572 



The Earth and Its Inhabitants Change unit x 



Fig. 522 The re^nains of an- 

 cient cliff dwellings in south- 

 western United States. The 

 men who lived here were ex- 

 traordinary builders, (grant 



— U. S. DEPARTMENT OF IN- 

 TERIOR) 



more or less roughly chipped flint for 

 all their implements. There was a slow 

 but very marked advance in culture dur- 

 ing the Old Stone Age. Gradually men 

 learned to provide for their food and no 

 longer lived from hand to mouth. They 

 learned to depend on their fellow men; 

 community life began. They had reli- 

 gion of some sort; they must have be- 

 lieved in an after life, for they buried 

 their dead surrounded by objects that 

 were used by the living. They learned 

 to sew skins for clothes, and they 

 adorned themselves and decorated their 

 caves. Their life at the end of the Old 

 Stone Age was not unlike that of some 

 of the living Australian primitive men. 

 While they grew to be very skillful in 

 the chipping of stone and thus made a 

 wide variety of tools, it was only the 

 small flakes of stone that were really 

 sharp. You will find Exercise 3 interest- 

 ing. Can you answer the questions? 



The New Stone Age. There came a 

 time when men learned how to grind 

 and polish stone. This was the begin- 

 ning of the New Stone Age (Neolithic 

 — nee-oh-lith'ic). It began after the end 

 of the last glacial period when the cli- 

 mate had become like that of today. At 

 this time Homo sapiens was fairly well 

 spread over the earth. Men could do 

 much with polished stone and progress 

 was made along many lines. To begin 

 with they could make axes for chopping 

 trees. Simple wooden shelters were con- 

 structed; rafts were built; soon the dug- 

 out, a form of canoe, was made; then 

 came larger boats. Men could travel 

 over large bodies of water. They came 

 in contact with other peoples. Plants of 

 many kinds seem to have been imported 

 into Europe and Asia. Besides M^eapons, 

 hoes of polished stone are often found. 

 Agriculture existed on a small scale. Use- 

 ful animals were tamed: the dog was 



