Unit 2 – Lesson 5The Peopling of the Earth

Reviewing What We Have Learned…

Homo sapiens

Between 200,000 and about 100,000 years ago, people who were both anatomically and genetically “like us” emerged in eastern and southern Africa.

This is a reconstructed Homo sapiens skull, found in Israel. It has been dated to about 90,000 years ago.

Locations of Earliest Human

Remains

5

From their African

homeland, Homo sapiens

groups migrated to…

…Where?

When early humans moved out of Africa, where do you think they went?

Migrations of Homo sapiens

Possible coastal routes of human migration

Possible landward routes of human migration

Migrations in Oceania

Human Origins200,000-250,000

years ago

Southwest Asia100,000 years ago

Europe40,000 years ago

Siberia40,000 years ago

Australiaas many as 60,000

years ago

North America12,000-30,000

years ago

Oceania1600 B.C.E.-500 C.E.

Chile12,000-13 ,000

years ago

PUSH

PULL

Why do people move?

Work with a partner to complete the T-chart.

Which of the push and pull factors we identified might have caused early humans to move out of Africa?

To find food

To find food To escape weather patterns

To find food To escape weather patterns

To find space for a growing population

tropical rainforest savanna

desert

taigatundra

alpine forest

taigatundra

alpine forest

steppegrasslands

deciduous forest

steppegrasslands

deciduous forest

Biomes Map

Biomes Map

That’s amazing!

Why were modern humans

able to move into so many

different environments? After all, no other

large animals had

spread so widely!

So what was so

special about us?

Language!

Homo sapiens had language

◦ so they could exchange complex ideas with each

other.

◦ and they could store and add to the ideas of

previous generations.

Because they swapped ideas, they kept finding

◦ new ways of doing things.

◦ new ways of living.

Language SharedIdeas

New Ideas

Learning

Language made collective learning possible.

The stores of knowledge

and skills humans built up

are called “culture.”

No other animal can store

and accumulate

knowledge and skills in

this way.

We call this ability

“collective learning.”

It is what

human history

is about!

It is what

makes us

special!

Video

Online Activity

http://www.phschool.com/atschool/california/webcodes/history_interactive/mwp-1013/common_player.html

Lesson Summary

• Humans were able to move out of their original habitat while other species did not.

• Human migration over the planet took thousands and thousands of years.

• As humans migrated, they learned to live in more varied environments such as deserts and dense forests.

• Humans migrated to new biomes to find food, escape weather patterns, and find space for a growing population.

• Language might have developed in Africa, anywhere between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. As humans migrated and moved, language likely became more complex and helped people solve new problems.