Ancient people. In 1959, in the Olduvai Valley in Kenya, the English archaeologist L. Leakey made one of the most famous archaeological discoveries. He discovered the oldest remains of the bones of humanoid creatures that were adjacent to tools, which made it possible for scientists to call these creatures Homo habilis - "handy man." Other discoveries followed. It is now believed that the oldest people appeared about 3 - 2.5 million years ago.
The discovery of the bones of humanoid creatures with tools produced by them testifies to the separation of man from the natural world, although there is another view of human development, where the formation of upright posture (3.5 million years ago) is considered to be the main one.
The humanoid creatures that appeared in Africa were very different from modern humans in anatomical structure: they had a significantly smaller brain volume, smaller height (about 120 cm) and weight (about 50 kg), massive superciliary arches hung over their eyes. The Habilis were already walking on two legs. The earliest people did not yet use speech as a means of communication. Life expectancy rarely exceeded 20 years.
People of that time lived in groups, but did not yet feel mutual kinship, and therefore these groups were fragile, easily disintegrated and formed again. To a large extent, relations in such collectives resembled relations in an animal herd, hence the name attached to them - a primitive human herd. The herd consisted of 25 - 40 individuals.
The basis of the diet of the most ancient people was plant food obtained by gathering. The meat ration was poor. Man was far from the strongest or fastest animal, and he had not yet acquired the skills of collective hunting.
Initially, the most ancient people lived in the savannas and woodlands of Africa. However, human herds were quite mobile and easily moved from place to place. Approximately 1.5 million years ago, human groups began to settle outside Africa and mastered large territories Eurasia, located in the zone of tropical and subtropical climate. In Europe, a person appears, as we can now judge, about 1 million years ago. However, there were still very few people in quantitative terms, and therefore their separate groups were separated by vast uninhabited territories.
We can talk about the origin of human speech already 500 thousand years ago. This indicates a sufficiently developed consciousness. The use of fire also belongs to this time.
About 180 thousand years ago, the Neanderthal was formed.
The separation of man from the natural world occurred as a result of mastering the production of tools and the beginning of their use in the process of everyday work.
Periodization of the history of primitive society. Most of the history of mankind is the period of primitive society. During this period, development was very slow.
This process can be traced most clearly in the example of the improvement of the tools of labor of primitive man. They were made of stone and therefore well preserved.
It was the changes in the tools of labor that formed the basis of the existing periodization of the history of primitiveness. The entire period when tools were made of stone was called the Stone Age. According to the level of improvement in stone processing, Paleolithic is distinguished, which in Greek means ancient stone, - 2.5 million years ago - 12 thousand years BC, Mesolithic (middle stone) - 12 - 8 thousand years BC and Neolithic (new stone) - 8 - 4 thousand years BC.

Cooling on the ground and the onset of the glacier. About 100 thousand years ago, a general cooling on the globe began, as a result of which a glacier began to advance from the north. It covered vast territories, and in Eastern Europe reached the latitude of Kyiv.
By that time, man had already inhabited significant territories of Eurasia. Now most of these territories have turned into tundra. A sharp climate change has seriously affected the life of human collectives. People accustomed to a warm climate did not tolerate the cold well. The flora and fauna that surrounded people changed dramatically. Most of the edible plants disappeared, and numerous herds of northern animals appeared in human habitats: mammoths, deer, horses, and bison.
One of the most significant adaptations of man to new living conditions began. The diet has changed dramatically. People have mastered the collective driven hunting of large animals. Meat became their main food.
The role of fire in human life has increased. It warmed the person and was used for cooking meat food. Fleeing from the cold, man began to use clothes and build permanent dwellings.
This time turned out to be quite favorable for people's lives, which is associated, for example, with an abundance of meat food, as evidenced by the demographic rise at that time.
The emergence of man modern look.
About 40 thousand years ago, a modern man appeared, called by scientists Homo sapiens - a reasonable man.
Through the isthmuses that existed at that time, man entered Australia and America. The resettlement of people in different geographical conditions led to the beginning of the process of racial formation. The result was] the division of mankind into Caucasians, Mongoloids and Negroids.
Not only the appearance distinguished Homo sapiens from their predecessors. The most important event for the formation of man as a species was the realization of new relationships within the collectives. Now we call these relations social or public.
First of all, this was expressed in the affirmation of kinship relations between people. It was a real revolution in a person's life. It was the recognition of kinship that stabilized human groups, led to the regulation of relations between people and made tribal communities permanent and cohesive associations, which was not observed either in the animal world or in the primitive herd. A tribal community arose, all members of which were descended from a common ancestor.
The most important step towards the formation of social relations was the ban on marriage or sexual relations between relatives. Women were now allowed to be taken in neighboring friendly clans. This, in turn, led to the establishment of stable relationships between separate genera. Several friendly clans began to unite into tribes.
There was a ban on killing a relative, and if he died at the hands of a foreigner, the family avenged his death. "Blood feud" in many ways contributed to the containment of bloody clashes and wars between clans, since it was not safe to kill a person, because he was under the protection of his clan. Therefore, the most terrible punishment was expulsion from the clan.
Tribal associations were also important because only the entire clan had the opportunity to feed themselves. Social differentiation in the tribal community of the period of hunting and gathering did not yet exist. All property of the clan, including food, was common. Relatives helped each other in all matters, jointly obtained food. Everyone made a feasible contribution to the life of the community and received from it as much as possible.
A huge role in the formation of social relations between people was played by the emergence of the main means of communication - language.
It should be noted in the development of Homo sapiens how social type and the meaning of religion. The question of the reasons for its appearance is very difficult. However, it is clear that this was the first attempt by people to explain the world around them, which indicates the emergence of abstract thinking.
The religious views of the people of that time were manifested in the emergence of rites of burial of the dead.
It is known about the emergence of a fertility cult at this time. Fertility was personified by goddesses with disproportionately thick bodies. Archaeologists call their figurines "Paleolithic Venuses".
The appearance of abstract thinking in the Late Paleolithic is also evidenced by paleolithic art. A grandiose impression is made by the preserved "cave galleries" in the caves of France, Spain and in the Kapova cave in Russia.
Social relations and abstract thinking have become hallmarks of Homo sapiens from its ancestors.

). As sources of prehistoric times of cultures, until recently devoid of writing, there may be oral traditions passed down from generation to generation.

Since data on prehistoric times rarely concern individuals and do not even always say anything about ethnic groups, the main social unit prehistoric era humanity is an archaeological culture. All terms and periodization of this era, such as Neanderthal or Iron Age, are retrospective and largely arbitrary, and their precise definition is subject to debate.

Terminology

A synonym for "prehistory" is the term " prehistory”, which is used less frequently in Russian-language literature than similar terms in foreign literature (eng. prehistory, German Urgeschichte).

To denote the final stage of the prehistoric era of any culture, when it itself has not yet created its own written language, but is already mentioned in the written monuments of other peoples, the term “protohistory” (eng. protohistory, German Fruhgeschichte). To replace the term primitive society characterizing the social structure before the emergence of power, some historians use the terms "savagery", "anarchy", "primitive communism", "pre-civilization period" and more. In Russian literature, this term has not taken root.

Non-classical historians deny the very existence of communities and primitive communal system, interconnection, identity of power and violence.

From the following stages of social development primitive society distinguished by the absence of private property, classes and the state. Modern studies of primitive society, according to neo-historians who deny the traditional periodization of the development of human society, refute the existence of such social structure and the existence of communities, communal property under the primitive communal system, and in the future, as a natural result of the non-existence of the primitive communal system - the non-existence of communal agricultural land ownership until the end of the 18th century in most countries of the world, including Russia, at least since the Neolithic.

Periods of development of primitive society

AT different times different periodization of the development of human society was proposed. So, A. Ferguson and then Morgan used the periodization of history, which included three stages: savagery, barbarism and civilization, and the first two stages were broken by Morgan into three stages (lower, middle and higher) each. At the stage of savagery, hunting, fishing and gathering dominated human activity, there was no private property, there was equality. At the stage of barbarism, agriculture and cattle breeding appear, private property and social hierarchy arise. The third stage - civilization - is associated with the emergence of the state, class society, cities, writing, etc.

Morgan considered the lowest stage of savagery, which began with the formation of articulate speech, to be the earliest stage in the development of human society, the middle stage of savagery, according to his classification, begins with the use of fire and the appearance of fish food in the diet, and the highest stage of savagery - with the invention of onions. The lowest stage of barbarism, according to his classification, begins with the advent of pottery, the middle stage of barbarism - with the transition to agriculture and cattle breeding, and the highest stage of barbarism - with the beginning of the use of iron.

The most developed periodization is archaeological, which is based on a comparison of man-made tools, their materials, forms of dwellings, burials, etc. According to this principle, the history of mankind is mainly divided into stone age, bronze age and iron age.

Stone Age

The Stone Age is the oldest period in the history of mankind, when the main tools and weapons were made mainly of stone, but wood and bone were also used. At the end of the Stone Age, the use of clay (dishes, brick buildings, sculpture) spread.

Periodization of the Stone Age:

• Paleolithic:
  • Lower Paleolithic - the period of appearance ancient species people and widespread Homo erectus .
  • The Middle Paleolithic is a period of displacement of erectus by evolutionarily more advanced human species, including modern humans. Neanderthals dominated Europe during the entire Middle Paleolithic.
  • The Upper Paleolithic is the period of domination of the modern type of people throughout the globe in the era of the last glaciation.
• Mesolithic and Epipaleolithic; the terminology depends on how much the region has been affected by the loss of megafauna as a result of the melting of the glacier. The period is characterized by the development of technology for the production of stone tools and common culture person. Ceramic is missing.
• Neolithic - the era of the emergence of agriculture. Tools and weapons are still stone, but their production is brought to perfection, and ceramics are widely distributed.

copper age

Copper age, copper- stone Age, chalcolith (gr. χαλκός "copper" + Greek. λίθος "stone") or Eneolithic (lat. aeneus"copper" + Greek. λίθος "stone")) - a period in the history of primitive society, a transitional period from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. Approximately covers the period 4-3 thousand BC. e., but in some areas it exists longer, and in some it is absent altogether. Most often, the Eneolithic is included in the Bronze Age, but sometimes it is also considered a separate period. During the Eneolithic, copper tools were common, but stone tools still prevailed.

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period in the history of primitive society, characterized by the leading role of bronze products, which was associated with an improvement in the processing of metals such as copper and tin obtained from ore deposits, and the subsequent production of bronze from them. The Bronze Age is the second, late phase of the Early Metal Age, which replaced copper age and pre-Iron Age. Generally, chronological framework Bronze Age: 35/33 - 13/11 centuries BC e., but different cultures they differ. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the end of the Bronze Age is associated with the almost simultaneous destruction of all local civilizations at the turn of the 13th-12th centuries. BC e., known as the bronze collapse, while in the west of Europe the transition from the bronze to the iron age drags on for several more centuries and ends with the appearance of the first cultures of antiquity - ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

Bronze Age periods:

1. Early Bronze Age
2. Middle Bronze Age
3. Late Bronze Age

iron age

Treasure of Iron Age coins

The Iron Age is a period in the history of primitive society, characterized by the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools. For civilizations of the Bronze Age, it goes beyond the history of primitive society, for other peoples, civilization develops in the era of the Iron Age.

The term " iron age” is usually applied to the “barbarian” cultures of Europe, which existed synchronously with the great civilizations of antiquity (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Parthia). From ancient cultures The "barbarians" were distinguished by the absence or rare use of writing, in connection with which information about them has come down to us either according to archeology or from references in ancient sources. On the territory of Europe in the era of the Iron Age, M. B. Schukin identified six "barbarian worlds":

• proto-Germans (mainly Jastorf culture + southern Scandinavia);
• mostly Proto-Baltic cultures of the forest zone (possibly including Proto-Slavs);
• Proto-Finno-Ugric and Proto-Sami cultures of the northern forest zone (mainly along rivers and lakes);
• steppe Iranian-speaking cultures (Scythians, Sarmatians, etc.);
• pastoral-agricultural cultures of the Thracians, Dacians and Getae.

History of the development of public relations

The first tools of human labor were a chipped stone and a stick. People obtained their livelihood by hunting, which they conducted jointly, and by gathering. Human communities were small, they led a nomadic lifestyle, moving in search of food. But some communities of people who lived in the most favorable conditions began to move towards partial settlement.

The most important stage in human development was the emergence of language. Instead of the signal language of animals, which contributes to their coordination in hunting, people got the opportunity to express in language the abstract concepts of “stone in general”, “animal in general”. This use of language has led to the ability to teach offspring with words, and not just by example, to plan actions before the hunt, and not during it, etc.

Any booty was shared among the whole team of people. Tools of labor, household utensils, decorations were in the use of individual people, but the owner of the thing was obliged to share it, and in addition, anyone could take someone else's thing and use it without asking (remnants of this are still found among individual peoples).

The natural breadwinner of a person was his mother - at first she fed him with her milk, then she generally took upon herself the responsibility of providing him with food and everything necessary for life. This food was supposed to be hunted by men - the mother's brothers, who belonged to her family. Thus, cells began to form, consisting of several brothers, several sisters and the children of the latter. They lived in communal dwellings.

Specialists now generally believe that during the Paleolithic and Neolithic times - 50-20 thousand years ago - social status women and men were equal, although it was previously believed that at first matriarchy dominated.

At first, neighboring clans and tribes exchanged what nature gave them: salt, rare stones, etc. Both whole communities and individuals exchanged gifts; This phenomenon is called gift exchange. One of its varieties was "silent exchange". Then the tribes of farmers, pastoralists and those who led the agricultural and pastoral economy stood out, and between the tribes with different economic orientations, and subsequently within the tribes, the exchange of products of their labor developed.

Some researchers believe that the tribes of hunters, who did not adopt an agrarian lifestyle, began to “hunt” the peasant communities, taking away food and property. This is how a dual system of producing rural communities and former hunters who plundered them formed. The leaders - the leaders of the hunters gradually moved from raiding robbery of peasants to regular regulated requisitions (tributes). Fortified cities were built for self-defense and protection of subjects from the raids of competitors. The last stage in the pre-state development of society was the so-called military democracy.

Power and social norms in primitive society

The emergence of religion

The primitive tribes did not have special clergymen; religious and magical rites were performed mainly by the heads of tribal groups on behalf of the whole clan or by people who, by personal qualities, gained a reputation for knowing the methods of influencing the world of spirits and gods (healers, shamans, etc.). With the development of social differentiation, professional priests stand out, arrogating to themselves the exclusive right to communicate with spirits and gods.

see also

• Early history (protohistory)

Notes

Links

• Alekseev V.P., Pershits A.I. History of primitive society: Proc. for universities on special "Story". - M .: Higher. school, 1990

• "The transition from primitive to class society: ways and options for development." Part I

The primitive communal system is the longest period in the history of human development. This is the beginning of the history of development social society- from the rise of Homo sapiens (about 2 million years ago) to the emergence of states and civilizations.

The most ancient settlements

The oldest finds of the ancestors of Homo Sapiens confirm the fact that a continuous process of human evolution took place on the lands of Eastern and Central Europe. One of the ancient burials was discovered in the Czech Republic (Przezletice). The remains of hominids found there are dated to a period of about 800 thousand years BC. e. These and others interesting finds confirm the hypothesis that in the Lower Paleolithic certain areas of Europe were inhabited by ancestors modern people.

During the Middle Paleolithic period, the birth rate of hominids increased sharply, which is consistent with the large number of archaeological finds of the remains of humanoid creatures that lived 150-40 thousand years ago. The excavations of this time are associated with the emergence of a new type of people - the so-called Neanderthals.

Neanderthals

Neanderthals inhabited almost the entire continental part of Europe (without northern England), the north of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The primitive society of those times was a small group of Neanderthals living in a large family, engaged in hunting and gathering. The ancestors of modern people used various tools, both stone and made from other natural materials, such as wood or bones of large animals.

The history of primitive society in the ice age

The last ice age began a little over 70 thousand years ago. The life of the ancestors of people has become much more complicated. The onset of cold weather completely changed the primitive society, its foundations and customs. Climate change has increased the importance of fire as a source of heat for ancient people. Some animal species have disappeared or migrated to warmer climes. This led to the fact that people needed to unite to hunt large game.

At this time, there is a driven hunt, in which a large number of people take part. In this way, Neanderthals hunted deer, cave bear, bison, mammoth and other large animals common in those days. At the same time, the development of primitive society extends to the first reproductive methods of economic activity - agriculture and animal husbandry.

Cro-Magnons

The process of anthropogenesis ended approximately 40 thousand years ago. Formed a man modern type and organized tribal community. The type of person who replaced the Neanderthals was called the Cro-Magnon. He differed from the Neanderthals in growth, and a large brain volume. The main occupation is hunting.

The Cro-Magnons lived in small caves, grottoes, structures built from the bones of mammoths. The high level of social organization of these people is proved by numerous cave and rock paintings, sculptures for religious purposes, ornaments on tools of labor and hunting.

In the era of the Upper Paleolithic in the center and in the east of Europe, tools were constantly improved. Some archaeological cultures that exist simultaneously for a long time are isolated. During this period, a person invents arrows and a bow.

tribal community

During the Upper and Middle Paleolithic, new type organizations of people - tribal community. Its essential features are ritual forms of self-government and common ownership of tools.

Basically, the tribal community consisted of hunter-gatherers who united in associations of families connected by living conditions, family kinship, and common hunting grounds.

The spiritual culture of primitive society in this era represented the beginnings of animism and totemism associated with the cult of fertility and the magic of hunting. Preserved drawings carved on stone or painted in caves. The primitive society left to the descendants a legacy of talented nameless artists, whose drawings we can observe in the Kapova cave in the Urals or in the Altamira cave in Spain. These primitive paintings laid the foundation for the development of art in later eras.

Mesolithic era

The history of primitive society changes with the end of the ice age (10-7 thousand years ago). This event led to a forced change in the social development of the primitive community. It began to number about a hundred people; covered a certain territory, which was engaged in fishing, hunting, gathering.

In the same era, primitive society gives birth to a tribe - an ethnic community of people with the same linguistic and cultural traditions. In the middle of such communities, the first governing bodies are formed. Power in a primitive society passes into the hands of the elders, who make decisions about resettlement, the construction of huts, the organization of collective hunting, and so on.

In wartime, power could pass to the shaman chiefs, who played the role of the formal leaders of the tribe. The system of socialization and transfer of knowledge, skills and experience has become more complicated young generation. The specifics of housekeeping and new social roles led to the emergence of a paired family as the smallest unit of primitive society.

Naturally, the norms of primitive society do not allow us to talk about family relations in modern meaning this word. Such families were of a temporary nature, their role was to perform certain collective actions or rituals. The culture of primitive society became more complex, ritualism appeared, which became the prototype of the emergence of religion. The first burials associated with the emerging belief in the afterlife date back to the same time.

The emergence of the concept of ownership

The improvement of farming and hunting tools led to a change in the worldview and social behavior of people. The nature of work has changed - specialization has become possible, that is, certain people were doing their jobs. The division of labor in the community has become a necessary condition for its existence. Primitive society discovered inter-communal exchange. Pastoral tribes exchanged products with agricultural or hunting communities.

All of the above has led to a modification of the concept of "property". There is an understanding of the personal right to household items and tools. Later, the concept of ownership was transferred to land plots. The strengthening of the role of men in agriculture, the structure of communal ownership of land led to the strengthening of the power of men - patriarchy. Patriarchal relations, together with the definition of private property, are the first steps towards the emergence of statehood and civilization.

Foreword

It is believed that from the depths of centuries a stream of human thought moves, the impulse to master the world, to know the environment. This "stream" was started back in the pre-glacial period by unknown geniuses - the discoverers of fire, the first builders, the inventors of the wheel, and then the pyramid builders, thoughtful scribes and temple scientists joined it. ancient east, philosophers of Hellas, Rome and the Middle Ages, London gentlemen - scientists who formed in the XVII century. Royal Society. Undoubtedly, Francis Bacon was right, who at one time declared to mankind: "Knowledge is power!" Knowledge increases the power of a person, saves him from misfortunes, illnesses and troubles, creates numerous opportunities, in particular, space exploration, and besides, it gives sharp intellectual pleasure.

This manual will allow pupils and students in preparation for exams to update, supplement "to systematize knowledge of world history. Structure, presentation actual material focused on higher education programs educational institutions. Taking into account the experience of preparing applicants and students, the authors present the material in such a way as to help pupils and students understand the logic of changes in public life, the historical process as a whole. Particular attention is paid to issues that are insufficiently covered in modern textbooks.

Remember famous proverb: "Who controls the past, the future belongs to him."

The life of people in primitive times

Primitive society: chronology, occupations of people

The period of existence of primitive society in time was the longest in the history of mankind. According to the latest data, it originates at least one and a half million years ago. In Asia and Africa, the first civilizations arose at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium AD. e., in Europe and America - in i thousand k. e. The periodization of the history of primitive society is a complex and as yet unresolved scientific problem.

AT modern science there are several periodizations of primitive society: general (historical), archaeological, anthropological, etc. From special periodizations primitive history the most important is archaeological, which is based on differences in the material and technique of making tools. According to this, the history of primitive society is divided into three periods - stone (from the appearance of man - III millennium BC), bronze (III-I millennium AD) and iron (I millennium AD). - And St. AD).

The Stone Age (about 3 million years - PI thousand years ago) continued differently in different regions. Some tribes moved to the use of metal while others remained at the Stone Age stage.

The Stone Age, in turn, is divided into:

Lower Paleolithic (2.5 million-150 thousand years ago);

Middle Paleolithic (150-40 thousand years ago);

Upper Paleolithic (40-10 thousand years ago);

Mesolithic (10-7 thousand years ago);

Neolithic (6-4 thousand years ago);

Eneolithic (4~3 thousand years ago).

The oldest finds of human ancestors confirm the fact that complex processes of human evolution took place on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. The oldest remains of an ancient man (hominid) were recorded on the territory of the Czech Republic (Przhezletice). Using the aleomagnetic method, they are dated to the period of 890-760 thousand years ago.

In the 70-80s of the XX century. Ukrainian expedition led by V.M. Gladilina found the remains of a multi-layered site of human ancestors near the village of Korolevo (Transcarpathia). Similar sites have been found in Hungary (Veteshselles). Finds of the remains of this period are very fragmentary, more common are finds of tools, especially stone choppers and axes, made on the basis of classical Paleolithic technologies.

So, in the era of the Lower Paleolithic, part of Europe was inhabited by the ancestors of modern man. In anthropology, these ancestors were called Noto egesiev ("man with a straight gait").

In the Middle Paleolithic era, there was a population explosion, which led to a sharp increase in the number of attractions. These monuments are associated with such a type of human ancestors as the Neanderthal. Some researchers consider this species to be transitional to modern humans. For Central and Eastern Europe, the number of known settlements increases 70 times compared with the time of the Lower Paleolithic. Almost the entire continental part of Europe was inhabited, with the exception of the north of England, the north of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

The Neanderthal is a representative of one of the stages of human evolution, who lived from the Intermediate Period (Riesswurm) until the beginning of the last stage of glaciation (120,000-35,000 years ago). The name comes from the Neanderthal area in Germany. Many of his finds are known in Europe, Asa, Africa, behind which certain differences, branched branches of evolution and its various stages are noticed. The Neanderthal is characterized by short stature, a figure slightly inclined forward, a large skull with a brain volume of 1300-1700 cm3, pronounced brow ridges, a sloping forehead, and a poorly pronounced chin protrusion. The participation of the Neanderthal in the formation of modern man is debatable. They lived in small groups, hunted and gathered. They were the creators of the culture of the Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian). The most famous burial from the grotto Teshik-Tash.

In Ukraine, finds of the remains of Neanderthals related to the late phase (Kiik-Koba, Zaskalna in the Crimea). There is evidence of the presence of Neanderthals at the sites of Molodovo (Ukraine), Shali Galovce (Slovakia), Shipka (Moravia), Shubayuk (Hungary). Famous sights make it possible to identify local groups that have significant differences in material and spiritual cultural traditions. In Central Europe, this period is characterized by the first finds of mines, in which flint (Bern, Switzerland), limonite and hematite (Balatonlovas, Hungary) were extracted for production activities. Neanderthals used a variety of tools and weapons not only from stone, but also from wood, bone and horn.

In the era of the last ice age (wurmsk cooling, which began about 70 thousand years ago, the activity of human ancestors became more complicated. The onset of glaciers changed the nature of economic activity. Some animal species died out or went south, and this led to the emergence of specialized hunting associated with one Neanderthals hunted the cave bear (Northern Black Sea region, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Hungary), deer (Germany), bison (Volga, Kuban, Azov region), mammoth (Dniestria, Hungary), wild donkey and saiga (Crimea ).The main food of Neanderthals in Europe was meat. For a group of 20-30 people, 200 kg of meat per week was needed. The need for food contributed to the emergence of hunting by the dead method (animals are driven into natural and artificial traps or into a group of hunters that throw spears or up to 100 people took part in such hunts.

Primitive hunters - from the beginning of the formation of human society, hunting has been one of the main forms of economy. In the Paleolithic period, driven hunting for large animals spread. For this, large groups of people, shouting with torches in their hands, drove herd animals to the cliff. Frightened by screams and fire, the rear animals pressed against the front ones, and the whole herd was broken, falling from a height. This use of raw materials was very unproductive, as more animals died than needed for food. In the Mesolithic period, the bow and arrows were invented, which made hunting safer and made it possible to hit small animals and birds from afar. Hunting became more productive, which in turn reduced the number of game and led to a crisis in the hunting economy. With the introduction of reproducing forms of economy (agriculture and cattle breeding), hunting begins to play an auxiliary role in the southern zone and retains its importance in the forest zone.

Depending on the new types of activities and everyday life, the technology for making tools was also changing. It consisted in detailed additional retouching of the working parts of tools and weapons. In the conditions of cold zones, people learned to make fire, which now protected them from the cold. Not only material culture, but also a spiritual culture was born. On the basis of hunting, the first religious ideas appear, in particular the cult of the cave bear (Switzerland, Germany). Burials of Neanderthals record the emergence of knowledge about the other world.

The process of anthropogenesis ends about 40 thousand years ago with the formation of a modern type of man and the organization of a tribal community. The person who changed the Neanderthal is called Cro-Magnon The term "Cro-Magnon" in a purely archaeological sense refers only to people who lived in the south-west of France around the Upper Paleolithic era (40-10 thousand years ago). But very often this name is used to refer to the first modern people (Homo sapiens) anywhere in the world.

Cro-Magnon is the name of a man of the pіznоpaleolit ​​period "the immediate ancestor of modern man. The name comes from the Cro-Magnon area in France, where a skull and some bones were found in 1868. Unlike the Neanderthal, he was tall (185 - 194 cm), had a larger volume brain (1800 cm3), a higher forehead without superciliary ridges, protrude, a narrow nose, a well-defined chin protrusion. Many bone remains found on different continents testify to differences at this stage of human evolution. The Cro-Magnon man was engaged in hunting. The collective lived in caves, grottoes, rock sheds and structures built from mammoth bones. high level his social organization testify cave drawings and sculptures that had a cult purpose,

In the era of the Upper Paleolithic in Central and Eastern Europe, tools were constantly improved. There are several archaeological cultures that coexisted for a long time (40-10 thousand years ago). During this period, man invented the bow and arrow. The Upper Paleolithic era is characterized by two types of dwellings: small round and oval huts up to 6 m in diameter with one hearth and a frame made of bones, mammoth tusks or poles (Mezin, Mezhyrich, Dobranichivka in Ukraine, Sholvar in Hungary, Elknitsa in Germany) and many hearth houses (about 9 x 2.5 m) - Kostenki (Russia), Vernene (Germany), Pushkari (Ukraine), Dolni Vestonice (Czech Republic).

It was then that the most common form of coexistence was the tribal community, which arose in the Middle Paleolithic era. For example, the territory of Hungary (93 thousand square kilometers) was inhabited by approximately 74 communities.

community - a form of social (collective) organization of people, characteristic of almost all peoples. It arose during the time of the primitive communal system. Its inherent features were common ownership of the means of production and traditional forms of self-government. With the development of society, property inequality and private property, the form of the community also changed: tribal (matriarchy), family (patriarchy), rural (land). With the formation of large feudal land ownership, the community lost its independence, turning into an organization of direct producers dependent on the ruling strata. Disintegrated with the development of capitalist relations. The land community was preserved in the Russian Empire by the beginning of the 20th century. In a broad sense, the term "community" is used to refer to a variety of communities: rural communities, urban communes, compatriots, religious societies.

The hunter-gatherers that made up these tribal communities formed associations of families connected by living conditions, kinship, and a common hunting territory. In terms of spiritual culture, this era is marked by the spread of totemism and animism associated with hunting magic. There are signs of primitive art. In most of Central and Eastern Europe, an area is being formed in which small plastic arts, geometric ornamentation and engraving on rocks predominate, samples of cave painting are rare, more common in Western Europe.

Primitive art emerges in the Late Paleolithic. It reflects the surrounding world and human knowledge of the mysterious forces of nature, efforts aimed at ensuring their own existence, and the like. Arises from material phenomena, embodies human needs. Preserved drawings applied with paints or carved on stone. Famous rock and cave painting. Graphics were developed on products made of bone and horn. Closely associated with cult, hunting magic and the cult of fertility, primitive art was supposed to ensure successful hunting, the fertility of animals and the continuation of the human race. It was an integral part of the life of that time, gradually acquiring such aesthetic qualities as the realism of images or their abstract or stylized reproduction, monumentality, compositionality. Different regions have their own peculiarities. The paintings are widely known in the Altemira caves in Spain and the Kapo cave in the Urals. In addition to wall paintings, there are well-known plastic images of people and animals. In particular, "Venus" from Willendorf on the Danube, Kostyanka on the Don. Famous excavations of mammoth bones (Mizin on the Desna), Primitive art became the basis for the development of the art of subsequent eras.

Big changes take place in the Mesolithic era (10-7 thousand years BC). The end of the ice age led to the death of some animals that were the objects of hunting. The mammoth lived on the territory of Ukraine in the 11th millennium AD. e., woolly rhinoceros and steppe bison - by IX-VIII millennium BC. e. Musk ox, giant deer, lion, hyena disappeared, and reindeer and fur animals moved to the north of the region. A characteristic feature of the Mesolithic was the development of tools in the direction of improving throwing weapons and the appearance of small flint and stone tools, hoes, stone mortars, and the like.

In the era of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic, certain changes took place in the structure of the tribal community. It became larger (up to 100 people) and covered a certain territory on which several groups were engaged in hunting, gathering or fishing, which formed large or small-phratries.

On the day of the Mesolithic, a tribe is formed - an ethno-cultural community, which is characterized by a common language and cultural traditions. Under the conditions of migration, the tribe becomes the object of expanding marital ties. Inside large communities, governing bodies began to form, consisting of influential elders of the communities (they were engaged in organizing collective hunting, resettlement, building housing, distributing prey, and performing certain rituals). Sometimes rituals and control over family and marriage customs were assigned to shaman leaders (formal leaders who were replaced by inheritance from the maternal line). The line of leaders played an important role during the period of military conflicts, since it had a rigid authoritarian character. The elders acted in peacetime and, as a rule, coordinated their activities with the elders of other clans.

The system of socialization (transfer of experience to younger generations) has become more complex. The first step in this direction was the emergence of rites of initiation and preparation for it (trials for enrollment in members of the genus) in the first-born community. The needs of economic and social activities led to the emergence of a temporary paired family as an institution or the lowest level of the team. It did not have a sustainable character, but it helped to be responsible for the implementation of collective actions, while maintaining the collective nature of the appropriation of a natural product and exogamous sexual relations within the community.

In UE thousand kn. e. "reproductive economy" comes to Europe. From the south of the Balkans, these impulses were directed to the northwest, north and northeast. In the middle of the 5th millennium AD. That is, on the territory of the eastern Hungarian Transdanubia, Moravia, Southwestern Slovakia, there is an original culture of linear-tape ceramics. The carriers of this culture in the second half of the 5th - early 4th millennium AD. e. extend agriculture and cattle breeding along the waterways (Danube, Vistula, Laba, Rhine, Dniester and Prut) to a vast territory from the Meuse (in the west) to the Dniester (in the east), from the interfluve of the Sava and Drava (in the south) to the Odra ( in the north).

The settlements of the carriers of linear-tape ceramics are concentrated near the rivers. Wooden houses of frame-pillar construction were located at a distance of 15-20 m. From one to several families lived in the house. The cemeteries of this culture are rich in finds. Polished stone axes, products from non-local raw materials, handicrafts are found in the grave inventory of male burials.

Agriculture in Europe was at first hoe farming. It turned out to be quite laborious and unproductive. A large number of small cattle also could not completely replace hunting. Only the appearance in the UP thousand k. e. ral, some elements of arable farming and a primitive slash-and-burn complex and irrigation gave the farmers the opportunity to gain certain advantages in obtaining food. It was then that the transition from a round to a rectangular shape of housing took place, which confirms the steady trend towards complete settlement, since this form of housing made it possible to complete the necessary residential and utility premises.

The transition to reproductive forms of management and increasing the efficiency of the results of people's economic activities led to changes in their way of life and psychology. The land on which production took place acquired new features: it became not only an object, but also the result of human labor. The nature of work has also changed. It required a greater level of cooperation and at the same time formed the specialization of production processes. The division of labor within the community became a necessary condition for its continued existence. There was also an inter-communal exchange. Communities with a cattle-breeding profile exchanged products with the Rilnitskys or the hunting and picking communities. The objects of exchange were handicrafts (ceramics, tools) and raw materials.

All this led to a modification of the concept of "property". There is an understanding of the personal right to tools and household items and an awareness of the hereditary, collective right to land. Ownership of land was characterized by a certain hierarchy: only the clan could dispose of it, adult members had the right to own individual plots, and the family only had the right to use it. Personal property declined given this hierarchy. The tribal territory had a certain name and plots were allocated on it, which had a sacred tribal significance: a place for rituals, sanctuaries, sources of drinking water and raw materials, a forest. With the strengthening of the role of men in arable farming, the structure of communal property acquired a patriarchal character, and the need for additional workers stimulated the transformation of the tribal community into a neighboring one.

Under the conditions of marriage large communities and the formation of their original cultural and economic complexes, the formation of ethnocultural communities took place. The tribe (a group of communities) became the basic ethnic unit. Exchange, the weakening of military conflicts, the common conduct of rituals are factors of ethnic consolidation. For Western Asia and Eastern Europe, the main event was the emergence of the Indo-European family of languages. Most researchers believe that it is with the culture of linear-band ceramics that the emergence of tribal culture in Eastern and Central Europe should be associated. social organization. She was characterized by:

The existence of a community of field-breeding and cattle-breeding type, which was formed by 60-100 people living in the settlement;

The presence of an economic area within a radius of 5 km around the settlement. This area was in the collective community property.

New impulses from the zone of Western Asia to the Balkan Peninsula contributed to the emergence of new cultures on the basis of the old traditions of painted ceramics. In the 5th millennium to n. e. peculiar cultures of Sesklo (Thessaly), Vincha (the Balkans and the Carpathian basin), Kara-novo Sh - Veselinovo (Thrace) are formed here. With the advent of metals, this region enters the Eneolithic day.

On the territory of modern Moldova and Ukraine, it consists at the beginning of the 4th millennium AD. e. Tripolsko-Kukutenska historical and cultural community. It is characterized by arable farming with the use of oxen, the use of draft transport (drags). The bearers of the culture used copper and gold to make jewelry, and copper to make axes and adzes. Traces of welding at a temperature of 350-400 C were found on some Trypillian axes.

Weaving, leather-working, pottery rose from the level of domestic crafts to the level of crafts such as metallurgy and metalworking. Exchange and barter became widespread and led to the social differentiation of society. Most researchers note that the Trypillia culture was ahead of all other regions of Europe in terms of development. Regional centers appear here, and the area of ​​settlements and population increases sharply. In the developed Trypillia, the average area of ​​a settlement is 25-60 hectares.

An important direction in the development of cattle breeding was the domestication of new animal species. Researchers believe that the area of ​​domestication of horses can be associated with the territory of Ukraine. In the settlement of Dereivka, remains of bones with clear signs of domestication were found. The time of the finds (4th millennium BC) makes it possible to say that the horse came to the regions of Western Asia from the north Black Sea steppes. The presence of cattle and horses made it possible to solve the problems of draft power and transport.

The real revolution began with the advent of the wheel. Until recently, Western Asia and Mesopotamia were considered the birthplace of the wheel. But the finds of clay models of wheels in the Carpathian-Danubian area (5th - mid-4th millennium BC) force us to change this scheme. Now it is generally accepted that the spread of various types of wheeled transport is associated with the Eneolithic settlements. Southeast Europe(they have been known here since the 4th millennium BC).

It should also be noted the appearance of tribes that made regular migrations associated with grazing. They could engage in agriculture, but the main role in the economy was played by the exchange of livestock and livestock products for agricultural products. Thus, a new type of economy arose - nomadic cattle breeding. The Caspian-Black Sea steppes became the area for the formation of nomadic pastoralism in Europe. The driving force behind these processes may have been a change in the humidity of the region's climate. But the emergence of a nomadic way of life should not be absolutized: the new pastoral communities were in close contact with tribes that specialized in arable farming or metallurgical production. Near the community complexes of the reproduction economy lived tribes who continued to live from hunting, fishing and gathering. They also continued to improve their social structure, as contacts with neighbors stimulated the development of social organization in them.

On the basis of contacts, there is a rapid progress in handicraft production. In Europe, its center was the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical center, which arose in the 6th millennium AD. e. and gave impetus to the development of metallurgy Trypillia culture(East). The oldest metal production is localized in Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia. Products were made mainly of copper, only in the second quarter of the 4th millennium AD. e. Things made of bronze appear. From the second half of the 4th millennium to n. That is, its own Trypillya metalworking center began to operate, although raw materials came there from the Balkans. It is worth emphasizing the relative amount of metal things. Central Europe at that time as a whole produced only up to 16.5 tons of copper per year. Therefore, for a long time, copper products were considered luxury items, only weapons and ritual items were made from it. However, Sh thousand k. e. became a time of noticeable changes for Central and Eastern Europe. It was then that the complex process of replacing the Eneolithic cultures with the cultures of the Bronze Age took place, which researchers associate with the processes of ethnogenesis of the peoples of Europe.

W thous. kn. e. - a period of great importance for the development of the population throughout Europe. It had a transitional character, since new archaeological cultures arose in the expanses of the continent in the zones of the Mediterranean, the south of the Balkans and the Western Caucasus. The first cultures of the Bronze Age were the Early Omino culture on the island of Crete, the Early Helladic culture of Greece, the Early Thessalian culture, the Early Macedonian culture, and the Early Bronze Age culture in Thrace.

The second half of the 3rd millennium AD e. was characterized by large migrations of tribes, which significantly influenced the formation and education of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe.

In the second quarter of the 3rd millennium AD. That is, in Central and western Eastern Europe, the culture of spherical amphoras has become widespread, its monuments are found on the Laba, Odra, Vistula, and at a developed stage, the carriers of this culture penetrate into the upper reaches of the Western Bug, and from there - into the upper reaches of the Prut, Seret and Dniester. The settlements of the culture of globular amphora, discovered in the Czech Republic, consist of column dwellings with walls smeared with clay. In these settlements, the remains of cereals (wheat and barley) and legumes were found, and an increase in the number of pigs was witnessed.

during the IV-III millennium to n. That is, a large historical community of bearers of the Yamnaya culture arises, which covered the expanses from the Southern Urals to the Prut-Dniester basin. In the north, its range reaches Kyiv and the Samara Luka, and in the south it reaches the foothills of the Caucasus.

No less important than the Yamnaya cultural and historical community for Central Europe was the culture of Corded Ware, or battle axes, the formation of which dates back to the second half of the PI millennium BC. e. It consisted of a number of genetically related cultures that covered the territory from the banks of the Rhine to the Volga. Cups with a cord pattern and polished axes in male burials are their specific feature. The Corded Ware culture is considered to be field-cultivation and cattle breeding. Since its carriers spread to the north and east, this culture is characterized by adaptation to local natural conditions, which is especially clearly seen in the regions of Poland and the Baltic states. Here "stringers" were carriers of new reproductive technologies that are replacing hunting types of management. The same can be said about the development of metalworking and metallurgy. Particularly actively developed tools for slash-and-burn agriculture, characteristic of the bearers of this culture, who lived mainly in the forest area.

Another large migration from the western direction swept Western and Central Europe at the end of the 3rd millennium AD. e. in connection with the movement of carriers of the culture of bell-shaped cups. The culture formation area is considered to be Central Portugal. From this zone, culture begins to penetrate into Brittany, and from it - to the region of the sources of the Rhine. The problem of the emergence of the Central European centers of this culture, which covered the regions of the Czech Republic and Moravia, as well as the regions of modern Austria, Bavaria, Hungary, Saxony and Poland, remains unresolved. The bearers of the culture of bell-shaped cups on the banks of the Danube were engaged in breeding horses, made copper knives and jewelry.

An analysis of the burial grounds of all cultures of the Bronze Age makes it possible to draw conclusions about the nature of social changes. The finds of weapons prove that military conflicts and migrations have become the realities of life for the population of Central and Eastern Europe. As a rule, most clashes arose over a herd of cattle. Against the background of these clashes, intercommunal exchange developed, which also accelerated the processes of stratification within the tribes. The role of the family is growing, which is evidenced by the presence of paired burials in large collective burial grounds. The appearance of burial mounds among the bearers of the Yamnaya culture, where the size of the mound (diameter 110 m, height 3.5 m) required the efforts of a large number of people (about 500 people over 80 days), indicates that a process of separation of the military aristocracy took place. Ordinary members of the community had the right only to a mound with a diameter of 20 to 50 m with equipment in the form of pottery.

The inhabitants of Central-Eastern Europe led a mixed field-and-pastoral economy and, in search of new pastures for livestock, were forced to settle in mountainous regions. Cattle dominated almost everywhere in the structure of the herd. The role of sheep, goats and pigs in supplying the population with meat remained secondary.

In the first half of the II millennium AD. That is, agriculture became a characteristic phenomenon, although in some regions of the steppe zone of Eastern Europe it could have appeared earlier. Farming was arable, which indicates a significant step forward, since a ralley with a team of oxen could cultivate large areas of land. During the Late Bronze Age, the sandy soils of the hills were incorporated into the production process, the forests were cleared, and the river valleys became less used. The hunting regime is being reduced, since some of the animals (tur, bison, roe deer, wild boar, deer) were intensively exterminated in previous times. On the coast of the Baltic Sea, fishing played a significant role, there are images of boats and even the first ships. Wheeled transport appears - wagons with solid and composite wheels.

IN II millennium to n. e. in the economy of the then population of Central-Eastern Europe, the importance of deposits of copper and tin ores is growing. Copper deposits were located in the areas of the Czech Ore Mountains, the Carpathians and the Balkans. In the last two areas, the development of deposits began earlier than anyone else in Europe. From 1700-1500 to n. e. copper production began in the Eastern Alps. Mining technology II millennium AD e. very well studied on the basis of Austrian materials. The Mitgerberg mines (near Salzburg) were cut into the hill to a depth of 100 m, following the layers of copper pyrite. It is estimated that each of the 32 mines was developed over a period of seven years by teams of 180 workers each.

Some communities in the Late Bronze Age began to specialize in the manufacture of tools. However, stone tools continued to compete with bronze ones "and only their shape resembled metal ones. Only at the end of the II - beginning of the 1st millennium BC in the southern and central regions of Europe, the bulk of the population began to use metal tools more widely, as evidenced by the finds of settlements metal craftsmen, for example Velem-Sengvіd (Hungary).

salt mining was of great importance at that time. So, in Upper Austria and Southern Germany, there was a salt mining area, where salt is produced by evaporation, and then pressed and dried in the form of "salt heads". It very often became a subject of exchange, as well as copper, bronze, gold and products made from them, faience beads, amber and amber jewelry, sea shells.

In the second half of the II millennium AD. e. Central Europe becomes a zone of intensive exchange. At present, the existence of regular active trade through the Carpathian and Alpine passes has been proven. The exchange was carried out at the community level, and, unlike the countries of the East and the Mediterranean zone, all members of the community took part in it. The length of trade routes is amazing. It is known that Baltic amber was found in some mine graves of Mycenae.

Military clashes in the tribal environment of Central and Eastern Europe not only aimed at economic interests (theft and protection of livestock, food sources and raw materials), but also accelerated the formation of elements of social development (strengthening the power of the military leader and the emergence of a military aristocracy).

Specific areas in the Bronze Age were the steppes of Eastern Europe. In the first half of the 1st millennium k. That is, a catacomb cultural and historical community spread here, which had a characteristic feature of the funeral rite: the dead were buried in special catacomb chambers dug in one of the walls of the grave pit. The Catacomb community occupied a significant territory from the Dniester to the Volga. In the south, its borders were the foothills of the Caucasus (Kuban and the Terek zone).

Catacombs (from Latin - underground tomb) - underground rooms of natural or artificial origin. In ancient times, they were used mainly for religious rites and the burial of the dead. Such catacomb structures have been preserved in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. During the early Bronze Age, there was a catacomb culture spread in the territories of Ukraine and the Don region and in the Kalmyk steppes. The dead were buried in the catacombs - pіdboyakh. The main occupation of the tribes of this culture is cattle breeding and agriculture. The abandoned underground quarries are sometimes called catacombs, for example, near Odessa, Kerch.

Cattle breeding and agriculture forced the people of this community to lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle. There was metallurgy and metalworking (near Artemovsk). Gold items were rare here, but the military aristocracy can be seen in the materials of burial mounds, some of which reached a height of 8 m and a diameter of 75 m. They contain traces of violent murder during the burial of the leader and his wife. In some burials, the remains of a horse were found, which indicates the high position of the buried.

In the late Bronze Age, monuments of the Srubna culture appeared, which existed in the zone of the steppe regions of Eastern Europe. This cultural and historical community is characterized by burials in pits or log cabins. It is believed that the Catacomb and Srubnaya cultures were a continuation of the traditions of the Yamnaya culture. Some researchers argue that the Catacomb culture arose as a result of migration, and the Srubnaya culture was the remnants of autochthonous inhabitants. Researchers of the burials of the Srubnaya culture identify traces of social differentiation, in particular, "burials of tribal elders."

The role of the tribe as a single force capable of protecting the population from attacks by neighbors was strengthened by the possibility of developing new territories. The tribal organization accelerated the crisis of kinship relations and stimulated the emergence of new forms of territorial ties.

Against the background of these processes, the first cults of the gods arose, which in the 2nd millennium BC. e. have become typical for the region of Central and Eastern Europe. This is the cult of the goddess of fertility and the goddess of the earth. From the Middle East came the cult of the goddess of water. The cult of the bull and the cult of the sun were considered traditional for the region, represented by a golden disk with a halo or a circle with four spokes. The change in the funeral rite reflects the trend of changes in everyday life. The body is changed by cremation. According to the beliefs of the ancient inhabitants, fire helped the soul to free itself from the body.

In P thousand to n. e. The scale of migrations and complex ethno-cultural processes is decreasing. For this period, the most significant migration was the movement of tribes of the kurgan grave culture to the Middle Danube region. Unlike the previous era, this migration had the characteristic features of a military invasion. The culture of barrow graves for Central and Eastern Europe is now dated from 1500 to 1200 r. to n. e. The center of this culture was Bavaria, Württemberg and the area where the Unetice culture used to exist. In the XIII century. to n. e. The culture of barrow graves is changed by the culture of the fields of burial urns, which covers the transitional period from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Researchers believe that the emergence of the culture of the fields of burial urns coincides in time with the processes of formation of the ancient European Italian, Germanic, Illyrian, Celtic and Venetian ethnic groups.

Crete and Achaean Greece became the primary center of statehood in Europe, which already at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. e. formed the world of palace complexes. Through them, Europe got acquainted with the system of states of the eastern type. Soon the processes covered new areas of the European continent.

The schedule of the primitive communal system in the pastoral farmers was a natural result of the Neolithic revolution that took place in the economy. Various signs of such a disposition already existed in the newborn community of farmers-pastoralists. However, it took time for these trends to manifest themselves in full force. New, more advanced labor skills should have been formed, the population should have grown, and the most important component of the productive forces, the means of labor, should have progressed. Therefore, the discoveries and development of the useful properties of metals were of great importance. This was the impetus for cultural and social shifts in the history of mankind.

1. Approachesto the periodization of the prehistoric period.

2.

3. Neolithic revolution.

4. The formation of nations.

Approaches to the periodization of the prehistoric period.

The entire period of the past of mankind is usually divided into two uneven periods. The first - the largest - is called prehistoric(or prehistory), the second - historical (civilization).

The oldest form of organizing people's lives was the primitive communal system (about 2.5 million - 6 thousand years BC). It was the longest era in the history of mankind, the reason for which was the slow pace of development of society in its early stages. All stages of the primitive communal system are united by the collective nature of people's lives, which is apparently due to the great difficulties of survival.

It is generally accepted to divide primitive society into periods according to the main materials that were used to make tools (Fig. 1):

This periodization, of course, does not mean that tools were not made from wood and bone in the Stone Age, and from stone in the Bronze Age. We are talking about the predominance of one or another material. In the Stone Age, which is usually identified with the primitive communal system, there are three eras:

- paleolith(Greek - paleolit ​​- ancient stone) - up to 12 thousand years ago;

- Mesolithic(Greek - mesolit middle stone) - up to 9 thousand years ago;

- Neolithic(Greek - neolit ​​new stone) - up to 6 thousand years ago.

Epochs are divided into periods - early (lower), middle and late (upper), as well as into cultures characterized by a uniform complex of life objects.

The creator of the cultures of the Lower Paleolithic was a man of the type Pithecanthropus Middle Paleolithic - Neanderthal, Upper Paleolithic - Cro-Magnon. This definition is based on archaeological research in Western Europe and cannot be fully extended to other regions. About 70 sites of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic and about 300 sites of the Upper Paleolithic have been studied on the territory of Russia.

In the Paleolithic period, people initially made rough hand axes from flint, which were unified tools. Then the manufacture of specialized tools begins - these are knives, piercers, scrapers, composite tools, such as a stone ax

In the Mesolithic, microliths predominate - tools made of thin stone plates, which were inserted into a bone or wooden frame. At the same time, the bow and arrows were invented.

The Neolithic is characterized by the manufacture of tools from soft rocks of stone - jade, slate, slate. A more advanced and complex technique of sawing and drilling holes in stone, polishing stone is being mastered.

The stone age is being replaced short period Eneolithic, i.e., the existence of cultures with copper-stone implements. Respectively. First, the technology for manufacturing copper tools is based on such a processing method as cold forging, and then casting.

The Bronze Age began in Europe in the 30th century. BC e. At this time, in many regions of the planet, the first states arise, civilizations develop - Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Mediterranean, Mexican in America. The first iron products appear on the territory of Russia around the 7th century. BC e.

Another periodization system based on complex characteristics of material and spiritual cultures, suggested to an American scientist Lewis Morgan. According to this system, primitive society is divided into three periods:

Civilization.

Period wildness- this is the time of the early tribal system (Paleolithic and Mesolithic), it ends with the invention of the bow and arrows. During the period barbarism ceramic products appear, agriculture and animal husbandry appear. For civilization characterized by the emergence of bronze metallurgy, writing and states.

Finally, in the 20th century scientists proposed systems of periodization of primitive society, the criterion of which was evolution of forms of ownership. In a generalized form, such a periodization can be represented as follows:

The era of the primitive herd;

The era of the tribal system;

The era of the decomposition of the communal-tribal system (the emergence of cattle breeding, plow farming and metal processing, the emergence of elements of exploitation and private property).

Anthropogenesis and features of the transition to the tribal system.

Early Paleolithic - the time of the formation of man (anthropogenesis). This process is extremely lengthy and complex. It has not yet been fully studied; science has accumulated more questions than answers on this problem. The first human ancestors who embarked on the path of anthropogenesis were australopithecines(about 2.5 million years ago), already walking on their hind limbs, which released the front ones and thereby created the prerequisites for labor activity.

ancient people(archanthropes) were traditionally considered Pithecanthropus(monkey-man) and Sinanthropus(a variety of Pithecanthropus found in China) that appeared about 1 year ago. In science, this human ancestor was called homo habilis - skillful person.

Early Paleolithic- the time of the primitive human herd. During the early Paleolithic, there are several major glacier advances - glaciations, accompanied by a sharp cooling. For the archanthropes, existence was possible only in a warm climate that did not require clothing or housing. Neanderthals spread much more widely. At the end of the early Paleolithic, primitive dwellings and skin clothing appeared. The Paleolithic economy was consuming (appropriating). The basis of it was hunting for large animals. Plant food was obtained by collecting edible plants and digging roots out of the ground. Already the archanthropes used ready-made fire and maintained the fires. Fire gave people protection from the cold and wild animals, and reduced their dependence on the climate. A hearth appeared - a symbol of human habitation. People got the opportunity to use fried foods, which are better absorbed by the body. Still greater were the long-term consequences of mastering fire: neither ceramics nor metallurgy would be possible without it.

At the end of the early Paleolithic, about 100 thousand years ago, a Neanderthal man arose, or Neanderthal . Neanderthals are already considered to be the next stage in the development of man - to ancient people(paleoanthropists). They are much closer to modern humans than the archanthropes. Neanderthals probably already learned how to make fire. The Neanderthals apparently already had the first rudiments of religion.

The transition from the early Paleolithic to the late (40-35 thousand years ago) was marked by the appearance of a modern type of man - homo sapiens - reasonable person. With its appearance, the biological evolution of man ended, it was the second major leap in anthropogenesis: from "prehumans", archanthropes and paleoanthropes to people.

In the Late Paleolithic there is tribal structure. The tribal community with common ownership of the main means of production has become the basic unit of human society. The products of hunting, fishing and gathering were distributed equally among all members of the clan. The authority of the elders of the clan was based not on coercion, but on tradition, respect for experience and skills.

Late Paleolithic people significantly improved the technique of making stone tools: they became more diverse, sometimes miniature. A throwing spear and a predecessor of the bow, the spear thrower, appeared, which greatly increased the efficiency of hunting. Fishing arose: harpoons and remains of fish were repeatedly found at the sites of this era. Bone products, including needles, are spreading, which indicates the appearance of embroidered clothing. If at the end of the early Paleolithic the first primitive dwellings appeared, now people were already building dugouts, and sometimes entire villages from several dwellings. Man has learned to adapt to nature not biologically, but socially, to protect himself from the cold with the help of housing and clothing. These achievements have allowed people to significantly expand the limits of the habitable part of the globe. This was also facilitated by the warming caused by the retreat of the glacier.

Late Paleolithic- time of occurrence art. In many sites, female figurines are found. They testify to the cult of a woman-mother, the progenitor of the clan. In the Late Paleolithic already, undoubtedly, there is religion, there is a distinct burial rite. Some things that the deceased used during his lifetime were sometimes placed in the grave. This is evidence of the emergence of the idea of ​​an afterlife.

Thus, by the end of the Paleolithic, man learned not only to make fire and eat thermally processed food, to make complex stone and bone tools, to sew clothes, to build dwellings, to hunt and fish, but also to live in a social system with public consciousness and its important forms - art and religion. However, man did not yet know either ceramics, or metal, or wheels, or agriculture, or cattle breeding.

The most important achievement of the next stage of the Stone Age - the Mesolithic was the invention of the bow and arrows, which dramatically increased the productivity of hunting. Now, along with battue hunting, individual hunting has also arisen, not only for large herd animals, but also for small ones. There was an opportunity to create stocks of food.

In the Mesolithic era, man took the first steps in the direction of cattle breeding. The domestication, and possibly domestication, of animals began. So, in the Mesolithic, dogs, the first domestic animals, already appeared. It is possible that at the end of the Mesolithic, pigs, goats, and sheep were tamed in some areas.

The transition to the Neolithic and its duration in different areas Eurasians differed significantly from each other. First of all, it began in Central Asia (about 6 - 4 thousand years BC). In the forest zone of Russia, the Neolithic lasted for about another two thousand years, up to 2 thousand years BC. e. This was due to uneven development different regions associated primarily with natural conditions: a warm climate and fertile soil created favorable conditions for the development of the economy.

During the Neolithic period, the transition to manufacturing economy. It was then that pastoralism and agriculture were born, although hunting and gathering were still the main sources of subsistence in most Neolithic communities.

Neolithic revolution.

Changes that occurred at the end of the Stone Age (Neolithic) (about 8-6 thousand) are usually called neolithic revolution. Its main content is a radical transition from a primitive economy of hunters and gatherers to a productive agriculture based on agriculture and animal husbandry.

Major changes are taking place in the area technology the production of tools and the study of the properties of materials. Man has achieved virtuoso art in the processing of stone and bone. Processing operations such as grinding and drilling. The tools acquired new properties, became complex, composite, miniature.

4. the emergence of the first social restrictions and laws;

5. the emergence of new knowledge systems transmitted from generation to generation (through writing).

With the course of the changes associated with the Neolithic revolution, agrarian communities began to fill the Earth, as hunters had previously filled it. The importance of male labor has increased markedly - clearing the land, cultivating the soil, etc. - all this required physical strength. An important element men's unions became public organizations. The male part of the community chose leader. At first, such people were influential due to their personal qualities, and then the power of the leaders began to be transferred by inheritance. These processes resulted in the emergence privileged sections of society- leaders, priests.

People at that time livedtribal structure.tribal communities were united and united. All people worked together. The property was also shared. Tools of labor, a large family hut, all land, livestock were communal property. None of the people could arbitrarily alone dispose of the property of the community. But soon the so-called first division of labor took place (agriculture was separated from cattle breeding). A tangible surplus product began to appear, and tribal communities began to be divided into families.

Each family could independently work and feed themselves. Families demanded to share all communal property in parts, between families ( private property- from the word "part"). At first, tools, livestock, household items became private property. Instead of one large hut of a whole family, each family began to build a separate dwelling for itself. Housing also became the private property of the family. Later, the land also became private property.

Private property does not belong to the whole collective, but only to one owner. Usually such a master was the head of a large family. After the death of the head of the family, his eldest son became the owner. Private property awakens in people an interest in work. Each family understood that a good and well-fed life depends only on the hard work of family members. If the family worked hard, the entire harvest belonged to them. Therefore, people strove to cultivate arable land better, to take better care of livestock. It is sometimes said that private property arises from human greed. However, in fact, private property arose only when the economy began to develop, and when stocks of surplus product appeared. Tribal communities gradually died out. Instead they appeared neighboring communities.

Rice. Scheme of the organization of labor activity in the tribal (left) and neighboring (right) community (try to formulate the difference).

In the neighboring community, people gradually forgot about their once common relationship. It was not considered essential. Now, as a rule, they did not work as a single team, although they still worked voluntarily and without coercion. Each family in private ownership had a hut with a garden, a plot of arable land, livestock, and tools. But communal property remained. For example, rivers and lakes. Everyone could fish. Any member of the community did it on their own. The boat and the net were his private property, so the catch also became private property. The forest was a communal property, but the animals killed in the hunt, harvested mushrooms, berries and brushwood became private property. They used the pasture together, every morning driving out cattle on it. But in the evening, each family drove their cows and sheep into the barn. But the neighboring community still continued to unite people.

Gradually, out of a complex of such relations for the production and possession of a surplus product, property relations arose. inequality. Leaders and other categories of influential community members began to demand offerings to themselves from ordinary members. Captives captured in wars between tribes became slaves.

Some researchers believe that the hunting tribes, who did not adopt an agrarian lifestyle, began to “hunt” rural communities, taking away food and property. This is how the system of producing rural communities and hunting squads of hunters plundering them was formed. The leaders of the hunters gradually switched from robbery to regular exactions (tributes). Fortified cities were built for self-defense and protection of citizens from the raids of competitors. The last stage of the pre-state development of society was the so-called military democracy.

began to emerge chiefdoms- political formations (prototypes of states), which include several villages or communities united under the constant authority of the supreme leader. The tribes began to unite into unions of tribes, which gradually began to transform into nationalities. Most likely, this is how the first states in Mesopotamia arose, Ancient Egypt and Ancient India at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC.

The true revolution in the history of mankind was the development metal. The transition to it was long, difficult and not simultaneous. The development of metal became possible only on the basis of a manufacturing economy that had already emerged, with some, at least minimal, surplus of food, so that part of the time could be devoted to the manufacture of metal products. That is why the ancient blacksmithing and metallurgy originated primarily in the southern regions, where, thanks to good natural conditions, agriculture used to develop.

The first metal used by man was copper. At first, tools and decorations were made from it by cold forging, which this relatively soft metal is easily amenable to. Of course, this copper was not chemically pure: in natural deposits, copper, as a rule, contains certain impurities - arsenic, antimony, etc. But these are not yet artificial alloys, the development of which was a matter of the future.

The appearance of copper tools intensified the exchange between the tribes, because copper deposits are very unevenly distributed over the globe. Many of the tribes that used the metal lived far from its sources. Constant exchange led to significant shifts in relations.

Formation of peoples

Linguistic classification formed the basis of the ethnic picture of the world. All languages ​​are divided into large families related by a common origin and subdivided into groups of related languages. Branches are sometimes distinguished within groups, while some languages ​​are not included in groups. For example, the Indo-European language family.

Indo-European language family

Slavic group:

Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian.

Baltic group:

Latvian, Lithuanian.

German group:

German, English, Flemish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish.

Roman group:

Italian, Spanish, Moldovan, Portuguese, Romanian, French.

Iranian group:

Afghan, Iranian, Ossetian, Tajik.

Although we do not have reliable data to determine the ethnic groups of the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods, we still managed to obtain some information through the analysis of geographical names. On the territory of the Volga-Oka interfluve settled Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic peoples. Apparently, in the Late Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age, Eastern Siberia was mastered by them. Already in the Neolithic, Finno-Ugric tribes occupied the Eastern Baltic, and in the middle of the III millennium BC. e. spread throughout the forest belt of the Volga region and the Volga-Oka interfluve.

Most of Eastern Europe has long been inhabited Indo-Europeans. In the Baltics, along with the Finno-Ugric tribes, tribes have long appeared Balts.

Iranian-speaking tribes lived in southern Siberia until the beginning of our era. The heirs of the tribes of this culture were Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians.

ancestral home Turkic peoples are the steppes of Central Asia. At the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, they begin to penetrate north into Siberia and west to the Urals, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Questions for self-control:

1. List the main approaches to the periodization of the prehistoric period.

2. List the main stages of anthropogenesis with the chronology of their occurrence.

3. Describethe concept of "tribal system" and the dynamics of its development.

4. Whatmanifests the essence of the Neolithic revolution?

5. What important consequences of the Neolithic revolution can you name?

6. Tell us about the process of formation of peoples in the Euro-Asian region.

Questions for discussion (discussions on the forum):

1. What influence did the prehistory period have on the development process?

2. Is the process of anthropogenesis completed?

Complete the answers to the tasks in a MS Office Word document, save under the name "Name_History as a science" and send by e-mail: ae. *****@***ru

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