Dominic A.

Pizarro
Professor Hollie Schillig
HIST 250-01
10 September 2014
5 Historical Questions
1. Given recent theories suggesting the Iceman was a shepherd, what major diference is displayed
between Paleolithic and Neolithic peoples treatment of animals?
2. Why is it odd that the Iceman was alone during the time of his fnal moments?
3. What prompted the Iceman and his fellow Neolithic population to explore new territory and
continue to populate previously unexplored areas?
4. What is a common connection between the Iceman and modern geographical locations
including Europe, southwest Asia, and India, and where did this common connection originate
from?
5. What process displayed the Neolithic peoples increased intelligence and ability to produce
products such as the arrowhead found within the Iceman?










1. Te Paleolithic people hunted numerous species in the Americas to extinction including
mammoths, mastodons, and horses with the sole focus of satisfying their hunger. However, the
Neolithic people saw a greater gain in capturing animals and domesticating them by providing
nourishment and conducting selective breeding amongst their cattle, sheep, and goats; this
choice of domestication rather than the previous stalking and killing method led to the
formation of large agricultural economies.
2. Neolithic peoples agricultural economy soon lead to rapidly increasing population and
required a new form of social organization. Focusing in their devotion to cultivation rather than
foraging, the Neolithic people chose not to continually migrate similar to the Paleolithic
people, but instead to settle near their felds in permanent villages. One of the earliest known
villages, Jericho, had 2,000 residents with residents working together in diferent specializations
of labor.
3. Te possession of domesticated horses increased the Indo-European speakers ability to expand
lands far beyond their original homeland. A large population explosion caused by the
fourishing culture in southern Russia, caused many Indo-European speakers to migrate and
inhabit the eastern steppe and even further beyond the grasslands. Tis process was not a mass
migration, but instead a gradual process which resulted in the dispersant of the Indo-European
language and led to further expansion.
4. 18th and 19th century linguistic analysis displayed multiple similarities amongst the languages
of Europe, southwest Asia, and India. Understanding that it was impossible for each individual
culture to have independently developed similar languages, the linguists determined that the
Indo-European languages were descended from a common ancestor. Tis common ancestor and
the origin culture to utilize an Indo-European Language had a homeland located in modern-day
Ukraine and southern Russia, just north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
5. Afer developing their pottery industry, the Neolithic people focused upon metallurgy, mainly
working with the naturally abundant resource copper. Discovering that the use of heat made
copper more workable, the Neolithic people began to melt copper and pour it into molds to
create knives, axes, and other weapons as well as create jewelry. Tis foundation of copper
metallurgy would later lead to the Neolithic peoples developed expertise in working with gold,
bronze, iron, and other metals.