From the appearance of the first stone tools 2.6 million years ago in Africa to the 4th millennium BC, when man succeeded in working with metal, the human presence on earth slowly changed.
The nomadic hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic Period give way to the cultivators of the earth, marking a tremendous revolution: An existence on planet Earth does not simply try to cope with the natural conditions of the environment in order to survive, for example, by finding a cave to protect itself from the cold or by killing a small animal to eat it, but it tries to intervene in the very natural organization of flora and fauna (by cultivating the land and taming animals) in order to subjugate the environmental conditions to its own needs for survival and prosperity.
Paleolithic Era
The Paleolithic (2.6 million years - 10,000 BC), a period of significant geological and climatic change, is characterized by the development of primitive stone tools, i.e., the working of natural stone by carving, used in hunting and everyday activities. People form groups, as small societies of extended families, gathering fruits, fishing, hunting, or consuming dead wild animals.
In the mid and Upper Paleolithic, people began to produce their first works of art, depicting patterns of religious or spiritual behavior, such as burial ceremonies.
Contrary to popular belief about "nomadism", Paleolithic humans did not wander aimlessly from one region to another. Caves, rock outcrops, and open areas near riverbanks or plateaus, in addition to lakes and river springs, were the sites of human settlement throughout the Paleolithic. The same sites were used repeatedly, as archeological excavations have shown. They can be divided into permanent and semi-permanent bases, seasonal camps and hunting stations.
In Greece, a typical site of the Paleolithic complex is the rocky roof Boila at an altitude of 500m. in the left of the river Voidomatis, in the western part of the valley of the prefecture of Ioannina. Due to the supply of raw materials and booty, the Voidomatis valley became a central point of systematic exploitation on a periodic basis for about six millennia.
The rock roof of Boila has a north orientation (although it was common to choose caves and rock roofs with a southeast orientation to receive the light and heat of the sun for more hours during the day), it is made of limestone, without great depth, with dimensions of 17 X 5m. and a floor area of 80sq.m.
Other important sites of the Paleolithic complexes in Epirus are: Klidi, Megalakkos, Kastritsa and Asprochaliko.
Economic and social organization in the Paleolithic period
The economy in the Paleolithic is based on the natural exploitation of animals and natural resources. People hunt, fish and gather fruits and move when the natural environment can no longer provide them with the necessities of life.
The social organization of Upper Paleolithic society is still largely unknown, although it is possible that groups of humanoids such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus had a more complex social structure than that of chimpanzee society. In the Achaemenid period, humans such as Homo ergaster were the first to exhibit the formation of central camps from which hunting began.
The Middle Paleolithic society consisted of groups of 20-35 people from several families. These micro-communities sometimes joined with others in areas where there was an abundance of goods so that their members could celebrate or find companions. There is evidence that there were transactions between these societies for rare materials (such as ochre, which was used for ritual purposes). Both Neanderthals and modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) took care of the older members of their group.
Most scientific views agree that these societies had equal members. They made decisions together rather than appointing a leader or monarch. Each member of the group had to do all the work, regardless of his or her particular skills.
Contrary to imagined prejudices, the people of the Paleolithic Age were less violent and warlike than the people of later ages because they had fewer and larger areas to hunt and gather food than the people constrained by later rural societies.
Neolithic Period
The "Neolithic Revolution" manifests itself with the beginning of human cultivation of the land in the Middle East around 10,200 B.C. Neolithic agriculture includes the cultivation of a variety of crops. Around 6,900 - 6,400 BC, permanent or seasonal settlements emerge where they are kept together with sheep, goats and dogs, domestic cattle and pigs. In contrast to the Paleolithic, where several species of humans coexisted, only modern humans (Homo sapiens) survive in the Neolithic Period.
Neolithic architecture
The dwellings of early humans changed dramatically from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Period. The development of agriculture made permanent housing possible. Houses are originally built of mud and brick. The roof is supported by wooden beams, while the floor inside is covered with stone slabs and skins on which people slept.
In Greece, there are settlements of semi-underground huts (made of perishable materials and excavated soil in a more oval shape) inhabited by 50 to 100 people in areas such as Argissa (Thessaly), Dendra (Argolis) and Frangthi.
Initially, the settlements still consisted of independent one-room huts housing members of an extended family. Stoves and ovens are built in the open spaces between the huts and it is there that the construction of vessels takes place. There are traces of ritual burials in pits, cremation and burial in cemeteries. We have traces of pile dwellings from this period in Sesklo (B and C) and in Nicomedia.
The Middle Neolithic Period (5,800 - 5,300 BC) is characterized by the construction of houses with stone foundations and the development of houses of the megaron type (rectangular one-room houses with open or closed verandas). In this period appears the house of the Tsagli type(area of Evia - today's Eretria), which has two internal structures to support the roof of the house and to divide the house into separate areas with specific functions (production of various things, storage and sleeping areas). The houses and the outbuildings are developed around an area (formerly square) that facilitates the collective operation of the community in terms of their communication and movement (Sesklo A).
In the Late Neolithic Period (5,300 - 3,200 BC), communities were formed of 100 to 300 people, organized into nuclear families. Settlements consisted of large rectangular structures with wooden frames and stone foundations. Many settlements were surrounded by ditches 1.5 - 3.5 meters deep and 4-6 meters wide, which probably protected the people and their crops from wild animals and defined the boundaries of the settlements.
Using the example of Dimini, we can now talk about the existence of food-preparation structures (where the materials for their food were processed), laboratories (for the production of pottery and stone tools), and storage boxes where they kept materials for their food, as well as raw materials for lighting and heating.
Economic and social organization in the Neolithic Period
Man gradually ceased to depend on hunting for food, but on the food he produced himself from the land and livestock.
The main advantage of developing an advanced (for the time) system of agriculture is that man is able to produce surpluses, quantities of food that exceed the immediate needs of the community. Surpluses can be stored for future use (droughts) or possibly traded for other necessities or "luxury" items.
During most of the Neolithic period, people lived in small tribes consisting of complex kinship and descent relationships. There is little scientific evidence for the development of social stratification. Although some Late Neolithic societies in Eurasia developed some form of "leadership", structures developed with the use of metal, and Neolithic societies have essentially equal members with some kind of age-based hierarchy and contribution to the whole.
The domestication of large animals ( around 8,000 B.C.) led to some increase in inequality, competition between "householders," and economic prosperity through inheritance, but there is no evidence of conspicuous differences between inhabitants, as the construction of houses shows small inequalities in size and decoration.
Families were largely financially independent with the household itself as the center of life. However, the existence of ditches, fences, burial mounds and other works for the community, the construction of which required a great deal of time and organization, indicates the existence of individuals capable of organizing and dividing human labor, without of course ruling out the possibility that these projects were the result of an unprioritized, voluntary and communal effort.
Man changes but does he become more happy?
From caves, huts and tents, man settled in buildings of stone, plinth and wood. From nomads, hunter-gatherers, he became a cultivator in permanent settlements, developed herds of animals, and developed the concept of the family as a unit of production to ensure survival and personal or family "property".
From the point of view of modern man living in a labyrinthine organized social environment, with daily conveniences and the corresponding anxieties about acquiring them, the chaotic intervals between wealth and poverty, mass production, consumption, art and pleasure, it may be challenging to conclude that prehistoric man was happier in his daily life than we are.
But if we distance ourselves from the stereotypes, then perhaps we could see Paleolithic man as a fully integrated being in his surrounding natural world, with no high demands and no high obligations, reaching out and catching food, hunting to eat, but also having all the time in the world to enjoy nature, his company, his carefree existence.
