PREHISTORY
The Stone Age lasted from 25,000 years ago to approximately 7000 years ago. The very first invention to come from the Stone Age was the use of stones as tools. This was man's first technology. He chipped and flaked and molded forms that were the beginning of tools. They appeared as stone needles, spears, axes, and arrows. Many human sites were found in Caves, hence the name Caveman. As man developed tools he ventured out of the cave.
At first man was a hunter and a gatherer. Men went on hunts and women gathered nuts, fruits, and berries. They were roaming nomads because they had to be nomads. These nomads went from place to place. When the game moved, they had to move or starve. When the fruit trees no longer bore fruit they had to search for new fruit bearing orchards or alternatives in order to survive.
Slowly man began to settle down. He began living in huts, leantoes, and houses that were well built and ranged in size from tiny villages to small towns. This began to happen as man learned to plant. By planting crops he could now settle in one place. This was the beginning of the agricultural phase of development. While settled he began to develop individualized jobs. This is refered to as the "division of labor."
As man's communities enlarged and fields became rich in crops the need for a way of accounting for this crops developed. Imagine trying to keep track of thousands of bushels of oats, for example. Also, as towns became more complex a need for rules and regulations developed. These, almost simultaneous, needs led to the development of writing. The first writing systems appear in Mesopotamia and Egypt about 5500 year ago. It's purpose was accounting and codification of laws. We refer to the period before written records or writing as prehistory. |
![[History]](http://us.yimg.com/i/ligans/cb/smtdih.gif)
