This document discusses the origins and development of early human culture from hunter-gatherer societies to the rise of agriculture and civilization. It covers topics such as Makapansgat culture, artifacts from early cultures like cave art and tools, the significance of the Venus figurines, the transition to agriculture and domestication of plants and animals, innovations like ceramics and construction of megaliths, and the role of mythology in early human societies. Questions are provided under each section to prompt discussion around the key developments and implications for understanding human cultural evolution.

1. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Makapansgat
1. Can we consider
the Makapansgat
pebble art?
2. Is “Lucy” (an
Australopithecine) a
human being? Why
or why not?
3. What is the
“anthropological
perspective”?”
Australopithecine and the Makapansgat pebble

2. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Culture
1. What are the
characteristics of
“culture”?
2. What defines
civilization?
3. What were the
advantages of
disadvantages of
hunter-gatherer
societies?
San, also known as Bushmen, hunter-gatherer of Southern Africa

3. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Artifacts
1. What is a physical artifact?
What are the differences
between artifacts
collected by anthropologists
and archaeologists?
2. How do beliefs, values and
ideas serve as cultural
artifacts?
3. Why do we study symbols,
rituals, arts, customs, and
shared knowledge?
Clovis points (fluted projectile), Paleoindian period around 13,500 years ago

4. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Cave art
1. What function or
purpose did cave art
serve?
2. What does cave art say
about our ancient
ancestors?
3. What does he level of
sophistication (realism/
naturalism, perspective,
color) say about the
artists and their
cultures?
Cave painting of aurochs, horses, and deer at Lascaux, France

5. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Venus of
Willendorf
1. What does the Woman
of Willendorf (Venus)
say about the
representation of
women?
2. How does she
compare to other
fetish-sized
representations of the
modern day?
3. Why is “Woman”
preferred by scholars
today, as opposed to
“Venus”?
c. 28,000 B.C.E – 25,000 B.C.E.

6. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Agriculture
1. Compare today’s cropland
to that of the Neolithic
eras. Where do fertile
lands tend to dominate?
Why?
2. Explain how agriculture
leads to the development
of the walled city.
3. How is agriculture a
double-edged sword? How
is it both freeing and
limiting? Think today and
as well as the past.
Climate change: how a warming world is a threat to our food supplies

7. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Domestication
1. How does the
evolution of grass
allow for
domestication by
humans? How is grass
singly important?
2. What is the
significance of
domestication?
3. What are the issues
with domestication?
first domesticated plants about 10,000 years ago, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in
Mesopotamia

8. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Ceramics
1. How does the potter’s
wheel become the
wheel and axle of carts
and wagons?
2. How does the use of
pottery indicate that a
culture is probably
sedentary?
3. What do pottery styles
tell us about a culture?
Sarasvati-Sindhu Valley potters shaped clay pots on a wheel, like this one used by an Indian
potter today

9. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Megaliths
1. What purpose do
megaliths serve? Why
spend the energy and
resources to create
them?
2. How and why does
religion and ritual
form?
3. How does ritual serve
as communication?
4. How does ritual create
norms?
a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument

10. The first peoples How does culture rise from forest to farm?
Makapansgat Culture Artifacts Cave art Venus Agriculture Domestication Ceramics Megaliths Mythology
Mythology
1. Why did ancient
peoples describe the
natural world
anthropomorphically?
2. What separates
mythology from
philosophy and from
religion?
3. What is the role of
myth in daily life?
4. What myths do we
create today?
5. What is the role of the
storyteller?
Shetani spirit of East African mythology and popular belief (the Makonde people of Kenya,
Tanzania, and Mozambique)