World History: Paleolithic to 1500 A.D.

By Alan Shrake

I wrote this summary of world history from the Paleolithic to 1500 A.D. as a study guide for my students at a prep school.  Bullet points delineate the main ideas.   

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alan Shrake
• Release date: Mar 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386927181

Book preview

Preface

Itaught at a prep school one summer and wrote this summary for the students.  Bullet points delineate the main ideas.  Information was compiled from many resources.  Time periods are approximate.  I hope that you enjoy this book and find it useful.

A.S.

Paleolithic Age

c. 3,000,000 B.C. - 10,000 B.C.

• RECENT DISCOVERY AT Lake Chad of a 7 million year old hominoid skull pushes hominoids back that far.

• In Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, 2-3 million yr.-old bones and tools found, then at more sites around Africa.

• Our African lineage, Ardipithecus, Australopithecus, then Paranthropus, were the first hominoids.

• Then from Australopithecus arose Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, and Homo erectus, but only the latter would continue on.

• This represents an evolution or advance in hominoid species due to adaptation to the environment, as shown in increasing brain size, uprightness, height, etc.

• What was it like living in Africa about 2-7 million years ago?  Imagine Lucy and Luke walking on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, dodging hyenas, lions, and hippos.  Luke finds a tortoise shell and beats on it.  Lucy takes a reed and blows through it.  They collect eggs, grass kernels, fruits, nuts, and roots that they grind up with stone tools.  They kill small animals with increasingly better stone arrows.  Life is good.  Many of them live together in small groups.

• By 1.5 million years B.P., Homo erectus left Africa and settled all over the world, e.g. Peking Man and Java Man, each population evolving different physical characteristics.  Homo erectus was actually highly developed and had extensive trade networks and villages.

• Homo erectus harnessed the power of fire.  The film Quest for Fire is a good depiction.

• Homo erectus also first used clothing as they moved into colder climates.  Also, their skin turned lighter.  Why?  No need for all that melanin, or skin pigment.

• In Europe, Homo neanderthalis lived from about 130,000 to 30,000 B.P.  Despite their appearance, the Neanderthals weren’t stupid.  In fact, their brains were larger than ours!  They survived the Ice Ages.  They had burial ceremonies.

• Did Homo erectus die out about 100,000 years ago to be replaced by Homo sapiens migrations from Africa?

• Or is the multiple hearth theory correct, that Homo sapiens arose from Homo erectus sites?

• Or are these theories complementary?

• Either way, it all started in Africa.

• Homo sapiens means wise human being.

• Besides the blip of Neanderthal culture in Europe, it’s all been Homo sapiens.

• Early Homo sapiens settle all around the world in fairly dense concentrations, especially in the current Middle East, Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and even North America.  The last area to be settled was the Pacific Islands.  These early peoples developed sophisticated navigation and transportation methods.

• They came to North America over the Bering Strait, which was a land bridge of ice and land