Stages of Man’s Cultural Evolution
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
 Came from the Greek words Palaios, meaning
“old” and lithos means “stone”.
 About 2.5 million years ago.
Cultural Development
 Use of simple pebble tools
 Unpolished Stone Tools
 Discovered the use of fire
 Hunting and gathering stage
 Nomadic way of living
Mesolithic (Transitional)
Because of the final retreat of the glaciers about 10,000
BC, Europe was covered with dense forests. Some
animals hunted by Paleolithic became extinct and they
adjusted to the new environment. They developed a
new culture known as the Mesolithic or transitional
culture.
Neolithic (New Stone Age)
 The word Neolithic came from the Greek words
Neo meaning “new”, and lithos meaning
“stone”.
 This period was shorter than the Old Stone Age,
lasting from 8,000 BC to 4,000 BC.
Cultural development:
 Polished Stone tools
 Domestication of plants and animals.
 Food Producing Culture
 Settlement in permanent places.
 Appearance of such crafts as pottery and
weaving
Age of Metals
 Copper
The first metal used in the orient particularly
the Sumerians and Egyptians. It is a soft metal, that the
tools and weapons made from it soon became dull.
 Bronze
About 3,500 BC. The oriental people learned
that by mixing copper and tin, a harder metal could be
produced.
 Iron
About 1,500 BC began the use of a harder
metal. The Hittites of Asia minor were the first people
to use iron tools and it was spread by to the
neighboring Europe.
Human Society
Characteristics of Human Society
1. It is a social system.
2. A society is relatively large.
3. A society recruits most of its members from
within.
4. A society sustains itself across generations.
5. A society’s members share a culture.
6. A society occupies a territory.
Types of Societies
 Hunting and Gathering Society
• The earliest form of human society.
• Subsisted from day to day on whatever was
available.
• They used tools made of stones, bones and
woods.
• Nomadic
2. Horticultural Society
People learned to use human muscle power and hand
held tools to cultivate fields.
Often forced to relocate when the resources of the land
are depleted or when the water supplies decrease.
 Subsistence Farming
Involves only producing enough food to feed the group
 Surplus Farming
Food supply is more than enough to feed the members
of society.
3. Pastoral Society
 It relied on herding and domestication
of animals for food and clothing to
satisfy the greater needs of the groups.
 Most pastoralists were nomads who
followed their herds in a never- ending
quest for pasture and water.
 It was organized along male- centered
kinship groups.
4. Agricultural Society
 Animals are used to pull plows.
 Plowing allows for the cultivation of larger
areas of land.
 High volumes of food production allow
people to build permanent homes in a
single location.
5. Industrial Society
 a society driven by the use of technology to
enable mass production, supporting a large
population with a high capacity for division
of labor.
 Advance forms of technology were applied
and machineries were invented.
 Industrialization produced a number of
changes in society.
6. Post-Industrial Society
 Stage of society's development when the
service sector generates more wealth than the
manufacturing sector of the economy.