Era 1: Prehistory

Suggested time for instruction: two weeks

• SOL Standards
• Macro View
• Focus Questions
• Global Themes
• Resources
• Benchmarks
• Legacies

World History and Geography Macro View

In the prehistoric era, humans developed physically, migrated throughout the globe, adapted to diverse environments, and lived in early communities. Our early ancestors began to form and manipulate tools, mastered speech, and developed belief systems. Prehistoric people first lived in hunter-gathering communities and eventually some began adapting into agrarian and pastoral societies.

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Focus Questions for Era 1

1. How did prehistoric humans develop physically?
   
   
2. How did physical geography determine the lives of early humans?
   
   
3. How did prehistoric humans populate the globe?
   
   
4. How did prehistoric humans evolve from hunter-gathering societies to agrarian and pastoral societies?
   
   
5. What are the enduring legacies that developed during this era?
   

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Global Themes for Era 9

• Adaptation to the environment: Prehistoric humans responded to their environments and climatic changes by forming certain settlement patterns.
  
  
• Patterns of human population and migration: Prehistoric humans migrated from Africa and spread throughout the globe.
  
  
• Development and diffusion of technology: Prehistoric humans invented and utilized various technologies to improve their lives.
  
  
• Social structure: The agricultural revolution in the Neolithic period altered social, economic, cultural, and political structures.
  

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Benchmarks:

NOTE: Red Bolded content in the indicators is considered essential and must be taught in all classrooms. Content which is not bolded goes beyond the scope and sequence of the state standards.

Benchmark 1.0: The student will improve skills in historical research and geographic analysis during the prehistoric era. (WHI.1)

1.0 Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Identify, analyze, and interpret sources to make generalizations about events and life during the prehistoric era.
   
   
2. Use maps, globes, artifacts, and pictures to analyze the physical and cultural landscapes of the world and interpret the past during the prehistoric era.
   
   
3. Identify major geographic features important to the study of world history during the prehistoric era.
   
   
4. Identify and compare modern political boundaries with the location of human activities during the prehistoric era.
   
   
5. Analyze trends in human migration and cultural interaction during the prehistoric era.

Benchmark 1.1: The student understands the physical development of prehistoric humans. (WHI.2)

1.1 Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Describe the types of evidence and the methods of investigation that anthropologists, archaeologists, and other scholars use to reconstruct the physical development of prehistoric humans (carbon dating, fossils, artifacts).
   
   
2. Trace the approximate chronology, sequence, significance, and advantages of bi-pedal locomotion, opposable thumbs, increased brain size, and speech of prehistoric humans (from pre-Australopithecus to Homo sapiens who emerged in Africa between 100,000 and 400,000 years ago).
   

Benchmark 1.2: The student understands how prehistoric human communities populated the major regions of the world. (WHI.2)

1.2 Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Infer from archaeological evidence the characteristics of hunting-gathering societies (nomadic, clans, dependent upon wild plants and animals).
   
   
2. Analyze current theories regarding the migration of Homo sapiens (from Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas).
   
   
3. Explain how climatic and geographic features created push and pull factors that allowed human migrations between the different continents (Ice Ages).

Benchmark 1.3: The student understands how prehistoric humans adapted to their environments and formed agricultural and pastoral societies. (WHI.2)

1.3 Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Describe how prehistoric humans used fire, shelter, clothing, tools, and oral language during the Paleolithic Era/Old Stone Age (cave art).
   
   
2. Explain how archaeological discoveries are changing theories to explain how and why human groups developed into different forms of social/economic organizations.

Benchmark 1.4: The student will understand how agricultural and pastoral societies developed around the world. (WHI.2)

1.4 Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Infer from archaeological evidence the social, cultural, gender, technological, and religious organization of early societies (Stonehenge).
   
   
2. Describe the social, cultural, gender, technological, and economic characteristics of large agricultural settlements (Catal Huyuk, Jericho).
   
   
3. Compare the social, cultural, gender, technological, and economic structures of hunter-gathering and agricultural societies.
   
   
4. Explain the consequences of the agricultural revolution in the Neolithic Era/New Stone Age (advanced tools, developed agriculture, domesticated animals, pottery, weaving).

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Legacies

• The modern human species fully emerged out of biological evolution and cultural developments.
  
  
• Prehistoric humans mastered speech, thus gaining the capacity to learn from one another and transmitting knowledge.
  
  
• Prehistoric humans peopled the globe and adapted to diverse environments in Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas.
  
  
• Prehistoric humans adapted their environments which led to the emergence of agrarian societies characterized by the domestication of plants and animals.
  
  
• Cultural forms, social institutions, and technological advances that emerged in early agricultural villages laid the foundation for the emergence of early civilizations.

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