Integrated tourism product: “Prehistoric era stone and clay processing (one-day program)”

Integrated tourism product: “Prehistoric era stone and clay processing (one-day program)”

Venue of the program: Ports of Time Archaeological Park Museum, Prehistoric Time Building, Nikopol.
What age groups is the program for? The program is suitable for all age groups, including preschool and elementary school children.
Program focus: The purpose of the program “Prehistoric Age Stone and Clay Processing” is to present visually, accessible and interactive historical information about the life, habits and livelihood of the local population from the period of the prehistoric age.
Topics Included:
1) General information about the prehistoric era;
2) Life and livelihood of the local population from the prehistoric era and a close-up representation of a building analogous to those inhabited by people in the prehistoric era;
3) Presentation of typical tools and utensils;
4) Demonstration of stone and clay processing skills;
5) Stone and clay processing workshop with the possibility to include each of the participants in the program.
Prehistoric Era:
The Stone Age is the oldest cultural-historical period in the development of mankind, when the main tools and weapons were made of stone, although wood, horn and bone were also used at the same time. At the end of the Stone Age, the use of clay vessels also spread.
Stone tools are made from different types of stone. For example, flint and flagstone were used for cutting tools, and basalt and sandstone for working tools, such as millstones. Towards the end of the Stone Age, some wild animals were domesticated and the exploitation of copper ore for metal extraction began.

Stone Age Periodization:
1) Paleolithic:

• Early Paleolithic – period of the appearance of the most ancient types of people and the widespread distribution of Homo erectus.
• Middle Paleolithic – period of displacement of Homo erectus by evolutionarily more advanced species, including modern humans. Neanderthals dominated Europe during the Middle Paleolithic.
• Late Paleolithic – period of dominance of the modern human species throughout the globe in the age of the last ice age.
  2) Mesolithic and Epipaleolithic – the terminology depends on how much the extinction of the megafauna as a result of the melting of the glaciers affects the given region. The period is characterized by the development of the technique for the production of stone tools. Ceramics are absent.
  3) Neolithic – era of the emergence of agriculture. Tools and weapons are still made of stone, but their production has been perfected, and ceramics are widely distributed.
  Interesting information about the prehistoric era:
  Paleolithic:
  The prehistoric era, also known as the Paleolithic, is not only the oldest, but also the longest era in the development of mankind. Beginning with the appearance of the first humans more than 2.6 million years ago, it ended only about 12,000 years ago. It is divided into early, middle and late Paleolithic. At that time, the Earth was covered by several successive coolings of the climate (Ice Age). While Northern Europe was completely frozen by an ice sheet, in the south, including the territory of today’s Bulgaria, the glaciers covered only the mountain massifs. Paleolithic people inhabited natural caves (cavemen) and made a living by hunting wild animals. Neanderthals dominated the Middle Paleolithic, and the Cro-Magnons, who are considered to be the first representatives of modern humans (Homo sapiens), dominated during the Late Paleolithic.
  The most ancient traces of human presence in today’s Bulgarian lands are from the end of the Early Paleolithic (about 200-100 thousand years ago). These are random finds of primitive stone tools; so far, no bone remains of the people who lived at that time or other traces of their life have been found.
  During the Middle Paleolithic (about 100,000 – 40,000 years ago), groups of Neanderthal hunters permanently inhabited some caves in Northern Bulgaria, as well as open-air settlements along the Danube, in the Black Sea and in the Rhodopes. In the Bacho Kiro cave near the Dryanovsky Monastery, the most materials from this era were found: blades of flint weapons, bones of wild animals, ashes from hearths.

During the Late Paleolithic, many caves were inhabited in the Staroplanina region and in Northern Bulgaria; traces of Cro-Magnon life have been found in other places, both in the mountainous regions and along the rivers and along the Black Sea coast. Bones of mammoths, deer, rhinoceroses, wild horses, cave bears, as well as various small animals, birds, fish, turtle shells and shells, found by archaeologists around the remains of hearths in inhabited caves, provide a visual insight into life and the sources of subsistence of Late Paleolithic hunters. Cro-Magnons probably also collected wild plant food – fruits, seeds, grasses, roots and mushrooms. They dressed in clothes made of leather and wore ornaments made of animal teeth. From stone, bone, horn and wood they made a variety of cutting tools and weapons – knives, spears, axes, sewing needles, etc.
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic began in Central Europe around 9600 BC. Its end is from about 5800 BC. in southern Central Europe and from about 4300 BC. in the Northeast Sea Territory. It is characterized by the end of the ice age and a climate similar to the present one, favorable for animal and plant species. Articulated speech appears, general norms of behavior are developed, skills are improved and new knowledge about the surrounding environment is accumulated. Many rock paintings have been found in caves from this period. The first signs of deforestation for agriculture appear.
Neolithic (Neolithic)
Climatic changes accompanying the end of the Ice Age about 12,000 years ago led to the gradual disappearance of the herds of large animals that provided the subsistence of Paleolithic hunters. The emerging food crisis prompted the Neolithic revolution – the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry as sources of food independent of nature. The earliest Neolithic agricultural and pastoral societies appeared in the 9th and 8th millennium BC. in East Asia.
It is assumed that the Neolithic was brought to the Balkan Peninsula around the middle of the 7th millennium BC. from immigrants from Asia Minor. Later, agriculture and animal husbandry gradually spread from the Balkans to Central and Western Europe, which were significantly behind in their development from the southeastern parts of the continent.
The secure subsistence that Neolithic people obtained from their fields and herds allowed them to settle permanently in permanent settlements, located mostly on the fertile plains. They built their houses of strong wooden posts and beams, the walls between which were filled with interlaced branches and plastered with clay; the roofs were of branches and straw. Due to the rotting of the wood, the supporting structure of these buildings was not durable and they periodically had to be demolished and new ones built on their remains. Since many Neolithic settlements existed for many centuries in the same place, over time the accumulation of successive layers of building remains turned them into settlement mounds raised above the surrounding terrain. The largest number of settlement mounds are found in the Thracian Lowland and in North-Eastern Bulgaria.
The inhabitants of the Neolithic settlements made a living mainly from agriculture and animal husbandry, but supplemented their meals with hunting and fishing. Cereal crops had the most important economic importance; along with the wheat fields, there were also gardens with various vegetables and fruits. They raised sheep, goats, pigs and cows, as well as dogs (helpers in hunting and animal husbandry) and cats (guardians of grain stocks from mice and rats). As in the Paleolithic, the main tools and weapons were made of stone, bone, horn and wood; Neolithic stone tools are distinguished by their smooth, polished surface. From plant fibers and animal wool, they began to produce textile fabrics by spinning and weaving, which were used along with skins for clothing and home furnishings.
Another important innovation during the Neolithic was the production of ceramic vessels. With them, it became possible to cook cooked food for the first time. Neolithic pottery has interesting shapes, and its surface is often decorated in two or more colors. In addition to vessels, figurines of people and animals related to the religious beliefs and ritual practices of the Neolithic population were also made from baked clay. Ceramic vessels and figurines are the most characteristic monuments of Neolithic art.