Prehistory

Prehistory is the very long period of human history before writing: it runs from about 7 million years ago to about 5500 years ago. In Africa the first hominins appear, walking on two legs, and later the different species of the genus Homo. Our ancestors learn to chip stone, use fire, sew clothes and paint in caves. About 12,000 years ago some communities begin to grow crops and keep animals, and the first villages are born. At the end of the era come metals and the wheel: everything is ready for the first cities.

The era on a line: 25 events

1. about 7 million years ago The first hominins
2. about 3.2 million years ago Lucy the australopithecine
3. about 2.6 million years ago The first stone tools
4. about 2.4 million years ago Homo habilis
5. about 1.9 million years ago Homo erectus
6. about 790,000 years ago Taming fire
7. about 600,000 years ago Homo heidelbergensis
8. about 400,000 years ago Neanderthals
9. about 300,000 years ago The arrival of Homo sapiens
10. about 100,000 years ago The first deliberate burials
11. about 60,000 years ago Homo sapiens leaves Africa
12. about 48,000 years ago The needle with an eye
13. about 48,000 years ago The first people in Australia
14. about 44,000 years ago The cave art of Sulawesi
15. about 28,000 years ago The Venus of Willendorf
16. about 19,000 years ago The Lascaux cave
17. about 14,000 years ago The first permanent villages
18. about 12,000 years ago The Neolithic Revolution
19. about 11,000 years ago Taming the sheep
20. about 10,300 years ago The walls of Jericho
21. about 9,000 years ago Pottery spreads
22. about 9,000 years ago Çatalhöyük
23. about 7,000 years ago Working with copper
24. about 5,500 years ago The invention of the wheel
25. about 5,300 years ago The Bronze Age

Did you know?

• In the DNA of many people living outside Africa today there is a tiny piece, around 1-2 per cent, inherited from the Neanderthals.
• Ötzi, the Iceman found on the Similaun glacier, had more than 60 tattoos on his skin, made with small cuts and charcoal dust: they are among the oldest we know of.
• The first tamed animal was not the sheep but the dog, which was already living alongside humans more than 15,000 years ago.

storiascopio.com/en/era/prehistory/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class

1. Put in order: write 1 next to the oldest and 5 next to the most recent.

• The Neolithic Revolution
• The first stone tools
• Working with copper
• The first people in Australia
• Neanderthals

2. Choose the right answer.

1. Roughly how tall was Lucy?

   • Just over a metre
   • Half a metre
   • Almost two metres
   • One metre eighty

2. What does the name Homo habilis mean?

   • Wise man
   • Strong man
   • Upright man
   • Handy man

3. What shape were the hand axes made by Homo erectus?

   • Cube-shaped
   • Perfectly round
   • Star-shaped
   • Almond-shaped

4. Where are the oldest traces of controlled fire found?

   • On the island of Sulawesi
   • At Willendorf, in Austria
   • At Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, in Israel
   • At Lascaux, in France

3. Match each ancestor or place to what makes it famous: write the right letter.

Storiascopio · texts by Ciro Simone Irmici, written with the help of AI and checked · sources in the online cards