Terry Deary - Savage Stone Age

To Erica Sheppard, with thanks

C ONTENTS

Introduction

History can be horrible. And the further back in time you go, the more horrible it becomes in some ways! Of course not everyone believes this! Some people would quite like the idea of time travel. Theyd like to go back in time and live in another age. An age without homework, global warming and mad cow disease.

So the past isnt so attractive as it seems in the school books.

Still, some people think the past was a time when life was simple and easy. A million years ago you had no books (not even Horrible Histories because there was no history), no hot, soapy baths to get rid of the lice on your body and no smelly socks!

But would you like to find out what the Stone Age was really like to live in? You could go to a museum and see flint arrowheads in glass cases or poor paintings of hairy people in animal skins. But that doesnt tell you how people lived and died.

You may decide to climb into your time machine, set the dial to 1 million years BC , and switch on.

If you cant manage a time machine then what you need is a book that will tell you the truth about the savagery of the Stone Age. What you need is a horrible history of prehistoric people people who existed in those happy times before history was invented. Strange as it may seem stranger even than time travel you have the very book in your hands at this moment.

So what are you waiting for? The next Stone Age?

Stone Age timeline

3,500,000 years ago (y.a.) Footprints have been found in east Africa that are over three-and-a-half million years old. They show that creatures we call hominids can walk on two legs. Big deal, you say! Even a baby in nappies can do that! Yes, but this allows the front feet to develop into hands and to use tools. These hominids will take over the world, youll see.

3,200,000 y.a. Skeleton has been found in Africa of Lucy, who walked on two legs. She was nicknamed after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ! Shes only four feet tall and her brain is just 400 cc big. Archaeologists have found evidence that a family of nine similar hominids were killed in a sudden disaster maybe they were too pea-brained to run away! This is the first ever horrible human history event we know about.

2,500,000 y.a. Earliest stone tools found in Ethiopia show these hominids knew how to scrape the skin off their food but that didnt mean they had weapons to kill it. So experts think they probably stole dead meat from wild animals. (Drop some sweets on the classroom floor and see that many of todays hominids still have this dirty, thieving habit!)

2,500,0001,500,000 y.a. Early hominids are changing into more modern human beings and are using stone tools. They are called handy humans ( Homo habilis is the posh scientific name).

1,800,000 y.a. The clever humans build their first houses in Tanzania a half-circle of lava blocks probably covered with branches. Not too comfortable but at least theres no rent to pay, no poll tax and your neighbours dont park their BMW next door to make you jealous.

1,790,000 y.a. Another type of Australopithecine is living in Kenya. Thats a bit of a mouthful to say and as he had a bit of a mouthful of big crunching teeth he gets the name Nutcracker Man. The archaeologists who found him thought his teeth were strong enough to crack nuts. (Not to be confused with your local football hooligan who is Nut-caser man.)

1,600,000 y.a. Hominids have grown larger than Nutcracker and are using cleverer tools. These upright humans ( Homo erectus if you want to be posh) are spreading from Africa. But archaeologists have also found handy humans who were still living at this time. The finders gave them more cheerful nick-names like Twiggy, George and Cinderella. (Not to be confused with your school goalie whose nickname is Cinderella because hes always late for the ball.)

1,000,000 y.a. Possibly the first use of fire. And now theres another new type of hominid the one that will become you in a million years time: wise man (or Homo sapiens ), who has a bigger brain (1,400 cc as opposed to 8401,066 cc of erectus ). There are other types of hominid around at this time, but Homo sapiens is the only one that will become your ancestor. In June 1998 a skull was found in Eritrea in north-east Africa belonging to the oldest Homo sapiens ever found before this, most people thought Homo sapiens first appeared 450,000 years ago. This is the start of what historians will call the Old Stone Age Palaeolithic, if you want a gold star.

800,000 y.a. Hominids arrive in Europe, probably because thats where the best food is. (No, the animals, berries and fruit not the pizzerias, which havent been invented yet.)

500,000 y.a. Homo erectus strolls into Europe.

450,000 y.a. Homo sapiens is spreading around the world and eating cooked food. Not that youd want to share some of it!