Cultural Evolution- Broad Outlines of Prehistoric Cultures

Cultural evolution, also called sociocultural evolution, is the change in humans’ knowledge, customs, and linguistic ability. It is the change in the culture followed by the human race with time. The prehistoric period shows how mankind underwent a massive cultural evolution starting from the first use of stone tools to the invention of writing systems.

A few researchers believe that ‘prehistoric’ means anything that happened approximately 2.5 million years ago. Since that period, humans have considerably evolved to develop learned behaviour. They underwent a considerable change in their linguistic abilities, social behaviour, and use of tools.

Prehistoric age can be broadly categorised into Stone Age, Stone Copper Age, and Iron Age. In addition, the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods come under the old, late, and new stone ages, respectively.

Stone Age

• Palaeolithic Period – 300,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE
• Mesolithic Period – 10,000 BCE to 6000 BCE
• Neolithic Period – 6000 BCE to 1000 BCE

Stone Copper Age

• Chalcolithic Period – 3000 BCE to 500 BCE
• Iron Age – 1500 BCE to 200 BCE

Stone Age: Palaeolithic period

The word Palaeolithic comes from the Greek’ Palaeo’ meaning old and ‘lithic’, which means stone. Hence, the Palaeolithic period represents the old stone age.

Key Points of the Palaeolithic Period

The historians’ understanding of the old Stone Age is limited due to the climatic destruction of most sites. Therefore, this period’s sole source of human culture comes from ethnographic comparison to modern hunting and gathering cultures.

Some of the characteristics of the old Stone Age are:

• The old Stone Age diet consisted of wild fruits, vegetables and meat. The hominids of this period survived on hunting and gathering food
• Numerous cave paintings have been found in various parts of the world. ‘The Hall of the Bulls’ painting in Lascaux, southwestern France, and polychrome rock paintings of the Altamira Caves, Spain were the perfect examples
• Palaeolithic representational art is also found in various caves. The famous ‘Venus figurines’ found in the caves of Europe, Eurasia, and Siberia are great examples of stone art from this period
• People used crude stone tools like hand axes, scrapers, and choppers in the old Stone Age. However, they used bone tools and wooden tools as well. The artefacts that exist of the old Stone Age are called paleoliths.

Stone Age: Mesolithic period

The word ‘Mesolithic’ comes from the Greek’ meso’ meaning middle, and ‘lithic’, which means stone. Therefore, the Mesolithic period is also called the ‘Middle Stone Age’.There was a significant change in the world’s climate during the Mesolithic Period. The weather became warmer, the ice melted, bringing a significant change in flora and fauna.

Key Points of the Mesolithic Period:

• The Mesolithic hominids started developing permanent settlements, along with staying in the caves and open grounds. They began domesticating animals
• They also cultivated plants, thus starting with agriculture. The most commonly domesticated animals were goats, wild dogs and sheep
• The Mesolithic people produced numerous cave paintings, sculptural artefacts, and rock arts which they started in the old Stone Age. The classic examples of rock art of this period are found on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The paintings are of animals and humans at hunting scenes
• A pendant found in England, thought to be of the Mesolithic period, bore a resemblance to contemporary pendants found in Denmark
• The Mesolithic people used chipped stone tools (microliths). They also utilised retouched bladelets and composite tools like sickles and arrowheads. The microliths helped them hunt down smaller animals and birds for food
• The people started wearing clothes made of animal skin during this period

Stone Age: Neolithic Period

The word ‘Neolithic’ originates from the Greek ‘neo’ meaning new, and ‘lithic’, which means stone. Hence, Neolithic stands for the ‘New Stone Age’.It is also known as the Neolithic revolution, as you can see the socioeconomic and cultural evolution of the life of humans. The Neolithic hominids, in this period, became food producers from only a gatherer.

Key Points of the Neolithic Period

• The Neolithic dwellings were made of reeds and mud. The houses were often rectangular or circular
• The Neolithic people grew fruits and vegetables and also domesticated cattle. They could weave cloth and spin cotton and wool. Men mostly went out fishing in self-made boats and rafts
• The Neolithic period saw the large production of human figurines. Large scale human figurines were found in the settlement of ‘Ain-Ghazal, Jordan. Fertility figures were excavated near Tell-Halaf, north Syria and Tell-al-Ubaid, Persian Gulf
• People mainly used polished tools along with microliths. In the new Stone Age, people used needles, scrapers, and arrowheads made of bones. Polished stone tools eased the hunting and agricultural processes

Stone Copper Age: Chalcolithic Period

From the Chalcolithic period onwards, people started using metals and stone weapons. The first metal that humans used during this period was copper. This period is also known as the Bronze Age in many parts of the world.

Key Points of the Chalcolithic Period

• Burnt brick houses came into being, and rural settlements emerged in various parts of the world
• People cultivated wheat, rice, and bajra and domesticated animals like cows, pigs, sheep and goats. Evidence suggests that Bronze Age people also cultivated various pulses like black gram, grass pea, and lentil
• Bronze and copper were the two primary hard materials used to produce different types of weapons
• We have numerous written records of the cultural evolution occurring in the Bronze Age
• Rock carvings, or petroglyphs that originated in the Bronze Age, are found around the globe. Some famous examples are the petroglyphs in Tanum, Sweden

Iron Age

• The Iron Age saw extensive use of tools and weapons made of Iron. It is because there was a sudden decline in the availability of tin and copper, due to which bronze couldn’t be used any further. As a result of this shortage, people began experimenting with other metals
• Initially, it was challenging to cast weapons and tools using iron, as it needed a higher temperature to melt down. Over time, people began using bellows to increase the temperature of the furnaces, thereby producing many iron tools
• Later on, people started adding carbon to the Iron to make steel. They also realised that iron tools could be sharpened instead of re-casting new tools. The use of iron tools improved military actions and other activities. Farmers could quickly cultivate lands with the more sturdy and robust iron plough blades

Conclusion

Cultural Evolution is an essential topic for students taking any competitive examination. The topic covers the changes the human race experiences regarding linguistic ability, social behaviour and tools usage. The article lists all prehistoric cultures starting from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. It gives you detailed information on how human settlements and ways of living changed with each timeline.