What appeared in the primitive era. Primitive people

). As sources about the prehistoric times of cultures that until recently were deprived of writing, there may be oral traditions passed down from generation to generation.

Since data about prehistory rarely concerns individuals and does not even always say anything about ethnic groups, the basic social unit of human prehistory is the archaeological culture. All terms and periodizations of this era, such as Neanderthal or Iron Age, are retrospective and largely conventional, and their precise definition is the subject of discussion.

Terminology

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

To designate the final stage of the prehistoric era of any culture, when it itself had not yet created its own writing, but is already mentioned in written monuments other peoples, the term “protohistory” (English) is often used in foreign literature. protohistory, German Frühgeschichte). To replace the term primitive communal system, characterizing the social structure before the emergence of power, some historians use the terms “savagery”, “anarchy”, “primitive communism”, “pre-civilization period” and others. This term has not taken root in Russian literature.

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

From the following stages social development primitive communal system was distinguished by the absence of private property, classes and the state. Modern research primitive society according to neo-historians who deny the traditional periodization of the development of human society, they refute the existence of such social order and the existence of communities, communal property under the primitive communal system, and subsequently, as a natural result of the non-existence of the primitive communal system - the non-existence of communal agricultural land tenure 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 periodizations of the development of human society have been proposed. Thus, A. Ferguson and then Morgan used a periodization of history that included three stages: savagery, barbarism and civilization, and the first two stages were divided by Morgan into three stages (lower, middle and higher) each. At the wild stage human activity Hunting, fishing and gathering dominated, 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 earliest stage of development of human society to be the lowest stage of savagery, which began with the formation of articulate speech; 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 the onion. 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 the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Stone Age

Stone Age - ancient 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 spread (dishes, brick buildings, sculpture).

Periodization of the Stone Age:

• Paleolithic:
  • Lower Paleolithic - the period of the appearance of the most ancient species of people and widespread Homo erectus .
  • The Middle Paleolithic is the period when erecti were replaced by evolutionarily more advanced species of people, including modern humans. Neanderthals dominated Europe throughout the Middle Paleolithic.
  • Upper Paleolithic - period of dominance modern look people throughout the territory globe during the last glaciation.
• Mesolithic and Epipaleolithic; the terminology depends on the extent to which the region has been affected by the loss of megafauna as a result of glacier melting. The period is characterized by the development of production technology stone tools labor and general culture person. There is no ceramics.
• Neolithic - the era of the emergence of agriculture. Tools and weapons are still made of stone, but their production is being brought to perfection, and ceramics are widely distributed.

Copper Age

Copper Age, copper- stone Age, Chalcolithic (Greek) χαλκός "copper" + Greek λίθος “stone”) or Chalcolithic (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 territories it exists longer, and in some it is absent altogether. Most often, the Chalcolithic is included in the Bronze Age, but is sometimes considered a separate period. During the Eneolithic, copper tools were common, but stone ones still predominated.

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 the improvement of 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 preceding the 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 synchronous destruction of all local civilizations at the turn of the 13th-12th centuries. BC e., known as the bronze collapse, while in western Europe the transition from the bronze to the iron age dragged on for several more centuries and ended with the emergence 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

Iron Age coin hoard

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. Bronze Age civilizations go beyond the history of primitive society; other peoples' civilization takes shape during the Iron Age.

The term " iron age" is usually applied to the "barbarian" cultures of Europe that existed simultaneously 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, and therefore information about them has reached us either from archaeological data or from mentions in ancient sources. On the territory of Europe during the Iron Age, M. B. Shchukin 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 earned their livelihood by hunting, which they did together, and gathering. Communities of people were small, they led a nomadic lifestyle, moving around in search of food. But some communities of people who lived in the most favorable conditions, began to move towards partial sedentarism.

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

Any spoils were divided among the entire group of people. Tools, household utensils, and jewelry 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 some peoples).

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

Experts currently 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 matriarchy dominated at first.

At first, neighboring clans and tribes exchanged what nature gave them: salt, rare stones, etc. Both entire communities and individual people exchanged gifts; This phenomenon is called gift exchange. One of its varieties was “silent exchange”. Then tribes of farmers, cattle breeders and those who ran agricultural and livestock farming emerged, and between tribes with different economic orientations, and subsequently within tribes, the exchange of products of their labor developed.

Some researchers believe that tribes of hunters who did not accept an agrarian way of life began to “hunt” peasant communities, taking away food and property. This is how a dual system of producing rural communities and plundering squads developed former hunters. The leaders of the hunters gradually moved from raiding robbery of peasants to regular regulated exactions (tribute). For self-defense and to protect citizens from attacks by competitors, fortified cities were built. The last stage pre-state development of society became the so-called military democracy.

Power and social norms in primitive society

The emergence of religion

Primitive tribes did not have special cult ministers; religious and magical rituals were performed primarily by the heads of clan groups on behalf of the entire clan, or by people whose personal qualities earned them a reputation as knowing the techniques of influencing the world of spirits and gods (healers, shamans, etc.). With the development of social differentiation, professional priests emerge, 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: Textbook. for universities for special purposes "Story". - M.: Higher. school, 1990

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

Topic 1. Primitive era history of mankind.

Many phenomena human life, including modern life, arose or began to arise in the hoary antiquity of primitive society. To name just a few: housing and clothing, agriculture and animal husbandry, social division of labor, marriage and family, morality and etiquette, useful knowledge, art and religious beliefs. In order to correctly understand the evolution of a number of elements of material culture, social norms or ideological ideas, it is often necessary to turn to their origins. This is the educational significance of primitive history.

1.1.Chronology and periodization of primitive history.

The primitive communal system was the longest stage in the history of mankind - more than a million years and covers the period from the moment of the separation of man from the animal world until the formation of class societies. It is difficult to determine its lower bound with any precision. Currently, some scientists believe that the earliest man (and thus primitive society) arose 1.5-1 million years ago, others attribute his appearance to a time of more than 3.5 million years ago. The upper limit of the primitive communal system fluctuates within the last 5 thousand years, differing on different continents. In historical science, there are several options for the periodization of the primitive era. One of them is archaeological, based on differences in the material and technique of making tools. In accordance with it, three periods are distinguished:

1.) stone age (from the emergence of man to the 3rd millennium BC),

2) bronze age (from the end of the 4th to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC),

3) iron age (from 1 thousand BC).

IN in turn, the Stone Age is divided into Old Stone Age (Paleolithic), Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic), New Stone Age (Neolithic) and transitional to bronze Copper-Stone Age (Chalcolithic).

At the early stage of the formation and development of human society, people's economic life can be characterized as an adaptation to the environment. Scientists call hunting and gathering as the main occupations of ancient people. Material culture was associated with the production of tools. New stone processing technologies are emerging; people have learned to make knives, scrapers, and tips for throwing spears from stone.

1.2. Social organization of ancient people was a non-permanent, random community of 30-50 people, the so-called ancestral communities. However, communities of people are gradually strengthening because organizing hunting, which was the main source of food, required collective efforts. Hunting and gathering provided people with only the necessary product, so the distribution and consumption of food could only be egalitarian and nothing else. Already at this early stage, leaders emerge within the ancestral community. These were those members of the community who obtained more food than others. They enjoyed authority and respect, and gradually acquired some privileges, for example, they could have more women or distribute food among community members. Thus, a natural selection of leaders took place, their word became law for the primitive collective, and already at the earliest stage of the history of human society, the preconditions for social inequality arose.

Approximately 40 thousand years BC. Homo sapiens appears, and the form of social organization of people changes accordingly. The human herd (ancestral community) is replaced by the clan community. It was a fairly large group of blood relatives and consisted of several generations. Power and control are inherent in any human community.

ABOUT features of the power of the tribal community :

1) the source of power was the entire clan community as a whole. This was the period of the so-called direct rule when people directly exercised power. Members of the clan community themselves established rules of behavior for themselves, ensured their implementation, and themselves brought violators of the established order to responsibility;

2) power functions were carried out by all adult members of the clan. The highest authority was general meeting (council) all adult members of the clan, both men and women. Of course, the general opinion was formed by the most authoritative members of the clan, and authority was determined by life experience, seniority, professional achievements, courage, and physical strength. The decisions made at the meeting were strictly binding. General meetings were convened, as a rule, to resolve the most important issues in the life of the community, relating to production, religious rituals, etc. In ordinary everyday life, people themselves understood perfectly well what needed to be done;

3) to directly manage the life of the community, the general meeting elected one or more elders. The term "elder" does not denote age, but generally recognized leadership in the community. The elder was the first among equal tribesmen. He supervised the daily activities of the clan, but did not have any benefits or privileges. His power was not hereditary. At any moment, the elder could be replaced by another member of the clan, stronger, more experienced and wise. In case of war, the clan appointed a military leader. Priests who performed ritual functions gradually emerged.

The power was elective, temporary and replaceable and relied on authority. There was no special apparatus of control and coercion, although there were opportunities for harsh coercion against those who violated the order. In addition, in the primitive community there was no specialization: as necessary, an adult member of the clan acts as a hunter, a warrior, and a manufacturer of tools. Professional military squads had not yet been created; all men capable of bearing arms participated in military conflicts. The elders (military leaders) participated in the production activities of the clan community on an equal basis with its other members.

Decomposition of the tribal community The immediate prerequisite for the process of decomposition of primitive society and the formation of classes was the rise in various spheres of production, and as a consequence, the growth of a regular surplus product. A particularly important role here was played by the further development of the manufacturing economy, the emergence of metallurgy and other types of craft activities, and the intensification of exchange.

1.3. Development of the production economy and its analogues.

The emergence of a productive economy is already at the late stage primitive community made its progressive development possible, formed various systems agriculture, integrated farming and livestock farming and cattle breeding. In agriculture, forms such as cultivation of permanent plots and fallowing have developed. Economic opportunities largely depended on natural conditions as well as the level of agricultural technology. Therefore, the evolution of primitive agriculture is more often seen in the transition from hand tools to arable ones and, accordingly, from manual (stick and hoe) farming to arable farming, which involves the use of draft animals.

The development of agriculture made it possible to use part of the grown product to feed livestock and thereby contributed to the development of cattle breeding. This especially applies to arable farming, which required draft power and directly stimulated the breeding of animals suitable for draft. An important reason for the growth of cattle breeding in the era of class formation was also the needs of exchange, which will be discussed later.

Discovery of metallurgy. The first industrially used metal known to man was copper. The use of native copper by cold or hot forging, and later by smelting copper ores, began already at the end of the Neolithic. This was a time when metal was still trying to compete with stone, and for the most part not very successfully. Copper was rare, was expensive, and was not always superior to stone in its working qualities. But the development of a new substance for the manufacture of tools - metal - subsequently largely determined the progress in the development of technology.

Then copper was replaced by bronze. Bronze tools are superior to copper ones in their working qualities: they are harder, sharper, and easier to cast. At the same time, bronze was even less accessible than copper. The situation changed only with the development of iron and the advent of the Early Iron Age. Iron is the most widespread metal in nature, and in this respect it is incomparably more accessible than copper and bronze. It is also very important that its working qualities are much higher than copper, bronze, and stone.

The emergence of crafts. The industrial achievements of the era contributed to the further development of home crafts (i.e., the production of products for one's own needs) and the emergence of crafts (i.e., the production of products for exchange or sale). Metallurgy itself was of primary importance in this regard, stimulating the transition from home-based industrial activities to craft activities proper. Tools, weapons, household items, and jewelry were made from metal. Thus, in particular, only with the advent of the Bronze Age did the sword and war chariot appear, and protective armor became widespread. Iron further expanded the range of metal products, and most importantly, contributed to the development of crafts as a special field of activity. The production of stone and bone tools, weaving and weaving, potters and even bronze casting - all these were processes available to every member of the community, and iron metallurgy required special structures, complex skills, and, in general, professional specialization and qualifications. There was also the emergence of other types of craft activities. Pottery developed, which was particularly facilitated by the invention of kilns for firing ceramics and the potter's wheel. The latter appeared not in a class society, as was previously thought, but already in a pre-class society, and even then, from the original archaic forms (turntable, circle of slow rotation) could evolve into a more perfect form (circle of rapid rotation). But neither ceramic kilns nor a potter's wheel were a prerequisite for the development of early pottery.

The invention of the weaving loom in the Bronze Age gave impetus to the development of weaving. Gradually, many other forms of household activities took on a craft character: stone, bone and wood processing, weaving, etc. The second major social division of labor in the history of mankind took place everywhere - the separation of crafts from other activities, and above all the most important of them - agriculture.

Intensification of exchange. The deepening of the first and the emergence of the second major social division of labor was accompanied by the development of exchange. The exchange of primitive communities with the specific riches of their natural environment, as we saw above, already existed in the era of the early primitive community. Now, in the course of differentiation of economic and cultural types and with the further development of the prestigious economy, both of these forms have acquired even greater importance. But, more importantly, along with them, truly economic exchange began to emerge, in which, unlike, for example, gift exchange, not so much exchange ties were valued as the things themselves received through exchange.

Farmers who did not have or did not have enough livestock of their own sought to obtain meat, dairy products, hides, wool, and especially draft animals needed as draft and means of transport from pastoralists. Cattle breeders, in turn, needed agricultural products and, since a mobile lifestyle prevented many types of craft activities, metal, pottery and other products.

With the beginning of the identification of crafts, the exchange developed even more, and most importantly, it began to be regularly conducted not only at the borders of communities, but also within them. Some of the products were produced specifically for exchange purposes. What was not made to order, not within the framework of partnership relations, etc., could already go to primitive markets, where on certain days of the week, sometimes a very significant number of people gathered from the surrounding villages.

The development of exchange (although not only it) contributed to the improvement of means of communication. Roads and bridges were improved, and widespread wheeled carts and ships with oars and sails were obtained. From the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The horse began to be used as a draft animal; in the next millennium, one-humped and two-humped camels were used as pack transport in the desert regions of Asia.

1.4.Formation of class society.

Scheme 1 Factors in the formation of class society

Development (improvement) of tools

The level of development of productive forces is increasing

The level of land cultivation technology, knowledge and skills is increasing

There is a surplus of production

There is a division of labor

There is a stratification of society (property inequality, separation of the nobility)

Exchange processes and trade are developing

Formed new way production

Public education emerges

With the emergence of a surplus product, the formation of the institutions of class society begins, including the most important of them - private property, social classes and the state. Private property was of decisive importance, making the existence of all other institutions possible. The formation of private property was the result of a two-pronged process caused by the rise of late primitive production. First, the growth of labor productivity and its specialization contributed to the individualization of production, which, in turn, made possible the emergence of a surplus product, created by one person and appropriated by others. Secondly, the same increased productivity and specialization of labor made it possible to produce a product specifically for exchange and created the practice of regular alienation of the product. This is how freely alienable private property arose. The formation of private property occurred in acute contradictions between the new and old orders. The private property principles that were making their way to life had to overcome numerous collectivist forms of production, and the still strong psychology of communal-tribal egalitarianism. The accumulation by individual families of surplus products they did not need, both in natural form and in the transformed form of treasures, was contrary to the very spirit of primitive communal traditions, and those with more property were required to share it with the less property in one way or another.

A rich man, especially if he was a big man or a leader, in order not to lose his authority and influence, had to organize magnificent feasts, generously give gifts to relatives, neighbors and guests, help those in need, etc. The stingy rich man not only lost his authority, but also could lose property.

The Birth of Exploitation and Social Classes. With the advent of surplus product and private property, social and property differentiation becomes increasingly noticeable. While the tribal and community elite accumulated wealth, ordinary relatives and community members possessed only insignificant surpluses, did not possess them at all, or even experienced deprivation. For various reasons, ordinary relatives and community members found themselves in unequal conditions: the unequal number and gender and age composition of families, the personal qualities of workers and all sorts of accidents affected them. This inequality was aggravated by the fact that prestige-economic relations, which in the past were mainly intercommunal, began to penetrate more and more into the community. Thus, the principle of equivalence of giving and bestowal began to penetrate here, replacing the previous principle of gratuitous mutual assistance. Now for financial assistance received by a relative or fellow community member, he had to pay back - first in the same amount, and then in a larger amount.

Thus, at the end of the Neolithic, an outstanding event occurred that radically changed the traditional life of the community - people learned to make metal. In addition, stone processing operations have become more complicated. Technology for the production of textiles and pottery was invented. Primitive means of transport (sleighs, skis, boats) appeared and were improved. Labor productivity has increased significantly. All these and other associated changes, including such an important factor as the accumulation of experience and knowledge, led to a radical revolution in the system of material production, called the Neolithic revolution. The meaning of this revolution in the system of material production was the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one, i.e. from hunting and gathering to farming and herding. People learned to sow grain, which provided uninterrupted food throughout the year, to raise livestock, which regularly supplied people with meat (in addition, milk, cheese, hides, leather, wool, etc.).

Fig 1 Hunting of Ancient People

Fig 2 Tools of ancient people

Fig 3 Settlement of ancient people

Introduction

There are two periods in the history of mankind - the primitive period and the period of the existence of complexly organized class societies. The first of them lasted many hundreds of thousands of years, the second - very short. In primitive times, man became man in in every sense words, his culture arose. Collectives of people were relatively small and simply organized, with a primitive way of life, which is why they are called primary - primitive. At first, people, in order to get their own food, were engaged in gathering and hunting, using stone tools. Then they began to grow the plants they needed, raise domestic animals, build houses, and create settlements.

People in primitive communities were equal in status, with the same rights and responsibilities; there were no rich or poor among them. Relationships between families and by individuals were determined by family ties, and the norm in this society was help and mutual support.

Based on the materials from which people made tools, archaeologists divide history into three “ages”: stone, bronze and iron. The longest was the Stone Age - about 2.5 million years ago, and ended 3 thousand years BC. The Bronze Age lasted more than 2.5 thousand years, and approximately in the middle II thousand BC The Iron Age has arrived, in which we live. These centuries, especially the Bronze and Iron Ages, did not begin in different regions of the Earth at the same time, somewhere earlier, somewhere later.

It’s hard to believe now, but just over a hundred years ago people believed that their appearance had remained unchanged since the advent of man. They were considered the descendants of the first man and the first woman who were created by the gods, regardless of whether they were gods of Christians, Muslims or followers of the teachings of Buddha. When human bones that differed from modern ones were found during excavations, they were considered the remains of especially strong people or, conversely, sick people. In the 40s last century in Germany, the bones of one of the ancestors of modern man, a Neanderthal, were found, which were mistaken for the remains of a Russian Cossack, a participant in the Napoleonic wars, and one respectable scientist said that these were the bones of a sick old man, who was also hit on the head several times.

INIn 1859, Charles Darwin's book “The Origin of Species” was published, which did not talk about the origin of man, but suggested that man, like other living beings, could also change, develop from simpler to more complex forms. From that moment on, a struggle began between those who believed that man had descended from apes and their opponents. Of course, we were not talking about gorillas, chimpanzees or orangutans known to us, but about some extinct species, ancestors common to humans and monkeys.

Primitive

1.1. Primitive.

In the XIX V. Very few skeletal remains of ancient people were known. Now many of them have been discovered. The most ancient ones were found in Africa, so it is believed that it was on this continent that the evolution of apes, which lasted many millions of years, led to the emergence of humans. 3.5-1.8 million years ago, creatures that were called Australopithecus- southern monkeys. They had a small brain and massive jaws, but they could already move in an upright position and hold a stick or stone in their hands.

Scientists believe that the first stone tools appeared about 2.5 million years ago. These were stones with sharp edges and flakes from them. With such tools it was possible to cut a branch, skin a killed animal, split a bone, or dig a root out of the ground. The one who made them received the name "a skilled man" ( homo habilis ). Now he is considered the first representative of the human race.

A “skillful man” moved on his feet, and his hands were adapted not only to hold a stick or stone, but also to make tools. These ancient people did not yet know how to speak; like monkeys, they gave each other signals with cries, gestures, and grimaces. In addition to plant foods, they ate the meat of animals, which they probably hunted. Their groups were small and consisted of several males, females with cubs and adolescents.

Appeared about 1 million years ago the new kind - "straightened man" ( homo erectus ), pithecan-trope, those. ape-man. This creature still resembled its animal ancestors. It was covered with fur, had a low forehead and strongly protruding brow ridges. But the size of his brain was already quite large, approaching the size of the brain of a modern person. “Upright Man” learned to make various tools from stone - large regular-shaped axes, scrapers, incisors (See Appendix 1, 2). With such tools it was possible to chop, cut, plan, dig, kill animals, skin them, and cut up carcasses.

The development of labor skills, the ability to think, and plan their activities allowed these people to adapt to life in different climatic conditions. They lived in the cold regions of Northern China and Europe, in the tropics of the island of Java, and the steppes of Africa. During the existence of “upright man,” the Ice Age began. Due to the formation of glaciers, the level of the World Ocean dropped, and land “bridges” arose between land areas previously separated by water, along which people were able to penetrate, for example, to the island of Java, where the first bones of Pithecanthropus were found .

The sites were located along the banks of rivers and lakes, in places where large herds of animals lived. Pithecan-tropes sometimes lived in caves, but not in the depths, where it was dangerous, but at the exit. Brave hunters, whose prey were large and strong animals, drove herds of deer, bulls, and elephants onto cliffs, into ravines or gorges, where they killed them with spears and stones. The spoils were divided among everyone. Primitive people began to use fire, which warmed them, protected them from animals and helped them hunt. They began to cook food over the fire, which had previously been eaten raw.

ABOUT hunting large animals, protection from dangers, relocation to new territories - all this required the combined efforts of many people. Their teams had to be quite numerous and united. The complexity of the lifestyle led to the fact that older people began to teach younger ones, and teenagers stayed with their parents and relatives longer than before. These people already knew how to speak. And yet they too physical development, and the development of culture proceeded very slowly: Pithecanthropus, like the tools they created, remained almost unchanged for about 1 million years.

1.2. Neanderthals.

The impact of the natural environment and the complication of human activities led to the appearance of ancient variety "homo sapiens" - Neanderthal(named after the German Neanderthal Valley, where his remains were first discovered). He no longer differed much from a modern person, although he was roughly built, had a low forehead and a sloping chin. According to one scientist, he would not want to meet such a creature at night in a city park. But these people had a more lively mind and were better adapted to the difficult conditions of the Ice Age than their predecessors, the Pithecans, who eventually became extinct.

Neanderthals began to populate previously uninhabited areas of southern Europe, Asia, and Africa. They climbed into caves where huge cave bears went to hibernate. The height of these animals reached 2.5 m, length -

3 m, and such large animals were killed by people armed with spears, stones, and clubs. Huge accumulations of bear bones have been found in caves in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and other countries.

Neanderthals improved the tools invented by Pithecanthropus. Their shape has become more regular and varied. Neanderthals wore clothes made of skins and knew how to build simple dwellings, and about 60 thousand years ago they learned to make fire. The pace of development is accelerating: stone processing technology is now being improved much faster than before. Let us remember how long the tools of Pithecanthropus existed, and the tools made by Neanderthals were in use for 70 thousand years, after which they were replaced by more advanced ones.

The fairly high level of development of the Neanderthals and their culture can be judged by the fact that the tools in the different regions of the Earth inhabited by them were no longer as identical as before. At this time, one of the features of human culture begins to take shape - its diversity. At the same time, some signs of physical differences in the inhabitants appear different areas, races are formed.

The relationships between people in the groups that Neanderthals lived in are becoming stronger. Realizing that they belonged to a chain of changing generations, people began to bury their dead. Some animals also do not abandon their dead relatives: for example, elephants throw branches at them. Perhaps the ancestors of the Neanderthals also hid their dead. People specially dug holes where they laid the dead. Often burials, and numerous ones, were made in caves. Everyone was buried - women, children, old hunters. Often such burials were surrounded by stones, weapons, the skull of some small animal, even flowers were left in them. The remains were sprinkled with red ocher or pieces of this mineral were placed next to the deceased. Probably, red was already perceived as the color of life.

People not only realized the need to take care of the weak and sick, they got the opportunity to do it. In order for a seriously wounded person to recover, it was necessary to take care of him and share food with him. Skeletons of clearly seriously ill people are found in the burials, and in one of them the remains of a man without an arm were found. This means that people could already obtain enough food to feed not only growing children, but also the weak, sick, and old people. Probably, under such conditions, ideas about good and bad in people’s relationships began to take shape, i.e. moral standards.

Neanderthals were the first people about whom it can be said that they performed some kind of rituals. In caves, specially collected and even arranged in a certain order, bear skulls are found. Some rituals apparently took place around them. It is noteworthy that human skulls were treated in a special way: individual burials of skulls were discovered in special pits.

1.3. "A reasonable man."

Problematic are the questions of which of the most ancient hominids should be classified as the most early forms homo sapiens and when they appeared. There is an opinion that the time of their origin is not 40 thousand years ago, as is commonly believed, but 100 thousand years or even more. According to many researchers, between homo sapiens and Neanderthals there are no biological and cultural barriers.

It is also not yet entirely clear how the Neanderthal man was replaced by modern man. It is known that it appeared suddenly in Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa. In Palestine, skeletons of Neanderthals were found, more developed compared to their other relatives, who already had the characteristics of a person, who was previously called Cro-Magnon, but now they prefer a more general name - "modern man type". (It is called in Latin homo sapiens sapiens - like a “twice intelligent man” in comparison with the Neanderthal, who is only ho - mo sapiens neandertalensis - “non-anderthal homo sapiens.”) People who supplanted the Neanderthals 40-30 thousand years ago (100 thousand years ago) no longer had the features that gave their predecessors a somewhat bestial appearance: their hands became less powerful, their forehead higher, they have a chin protuberance.

The appearance of modern man coincides with the beginning last period ancient stone age - about 35 thousand years ago. During this era, which did not last long compared to the previous ones - only 23-25 ​​thousand years, people populated all continents, except, of course, Antarctica. They penetrated into Australia along the “bridges” created by glaciation. This is believed to have happened about 20 thousand years ago. Probably, America was inhabited 40-10 thousand years ago: one of the ways people penetrated there was the bottom of the Bering Strait, which was dry land.

At that time, the technology of making stone tools reached a very high level of development. Many of them were now made from plates of regular shape, which were separated and “squeezed out” from prismatic-shaped cores. Plates different sizes subjected to additional processing, blunting the edges or removing them using bone or wooden instrument thin scales from the surface. The most suitable stone for making tools was flint, which is often found in nature. They also used other minerals that split easily and were quite hard and fine-grained. Some knife-like blades were so sharp that they could be used for shaving. The technique of making tools and weapons became masterly. It was at this time that the forms of many things were formed, which later began to be made of metal: spear tips, daggers, knives.

Bone tools - awls and needles - began to be widely used. A device was made from bone and horn that made it possible to increase the flight range of a spear - a spear thrower. Bone products were decorated with carvings - ornaments or images of animals, which was believed to give them special power.

During this era, onions appeared in some places. In total, about 150 types of stone and 20 types of bone tools of the Late Old Stone Age are now known.

This was the time of the last glaciation. Herds of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and bison grazed in what are now cities in France, Spain, and southern Russia. Following the herds of animals, communities consisting of small families - father, mother, children - moved. Hunting animals provided not only meat, but also material for making tools and jewelry. Our ancestors especially loved necklaces made from animal teeth. They also engaged in fishing, which was abundant in rivers and lakes.

People now lived not only in caves or grottoes, but also in parking lots, in durable dwellings. The materials for buildings were probably often wood and skins, but the ruins of half-dugouts made from mammoth bones have reached us. Huge bones and tusks were used to build the frame of the dwelling, which was then covered with skins, branches, and partially covered with earth. The ruins of such large dwellings, which belonged to several families, were found during excavations near Voronezh and in Ukraine.

Chapter 2. The emergence of human society.

2.1. Proto-community (primitive human herd).

The historical reconstruction of the original human society is perhaps the most difficult problem of primitive history. In the absence of any direct parallels, it can only be judged on the basis of indirect data. This, on the one hand, is our information about herd relationships among monkeys, on the other hand, some facts of archeology and anthropology, as well as those facts of ethnology that, with a greater or lesser degree of probability, can be considered as remnants of the most ancient, pre-sapient state humanity. Comparison and analysis of all these data make it possible to form a general, although largely hypothetical, idea of ​​the social life of that time, but, of course, they leave room for numerous ambiguities, purely logical guesses, and controversial assumptions.

As already mentioned, the initial form of organization of society in national science is often called the “primitive human herd.” At the same time, some scientists believe that the use of this term is unlawful, since it combines incompatible concepts - the herd nature of relationships is attributed to primitive human groups, therefore, vulgarization and biologization of social processes is allowed development. But this objection is hardly valid. The term “primitive human herd” precisely conveys the dialectical originality of the organization of the most ancient and ancient people, its transitional state from the prehuman herd of animals to the “ready”, formed society. Therefore, using here, like many other specialists, the term “ancestral community,” we are guided only by the fact that it is shorter and more convenient.

What chronological boundaries date the era of the ancestral community? Its beginning obviously coincides with the separation of man from the animal world and the formation of society. There is no doubt that the emergence of goal-setting work activity was associated not only with a change in man’s relationship with nature, but also with a change in the relationships between members of the original human collective. Thus, the beginning of the era of the ancestral community coincides with the appearance of quite consciously manufactured and used tools. The final milestone of the era of the ancestral community was the emergence of a “ready-made” human society to replace it - the communal system. Back in the early 1930s, archaeologists P.P. Efimenko and P.I. Boriskovsky suggested that the transition to a communal system occurred at the turn Late Paleolithic. New archaeological finds do not refute this assumption, but allow us to assume that the transition from an ancestral community to a community could have occurred earlier. Consequently, the end of the era of the ancestral community coincides with the transition from the Early to the Middle or Late Paleolithic. New data still requires comprehension, and here we will adhere to the previous synchronization of the era of the ancestral community.

The progressive development of stone tools, changes in the physical type of man himself, and finally, the fact that the communal system could not arise immediately, in a ready-made form - all this shows that the ancestral community was not a uniform form frozen in time. Therefore, a distinction is often made between the early ancestral community of the most ancient people and the more developed ancestral community of Neanderthals. Some scientists even call this later ancestral community of Neanderthals with special terms (“primitive community”, etc.).

The ancestral community was, apparently, a small group of people. It is unlikely that a large group could feed itself given the weak technical equipment of Early Paleolithic man and the difficulty of obtaining food. Gathering requires a lot of time, and provides relatively little food, and most often low-calorie food; as for hunting large animals, already known to primitive man, then it was fraught with great difficulties, accompanied by many victims and was not always successful. Thus, it is difficult to imagine that the ancestral community consisted of more than a few dozen, most likely 20-30 adult members. It is possible that such ancestral communities sometimes united into larger ones, but this unification could only be accidental.

The life of the ancestral community most likely was not the life of gatherers and hunters randomly moving from place to place. Excavations at Zhoukoudian paint a picture of settled life over many generations. Many cave camps of the Early Paleolithic era, excavated in different parts Eurasia over the past 60 years. This is all the more likely because the richness of the Quaternary fauna made it possible to use the feeding area for a long time and, consequently, made it possible to occupy well-located and convenient sheds and caves for permanent housing. It is likely that these natural dwellings were used in some cases for several years, in others for several or even many generations. The development of hunting undoubtedly played an important role in the establishment of such a way of life.

2.2. Role hunting in the development of the ancestral community.

It is difficult to say which of the two branches of economy of ancient and ancient people - gathering or hunting - was the basis of their life. Probably, their ratio was different in different historical eras, in different seasons, in different geographical conditions. However, there is no doubt that hunting was a more progressive branch of the economy, which largely determined the development of primitive human groups.

The objects of hunting, depending on the fauna of a particular region, were various animals. In the tropical zone these were hippopotamuses, tapirs, antelopes, wild bulls, etc. Sometimes, among the bones of animals discovered at Acheulean sites, there are bones of even such large animals as elephants. In more northern areas, they hunted horses, deer, wild boars, bison, and sometimes killed predators - cave bears and lions, whose meat was also eaten. In the high mountain zone, the predominant role in hunting, for example among Neanderthals, was played by the prey of mountain goats, as can be seen from the finds in the Teshik-Tash cave. The size of the hunt can to some extent be judged by counting the bones found at the sites. The cultural layer of many of them contains the remains of hundreds, a sometimes even thousands of animals. In addition to the Zhoukoudian site, such large Acheulean camps have been discovered at the Torralba site in Spain and at the Observatory Grotto in Italy. In the first of them, for example, the bone remains of more than 30 elephants were discovered, not counting other animals. True, these sites were inhabited for a long time, but, nevertheless, it is obvious that hunting had no small importance in the lives of their inhabitants.

It is difficult to imagine hunting large animals, especially those that live in herds, as already mentioned, without the driven method. The Acheulean hunter's weapons were too weak to allow him to kill a large animal directly. Such cases have happened, but they cannot but be considered as an exception, and even then mainly when hunting sick and weak animals that lagged behind the herd. As a rule, the earliest people could dare to kill large mammals only during driven hunts. Probably, the animals were frightened by noise, fire, stones and, as the location of many sites shows, they were driven to a deep gorge or a large cliff. The animals fell and broke, and man could only finish them off. That is why it was hunting, and above all hunting for large animals, that was the form of labor activity that most stimulated the organization of the ancestral community, forced its members to unite more and more closely in the labor process and demonstrated to them the power of collectivism.

At the same time, hunting was the most effective source of meat food. Of course, primitive people received animal food not only from hunting mammals: just as was practiced later in much more developed human societies, they caught insects, killed amphibians, reptiles, and small rodents. But the production of large animals provided much greater opportunities in this regard. Meanwhile, meat, containing the most important substances for the human body - proteins, fats and carbohydrates, was not only a satisfying food, especially after processing it over fire, but also accelerated the growth and increased the vital activity of primitive man.

2.3. Development of primitive collectivism.

The separation of man from the animal world became possible only thanks to labor, which in itself represented collective form human impact on nature. The transition to even the simplest labor operations could only occur in a team, under the conditions of social forms of behavior. This circumstance allows us to assert that already at the very early stages of anthropogenesis and the history of primitive society, there was regulation in the acquisition and distribution of food, and in sexual life. This process was intensified by the action of natural selection, which contributed to the preservation of precisely those groups in which social connection and mutual assistance were more strongly expressed and which resisted enemies and natural disasters as monolithic associations.

The already noted development of driven hunting, joint protection from predatory animals, maintaining a fire - all this contributed to the consolidation of the ancestral community, the development of first instinctive and then conscious forms of mutual assistance. The improvement of the language, which will be discussed below, also acted in the same direction of team unity. But especially great progress occurred in the final stage of the existence of the ancestral community - the Mousterian time. It was from this time that the first clear evidence of care for members of the collective dates back - Neanderthal burials.

Conclusion.

The lifestyle of Stone Age people and their level of development are partly reminiscent of some aspects of the life of peoples who in the recent past, before the arrival of Europeans, lived in Australia, certain areas of South Asia, South America and Africa. Of course, it is impossible to compare them directly: over the past thousands of years, even people as cut off from civilization as the aborigines of Australia have accumulated extensive observational experience, their thinking abilities have developed, and their perception of the world has expanded. And yet, the life of these tribes and peoples allows us, to some extent, to understand how people lived 30-20 thousand years ago.

The most ancient tools are at the same time monuments of both material and spiritual culture, as they testify to the conscious activity of the creatures who created them, to their albeit primitive and minimal knowledge and skills, passed on from one individual to another. With the advent of consciousness and conscious human activity with its results, the first cultural and historical era begins - the primitive one, within which there was only one type of culture of the same name. This era is the longest of all experienced by humanity; it makes up more than 90% of world history. In its turn, most of The primitive era coincides with the process of formation of man, society and culture. People then slowly but surely created the basis, the foundation of culture, preparing the conditions for its later successes.

Literature

1. Alekseev V.T. History of primitive society / V.P. Alekseev, F.I. Pershits - 6th ed. – M.: AST Publishing House LLC: Astrel Publishing House LLC, 2004. – 350 pp.: ill. – ( graduate School).

2. Vishnyatsky L.B. Origin Homo sapiens . New facts and some traditional ideas - M: Soviet Archeology, 1990, No. 2.

3. Zubov A.A. Discussion questions of the theory of anthropogenesis - Ethnographic Review, 1994, No. 6. Alekseev V.T. History of primitive society / V.P. Alekseev, F.I. Pershits - 6th ed. – M.: AST Publishing House LLC: Astrel Publishing House LLC, 2004. – 350 pp.: ill. – (Higher School), p. 129.

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

The most ancient settlements

The oldest discoveries of the ancestors of Homo Sapiens confirm the fact that a continuous process of human evolution took place in the lands of Eastern and Central Europe. One of the ancient burials was discovered in the Czech Republic (Przezletice). Hominid remains found there date back to about 800 thousand years BC. e. These and other 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 sharply increased, which is consistent with a large number of archaeological finds of the remains of anthropoid creatures that lived 150-40 thousand years ago. Data from excavations of this time are associated with the emergence of a new type of people - the so-called Neanderthals.

Neanderthals

Almost the entire continental part of Europe was inhabited by Neanderthals (without northern England), north of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The primitive society of those times was a small group of Neanderthals living as 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 the bones of large animals.

History of primitive society during the Ice Age

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

At this time, a driven hunt occurs, 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 economic activity- agriculture and livestock breeding.

Cro-Magnons

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

The Cro-Magnons lived in small caves, grottoes, and structures built from mammoth bones. High level public organization These people are proven by numerous cave and rock paintings, sculptures for religious purposes, and ornaments on tools of labor and hunting.

During the Upper Paleolithic era, tools were constantly improved in the center and east of Europe. Some are being isolated archaeological cultures, existing simultaneously for a long time. During this period, man invents arrows and bows.

Tribal community

In the Upper and Middle Paleolithic era, a new type of human organization appeared - the clan community. Its essential features are ritual forms of self-government and common ownership of tools.

Basically, the clan community included 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. Drawings carved on stone or drawn in caves have been preserved. Primitive society left descendants a legacy of talented nameless artists, whose drawings we can see 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 subsequent eras.

Mesolithic era

The history of primitive society changes with the end 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 in which it was engaged in fishing, hunting, and gathering.

In the same era, primitive society gives birth to a tribe - ethnic community people with the same language 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, construction of huts, organization of collective hunting, and so on.

IN war time power could pass to the shaman leaders, who played the role of formal leaders of the tribe. The system of socialization and transfer of knowledge, skills and experience has become more complex to the younger generation. Specifics of farming and new social roles led to the emergence of the paired family as the smallest unit of primitive society.

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

The emergence of the concept of property

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

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

Story human race dates back more than one thousand years, and the very first stage of human development is primitive society. This is a huge historical layer that begins with the appearance of ancient people and ends with the emergence of states and civilizations.

General characteristics of primitive society

The time of primitive society is not only the initial, but also the longest period in the history of human evolution, which covers more than two million years. During this time, primitive society went through a huge development path, during which the economic structure changed, social connections, norms of behavior, organization of power, ancient man’s idea of ​​the world.

During this period, the formation took place physical type modern man, various tools were created, technologies for their production were invented and improved. Through hard physical labor and gradual discoveries, primitive people managed to create a unique culture bit by bit and significantly enrich their spiritual life.

Rice. 1. Primitive man.

The main features of primitive society include:

• collective work;
• tribal organization;
• lack of personal property;
• equal distribution of food and benefits;
• primitive tools.

All the peoples of the world went through the primitive system. There is no civilization on the planet that has “jumped” over this segment of development. Despite the fact that primitive society has long since sunk into summer, there are still small tribes left on Earth who lead a characteristic way of life and preserve remnants of the distant past.

Stages of primitive society

There are several types of chronicles of primitive society, among which there are periodization according to the type of production, archaeological periodization and some others.

TOP 4 articleswho are reading along with this

The division of the era of primitive society according to the type of organization of the social system is very indicative. There are three stages, each of which has its own distinctive features:

• Primitive human herd. First stage primitive society, during which the foundations of behavior and social relationships were laid. The main occupation of the members of the primitive herd was hunting and gathering, and they were led by the strongest and most successful hunter.
• It was a group of people united by blood kinship and joint farming. Several communities living in the neighborhood formed a tribe. At this stage, ancient people began to expand their spheres of activity, mastering, in addition to the usual hunting and gathering, fishing, cattle breeding, and agriculture. New methods of processing natural materials and, accordingly, new types of tools and weapons arose. The management of the clan community was in the hands of the oldest representative of the clan.

Rice. 2. Tribal community.

• Primitive neighborhood community. Characterized by more complex social structure, with an appropriating and producing economy, labor distribution, growing needs, the beginnings of individual property and social inequality. At the head of such a community was an elected leader.

The culture of primitive society

Primitive culture is characterized by stability and extreme slow pace development. During this period, humanity managed to accumulate a huge amount of knowledge about the world around us: animals, plants, natural phenomena, the properties of various materials.

Thanks to the knowledge gained, ancient people successfully practiced healing and farming, they had good spatial orientation in unfamiliar terrain, and they could predict changes in the weather.

The most important achievement of primitive culture was the emergence of primitive writing. At first, these were only primitive signs and symbols that were necessary to establish ownership and conduct trade affairs. Later, with the advent of ancient civilizations, they developed into full-fledged writing.

The art of primitive society played a large role in the education of the younger generation and transmission important information descendants. Special meaning played petroglyphs - rock paintings that were carved on the surface of rocks or made with paints. The most popular were images of magical rituals, hunting scenes, people and mythological creatures.

Rice. 3. Petroglyphs.

The most important view primitive art there was an ornament - different lines, geometric shapes, primitive images of animals and plants, which were repeated in a certain sequence. The ornament served not only as decoration: it was a sign of belonging to a particular tribe and protected the owner from evil forces.

What have we learned?

When studying the topic “Primitive Society” according to the 6th grade history program, we learned briefly about the features of the era of primitive society: what characteristic features it had what time period it covered and into what periods it was divided. We also found out what achievements in the field of culture and art corresponded to this period of development of human society.

Test on the topic

Evaluation of the report

Average rating: 4 . Total ratings received: 429.