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Human Origins In Africa

• No written records of prehistoric peoples

• Prehistory dates back to 5,000 years ago

• Evidence shows that the first hominids originated in Africa more than 3 million years ago.

• These hominids, australopithecines, had opposable thumbs and could walk upright.

Scientists Search for Human Origins

Scientists Discover Clues

*archaeologists excavate early settlements

*artifacts are manmade objects

*anthropologists study culture*culture a people’s way of life

*paleontologists study fossils

*fossils are rocks which have evidence of early life

Mary Leakey Finds Footprints*an archaeologist who

discovered humanlike footprints in East Africa in

1978*hominids are creatures that

walk*australopithecines is a

hominid

*footprints made by australopithecines

*australopithecines is a hominid

Johanson Discovers “Lucy”

*Johanson discovered the first adult female

skeleton in 1974*the skeleton was

named Lucy

*Lucy lived about 3.5 million years ago

*Lucy is the oldest living hominid found

*Lucy was an australopithecines species

Hominids in Motion

*easier to travel distances *easier to spot dangerous animals *easier to carry food and children *opposable thumb made picking up small objects and making tools easier

Paleolithic Age

• During the Paleolithic Age, people learn to make tools, use fire, and use language.

• The hominid Homo habilis appears about 2.5 million years ago in Africa and may be the first to make stone tools.

• A more intelligent hominid, Homo erectus, becomes the first to use fire and to migrate from Africa.

Progress During the Old Stone Age

• Some achievements during Stone Age were invention of tools, controlling fire and development of language

• Paleolithic Age (2.5 million to 8000 B.C.) was the earlier part of the Stone Age in the Ice Age

• The earliest stone chopping tools can be dated to the Paleolithic Age

• Neolithic Age (8000 to 3000 B.C.) was known as the New Stone Age.

• In the Neolithic Age people learned to polish stone tools, make pottery, grow crops and raise animals

Homo Habilis: The First Toolmaker?

*1960 – Mary Leakey discovers a hominid fossil in northern Tanzania.

*the fossil was named Homo Habilis which means “man of skill”

*the Leakey’s also found tools made of lava rock

B. Homo Erectus Is More Intelligent

*appeared while Homo habilis still existed

*means “upright man”

*thought to be more intelligent and

adaptable than Homo habilis

*able to develop technology, learn to

hunt, made tools for digging, scrapping and cutting

*first hominid to migrate from Africa **They migrated to India, China, Southeast Asia and Europe*first to use fire, begin using spoken language, organize into work teams

New & Improved Humans

• The Neanderthals, the first modern humans, are resourceful hunters who survive in Ice Age winters, have religious beliefs, and perform ritual burials.

• Cro-Magnons, the first fully modern humans, gradually replace the Neanderthals.

• New discoveries are adding to knowledge of human origins.

The Dawn of Modern Human

• Homo erectus developed into Homo sapiens

• Homo sapien means “wise men.”

• Homo sapiens had a larger brain than the hominids before them

Neanderthals’ Way of Life

*lived between 200,000 and 30,000 years ago

*tried to explain and control their world

*developed religious beliefs and performed

rituals

*belief in world beyond grave

*lived in caves or shelters made of animal skin

*disappearance is a mystery

Cro-Magnons Emerge

*appeared about 40,000 years ago

*identical to modern humans

*first to plan hunts which contributed to population increase

*used advanced spoken language skills to

plan more difficult projects

Arrgh!There’s always one bone left over!!!

Recent Findings Add New Knowledge

*1944 – fossils and tools found in Ethiopia indicate first toolmakers were in earlier time period than originally thought

*Neanderthal bone flute found in New York

in 1996 indicates

added talents

*attempts to adapt to

environment

through

technology was

beginning of a

revolution

Key Ideas

The first hominids, emerge in East Africa about 3.6 million years ago. They gradually develop large brains and learn to make tools and use fire, which allows them to spread over the earth.