1.1. Variants of periodization of ancient history

The first stage in the development of mankind, the primitive communal system, takes a huge period of time from the moment of separation of man from the animal kingdom (about 35 million years ago) to the formation of class societies in various regions of the planet (approximately in the 4th millennium BC). Its periodization is based on differences in the material and technology of manufacturing tools (archaeological periodization). In accordance with it, in the most ancient epoch there are three periods:

Stone Age (from the appearance of man to the 3rd millennium BC),

Bronze Age (from the end of IV to the beginning of 1 thousand BC),

Iron Age (from 1 thousand BC).

In turn, the Stone Age is subdivided into the Ancient Stone (Paleolithic), Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic), New Stone Age (Neolithic), and the copper-stone Age (Eneolithic), which is transitional to bronze .

A number of scientists subdivide the history of primitive society into five stages, each of which differs by the degree of development of labor tools, the materials from which they were made, the quality of housing, the corresponding organization of management 1 .

The first stage is defined as the prehistory of the economy and material culture: from the emergence of humanity to about I million years ago. This is the time when the adaptation of people to the environment was not much different from the raising of livelihood by animals. Many scholars believe that the original homeland of man is East Africa. It was here during the excavations that the bones of the first people who lived more than 2 million years ago are found.

The second stage - primitive appropriating economy approximately I million years ago - XI thousand BC, i.e. covers a significant part of the Stone Age - early and middle Paleolithic.

The third stage is a developed appropriating economy. The chronological framework is difficult to determine, since in a number of localities this period ended in XX thousand BC. (subtropics of Europe and Africa), in others (tropics) - continues to the present. Covers the late Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and in some areas - the entire Neolithic.

The fourth stage is the birth of a producing economy. In the most developed economically developed areas of the earth - IX-VIII thousand BC. (Late Mesolithic - Early Neolithic).

The fifth stage - the era of producing economy. For some areas of dry and humid subtropics - VIII-V thousand BC.

In addition to the production of tools, the material culture of ancient humanity is closely connected with the creation of dwellings.

The most interesting archaeological finds of the most ancient dwellings belong to the Early Paleolithic. In France, the remains of 21 seasonal camps were found. In one of them an oval stone fence was opened, which can be interpreted as the basis of a light dwelling. Inside the house were the centers and places of manufacture of guns. In the cave of Le Lazare (France) were found the remains of a refuge, the reconstruction of which presupposes the presence of supports, a roof of skins, internal partitions and two foci in a large room. Beds are made from animal skins (foxes, wolves, lynxes) and algae. These findings date back to about 150 thousand years.

On the territory of the USSR, remnants of land dwellings belonging to the Early Paleolithic were found near the village of Molodovo on the Dniester. They were an oval display of specially selected large mammoth bones. Traces of 15 fires located in different parts of the dwelling were also found here.

The primitive era of humankind is characterized by a low level of development of productive forces, their slow improvement, collective appropriation of natural resources and production results (primarily exploited territory), equally equipotent distribution, socio-economic equality, lack of private property, exploitation of man by man, classes, states.

Analysis of the development of primitive human society shows that this development was extremely uneven. The process of isolating our distant ancestors from the world of apes was very slow.

The general scheme of human evolution is as follows:

Australopithecus man;

man erectus (early hominids: Pithecanthropes and synanthropes);

man of modern physical appearance (late hominids: Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic people).

Practically, the appearance of the first Australopithecus marked the birth of material culture, directly related to the production of labor tools. It was the latter that became for archaeologists a means of determining the main stages of the development of ancient humanity.

The rich and generous nature of that period did not accelerate this process; only with the advent of the harsh conditions of the glacial epoch, with the intensification of the labor activity of the primitive man in his difficult struggle for existence, new skills are rapidly emerging, tools are improved, new social forms are developed. Mastering fire, collective hunting for large animals, adapting to the conditions of the melted glacier, the invention of onions, the transition from appropriating to producing economy (cattle breeding and agriculture), the discovery of metal (copper, bronze, iron) and the creation of a complex tribal organization of society - these are the most important stages that mark the path of humanity in the conditions of the primitive communal system.

The pace of development of human culture gradually accelerated, especially with the transition to a productive economy. But there was another feature - the geographical uneven development of society. Areas with not *** auspicious, harsh geographic environment developed still slowly, and areas with a mild climate, reserves of ores, etc., moved faster toward civilization.

The colossal glacier (about 100 thousand years ago), which closed half of the planet and created a harsh climate that affected the flora and fauna, inevitably divides the history of primitive humanity into three different periods: pre-glacial with a warm subtropical climate, glacial and post-glacial. Each of these periods corresponds to a certain physical type of person: in the preglacial - arheoanthropes (Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, etc.), in the glacial - paleoanthrols (Neanderthal man), at the end of the ice age, in the late Paleolithic - neoanthropes, modern people.

Paleolithic . Early, middle and late Paleolithic stages are distinguished. In the early Paleolithic, in turn, they distinguish the primary, Shelly 1, and Ashelian eras.

The oldest cultural monuments were found in the caves of Le Lazar (dating back to about 150 thousand years ago), Lyalko, Nio, Fonde de Gom (France), Altamira (Spain). A large number of objects of the Shell culture (tools) were found in Africa, especially in the Upper Nile Valley, in Ternifino (Algeria), etc. The most ancient remnants of human culture on the territory of the USSR (Caucasus, Ukraine) belong to the boundary of the Shell and Ashelian eras. By the Achel era, people settled more widely, penetrating into Central Asia, the Volga region.

On the eve of the great glaciation, man already knew how to hunt the largest animals: elephants, rhinos, deer, bison. In the Ashelean era there is already a settled hunters, long living in one place. Complicated hunting for a long time became an addition to the simple gathering.

During this period, humanity was already sufficiently organized and equipped. Perhaps the most significant was the capture of fire about 300-200 thousand years ago. No wonder many southern nations (in those places where people then settled) have preserved legends about a hero who stole heavenly fire. The myth of Prometheus, who brought fire to people - lightning, reflects the largest technical victory of our very distant ancestors.

Some researchers refer to the early Paleolithic and Mousterian era, while others distinguish it in a special stage of the Middle Paleolithic. Mousterian Neanderthals lived both in caves and in dwellings specially made from mammoth bones - chums. At this time, the person has already learned to make fire by friction, and not just to support the fire, lit by lightning. The basis of the economy was the hunt for mammoths, bison, deer. The hunters were armed with spears, flint-tips and clubs. The first artificial burials of the dead belong to this epoch, which indicates the emergence of very complex ideological ideas.

It is believed that the birth of the clan organization of society can also be attributed to this time. Only by streamlining the relations of the sexes, by the appearance of exogamy 2, can the fact that the physical appearance of the Neanderthal man began to improve even after thousands of years, towards the end of the Ice Age, it turned into a neoanthropist, or Cro-Magnon — people of our modern type.

The upper (late) Paleolithic is known to us better than previous epochs. Nature was still harsh, the glacial period was still going on. But the man was already armed enough to fight for existence. The farm becomes complex: its basis was hunting for large animals, but the beginnings of fishing appeared, the gathering of edible fruits, grains, roots was a major help.

Stone products of a person were divided into two groups: weapons and tools (spear tips, knives, shred *** and for making hides, flint tools for processing bone and wood). Various throwing tools (darts, jagged harpoons, special spear throwers) that make it possible to hit the beast from a distance are widespread.

According to archaeologists, the main unit of the social structure of the Upper Paleolithic was a small tribal community, numbering about a hundred people, of whom twenty were adult hunters who led the household of the genus. Small round dwellings, the remnants of which were found, may have been adapted for a pair of families.

Findings of burials with beautiful weapons of mammoth tusks and a large number of ornaments indicate the appearance of the cult of leaders, tribal or tribal elders.

In the Upper Paleolithic, man was widely settled not only in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, but also in Siberia. According to scientists, America was also settled from Siberia at the end of the Paleolithic.

The art of the Upper Paleolithic testifies to the high development of the human intellect of this era. In the caves of France and Spain, colorful images relating to this time are preserved. Such a cave was also discovered by Russian scientists in the Urals (Kalova cave) with images of a mammoth, rhino, horse. Images made by artists of the Ice Age paints on the walls of caves and bone carvings, give an idea of ​​the animals they hunted. This was probably due to various magical rites, spells and hunter dances in front of painted animals, which was to ensure a successful hunt.

Elements of such magical actions have been preserved even in modern Christianity: prayer for rain with sprinkling fields with water is an ancient magical act dating back to primitiveness.

Of particular note is the cult of the bear, which dates back to the Mousterian era and makes it possible to speak of the emergence of totemism. Bone figures of women are often found on the Paleolithic sites near the foci or at dwellings. Women are very rich, mature. Obviously, the main idea of ​​such figurines is fertility, vitality, continuation of the human race, personified in the woman - the mistress of the house and hearth.

The abundance of female images found in the Upper Paleolithic sites of Eurasia allowed scientists to conclude that the cult of the female ancestor was born of matriarchy. With a very primitive relationship between the sexes, the children knew only their mothers, but they did not always know their fathers. Women guarded the fire in the hearths, housing, children; older women could keep a tab on kinship and monitor compliance with exogamic prohibitions so that children would not be born from close relatives, the undesirability of which was obviously already realized. The prohibition of incest gave its positive results - the descendants of the former Neanderthals became healthier and gradually turned into people of the modern type.

Mesolithic About ten thousand years before our era, a huge glacier reaching 1000-2000 meters in height began to thaw intensively, the remnants of this glacier survived to this day in the Alps and on the mountains of Scandinavia. The transition period from the glacier to the current climate is called the conditional term "Mesolithic", i.e. The “Middle Stone Age” is the gap between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, which takes about three to four millennia.

Mesolithic is a clear proof of the strong influence of the geographic environment on the life and evolution of humanity. Nature has changed in many ways: the climate warmed, the glacier melted, flowing rivers flowed to the south, large areas of land closed by the glacier gradually released, vegetation renewed and developed, mammoths and rhinos disappeared.

In connection with all this, the steady, adjusted life of the Paleolithic mammoth hunters was broken, it was necessary to create other forms of farming. Using wood, a man created a bow with arrows. This greatly expanded the object of hunting: along with deer, elk, horses began to hunt for various small birds and animals. The great ease of such hunting and the ubiquity of game made the solid community groups of mammoth hunters unnecessary. Mesolithic hunters and fishermen wandered in small groups through the steppes and forests, leaving traces of temporary stands behind them.

The warmer climate allowed to revive gathering. Especially important for the future was the gathering of wild cereals, for which even wooden and bone sickles, with silicon blades, were invented. Innovation was the ability to create cutting and piercing tools with a large number of sharp pieces of flint inserted into the edge of a wooden object.

It was probably at this time that people became acquainted with the movement of water on logs and rafts and with the properties of flexible rods and the fibrous bark of trees.

The domestication of animals began: the hunter-archer followed the game with the dog; killing boars, people left to breed brood piglets.

Mesolithic - the time of human settlement from south to north. Moving through the forests along the rivers, the Mesolithic man went through all the space freed from the glacier, and reached the then northern edge of the continent of Eurasia, where he began to hunt the sea beast.

The art of the Mesolithic is significantly different from the Paleolithic: there was a weakening of the leveling communal beginning and the role of the individual hunter increased - in the rock art we see not only animals, but also hunters of men with bows and women awaiting their return.