South Carolina 6th Grade Education Standards 6-1.1: Explain the characteristics of hunter-gatherer groups and their relationship to the natural environment 6-1.2: Explain the emergence of agriculture and its effect on early human communities, including the domestication of plants and animals, the impact of irrigation techniques, and subsequent food surpluses.

2. I. Hunter-Gatherers - People who hunted animals and
gather wild plants, seeds, fruits, and nuts to survive
during the Old Stone Age.
A. Old Stone Age - Time period until 10,000 years ago
where people used stone tools.
B. Hunter-Gatherers were Nomadic - (n. nomads) -
people migrate (move) according to the seasons from
place to place in search of food, and water.

3. C. Hunter-Gatherers did not live in one place
like us. There were no stores, and they did not
have the knowledge of farming yet.
D. They migrated to follow the animal herds
for meat and other uses. They gathered fruits,
nuts, tubers also for their diet.
2. Migrate - People move to new places

4. A. Adapt - To adjust or change to new situations and
environment.
B. Natural Environment - The climate, weather,
and natural resources where a person lives that
affects human survival.
C. Hunter-Gatherers - used simple tools made of
stone, bone, and wood to create shelters, hunt, and
make clothes.
1. bow and arrow - hunt animals from a
distance.
2. spear - throw at animals from long distance
3. chopper - Used to cut, chop, or scrape roots,
bones, and meat

5. III. Technological Advances - Where human
beings fashion tools and machines to change and
control their environment.
A. Stone tools
B. Discovered fire. Used for cooking, light, and
protection (scare animals away)

6. C. Used cave art to express ideas -
1. With no written language, early human cave art
allows scientists to study their way of life. Early humans
left hundreds of engraved, drawn, and painted figures of
deer, bison, horses, and other animals.
2. Used cave art to tell stories and explain things.
3. Other types of art included the carvings of stone,
ivory, and bone.

7. A. Women gathered nuts and berries, keep fire
going, watch children.
B. Men hunted in large groups to bring down
large animals.

8. V. Earth's last Ice Age led to creation of a land
bridge called Beringia as ocean levels dropped.
A. Ice Age - 1.6 million years ago, Earth began to
experience long periods of freezing causing glaciers to
cover much of the Earth.
B. Land Bridge - A strip of land connecting two
continents.
1. Beringia - a land bridge which joined present-day
Alaska and north eastern Asia (Russia).

9. C. Migration from Africa led to the creation of
societies on other continents – Asia, Europe,
North America, and South America.
D. When the Ice Age ended and the ice melted,
the migration ended.

10. I. Early Human Communities - Humans began to
move from a nomadic way of life to permanent
settlements like villages and cities.

11. A. Humans needed several Technological
Advances in order to do this.

12. B. Neolithic Revolution (Agricultural Revolution) - The time
period in human history where people stopped hunting for
survival and gathering for survival and began using
agriculture.
1. Agriculture - the science or occupation of cultivating
the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock, farming
-Types of crops - emmer, einkorn, barley, lentil, pea,
chickpea, bitter, vetch, and flax.
2. irrigation - way of supplying water to an area of land
by means of ditches, dams, and canals

13. 3. Animal and Plant Domestication - process of changing
plants or animals to make them more useful to humans,
examples include cows, pigs, gardens, wheat fields, oxen,
etc.
4. Other agriculture advances - plows, water wheels,
and using animals to help with labor
5. Neolithic Revolution - It first began near present
day Iraq in the region called the Fertile
Crescent or Mesopotamia.

14. C. Food Surpluses - A surplus is having more than what
you need of something.
1. Agriculture + Irrigation + Animal and Plant
Domestication + Other Agriculture Advances = Food
Surpluses.
2. surplus - more food than one needs to eat in one
day.
3. granaries - a place to store grains and foods.

15. 1. Specialized Labor - worker has a specific task or
job to do. Since everyone is no longer hunting and
gathering for survival, some people people become more
specialized as doctors, teachers, farmers, construction, etc.
2. Occupation - job
3. Trade and Barter - to trade one thing for another
without using money. People begin to trade one item for
another.

16. 4. Villages and communities grew.
5. Government - Someone or some people gain
authority over others, laws are created.
6. Social Hierarchy - The rank of people in a society.
Usually kings were at the top of society, followed by
priests then laborers with slaves at the bottom.