Chapter 1 (First Peoples), Sections: Out of Africa & The Ways We Were.

Chapter 1 (Part I): First Peoples

I. Out of Africa

A. Into Eurasia

• Human migration led to Middle East, then wast to Europe about 4o,ooo yrs ago , then east to Asia
• Images were left in cave paintings
• Bone needles, multilayered clothing, weaving, nets, storage pits, baskets & pottery all found as adaptions to Ice Age
• Underground dwellings made of tusk & bones for when caves & rock shelters were absent
• Venus figurines depicted female form (often exaggerated breasts, butt, hips and stomach -- probably to represent fertility) made from bones, antlers and baked clay

B. Into Australia

• 6o,ooo yrs ago humans came from Indonesia from Australia by boat
• When Europeans arrived in 1788, Australia's people were still practicing ancient ways of living
• These people focused on technological simplicity and a tradition known as Dreamtime
• This tradition was expressed in folklore, rock art & recounted the begining of things; how people came to inhabit earth, how we relate to animals
• "In this view of the world everything in the natural order was a vibration, an echo, a footprint of these ancient happenings, which link the current inhabitants intimately to particular places and to timeless events in the past" (p.17)
• Used song, dance, psychoactive drugs, stories, & rituals
• Each community was loosely connected

C. Into the Americas

• This part of the world was occupied much later than Australia b/c of the difficulty caused by the cold of Siberia
• First migrations occured somewhere between 3o,ooo & 15,ooo years ago. 
• Evidence of human activity in southern Chile 12,5oo years ago
• Clovis people -- first defined cultural tradition in Americas
• They were hunters of large animals, i.e mammoths & bison
• Flourished 12,ooo - 11,ooo years ago
• Clovis people disappeared around the time many large animals became extinct 
• People of the Americas began to pursue bison, some learned to live in the desert for small game and plants, others near the sea for birds and fish

D. Into the Pacific

• Last phase of human migration, occuring only about 3,5oo years ago
• Migrated by canoe and navigational skills
• These people already had agriculutral techology and carried plants and aniamls in canoes to colonize
• Settling in the previously unoccupied islands caused many animals to go extint, especially flightless birds

II. The Ways We Were

A. The First Human Societies

• Paleolthic societies were small (25-5o people)
• available technology permitted only a very low population density
• ensured an extremely slow rate of population growth
• Relationships were personal
• These bands of people were small and nomadic, moving in patterns to use the land to it's fullest potental
• Highly egalitarian societies -- they lacked the inequalities of wealth & power that came from the Agricultural Era
• No class differences, people were freer of oppression than any other human society
• Most people possessed similar skill sets (though men and women often had different tasks)
• Women were primarily food gathers, providing for 7o% of the diet while men hunted
• There were some rules in regards to distribution of meat,  incest & adultery as well as who could hunt in what territories.

B. Economy and the Environment

• Hunting & Gathering people often viewed as "primitive" however, anthropologists now note that these people worked fewer hours to meet their needs than agricultural or industrial societies -- and therefore had more time for leisure
• main economy
• They wanted or needed very little
• Llife expectancy was low, about 35 yrs on average
• living in the wild was dangerous
• These people shaped nature and the land with their own hands
• acted to alter the natural environment
• fires to encourage groth of particular plants
• Extinction of various animals followed fairly quicly after the arrival of humans
• Dangerous environment on the vagaries of nature
• Environmental disasters (volcano eruptions) didn't help for the population to grow

C. The realm of the Spirit

• Clear evidence of a rich ceremonial lifestyle
• Rock art suggests ceremonial spaces
• People often used psychoactive drugs during ceremonies
• Some societies were monotheistic, others saw many levels of supernatural beings, including a Creator Deity, territorial spirits, & spirits of the dead
• Cyclical view of time that drew on changing phases of moon & female fertility

D. Settling Down: The Great Transition

• major change of Paleolithic peoples occurred as the last ice age came to an end
• followed by a general global warming, that was a natural phenomena
• Plants & animals that had once been unable to flourish b/c of the Ice Age's chilly climate were now able to thrive
• Under the improved conditions human beings thrived
• societies became larger & more complex as people started to settle down into permanent residences
• inequalities slowly began to form
• Paleolithic societies in Japan known as Jomon, settled by the sea, creating some of the world's first pottery, dugout canoes, paddles, bows, bowls and tool handles from wood
• Bows & Arrows were invented separately in Europe, Africa & the Middle East, spreading later to the Americas
• Settling down marked a huge turning point in human history & placed a much greater demand on the environment
• Agricultural societies followed soon after