Lesson 2.2 Early Human Migration View PDF Images may be subject to copyright.Send feedback

People Move Out of Africa Because of changes in climate during the Paleolithic Age, people began to migrate or move out of Africa.

The Ice Age About 1.6 million years ago, many places around the world began to experience periods of freezing weather, this is known as the ice ages. The ice age ended 10,000 years ago.

The Ice Age Huge sheets of ice and glaciers covered much of the earths surface. Dry land appeared in most places, creating land bridges. The ice ages forced the early humans to new environments. Land Bridges is a strip of land connecting two continents. These bridges allowed early humans to migrate around the world.

Settling New Lands Migration of the early hominids, took hundreds of thousands of years. Early humans began to migrate 100,000 years ago after the earlier hominids began to die out. Humans migrated from east Africa to southwestern Asia, and then to northern Europe and Asia.

Settling New Lands Geographic features such as high mountains and cold temperatures delayed migration northward into northern Asia. They finally migrated as far as the Americas and even Australia. The last land to be settled was South America. By 9000 BC, humans were on every continent in the world.

A New Theory Some archaeologists propose another origin for the first Americans----Europe. The theory says that early Europeans braved the North Atlantic in boats similar to the modern Inuit peoples. Similar spear points have been found in Europe and the Americas, which led Archaeologists to develop this theory.

People Adapt to New Environments With new lands, came new types of climate and environments. Humans now had to adapt to these strange surroundings. Because of colder climates, humans learned how to sew animal skins together to make clothes. Humans established primitive homes in caves, or built tents out of animal skin and other materials. Mammoth bone was used instead of wood in Central Asia, because wood is scarce.

New Tools and Technologies People began to develop new tools, which were more complex such as the hook, needle, and bow an arrow. This era is called the Mesolithic Era, or Middle Stone Age. This era started 10,000 years ago. People began to build hooks, fishing spears, and bows. People made advances that allowed them to adapt to new environments People also created canoes to travel and pottery to store goods. They even tamed dogs to help them hunt and for protection. People shaved using clam shells and flints

The Needle and the Bow The eye needle was a groundbreaking invention. People in the Ice Age made needles from polished bone and ivory slivers. Without tailored clothing Homo sapiens would never have settled the Asian steppes or colonized America Bows and Arrows appeared during the late Ice Age. The first bow was simple and became the more powerful composite bow.

Home on the Range People of many places and times have learned how to build shelter from limited resources. The Inuit who live in the Arctic regions build domed shelters called igloos. Nomads of Mongolia create tent like structures called yurts. Mostly from animal skin and bones.

Questions (pages 36-39) Cambridge: Answer in a complete sentence 1. How did Stone Age people cross from Asia to North America? 2. What was one problem that made migrating to northern Asia difficult? 3. Why did early humans build shelters? 4. What type of shelters did early people use?