ABOUT 150,000 YEARS AGO
Appearance of modern man:
A new type of homo sapiens appears, it is the homo sapiens sapiens (modern man) . It evolved in a hostile environment, that of the last period of the Würm glaciation.
– We are all descendants of Homo sapiens sapiens.
– He is from East Africa.
– He has a large, rounded skull, a straight forehead and a small jaw.
– He expresses himself as well as we do.
– There is probably one chief per tribe.
– He makes the first handle tools.
– He sews his clothes in animal skins with bone needles and leather straps.
– He is nomadic and dries his meat so he can travel.
– He trades between tribes, exchanges his experience and information about new places.
– He probably believes the world is controlled by powerful spirits or gods, as he performs religious ceremonies to ask for help, protection, and benevolence.
Between the appearance of Neanderthal man (about 200,000 years ago) and homo sapiens sapiens (about 150,000 years ago), 50,000 years passed.
ABOUT 85,000 YEARS AGO
Conquest of new worlds:
Modern man colonizes the rest of the world by leaving Africa by the Red Sea.
ABOUT 40,000 YEARS AGO
The law of the strongest:
The modern man repels the Neanderthals out of the best hunting grounds. Neanderthals died of starvation, weakened, succumbed to disease and disappeared completely 30,000 years ago. During this same period, modern man has supplanted all primitive peoples and only they remain on earth.
ABOUT 35,000 YEARS AGO
Primitive art:
The modern man painted animals on the cave walls. He may believe that they are spiritual guides, because it is by following them that he has discovered new horizons. He sculpts also women and animals. He paints on his body and that of his dead . He begins to create calendars primitives that allow him to better locate himself in time.
ABOUT 30,000 YEARS AGO
Evolution of modern man:
– He hunts mammoths, eats them and makes bone huts with their skins.
– He makes the first musical instruments (drums, flutes). He probably dances!
– He makes jewelry (specific ornaments for chiefs or according to social rank).
ABOUT 18,000 YEARS AGO
The Lascaux caves:
It was in 1940, in the Dordogne, that the caves of Lascaux were discovered by children. Because of the real masterpieces it contains, the cave was immediately classified as a historical monument. The caves contain more than 1,900 painted and engraved representations of animals dating from the Palaeolithic period. superior. The original cave was closed to the general public in 1963 to prevent deterioration. An exact copy named Lascaux 2, was created 200 meters further on in 1983. It represents the 2 largest rooms, ie 90% of the original paintings. This spectacular reproduction is a striking sight to see at least once in your life...
Useful link:
www.lascaux.culture.fr
ABOUT 12,000 – 10,000 YEARS AGO:
End of the Würm glaciation period:
As the climate warms, the ice melts and sea levels rise, large forests appear. Mammoths are dying out, reindeer are migrating north, and horses and bison are becoming rare.
Beginning of the Neolithic period:
This period is also called the “New Stone Age”. Man passes from the stage of predator to that of producer. Some tribes change location with the seasons, others, less nomadic, find places to hunt, fish and gather all year round. They begin to sedentarize . The man begins to tame the wolf cubs who allow themselves to be domesticated in exchange for food. Their descendants will produce the first hunting dogs.