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History of the world economy - Polyak GB

1.3. Economic development of the Mesolithic tribes

Chronological framework of the Mesolithic - XII - VIII thousand BC. E. During this period, the living conditions of people have changed significantly, which was due to the end of the glacial period, the warming of the climate and the corresponding change in flora and fauna. Disappeared such large animals as mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses, as a whole, the number of individual species of large mammals decreased sharply.

The possible cause of such noticeable changes in the animal world is also called the predatory hunting of late Paleolithic tribes, which caused a disturbance of ecological balance.

Structure. Features of the farm

Mesolithic tribes switched to hunting for smaller animals, which required a variety of hunting techniques. Along with the hunted hunting, the individual was developing - with quiet ambushes and an inconspicuous sneaking towards the beast. A dog was tamed - an indispensable helper for hunting. There was a need to improve hunting weapons, and people came up with a bow and arrows, which far exceeded the spear gun in terms of range, accuracy and speed of fire, ease of handling. Owing to the increased efficiency of hunters' labor, people increasingly consumed meat and learned how to store it for future use: meat was stored in storage pits, in dried, dried and frozen form.

Fisheries became more widely practiced: its significance and effectiveness also increased. Fishing was enriched with new methods: in addition to the dams, a prison and apices were widely used. In addition, dug-out boats and fishing rods were invented. In some places there is a sea mammal hunting.

In collecting, which still provides most of the daily diet of people, special tools for digging roots are increasingly being used. Appears weighted with special cargo excavator and scrapers for opening shells with shellfish.

Stone Technique

The methods of making stone tools are being improved. The mesolite is characterized by further relief of their weight, a reduction in volume. Examples of mesolithic tools are the so-called microlites - small, 1-2 cm in length, sharpened products of solid rock - flint, agate, and also obsidian (volcanic glass), which were processed by the technique of dotted retouching and cleavage. A special feature of this period is the invention of rather complex combined or loose tools, made up of stone, wooden and bone parts - knives, daggers, axes, clubs. Some tribes used multi-purpose tools: thus, sharpened at both ends, bone sticks were used both as spear points, and as fishing hooks, and as devices for extracting shells from mollusks.

During the Mesolithic era, the structure of the economy continued to remain the same as throughout the previous period of human history: it was the appropriating economy of the lower hunters, gatherers and fishermen.

Organization of life and life

The results of labor in the appropriating economy are not always predictable, any of the trades could be unsuccessful; The failures of some were mitigated by the successes of others and the principles of collectivism continued to be the basis of society's life.

The way of life of the Mesolithic tribes largely depended on their adaptability to the surrounding conditions and for different communities was different. There were quite a few relatively settled groups that led a comprehensive fishing-hunting-gathering farm. Other communities predominantly roamed, the character of life of the third was seasonally settled.

People use boats as a means of transportation and actively master the land, the growth rates of the population of the earth increase.

During this period people often used dugouts and semi-dugouts as dwellings, forming small settlements.

Changes are also accumulating in social relations: two or more of the immediate families are united in a tribe. The formation of tribes was an important step in the path of the historical development of society, as it meant progress on the path to the union of tribes, and then - in a more remote era - and states.

The father community replaces the maternal patrimonial community, the first paired families appear, and from now on, most of the peoples will be counted on the fatherly line, not on the maternal side, but on the mother's side. Mesolithic, thus, became the era of the beginning of the patriarchate .

Scientific knowledge

The most important scientific achievement of this period was the appearance of pre- writing - pictography (drawing letter). Although the possibilities of using it were limited, since it was possible to understand these records only with the help of the person who made them, the significance of this event is enormous: the person has learned to record, store and transmit information.

In the Mesolithic there was accumulated a solid stock of information on geography, zoology, botany, mineralogy, astronomy, meteorology, medicine. Trepanation of the skull and amputation of the injured extremities were known. Hypnosis was widely used.

Rasogenesis

During the Mesolithic period, branches emerged within the races: within the Europoid - southern and northern, Mongoloid - Asian and American, Negroid - African and Australian. The process of forming peoples began . Differences in the pace and nature of the economic development of individual human communities intensified.