SIGNIFICANCE OF

HUMAN MATERIAL
REMAINS AND
ARTIFACTUAL
EVIDENCE
WHAT CAN YOU SEE?
WHAT IS AN ARTIFACT?
An artifact is any object made or
modified by a human culture, individual
or group. Oftentimes, it is recovered
long after the time it served its purpose,
through an archaeological endeavor or
even by accident or chance.
USES OF ARTIFACTS
1. Give important information about
previous cultures and
civilizations.
2. Aid in dating earth’s time periods.
3. Historical record keeping.
SOURCES OF ARTIFACTS?
1. Grave goods (those personal items buried
along with a body)
2. Hoards
3. Votive offerings
4. From any Archaeology feature such as pit,
wall, ditch
5. A Midden (landfill)
ARTIFACTS VS. ECOFACTS
Ecofacts are objects of archaeological interest
created by organisms other than humans, such
as those from seeds or animal bones.
Manuports are natural objects which have
been moved but not changed by humans.
Examples are seashells moved inland or
rounded pebbles placed by tidal action.
 CULTURAL AND
SOCIO-POLITICAL
EVOLUTION
FIRST UP 7
CONSULTANTS
 Sociocultural evolution,
sociocultural evolutionism or
cultural evolutions are theories
of cultural and social evolution
that describe how cultures and
societies change over time.
 Whereas sociocultural
development traces
processes that tend to
increase the complexity of
a society.
EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY

1. Paleolithic Stage (500,000-8,000 BC)

- Also called the Old Stone Age
because men used unpolished and
crude stones as their tool implements.
PALEOLITHIC STAGE
The term Paleolithic came from two
Greek word “palacios” which means
old and “lithos” means stone. The
men living in this period are the Java
men, Neanderthal men and Cro-
Magnon men.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PALEOLITHIC STAGE:
a. They made and used tool
implements, especially crude stones.
b. They gathered and collected foods
through hunting and fishing.
c. The foods that they usually eat are
wild fruits, nuts and berries.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PALEOLITHIC STAGE:
d. The early Paleolithic men hunted,
fished and protected their families
and tribe while the early Paleolithic
women gathered wild plants, fruits,
nuts and prepared food for eating as
well as took care of their children.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PALEOLITHIC STAGE:

e. Both men and women constructed

their dwelling, made ornaments and
tools and trained their children for
adult social and political life.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PALEOLITHIC STAGE:

f. The late Paleolithic people were

lovers of art and painting and their
paintings of reindeers and horses are
found in caves in France and Spain.
EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY
2. Mesolithic Stage (10,000 BC)
- Known as the Period of Transitional
Culture. People lived along the coast fishing
and gathering shellfish while others lived in
land where they made bow and arrows for
hunting, devise skis and sled and dug-out
canon and domesticated dogs.
EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY
3. Neolithic Stage (8,000-4,000 BC)
- Called the Polished Stone Age. The word
Neolithic is derived from two Greek words
namely neos which means new and lithos
meaning stone.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NEOLITHIC STAGE:
a. Instead of food gathering, such as
hunting and fishing, they also
produced their own food.
b. The people also engaged in herding,
pottery and weaving.
c. The people polished their own tools
and weapons.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NEOLITHIC STAGE:

d. The people domesticated animals

e. The people learned to build dug-outs
– the world’s first boat.
EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY
4. Metallic Stage (4,000-1,500 BC)
- This stage is characterized by the presence
of three metals. The first metal used as a tool
or implement is copper. This metal is safe so
that the tools made from it are soft and dull.
METALLIC STAGE
Bronze was used for people’s tools and
weapons. Then in 1,500BC, bronze began to
be used by the Hittites of Asia minor in their
tools and weapons and later spread to Europe
and other parts of the world.
TYPES OF SOCIETIES:
1. Food Gathering Societies (more than
16,000 years ago)
2. Horticultural Societies (12,000-15,000
years ago)
3. Pastoral Societies
4. Agricultural Societies
5. Industrial Societies
6. Post-Industrial Societies