Prehistory Internet Assignment
Ms. Wilford
Flints and Stones: Real Life in Prehistory
Start your exploration of prehistory here. Check out each link fully to answer the following questions.
Meet the Shaman
Meet the Archaeologist:
Clear away the misunderstandings: Name one misunderstanding about prehistoric times
Find your way in time: According to the timeline here, when did stone age man appear?
Do the Food Quiz: Discover for yourself if you would survive as a hunter gather. What foods were poisonous? Did you survive? (don’t forget to take the nuts and berries and leaf quiz!)
You are now ready to further explore the prehistoric world. Pick a topic to research and prepare a short report for class (1 to 2 pages) You may not print out articles on your topic, only photos or illustrations. Please document where your information came from by citing your source (web link, book, electric library, etc.). Below are some suggested topics and links.
Suggested search terms (use a multi-search engine like Dogpile or Metacrawler for best results-- Also put your search term in "quotation" marks for the most accurate hits)
Neolithic settlements, Jericho, Jarmo, Catal Hoyuk, Paleolithic man: Karain Cave, Altimira, cave paintings, Lascaux, Shandidar, Mesolithic Age, Dawn of Man, Stone Age, Woolly Mammoth, ice age
Suggested topics and links( sites are rated from 1 to 5 stars*, with a 5 stars* site being the best and very informative)
Women in Prehistory
REAL History & Women's Heritage ** This link takes you through the portrayal of women in prehistory and ancient history.
Mothers of Time: Seven Paleolithic Figurines *** More information and pictures of women in Paleolithic art. Also many good links at bottom of page.
Women in Prehistory: The "Venus" of Willendorf ***and related link: WOMEN IN THE STONE AGE ****
excerpt: "The question is: Is this what women in the Stone Age looked like? Or did they look more like Raquel Welch in the 1960s movie One Million Years B.C.? If what the archaeologists tell us is true, that Stone Age societies survived through hunting and gathering, the chances are the women looked more like Ms. Welch than Ms. Willendorf whose obesity would have greatly impaired her ability to move around hunting and gathering. If what the archaeologists tell us is true, that Stone Age societies survived through hunting and gathering, the chances are the women looked more like Ms. Welch than Ms. Willendorf whose obesity would have greatly impaired her ability to move around hunting and gathering. The chances are, a Stone Age woman, much like the women in hunter-gatherer tribes today, would not have had the opportunity to get that fat, unless, of course, she had some special status. She evidently did not need to gather, or hunt, but must have been catered to and had her needs met by others.
Question: What do we know about women in prehistory? How did they live? What did they do? How were they looked upon, as chattel, or goddess's or equals?
Art in Prehistory
Paleolithic Art ***** Excellent site with photos of various cave paintings from Paleolithic times, also interesting articles about cave painting:
"Try to imagine an art gallery that could be entered only by crawling on your belly through a hole in the earth; that ramified into dark tunnels, a fearful maze in the earth's bowels in which the gallerygoer could, at any moment, disturb one of the bears whose claw marks can still be seen on the walls; where the only light came from flickering torches, and the bones of animals littered the uneven floor. These are the archaic conditions that, one may surmise, produced the array of cave fears implanted in the human brain - fears that became absorbed into a later, more developed culture in such narratives as that of the mythical Cretan labyrinth in whose core the terrible Minotaur waited. Further metabolized, and more basically misunderstood, these sacred terrors of the deep earth undergird the Christian myth of hell. Which may, in fact, be the strongest Cro-Magnon element left in modern life."
The Paleolithic painted cave of Lascaux **** Great site about Lascaux with many photos and links
Hunting From "The Cave of Lascaux" *** Nice article and photos on hunting in prehistory
LASCAUX**** Beautiful, colorful pictures from the prehistoric cave at Lascaux
General Information about the Paleolithic Age
Paleolithic Age ( Old Stone Age) ( 2 Million- 8000 BC) *** Information page about the Paleolithic era.
Prehistoric settlements and communities
NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT-CATAL HOYUK** Information site on the Neolithic city of Catal Hoyuk
Human Prehistory: An Exhibition*** Take a visual tour through human prehistory at this site which takes you through the stages of human evolution. Enter exhibit room 5 to find extensive details and pictures about Catal Hoyuk.
CATALHOYUK 1998 ARCHIVE REPORT*** Burials, Figurines and Miscellaneous 1998: This contains a fascinating report on the most recent findings at Catal Hoyuk.