Tools and Tech
This simple stone tool, often the size of an adult’s fist, had one side struck to create a sharp edge and could be used as a handle.
Sharpened stone (oldest chopper)
Before farming, most people met food needs by doing this: they hunted animals and ______ wild plants.
gather
The type of shelter used by Paleolithic people.
Caves or Temporary huts
The process of training animals for human use.
Domestication
The long period when humans used stone tools (Old Stone Age) is called the ________ period.
Paleolithic
Name the Paleolithic tool made from flint that allowed people to make a sharper cutting edge; it was easier to shape than other stones.
Flint (flint knapping)
Which animal was among the first to be domesticated and helped with hunting and protection?
Dogs
Neolithic houses were often made of this sun-dried material.
Mud-brick or mammoth tusk and animal hides
Having "extra" food beyond what is needed to survive.
surplus
Define “domestication” in one sentence.
Domestication = the process of taming animals or cultivating plants to be more useful to people.
What later Paleolithic tool (a multi-use hand tool) could break tree limbs, dig, and cut hides and helped people do tasks the sharpened stone could not?
Hand ax
People who move from place to place instead of living in one spot.
Nomads
Name two important technological or craft advancements that appear with the Neolithic period
Pottery, polished stone tools (saws, drills), weaving, irrigation
This occurs when people focus on one job, like weaving or tool-making.
Specialization
Match the term to its meaning: Mesolithic — choose the correct short definition: a) New Stone Age, b) Middle Stone Age (transition), c) Old Stone Age.
Middle Stone Age (transition)
Explain one way fire changed tool use or tool production (1–2 sentences).
Fire allowed heat treatment of materials, made hafting points possible, or enabled cooking which changed food processing and tool use.
List three ways domesticated animals provided for early humans (three distinct answers).
Milk/meat (food), hides for clothing/shelter, bones for tools/weapons
Explain one major advantage and one major disadvantage of the Agricultural Revolution (1–2 sentences each).
Advantage — reliable food supply → permanent settlements and population growth. Disadvantage — worse dental health, harder daily labor, disease from crowding (examples).
What is a “land bridge” and why was it important for human migration? (1–2 sentences)
Land bridge = a strip of land connecting two continents (e.g., Bering land bridge), allowed migration into new continents.
You are living in a grassland area. Some people in your clan have figured out how to make stone tools that help in hunting. You have heard that more and better stones are available in an area not too far away.
What is the reason for migration and is this a push or pull factor?
better supplies; pull factor
Describe how the development of spears (wooden shafts + stone points) changed hunting strategies and the kinds of animals people could hunt.
Allowed hunting at a distance, hunting larger animals, improved safety and group coordination
Hunters from your clan discovered a coastal area that would make living easier than it is inland. Shellfish are abundant there, which would supplement your hunting and gathering. The climate is also warmer. Your clan migrates to a new area.
What is the reason for migration and is this a push or pull?
better food resources; pull
This famous Neolithic settlement in modern-day Turkey had houses with roof-top doors.
Catalhoyuk
Explain in 2–3 sentences why permanent settlements led to both new jobs (specialization) and new social changes (use GRAPES ideas: economics or politics).
surplus → trade and specialization; and organization/government (walls at Jericho) or social hierarchy.
You are living in a valley near a small river. Your clan has increased in size. Finding enough food to feed everyone is becoming increasingly difficult. Some people are starving. Your clan migrates to a new area.
What is the reason for migration? Is this a push or pull factor?
lack of food, push factor