Prehistory

Prehistory is the very long time before people invented writing. We learn about it from bones, tools, cave paintings and other things people left behind. The story starts in East Africa. That is where scientists have found some of the oldest bones of human ancestors, like Lucy. Over hundreds of thousands of years, early humans learned to make stone tools and control fire. They lived and worked together in small groups. Most were hunters and gatherers who moved from place to place to find food. Some groups left Africa and spread to Europe and Asia. There they met other kinds of humans, like the Neanderthals. People also painted animals on cave walls and built huge stone monuments. About 10,000 years ago, people began to farm and to tame animals. This big change is called the agricultural revolution. It let people stay in one place and build the first villages.

Cards in this unit

• ToolPrehistory
• HunterPrehistory
• GathererPrehistory
• FirePrehistory
• Cave ArtPrehistory
• MegalithPrehistory
• Domesticated AnimalPrehistory
• LucyPrehistory
• NeanderthalPrehistory
• ÖtziPrehistory
• TribePrehistory

Students earn all 11 of these cards in the game. Cards with a gold frame have their own page.

For teachers

This unit covers CA HSS 6.1: early human development in East Africa, hunter-gatherer life, stone tools and fire, migration out of Africa, and the shift to farming and settled villages. Its cards are Tool, Hunter, Gatherer, Fire, Cave Art, Megalith, Domesticated Animal, Tribe, Lucy, Neanderthal and Ötzi. All of them are earned in the game's opening battles in the Great Rift Valley.

California History–Social Science 6.1