SOCIAL STUDIES OUTLINE
CHAPTER 1 THE BEGINNINGS OF HUMAN SOCIETY
Section 1: Geography and History
I. The Iceman
-The Iceman was found in ________ in a mountain pass in theAlps, on ____________________________________________________.
-His clothing, tools, and body were well preserved and provided clues
about the Iceman’s life and death. Scientists used these clues to
___________________________________________________.
-Scientists determined that the Iceman lived about ________ years
ago, in about ___________________________.
-The most important clue about the Iceman’s life was his _______
___________________. ______________ was the first metal used
by Europeans, beginning about _______________________.
II. Understanding History
-About ____________ years ago, peoples inSouthwest Asia
developed systems ______________________. These developments
marked the beginnings of ________________________.
-History is the____________________________________________.
-By adding the prefix pre-, which means “______________,” you
form the word prehistory. Prehistory is ___________________
__________________________________. Prehistory is the
period of time before ___________________________________.
-To learn about life in prehistoric times, scientists must rely on clues
other than ___________________________________________.
-Archaeologists are scientists who examine objects to learn about
past peoples and cultures. They sift through the dirt of prehistoric
camps to find__________________________________________.
-Historians do not rely only on the objects discovered by
archaeologists to learn about the past. They also study ________
_________________________________________to understand a
society—its ____________________________________________
_____________________________________, among other things.
-Historians also look at what other groups living at the same _______
_______________________________________________________
-The written records studied by historians often began as _________
_______________________stories passed down by word of mouth.
-_________________________can include a family’s history or tell
stories about heroes or events in the past.
-Oral traditions tell how a __________________________________
_______________________________________________________
III. Linking Geography and History
-Geography is the study of__________________________________
_______________________________________________________. Geography also refers to the features of a place, including its _______________________________________________________.
-Knowing the connection between geography and history is often the
key to understanding why events happened. __________________
_______________________________________________________ all affect the lives of the people who live there.
Section 2: Prehistory
I. Earliest Human Culture
-The first use of stone to create tools began the earliest known
period of human culture:______________________________.
-The _____________________ was a period of time during which
early humans made lasting ___________ and _______________
mainly from stone but also from _____________________ and
___________________________________.
-Archaeologists divide the Stone Age into three periods: ________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
-During the Old Stone Age, early humans did not yet know how to
_______________. They were ____________________, people who
survive by hunting animals and gathering wild plants. Almost all of
human prehistory took place during the ______________________.
-During this period, our ancestors learned how to use ____________.
With _______________, they could ward off dangerous animals who
were also afraid _______________________________________.
-Finally, early humans discovered how to create ________________.
They probably did this by__________________________________
or ____________________________________________________ .
With this advance, they could move to areas with colder climates.
-Nomads are people who have no___________________________.
They moved around to places where they thought they would find
food. When they had gathered all the food around them, they
_____________________________________________.
II. The Beginning of Farming
-The Middle Stone Age was characterized by the use of __________
_______________________________________________________
-Those who began the practice of ___________________________
entered the New Stone Age.
-Some scientists believe that about 11,000 years ago, people in
Southwest Asialearned that if they planted the seeds of wild
grasses,_____________________________________________
__________________________________. Thus began the New
Stone Age. It was called the New Stone Age because people began
to ____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________.
-At the same time that people began to grow their own food, some
people became pastoral nomads. That is, they _________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
-In most societies, woman were responsible for _________________
_________ and seeds and the men usually ____________________.
-Some places were better for farming than others because the soil
there was very fertile. Fertile soil ____________________________
_______________________________________________________
-Because plants need light and warmth, areas that had____________
_________________________________________ were good places
to farm. Gentle rains are important sources of water for plants.
-When people first began to plant crops, they carefully chose seeds
from the_______________________________________________.
In doing so, they began to ___________________________ plants,
or adapt _______________________________________________.
-Just as humans learned to domesticate plants, they also learned to
domesticate animals. During the New Stone Age, humans learned to
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
-The first domestic animals may have been _____________ because
they were valuable in hunting. By taming larger animals such as
__________________________________________________, people developed ready sources of meat, wool, and skins.
-By about 2500 B.C., ______________________________________
________________________ were trained to carry heavy loads.
-The people of ancientIndiatamed _________________________
for use in battle.
-______________________________________________________
trained wild cheetahs for hunting.
Section 3: The Beginnings of Civilization
-Irrigation, ____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
was important in creating early communities because it
provided a steady supply of water for the crops even ___________
_______________________________________________________
I. Advantages of a Settled Life
-Farming was much harder work than hunting and gathering.
However, it had far greater rewards. People who produced their own
Food___________________________________________________
__________________________________________. This meant that
they no longer had to travel from place to place. Surplus food, more
than what is needed, could be stored for use at another time.
-Having surplus food also allowed more people to be fed, so the
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________.
-As the population increased, settlements grew into ___________.
-With food surpluses, people did not have to spend all of their days
producing food. Some people were able to switch from farming to
other kinds of work. Some people became artisans,_____________
_______________________________________________________.
The artisans made items such as ____________________________
________________________________________________________
II. The Growth of Cities
-Some farming settlements grew into cities. Cities were more likely to
develop in areas where____________________________________
_______________________________________________________.
People also needed a ______________________________________
________________ and ___________________________________.
-Some of the earliest cities grew up along large rivers, such as the
________________ inEgypt, the __________________________ in
Iraq, the ___________________ inChina, and the ______________
inPakistan.
-Early cities were different from farming villages in some important
ways. First, cities were __________. They had large ____________
_________________, places to _____________________________,
buildings for the ______________________________________, and
places where ____________________________________________.
-In villages, most people were _______________________. In cities,
people had a wide ________________________________________
III. The First Civilizations
-Over time, some New Stone Age societies grew into civilizations. A
civilization is a society that has ____________, a central government
run by _____________________________________________, and
workers_______________________________ .
___________________________ Writing, art, and architecture also
characterize a civilization.
-By 6600 B.C., artisans in Europe andAsiahad discovered that
____________________________________at high temperatures
would separate the metal ____________________ from the rock.
-By 3000 B.C., artisans had learned to mix another metal, ________,
to make a mixture called ________________. This discovery marked
the beginning of the ___________________________.
-Because ______________ is much harder than ________________,
it could be used to make longer-lasting items such as ____________
_______________________________________________________.
-Traders took valuable items such as __________________________
_______________________________________________________
to far away cities where they traded these items for food and goods
that people at home wanted.
-By around 3500 B.C., some civilizations had developed a simple but
amazing invention:________________________________________.
Now trade goods could be loaded into carts and pushed through the
city to market.
-Trade over water also developed. Merchant ships now carried goods
______________________________________________________.
-With all of the traveling done by traders, people of many different
cultures came into contact with each other. New tools and ideas
from one society soon spread to other societies as people traded
________________________________________along with goods.
-Growing trade links brought new prosperity to the cities which, in
turn, led to the development of social classes. A social class _____
_______________________________________________________
-In the large cities, the __________________ was the most powerful
person followed by the ____________________________________.
The ___________________________ served as government officials
and military officers. Below them were the artisans, small traders,
and merchants. __________________________________________
were the lowest ranked free members of society. Slaves formed a
separate social class. They worked as household servants and
laborers.
THINKING SKILLS
- 1. In what three ways did people’s lives change during the Stone Age?
- 2. Explain how the presence of surplus food caused the growth of early cities.
- 3. Explain the similarities and differences in the ways people lived in the New Stone Age and the Old Stone Age.