The Primitive Human Herd

Prior to the emergence of Neanderthal Man , human beings lived in large herd – like groups . The retention of this herd like existence was predetermined by the extremely low level of the productive forces . Man , armed with the most primitive tools , could provide for his survival only through his association with a large group of humans . Even in the gathering of grasses and fruits such a group was necessary to provide for mutual defence when wild beasts fell upon them . When man adopted hunting as his way of life , the joint efforts of the group of men and women guaranteed a greater measure of success in obtaining the means of subsistence . Labour was having an ever – increasing influence on the development of a communal way of life , while all production activity demanded that human beings band together . Only in a commune was it possible to retain and pass on skills and experience , the basis of production development , to future generations .

Man’s Tools Change

Primitive-Communal

Beginning with the 700th millennium B.C. , man began to fashion his first tools from stone . Later , he cracked and crushed stones to make his first crude stone implements with
a cutting edge . Besides these primitive stone tools he also fashioned wooden tools such as sticks with sharpened tips , clubs , etc. From now on man consistently improved his tools to fit his purposes . He would sharpen both sides of a stone to make a chopper , a large universal tool with which he could chop , cut , strike an enemy and even dig . Such tools were made and used by a type of fossil man close in develop ment to the Pithecanthropus . At this stage , the invention of the chopper was man’s greatest achievement . The next stage in man’s evolution and in the development of the production of material values took place 500,000 to 300,000 years ago , when the first sharp oval choppers , chipped from all sides , came into use as did basically new tools especially fashioned for striking , cutting , digging , etc. In order to fashion the various scrapers , spears and other tools , man had to be skilled enough to strike the stone he was working on with great accuracy . This proves that in the process of production the human organism evolved and its co – ordination was perfected . πŸ”·The introduction of new tools brought about a change in primitive man’s entire way of life . With the aid of these new tools he could hunt such large animals as elephants , rhinoc eroses , buffalo , stags and horses . Now he could extract more food from the same area than formerly , and this made it pos sible for him to remain in a given area for a longer period of time . Primitive man began to set up temporary camps in places conducive to hunting : near lakes and rivers , along animal paths and the edges of forests , using caves for shelter .πŸ”Ή