worked on both sides)
• Hand axe
• Control of fire
• Bone tool
• Spear
• Prepared-core technique (a way to make stone tools)
• Blade (archaeology) (a long, thin stone flake)
• Chopper (archaeology) (a simple stone tool)
• Cleaver (tool)
• Tool stone (rock used for tools)
• Lithic flake (a piece chipped off a stone)
• Lithic core (the stone from which flakes are removed)
• Lithic reduction (the process of making stone tools)
• Bow and arrow
• Sewing needle
• Basket
• Pigment (for colors)
• Glue
• Rope
• Bow drill (for making fire or drilling holes)
• Woodworking

Prehistoric Weapons

• Prehistoric warfare involved early forms of conflict.
  • Prehistoric weapons were used for hunting and fighting.

Images for kids

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  A reconstruction of how homo erectus might have looked.

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  Fire started using a bow drill.

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  A selection of prehistoric tools.

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  Aurochs (an extinct type of wild cattle) on a cave painting in Lascaux, France.

See also

• Aboriginal stone arrangement
• Paleolithic diet
• Prehistoric Autopsy (2012 BBC documentary)
• Timeline of human prehistory

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