Origin of Humans

Where? What? Who?

Eastern Africa Donald JohansonAustralopithecus Afarensis

Span of Human History

Radiocarbon Dating

Full radiocarbon cycle is 5730 years.

Who is Charles Darwin- Biologist- Natural selection- Evolution

Earliest Ancestors – 2.5 to 4.4 Million Years Ago.

Early Hominids – (Human Like Creatures)

• Astralopithecus afrarinsis, very little known

• No stone tools or weapons• Travel in groups of 25-30• Chimplike, heavy brow, flaring

cheeks, curved fingers and toes. Brain about 1/3 of modern human.

• Scavenged and survived on small prey such at reptiles and rodents.

• Early Homo habilis first hominids to fashion stone tools

Homo Erectus 2 Million Years Ago – The Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)Cold climates: Glacial coverage of Euope, Asia and North America – four different ice ages.

• Walk upright like humans

• Massive eyebrow ridges

• Survived by hunting and gathering.

• Used tools made of stone, bone and wood

• Learned to make fire

• Learned how to use language

• Made shelters and first to migrate to Asia and Europe.

• Used spears or weapons

Homo Sapiens – 230000 to 450000 years ago.• Neanderthals – Read page 19 & 20

• Stocky bodies

• Low foreheads

• Co-operate to hunt in groups to kill large prey.

• Took care of the sick and elderly

• May have had a form of religion and bury their dead.

• Developed more sophisticated tools, like hand axes to fit thumb and fingers.

• The oldest person live until they were 45 years old and most didn’t survive their thirties.

40000 years ago Modern Human’s Homo Sapiens Sapiens• Ice Ages end and Middle Stone Age

begins

• The New Stone Age begins

• Climate warms, new plants such as wild barley, wheat and fruit and vegetables appear.

• High foreheads, curving noses, small teeth and large jaws.

• Permanent homes, settle in large groups (Villages) and grow their own food.

• Cave paintings, make products, trade, begin to search for the history of life and religion is formed

• Governments develop.

Cultural Evolution in the Stone Age 35000 years Ago

“Great Leap Forward”

Humans illustrated signs of conscious planning, forethought and creativity.

Social Organizations

• They didn’t live in caves and only went there when needed. They lived in huts and used animal skins for roofs and walls.• They hunted in groups to work

together to kill large prey.• Took care of the weak and sick,

were the first people to have sense of religion and bury the dead.

What two groups did the text talk about?

Cro-Magnons & Neanderthals

How did they live? Shelter, Food & Society changes

Hunting

Used the natural landscape in two ways.

- They used Pitfalls – by covering a large hole with sticks and leaves to trap a larger animal in the hole to spear them to death

- Used bogs and deep streams banks to trap animals to kills with very long spears.

Tool-Making

Early Tools?

- Hand Axes & Spears- Choppers- Blades & Sickles- Materials Used?- They Used Stone, Bone,

Ivory, Horn & Wood- Also used volcanic glass

called Obsidian

Could Early Human’s Talk?

How could researchers tell?

- Hyoid Bone- Early Sounds?- Cry- Happy- Signal danger

Early Fire

During this time man used fire to revolutionize human life.

- Migrate to colder climates

- Cook food – faster eating process, more free time.

- Harden point to help hunt.

- Defend

Old and New Stone Age

• Prehistory can be divided into the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages.• The Paleolithic Age is sometimes called the Old Stone Age, and the Neolithic is sometimes called the New

Stone Age. The two main differences were the way people worked with stone. In the Paleolithic Age, people shaped stone by chipping (rough). In the Neolithic Age, people shaped stone by grinding (smooth).

• major difference is the way in which people got their food. Paleolithic Age, people got their food by hunting and gathering. They lived in small bands (clans) most commonly the oldest or strongest man where the leaders. Each band gathered food within an area known as its home territory, approximately 10 square miles.

• The Neolithic Age began about 8000 B.C. People lived in the same units as in the Paleolithic Age (small bands) but acquired their food differently. Neolithic people got most of their food from farming. This meant that Neolithic people would not have to wander as far for food as their predecessors had. In a short period of time, Neolithic people began to settle into villages. Increased food supply led to an increase in population and eventually specialization like making pottery and later working metals.

• Neolithic villages developed new ideas about land, ruling or law making, and religion.