Becoming Paleolithic Research Paper
Becoming Paleolithic
Our class will be going outside to try to help us understand Paleolithic times. We will experience the world as Paleolithic people did – bringing only what we can carry, having no permanent shelters, creating our own art from the materials around us and having to figure out the best place to stay.
For this activity, we will assume that you are travelling in a small family group that is part of a larger group of 31. You can be with either two other people or work with a partner, representing the core family group.
It was typical of Paleolithic times that related core family groups would join together to form a larger group. This “family” would work together to gather food and protect each other. The group was usually between 15 and 30 people, though smaller and larger groups existed. As they travelled, different family groups would meet to exchange goods that they had made and they likely shared information about the local environment. Young people likely moved between groups in order to share expertise (a group with several artists might exchange an artist for a skilled hunter) or to meet the needs of both groups (a group with extra males may send some …show more content…
The majority of people in the group would supply food for everyone, giving some people free time. For instance, a religious leader, artist or expert craftsman might supply the group’s spiritual or technological needs rather than hunting or parenting. Women could take on a leadership role in the group. Women who gathered plants and hunted for small animals in many cases supplied most of the food for the group. In their role as mothers, they were protected from the most dangerous tasks, such as hunting or participating in battles with enemies. Instead, these types of tasks would be left to the “extra” males (the young and unattached men who were not yet in religious, artistic or craftsmen
Our class will be going outside to try to help us understand Paleolithic times. We will experience the world as Paleolithic people did – bringing only what we can carry, having no permanent shelters, creating our own art from the materials around us and having to figure out the best place to stay.
For this activity, we will assume that you are travelling in a small family group that is part of a larger group of 31. You can be with either two other people or work with a partner, representing the core family group.
It was typical of Paleolithic times that related core family groups would join together to form a larger group. This “family” would work together to gather food and protect each other. The group was usually between 15 and 30 people, though smaller and larger groups existed. As they travelled, different family groups would meet to exchange goods that they had made and they likely shared information about the local environment. Young people likely moved between groups in order to share expertise (a group with several artists might exchange an artist for a skilled hunter) or to meet the needs of both groups (a group with extra males may send some …show more content…
The majority of people in the group would supply food for everyone, giving some people free time. For instance, a religious leader, artist or expert craftsman might supply the group’s spiritual or technological needs rather than hunting or parenting. Women could take on a leadership role in the group. Women who gathered plants and hunted for small animals in many cases supplied most of the food for the group. In their role as mothers, they were protected from the most dangerous tasks, such as hunting or participating in battles with enemies. Instead, these types of tasks would be left to the “extra” males (the young and unattached men who were not yet in religious, artistic or craftsmen