INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY AND CULTURE OF SPAIN

Prehistoric Spain I:  The First Spaniard

Two major prehistoric sites in Spain:
1.  Torralba (north of Madrid)
2.  Altamira (north coast near Santander)
Stone Age
Fossils (organic remains):  only evidence available for the study of most species 
Artifacts (cultural fossils):  added evidence for studying hominids
Man was once defined as THE “tool-using” and “tool-making” animal.  Although we now know that other animals in nature do both on a very rudimentary level, the fact remains that we are the only species to do so extensively and reshape our environment in the process.
Paleo-anthropology:  the study of human prehistory
African otrigins and migration outward
Stone Age vrs Ages of Metal
Christian Thomsen, director of the Copenhagen museum (1837)
Three stages of technological development:
1.  Stone Age
2.  Bronze Age
3.  Iron Age
Types of stone tool:
Eolith (dawn stone):  Stones show use, but not any conscious shaping.
Paleolith (old stone):  Stones shaped by chipping or flaking
Neolith (new stone):  Stones shaped by polishing
Scavenging vrs. Hunting
Hand Axe/Fist hatchet:  first tool
Modified Thomsen’s Chronology into the following:
1.  Lower (earlier) Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
2.  Upper (later) Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
3.  Neolithic (New Stone Age)
4.  Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone Age)
5.  Bronze Age
6.  Iron Age
Australopithecines
Homo habilis (“Handy Man”):   first major tool user
Olduvai Gorge
Louis Leakey
Homo erectus:  the first hominid to migrate out of Africa and spread throughout Europe and Asia, ergo First Spaniard!
Early forms of Homo erectus:  Java Man (1891); Peking Man (1920s)
Eugene Dubois
Torralba and Ambrona
Marques de Cerralbo
Cerralbo Museum (Madrid)
F. Clark Howell
Omo (Ethiopia)
Importance of fire; use in hunting
Classification of animals on the basis of food:
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores
Characteristics of a great hunter:
1.  Large brain
2.  Good communication
3.  Upright posture and gait
4.  Social organization
Pleistocene:  Epoch of earth history during which the weather went mad
Terra Amata (southern France):  evidence of rudimentary architecture
Cave dwelling and the preservation of human fossils