1.3 Escape Room 6th

The Great Human Migration

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Gather your Historian's Toolkit and Hop into the Time Machine!

Welcome to the Culture Escape Room!At the start of human history, most groups lived in simple cultures. These were small communities of hunter-gatherers or early farmers. Simple cultures usually shared traditions, language, and tools, but they did not have governments, cities, or specialized jobs. Life in simple cultures focused mostly on basic survival—finding food, shelter, and safety.In this escape room, you will explore how cultures can become more complex over time.Here’s how it works:

• There are 7 locations to visit.
• At each location, you will read a short text, find a key, and complete a task before moving on.

• Location #1 is your introduction.

• Location #7 is your final reflection.

• Work carefully at each stop—you’ll need every key to complete the challenge!
• The Orange Arrow takes you back to the map (click it after you collect each key!)

Directions for Each Location:1. Read the text 2. Fill in the correct row of the table in your notes 3. Find the key and answer the question! Keep trying until you get it correct! 4. Press your Buzzer to have Ms. G come to your pod to check your table. 5. Click the orange arrow button.

🗝️ Your Mission You are a time traveler on a journey through the past. Your goal is to unlock the secrets of culture by migrating from Africa and collecting keys at each location. Only by learning how simple cultures grew more complex can you escape the past and return to the present. Will you solve every challenge and complete the journey?

What do We Know About Stone Age Religion?

Cave painting and other art provide strong evidence that the cultures of Stone Age people became more complex over time. Another sign of a more complex culture is the development of religious beliefs and practices. Many of these practices involved death and burial. How Did Early People Bury Their Dead? Scientists have found much evidence to show that Ice Age people buried their dead. One grave found in present-day Russia contained the bodies of two children, a boy about 13 years old and a girl about 8 years old. Both children were covered with thousands of ivory beads. On his chest, the boy wore a n ivory pendant carved in the shape of an animal. The girl wore a bead cap and an ivory pin at her throat. What Were Some Early Religious Practices? Discoveries such as cave paintings, statues, and burial sites may suggest how early humans reacted to what they thought were mysterious and powerful sources. These rituals and symbols were an important part of early culture. They go beyond survival, and express deeper meanings of the natural and social world. The evidence suggests that these early people believed that the natural world was filled with spirits, a belief known as animism. To early humans, there were spirits in the animals they hunted. There were also spirits in the trees, rocks, water, and weather around them. Prehistoric people may have painted pictures of animals, such as bison or deer, to honor the spirits of those animals and to ask forgiveness to having to kill them.

When Did People Start to Create Art?

Over the course of the Ice Age, the culture of Paleolithic cultures became more and more complex. One of the most important signs of a complex culture is the existence of artwork such as paintings and statues. What Can We Learn from Ancient Cave Paintings? In 1940, four French teenagers and their dog made a remarkable discovery. The boys were exploring a cave near Lascaux in southern France. By the dim light of their lamps, they were amazed to see that the walls were covered with paintings of horses, bison, bulls, and other prehistoric animals. Other paintings in the cave showed human figures or abstract designs. Even older paintings have been found elsewhere in France, as well as in Spain. Examples of cave and rock art have been discovered in many other parts of the world where early people lived. For example, the rock paintings have been found in the Sahara, a vast desert in North Africa. Stone Age artists also carved small statues. Like the cave paintings, many of these carvings represent animals. Others depict pregnant women. What Does Stone Art Tell Us? Early works of art such as these show that Stone Age people were capable of complex thoughts and actions. We do not know the exact reasons Stone Age people created these works of art. Perhaps hunter-gatherers believed that creating an image of an animal would give them power over that animal during the hunt. Statues of pregnant women may have been intended to bring good luck to women about to give birth.

When Did People Start to Farm?

By the end of the Paleolithic Era, human beings occupied many regions of the world. They had developed complex spoken language, learned to make a variety of tools and weapons, and adapted to different environments. Yet, in many important ways, their lives had not changed. They still lived in relatively small groups as hunter-gatherers, following the herds of animals that they depended on for survival. Then, beginning as much as 18,000 years ago, humans gradually began to learn a new skill that, over time, changed how they would live. By around 10,000-9,000 years ago, some communities were relying on farming for food. This development marked the end of the Paleolithic Era and the beginning of what we call the Neolithic Era, or New Stone Age. (The prefix neo- means "new".) Around this time, temperatures increased and rainfall patterns changed. Glaciers that had covered so much of Earth began to shrink. As the ice from the glaciers melted, ocean levels rose. Most plants and animals adapted to these changes. Fir trees, which could survive cold weather, spread north into once-icy regions. Some large Ice Age animals, however, did not adapt to a warmer world, and many species died out. People who had hunted some of these animals for food had to find something else to eat. Some people adapted to these changes by searching for new sources of food. They found smaller animals to hunt. People living near rivers or lakes began to depend more on fishing.

That's a sickle!!

How Did People First Modify the Environment?

People learned to modify, or change, their environment so that it would provide more food. For example, they cleared trees and bushes by setting them on fire. The new grasses that grew afterward attracted grazing animals such as deer. People may also have noticed that when seeds were scattered on the ground, new plants grew there the next year. This discovery encouraged them to find ways to increase the growth of wild food plants. How Did Domesticated Plants and Animals Change People's Lives? Over time, people began to domesticate plants and animals, especially those used for food. To domesticate means to change the growth of plants or the behavior of animals in ways that are useful for humans. The shift from hunting to farming was so important that historians call it the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution. A revolution is a complete change in ways of thinking, working, or living. Even before this revolution, wild wolves developed into dogs, which humans domesticated. Dogs provided help in the hunt, companionship, and protection. Domesticated plants, or crops, became a reliable source of food. Grains such as wheat, rice, and maize became the main food sources for entire societies. People also domesticated animals that provided food—not only meat, but also eggs, milk, and honey. Horses and oxen became work animals, while sheep and llamas provided coats of hair for clothing. In some regions, people practiced pastoral nomadism, a way of life in which nomads moved from place to place with their herds. This allowed animals to find new grasslands to graze. The herders used the animals for food and clothing. At first, there was little difference between wild and domesticated breeds. Over time, however, people began selecting the seeds of plants that produced the best crops to sow again. This led to domesticated plants producing larger, tastier, and easier-to-cook food. For example, a wild tomato is the size of a cherry, but a domesticated tomato can be the size of an orange. By contrast, some breeds of domesticated goats, pigs, and cattle became smaller than their wild ancestors, which made them easier to manage.

What New Tools Did People Make?

Early farmers needed better ways to grow food. At first, they invented simple tools made out of stone. They used axes to cut down trees and clear land for farming. They also created sickles to harvest grain. After harvesting, the grain was ground into flour using grinding stones or small hand mills. Over time, people learned how to find and use new materials. They began to mine for metals such as bronze and iron. By heating these minerals, they learned to smelt them—removing the pure metal from the rock. This allowed people to make stronger and sharper tools. Because of these changes in toolmaking, historians divide early history into stages: The Stone Age, when most tools were made of stone. The Bronze Age, when people made tools and weapons out of bronze. The Iron Age, when iron became the most important material for tools and weapons. These advances helped farming become more productive and allowed societies to grow.

Reflection

Directions:1. Read the text 2. Fill in the Reflection section of your notes. 3. Find the key and answer the question to finish the escape room!

Some cultures are simple, with small groups of people who share traditions and ways of life. Other cultures are called complex because they include many parts that work together to support larger communities.Complex cultures often have:

• Cities where many people live and work together.
• Organized governments and laws that help keep order.

• Specialized jobs so people can focus on farming, trading, building, or other work.

• Writing and record-keeping to share ideas and keep track of information.

• Religions and belief systems that bring people together.

• Art and architecture that show creativity and identity.

These features make a culture more complex because they require cooperation, planning, and shared systems that go beyond basic survival.

🦴🥩 Pack up the mammoth steaks! You’ve made it from Africa to the Americas, and now it’s time to trade your stone tools for some serious culture upgrades. Complex culture—UNLOCKED!