Prehistoric society through three stages
HistoryAncient & Medieval WorldAges 11–12
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Ancient & Medieval World
A self-drawn map with a draggable timeline running from 4 million years ago to the rise of the first states. Drag the time marker to watch traces of Homo erectus and then Homo sapiens appear in turn on the world map or the Southeast Asia map, together with each stage's tools, way of life and social organisation. Click a site marker to read a short description of that location.
Lesson: The origins of humankind; prehistoric society; the transformation and stratification of prehistoric society
What it shows
Human prehistory covers millions of years, so the timeline uses a nonlinear scale that gives recent stages more room. Three stages follow one another: Homo erectus lived in small hordes with chipped stone tools and fire; Homo sapiens, appearing about 150,000 years ago, lived in clans and tribes with ground stone tools, bows, pottery and early farming; in the metal age, copper, bronze and iron tools produced surplus goods, private property and inequality, and the first states emerged. Sites from East Africa to Java, Sulawesi and Bali anchor each stage in real archaeological finds.
How to use
Choose a Starting stage and press Run to move along the timeline, or drag the red marker yourself. Keep Tools on so students see how tool technology changes at each stage, and switch between World and Southeast Asia to compare global evidence with sites such as Trinil and Sangiran. Click a site marker to read about the find, then ask students to link each new tool or material to a change in how people lived and organised society.
Parameters you can change
- Starting stage Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, Breakdown of prehistoric society
- Map region shown World, Southeast Asia
- Show the stage's tools
- Timeline playback speed 0.2–3 ×
Questions to explore
- How did Homo sapiens differ from Homo erectus in tools, way of life and social organisation?
- Which Southeast Asian sites provide evidence of Homo erectus, and how old are they?
- Why did metal tools and surplus goods lead to the breakdown of prehistoric society?
