Bricks history textbook

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History TEXTBOOK thavo/tvwo volume 1

Sample copy

1 Hunters and farmers

Source 1.1

The age of hunters and farmers

3000 BC

The first humans lived in Africa. They lived in simple huts and hunted animals for food. The things we know about these people are based on the bones and tools we have found, because these first men and women did not write anything down. So we call this era prehistory. In this chapter we will learn how these first humans lived.

1

500 AD

Around 10,000 BC, the lives of these first humans changed when they discovered how they could grow their own food. Huntergatherers became farmers.

Why did these people change the way they lived? What traces did they leave for us to find? In the last section we will look at a very famous English burial site: Stonehenge.

Source 1.2

Source 1.3

Source 1.4

1000

40,000 years ago

1500

1600

1700

1800

1900 1950

IN THIS CHAPTER

35,000-25,000 years ago

12,000 years ago 60,000-50,000 years ago 250,000-56,000 years ago 11,000 years ago Source 1.5 The spread of Homo sapiens over the world.

1.1 The first humans 1.2 Hunter-gatherers 1.3 Early farmers 1.4 Burials in Prehistory 1.5 Time matters!

1.6 Stonehenge

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1.1

The first humans

Fossils Scientists Creation narrative

Theory of evolution Excavation Palaeontologist

Archaeologist Tools Out of Africa theory

Wherever you live on earth, we are all humans. But where do we come from? And how did our ancestors live? We will start our study of the past by learning something about the origins of mankind.

Lucy fossils scientists

The female human skeleton that was found was named Lucy. She got this name from the song ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds’.

This song was played during the discovery and was a popular song by The Beatles in the seventies.

Our historical trip starts near the small village of Hadar in Ethiopia. On a very hot day in 1974, two men were looking for fossils. Fossils are remains of plants or animals that are preserved in stone. Many fossils can be found in Ethiopia and throughout the rest of the Great Rift Valley in Africa.

The men were scientists and particularly interested in remains of early humans.

Their search was a success, because they discovered some old and very special bone fragments.

The fossilised bones were part of a skeleton that was 3.2 million years old! At first, the scientists thought that the skeleton was just like a small female chimpanzee.

But when they looked closer, the scientists found out that this animal had been able to walk on two legs. The scientists were incredibly happy because they had just discovered the oldest skeleton of an early human in the world!

Source 1.8 A skull of a Australopithecus afarensis, like Lucy was (c. 3.2 million years old).

Source 1.6 The bones of Lucy that were found in Ethiopia (c. 3.2 million years old).

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Source 1.7 This is how Lucy probably looked like, when she still lived. Why was this one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind? (present-day drwaing).

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Where do humans come from?

For thousands of years, people answered this question by explaining that a god or a number of gods created humans. A well-known example of this is the story of Adam and Eve. These first man and woman were made by God and lived in paradise until they ate from the forbidden tree. A story like this is an example of a creation narrative.

creation narrative

But scientists have another explanation about the origin of humans. They studied the bones of Lucy and learned that the first humans lived in Africa and that they looked completely different from how we look today. Still, these scientists say that they were our ancestors because they walked on two legs. So they must have changed if they had become like us. How is that possible?

Theory of evolution

This was also the most important question that the biologist Charles Darwin asked himself around 1850.

On his travels he discovered that species change over time. They adapt themselves to their environment in order to survive. A polar bear is white because it lives in the snow and a giraffe has a long neck to eat leaves on high trees. This process of adaption can take millions of years.

Darwin’s idea is called the theory of evolution. He also wrote that humans and apes have the same ancestors. It took three million years for these first humans to change into the people that we are today. In the family tree below you can see the different human-like ancestors that used to be alive.

Today

Homo sapiens

Homo neanderthalensis

1 Million years ago

Homo heidelbergensis

2 Million years ago

Homo erectus

Homo habilis

3 Million years ago 4 Million years ago

Australopithecus africanus

Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy) Australopithecus anamensis

5 Million years ago 6 Million years ago +

Ardipithecus ramidus (Ardi)

theory of evolution Likely Possible

Unknown common ancestor

Source 1.9 This is the human family tree, with the different species of early humans.

Archaeology and Palaeontology What we know about evolution comes from fossils and bones like Lucy’s, that were discovered by a team of different scientists. At Lucy’s excavation there was a palaeontologist, someone who studies ancient life on the planet.

These palaeontologists investigate fossils that can be millions of years old. There was also an archaeologist, a person who digs up remains to investigate human activity in the past. Every new discovery helps us to determine how humans have evolved.

excavation palaeontologist

archaeologist Source 1.10 Archaeologists working on a dig in the Netherlands (present-day picture).

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Out of Africa tools

Out of Africa theory

Modern humans evolved differently than apes. The first humans started to walk upright. This left their hands free so they could use tools. Tools are objects held in one hand to accomplish a task, like a sharp rock to cut flesh. They also learned to use fire.

Around 250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa. This species left the continent and spread all over the world. This migration did not happen all at once.

It took place between 250,000 to 56,000 years ago and is called the Out of Africa theory. According to this theory, modern man evolved in Africa and then migrated through the Middle East and then to Asia, Europe and the Americas. Homo sapiens were very good at adapting to changes in their environment, like various landscapes and the ever-changing climate. This skill to adapt could be why Homo sapiens survived and other human species did not.

The Latin word Homo means ‘man’. When we talk about humans we use this word. For example: Homo habilis was ‘the tool using man’ and Homo erectus ‘the upright man’. We modern humans are Homo sapiens sapiens which means ‘very wise man’.

The discovery of Lucy was not the only important one in Ethiopia.

In 1994, a group of palaeontologists discovered the remains of a 4.4 million year-old skeleton . They called it A ‘ rdi .’ Scientists are still debating if Ardi is human or ape. Some believe that her specie is ‘the missing link’ between us and apes.

In Laetoli, Tanzania a new discovery was made. This is a site where ancient footprints were found of at least two individuals walking upright. The footprints are 3.7 million years old. They were kept intact by volcanic ash. These footprints helped to determine how our ancestors evolved. They changed from walking on four legs, to walking upright on two legs, like us.

Source 1.11 A replica of the Laetoli prints. The real prints were never removed from the site.

They are c. 3.7 million years old.

Essence

Some people believe that a god or gods created the first humans. Scientists say that it took millions of years before people evolved into what we are now.

Archaeologists and palaeontologists have found bones of the first humans in Africa. Modern humans are called Homo sapiens and they didn’t stay living in Africa. Instead they spread all over the world.

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1.2

Hunter-gatherers

Cave paintings Prehistory

Sources Hunting-gathering

Nomads

Did you bring your bow and arrow? Did you hunt wild horses today to get lunch?

Probably not. But 15,000 years ago this was the normal way to live. In prehistoric times, people lived as hunter-gatherers and had to survive in nature. Let us see what life was like in prehistory.

Source 1.12 A hunting party in prehistory. Can you imagine hunting dangerous animals with just wooden spears? (present-day drawing).

The cave paintings of Lascaux

In 1940, a teenager called Marcel Ravidat lived close to the area of Lascaux in France. He was seventeen years old when he and his friends found a hole in the ground by accident.

Marcel became curious and crawled into the opening. It led to a big underground cave and when he entered it he couldn’t believe what he saw. Around him were hundreds of coloured drawings of horses, bulls and deer. He called his friends and together they told an archeologist about their discovery. This archeologist explained to them that they had found cave paintings that were made between 10,000 and 17,500 years ago.

cave paintings

Source 1.13 Prehistoric cave paintings from Lascaux (10,000 - 17,500 years old).

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Prehistory

prehistory sources

The paintings in the cave of Lascaux can teach us a lot about the way of life in prehistoric times. When we talk about prehistory we mean the time before people were able to write. Everything we know about prehistory comes from findings discovered by archaeologists and palaeontologists. We call these findings sources.

Sources give us information about a certain time.

There are two different kinds of sources that historians use to gather information about the past. These are written and unwritten sources.

We don’t have written sources from prehistoric times. The hunters gatherers communicated by talking and by making drawings, not by writing. But they did leave us flint tools and remains of houses and bones. Our knowledge depends on the sources that archaeologists and historians are able to find. A lot has got lost over time, but there are still many objects hidden in the ground.

Hunter-gatherers

hunting-gathering

When we look at the cave paintings we can see drawings of animals that lived in the Lascaux area in prehistoric times. Most scientists agree that these wild animals were hunted by men. The hunters killed the bulls and horses with spears or bows and arrows. They also fished in the rivers or at the coast. Women stayed near their small houses to take care of the children or they went out to gather berries, nuts, mushrooms and other things to eat. This way of living is called hunting-gathering.

Most scientists think that hunter-gatherers made the cave paintings to ask help from their gods. Many hunter-gatherers that live today have a shaman, or a medicine man.

Those people believe that he or she can practice magic and have contact with the gods. In this way they can pray that the hunt went well.

Even in our modern time , some people are still hunter-gatherers.

For example , Indian tribes in the Amazon , the San in Africa and the aboriginals in Australia.

Source 1.14 This is how a group of hunter-gatherers might have lived during prehistory (present-day drawing).

Nomads

nomads

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The hunter-gatherers lived in groups of about 20 to 50 people that consisted of just a couple of families. These groups didn’t always stay in the same place. It simply wasn’t possible because they had to follow the animals they hunted. When there was nothing to eat, they picked up their tents and few belongings and moved to a different place to live. People who do not live in a fixed place are called nomads.

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To travel with few belongings

Before the new Hanze railway in Overijssel was build, archaeologists excavated the area. They found traces of prehistoric campsites on several sites. The oldest were 6,000 years old. The hunter-gatherers who made the campsites left remains of it and these have now become a source of information. Hunter-gatherers didn’t have a lot of possessions. They couldn’t carry many belongings with them as this would have been just too heavy. Instead they used everything that they found in nature or took from animals and left behind what they didn’t need any more.

Source 1.15 These prehistoric objects are made from bone and antlers. Such organic tools are rarer than stone tools from prehistory (9000 - 3000 BC).

The objects that were found in Overijssel help us to understand how these people cut down trees or how they managed to kill animals. After animals were killed, the people used their hides to make blankets and clothing. They needed clothing because they had to adapt to the climate they travelled to. In cold areas, like in the Netherlands, the people wore thick clothes made of fur and hides. In warmer regions, like Africa or the Middle East, the hunter-gatherers wore fewer or almost no clothes.

Source 1.16 Flint tools found near Hattemerbroek. You can see how these tools were produced, some pieces still fit together (6000 - 2000 BC).

Some words in Dutch and English are almost the same; like prehistory and ‘prehistorie’. That is because both languages use words from Latin. In this case, ‘pre’ which means before.

Essence

Hunter-gatherers hunted wild animals and collected edible things from nature.

We use cave paintings and other sources to study how these people lived. In prehistory, man did not write things down. Prehistory means: before writing.

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1.3

Early farmers

Ice Age Agriculture

Fertile Crescent Agricultural revolution

Domestication Pottery

In this section, we will see that prehistoric people changed from being huntergatherers to farmers. Farmers are people who grow crops and keep animals. This change did not happen overnight. It took thousands of years. But how did it start?

Source 1.17 A reconstruction of a hunter hunting raindeer during the last Ice Age (present-day drawing).

Climate change

Ice Age agriculture

For a hundred thousand years, nothing could live in large parts of Europe because it was covered in a thick layer of ice. The region that now is known as the Netherlands also had a polar landscape. But then the climate changed and it became warmer on earth. The ice melted and the last Ice Age ended around 10,000 BC. At that time the conditions were right for people in the Middle East to learn a new way of getting food: agriculture.

Source 1.18 The changes in temperature on Earth in prehistory. You can see that there have been several Ice Ages in the past.

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Hunter-gatherers become farmers

Around 10,000 BC, a gatherer in the Middle East developed a smart way to get food. It might have even been by accident that she found out that plants grow when she put the seeds in the ground. When she looked after them, by watering them and removing all the other plants, the plants would grow. After a while the plants would even be edible. So, instead of eating all the wild grain she found, the gatherer kept some seeds to grow new plants. She also made fields to protect the grain. Now that she could grow her own food she didn’t have to travel to gather wild grains. Instead, she could just plant seeds wherever she would like plants to grow. She was no longer a hunter-gatherer, but had become a farmer.

The Fertile Cresent

Farming started in the Middle East. The people that lived near the Tigris, Euphrates and the Nile rivers started to learn how to grow their own food. This region is called the Fertile Crescent, because the area is shaped like a crescent moon. The land was fertile because the rivers provided enough water for the crops to grow. The farmers grew plants with edible seeds, like emmer, barley and wheat.

Because of farming, the people didn’t have to travel around anymore. They started to live in fixed places to look after their fields. Because of this they build stronger houses close to each other. There was enough to eat, so more people survived. The population began to grow and small settlements were formed where between 100 and 200 people lived. These settlements became the first villages.

Mesopotamia Mediterranean Eu Tig ph Sea ris rat es Nile

Fertile Crescent Persian Gulf

Lower Egypt Upper Egypt Red Sea 0

200 400 km

Source 1.19 A map of the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East.

Keeping animals

The agricultural revolution didn’t happen in a few years. It took thousands of years for people to learn how they could grow their own food. At first they combined farming with hunting animals, but it was difficult to follow the animals around now they lived in one place. So they only hunted animals that lived close to their villages.

Around 6000 BC, farmers in the Fertile Crescent learned how to tame animals for their own use. This is called domestication. The first farmers captured wild animals to keep them behind fences. They even began to look at useful characteristics some animals had, for example how calm they were or how much fat they could grow.

Animals that had a lot of flesh were used to breed new animals that also had a lot of flesh. After doing this for several generations, new breeds were created. Eventually the farmers didn’t only grow plants, but now also Source 1.20 The aurochs were bred to become had goats and sheep around their house. smaller instead of bigger (present-day drawing).

Pigs and cows followed around 4000 BC.

agricultural revolution

domestication

Dogs were already domesticated by hunter-gatherers around 14,000 years ago, to help them during the hunt.

Agriculture in our region

The population in the Fertile Crescent kept growing.

To feed everyone, the farmers needed more land.

Because of this, they had to move to new areas.

Around 9,000 years ago, agriculture spread from the Middle East to South and Central-Europe. The farmers took their knowledge, plants and animals with them.

Source 1.21 Pottery from the Linear Pottery Culture (5400 - 4900 BC).

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pottery

Hunters and farmers

The invention of pottery is an example of new knowledge that was spread by the farmers. Pottery is made by forming clay into a certain shape and heating it to high temperatures in an oven. Pottery was used to store products like grain and seeds.

About 5300 BC, farming appeared in our region. The first group of people who were farmers in our region, stored their products in pottery decorated with straight lines. Because of this, we say these farmers belong to the Linear Pottery Culture. This culture is found in large parts of Europe, for example in the south of nowadays Limburg. Above the river Maas and the river Rhine we find the Funnel Beaker Culture.

The people of this culture built the Hunebedden.

Source 1.22 Pottery from the Funnel Beaker Culture (2500 - 2200 BC).

Source 1.23 A reconstruction of a group of farmers with their crops and animals (present-day drawing).

Agriculture in other places

Agriculture did not spread all the way from the Fertile Crescent to China or Latin America. Farming spontaneously began in more than one place in the world around the same time. People just needed soil and a good temperature for their crops to grow. In Latin America these first crops were not wheat or barley, but maize or manioc. Here, the first animals farmers kept were not goats and sheep, but alpacas.

Essence

When the last Ice Age was over, prehistoric people in the Middle East started to become farmers. They no longer moved around but lived in one place. Here they could grow crops and keep animals. Pottery was invented, to store things.

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1.4

Burials in Prehistory

Bog people Burial mounds

Grave goods Afterlife

Dolmen Megalithic tombs

Trijntje was a hunter-gatherer. She lived in our region around 9000 BC. Archaeologists found her skeleton in Hardinxveld-Giessendam, Zuid-Holland.

After her death she was buried. Burials are an important aspect of human life.

So how did people in prehistory bury their dead?

Source 1.24 This is how the archaeologists found Trijntje during the excavation.

A shallow grave

Only a few of the skeletons found in the Netherlands are from the time when people were still hunter-gatherers. The hunter-gatherers moved around a lot and that’s why they did not have graveyards.

Most of their dead were left behind in a shallow grave and those are now long gone.

We only find the remains of bodies that were buried in a place that kept it well preserved, like in peat. But the hunter-gatherers did have summer camps and winter camps where they would stay for a few months. At these campsites sometimes people were buried that we find nowadays, during excavations. Like Trijntje, the remains of the hunter-gatherers that archaeologists have found were generally buried alone, in a single grave.

Bog people

Sometimes bodies were buried in layers of peat. They are extremely well preserved because of the water and the lack of oxygen. The bodies of these bog people are sometimes completely intact.

You can even see what the person had for his last meal, the clothing he wore, the colour of his hair and how he died.

bog people

Source 1.25 This is the Tollund man, found in Denmark in 1950. At first it was believed he was a young man who disappeared recently. But he turned out to have died around 300 BC!

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Burial mounds burial mounds

Some burial mounds are not round , but long, rectangular stretched hills where several people were buried .

These are called ‘long barrows’.

When the hunter-gatherers became farmers they started to live in one fixed place. At that moment these early farmers also developed a different way of burying their dead.

They build burial mounds. These are special hills to bury people in. The people who were buried under these hills were most likely important members of society. The oldest were build around 3000 BC. This way of burying people continued for hundreds of years.

There are several types of burial mounds. The first ones were just a hole in the ground for one person, covered by a small hill. Around some hills, a ring of poles was erected, or a ditch was dug out. There are also mounds where more than one person would be buried. These burial mounds would have been used for decades at a time.

In some mounds, cremated people are found. A cremation means the burning of the remains of a dead person. The cremated remains are usually found inside an urn, made of pottery. This pottery was not something that was specially made for cremations, since there Source 1.26 This restored burial mound can be seen in Brabant. The is a large variety in urns. original one was constructed 1600 - 1000 BC.

Grave goods

A very famous burial mound in our region is the Vorstengraf van Oss. The burial site where the Vorstengraf was found, was in use for a long period of time, from 2000 to 700 BC. It had more than one grave, but the one in the centre was for a special person. This person had all kinds of expensive gifts that he was buried with. grave goods afterlife

As with the Vorstengraf, in some graves, objects are found that were placed next to the person that died. The placing of these grave goods is a practice already seen in the graves of hunter-gatherers around 5000 BC. A small object made of flint, pottery or jewellery was then left with the body. This indicates that prehistoric people believed in an afterlife. In this life after death, the deceased people would still need certain objects, so these were buried with them.

But not all grave goods were plain objects. Some grave goods were special and expensive.

Several objects found in graves in our country come from other parts of Europe, sometimes from hundreds of miles away.

These objects were hard to come by. So the person who was buried with these gifts must have been very important. This is also shown in the care that is given to the burial mounds.

Source 1.27 These are some of the gifts found in the Vorstengraf van Oss. Can you imagine why they call it the Vorstengraf now that you see the objects that were found here? (c. 700 BC).

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Dolmen

For a long time people believed that giants lived in our region. They would have left us big monuments that are now called dolmen or megalithic tombs.

But these burial mounds were made by men and are found in the north of Europe in various shapes and sizes. In our region they are mostly found in Drenthe and are called Hunebedden. These tombs were built around 3400 BC by the people from the Funnelbeaker Culture.

The tombs are made of huge stones from Scandinavia that were pushed towards to our country by the ice during the last Ice Age. The Funnelbeaker people would search for the stones and then transport them to the building place. There they stacked up the stones and then covered them with sand. In this way these farmers created a type of burial mound. It seems like a miracle how these prehistoric people managed to place these big stones on top of each other. They are so impressive that when you see them you can imagine that some people believed that they were built bij giants.

dolmen megalithic tombs

Source 1.28 Two megalithic tombs from Drenthe in Rolde. You can see the way the stones are stacked on top of each other (constructed c. 3400 BC).

The word megalithic comes from the Greek language. ‘Mega’ means big and ‘lithos’ means stone. So a megalithic tomb is a tomb made of big stones.

Essence

Burials from prehistoric times give insight into how people lived during that period. They had different ways of burying dead people, varying from simple graves or urns to elaborate megalithic tombs. Sometimes the dead person would have grave goods with him. Grave goods indicate the status a person had in society. When a grave was large and filled with many gifts, it means that this person must have been important during his life.

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1.5

Time matters!

Timeline Decades Centuries Millennium

Calendars AD / BC CE / BCE Periods

Ten ages Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age

“It is only a matter of time” is an English expression. And the word “time” is used in many other expressions in Dutch and English. Clearly, this means time is important to us. Why is that?

timeline decades centuries millennium

calendars

On the Christian calendar there is no year ‘zero’. A day of the week or month also has no zero, you just start counting.

Timeline

When you study history, a timeline is a very useful tool. You can use it to understand the order in which certain events took place. A timeline is a long bar with labels on it to show in which year something happened.

A timeline can be divided in periods of ten years, in decades. It can also be in periods of hundred years, in centuries. Especially in this chapter, a timeline will cover a large period of time. Timelines can cover a period of a thousand years, hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. A thousand years is called a millennium. Also in this book, timelines are used to help you understand history better.

Calendars

Time is also measured with the help of calendars. A calendar is a way of organising the days, weeks and months of the year. Not every calendar organises time in the same way. Some calendars are based on the rotation of the sun, while others use the moon to count the passing of time. To make things even more complicated, not every calendar has the same starting point.

Source 1.29 A calendar the ancient Egyptians used. For the Egyptians, one year was 365 days. They had 12 months. Every month had 30 days (c. 3000 BC).

BC AD

20

Calendars are also used to count the passing of the years. In our western society, the Christian calendar is used most often. This calendar measures time from when Jesus Christ was born. There is of course a large part of history that happened before Jesus was born. This is everything that happened Before Christ, or BC. Everything that happens after Jesus was born is After Christ, or AD. BC is a very logical abbreviation. AD is a bit more complicated. AD comes from Latin and means Anno Domini, in the year of Our Lord.

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00 19 0 19 0 50 NO W

18

0

0 17 00

16 0

15 0

0 10 0

AD 0

1

AD / CE

50

30

00

BC

BC / BCE

Source 1.30 A timeline in which you can see the correct use of the abbreviations BC / BCE and AD / CE.

Other calendars still being used are for example, the Chinese and the Islamic calendar, and the calendar from Judaism. As you can see, most of these calendars are based on religion.

Source 1.31 This present-day Tunisian calendar shows you what date it is on three different calendars, so everyone can use it.

Some people believe that you should use a more neutral basis for a calendar.

They prefer to talk about the Common Era, CE or Before the Common Era, BCE. These are the periods before and after Christ was born.

CE BCE

Organising history

When you are studying history, you need to know why something happened, but of course also when something happened. A way of organising time is periodisation.

History is split into smaller parts, in so-called periods.

An example of periodisation is the way time is organised in Dutch history education: in ten periods, called the ten ages. In Dutch this means the tien tijdvakken. The name of each age is based on characteristics of that age. The age of prehistory is called the age of hunters and farmers, while the age when Columbus lived is called the age of discoverers and reformers. The age we live in is called the age of the television and computer. Every age also has a small logo to help you recognise it.

periods ten ages

Source 1.32 The ten ages.

In studying history, another periodisation is used. You already know one of the periods: prehistory, the period this chapter is about. Other periods are Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Early Modern Times and Modern Times. This periodisation is mainly used in western European history. The ten ages are only used in the Netherlands.

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Periods in prehistory

BC 12

Iron Age

1

0 Bronze Age

30 0

0

BC

Stone Age

20 0

0

BC

Iron Age

BC

Bronze Age

Since prehistory is such a big time period, it is split into three smaller periods. The oldest period lasts until 2000 BC and is called the Stone Age. It was the time when prehistoric man used stone tools. These were the hunter-gatherers and the first farmers. Then came the Bronze Age, between 2000-800 BC. In this period, man discovered how to make objects and tools out of bronze. Bronze is a metal that is made of copper and tin. But these two metals are not found everywhere, so stone was still used a lot. The burial mounds that you saw in the previous section, date from the late Stone Age and the beginning of the Bronze Age. The last period in prehistory is the Iron Age between 800-12 BC. In this period, prehistoric man learned how to create objects made of iron. Iron ore needs to be heated to a much higher temperature than bronze. It was harder to make iron objects, but they were also much stronger. This did not mean that stone or bronze objects were no longer used. Iron was a new type of material that was now also being used.

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Stone Age

Source 1.33 A timeline on which you can see the different ages of prehistory in our region.

Source 1.34 Some objects that belong to the three ages of prehistory. Can you place them in the correct age?

Essence

In history, it is very important to know when something happened and the order in which these things took place. Historians have developed various methods to organise history, like timelines, calendars, periodisation and the ten ages.

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1.6

Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Henge

Stonehenge is the world’s most famous megalithic structure. This huge Stone Age construction is located in the south of England. For a long time there have been many stories and theories about the site. But now it is time to try and really unveil the mysteries of Stonehenge.

Stonehenge

Source 1.35 The inner circle of stones at Stonehenge, England (constructed c. 2500 BC).

Legends of Stonehenge

An old story tells that Merlin, the great wizard and advisor of the legendary king Arthur, build Stonehenge. It is said that he used his magic to fly stones across the sea from Ireland. He then put them straight in the ground in England to make this place for his rituals.

Other stories tell of aliens that build the site with their spaceships. Every year, thousands of magic worshippers and alien believers visit Stonehenge. They wait for a sign that proves their theory is true, up to now without success. These stories are all interesting, but archaeologists are looking for the facts. Who really build Stonehenge and why?

Stone Age builders

The site of Stonehenge is easily recognised by the typical formation of its big standing stones. But that is not all: the whole structure is actually much larger.

In the model, you can see what the whole structure must have looked like when it was finished.

There are two stone features: the stone circle and the horse shoe.

They were built around 2500 BC. If you look closely, you can also see a smaller circle of stones around the horse shoe. The stone circles are the most recent part of this monument.

The first ditch was dug out around 500 years before the stones in the Source 1.36 AÂ model of the entire monument when centre were erected. completed.

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Un t i l l 3000 BC

henge

Hunters and farmers

The name Stonehenge comes from henge. This is a circular or oval shaped structure made of earth. These henges date from the late Stone Age or early Bronze Age. They are usually a ditch with a bank around it. Stonehenge is not the only henge that was built in this period, but it is the largest.

Inside the ditch and the bank, prehistoric people buried cremated bodies. It is the largest cemetery known in Great Britain from the Stone Age.

On Easter Island , another type of megalithic structure can be seen . Giant heads decorate this island . They are called moai .

Source 1.37

Source 1.38 You can see the ditch and the bank that form the original henge.

Landscape

At the time Stonehenge was built, southern England was covered by dense forests.

The chalk soil around Stonehenge made an open landscape that was very special at the time. This open landscape might have been the reason that this site was selected. But visibility was not the only reason, because nearby other locations were even better. So there must have been another reason that is still unknown.

In the surrounding landscape, hundreds of burial mounds can be seen. Other henge monuments from the same period are nearby, like Avebury and the one at Woodhenge.

Around 2200 BC, an avenue or road was created between Stonehenge and the River Avon. This river is 1.8 miles away from Stonehenge.

During recent excavations other avenues have been found. They also run from the river to other henges in the area.

This supports the idea that the landscape surrounding Stonehenge was very important.

New excavations might help us understand the place and function of Stonehenge in this landscape even better.

Or they might give us Source 1.39 This is the henge at Avebury that goes around the new questions that need whole town (constructed c. 2600 BC). to be answered.

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Chapt e r 1

Hunters and farmers

Building Stonehenge

Building Stonehenge was not easy. The stones of Stonehenge were very heavy and difficult to put into place. But the people who built Stonehenge used particular building techniques, putting special grooves, or holes and tenons down the side of some stones to make them fit together. If you look closely at the stone in the middle of source 1.43, you can see such a tenon sticking out.

This proves that the erecting of these stones was done according to a plan, by expert builders. You would also need a lot of people to erect these huge stones. So the Stone Age society that built this monument must have been well organised.

Source 1.40 A stone with a tenon at Stonehenge.

Source 1.41 A tenon and hole construction.

Function of Stonehenge

We are not certain why Stonehenge was built. The stone circles are in line with the path of the sun. On the longest day of the year, the sun shines precisely through the entrance of the stones. So the people who made Stonehenge knew something about astronomy. This has lead to a large number of theories. The most popular one is described here: the cremated remains from 3000 BC prove Stonehenge was likely to have begun as a burial ground. This states that Stonehenge was a place of ancestor worship. The surrounding landscape would have been part of the ritual passing between life and death. People have travelled to this site to bury or remember their loved ones.

Source 1.42 A part of the inner circle of Stonehenge.

Essence

Stonehenge is a megalithic structure from the Stone Age. The construction of the stones shows great invention for that period. It also shows a well-organised society, but we are not sure what the function of this special monument was.

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Un t i l l 3000 BC

Hunters and farmers

Key words 1.1 First humans

1.4 Burials in prehistory

Fossils: remains of plants or animals that are preserved in stone Scientist: someone who studies a science, for instance history or biology Creation narrative: a story that says God created man and the rest of the world Theory of evolution: theory written by Charles Darwin to explain the way species change Excavation: process by which you uncover something through digging away the earth that covers it Palaeontologist: someone who studies ancient life on the planet Archaeologist: someone who digs up remains to investigate human activity in the past Tool: an object held in one hand to accomplish a task Out of Africa theory: theory of beliefs that modern man evolved in Africa and then migrated to other areas in the world

Bog people: perfectly preserved bodies, that were buried a long time ago in layers of peat Burial mounds: special hills to bury people in Grave goods: objects that are placed next to the person that died Afterlife: the life after death Dolmen: a type of megalithic tombs Megalithic tombs: tombs made of very big stones to bury people under

1.2 Hunter-gatherers Cave paintings: paintings made in caves by prehistoric humans Prehistory: time in history before people could read and write Sources: remains from the past Hunting-gathering: a way of living where people hunt animals and gather food like plants and berries to survive Nomads: people who do not live in a fixed place

1.3 Early farmers Ice Age: periods in the past when areas of the world were covered by ice and it was very cold Agriculture: a way of living where people grow their own crops and keep animals Fertile Crescent: area around the rivers Tigris, Euphrates and Nile Agricultural revolution: farming was introduced, a completely new way of living in prehistory Domestication: tame animals for your own use Pottery: an invention of farmers to store products

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1.5 Time matters Timeline: a long bar with labels on it to show in which year or period something happened Decade: a period of ten years Century: a period of a hundred years Millennium: a period of a thousand years Calendar: a way of organising the days, weeks and months of the year AD: Anno Domini, the period after Jesus Christ was born BC: Before Christ, the period before Jesus Christ was born CE: Common Era, a neutral way of describing the period after Jesus Christ was born BCE: Before Common Era, a neutral way of describing the period before Jesus Christ was born Periods: a way of organising history into smaller timeframes Ten ages: these are ten periods that are used to organise history used in the Netherlands Stone Age: the time when prehistoric man mostly used tools made of stone Bronze Age: the time when prehistoric man learned how to make objects of bronze Iron Age: the time when prehistoric man learned how to make objects of iron

1.6 Stonehenge Stonehenge: a prehistoric megalithic monument located in England Henge: a circular or oval shaped structure made of earth

Chapt e r 1

Hunters and farmers

250,000 years ago

Beginning of the out of Africa migration

10,000 years ago

Beginning of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent

6000 BC Domestication of sheep and goats 5300 BC B eginning of agriculture in the Netherlands

3000 BC Burial mounds were used to bury people in Europe

BC 2500 BC at Stonehenge, the stone circle is built 9000 BC Trijntje died Between 10,000 and 17,500 years ago Lascaux cave paintings were created 3.2 million years ago Lucy lived around this time 3.7 million years ago The Laetolli footprints were left behind

What did you learn in this chapter?

You learned: - the definition of the evolution theory - what the Out of Africa theory means - the time period of prehistory - how the hunter-gatherers existed - how the first farmers lived - which ways of burying people were used in prehistory - that grave goods show differences in social hierarchy of society - what megalithic tombs are - different ways of organising the past - how Stonehenge was built

What did you learn to do in this chapter?

You learned to: - read the family tree of modern humans - explain what palaeontologists and archaeologists do - give characteristics of the hunter-gatherers and the first farmers - explain when and why first agriculture began in the near east - explain how the first farmers discovered how to grow their own crops - explain the meaning of domestication - give examples of different ways of burying people in prehistory - read a time line and different sorts of calendars

What skills should you be able to use?

You should be able to use: - Skill 1: Organising history - Skill 2: Change and continuity - Skill 5: Recognising the influence of the past

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