Human Origins

Who Found Early People? Archaeologists = excavate and study traces of early settlements Analyze artifacts (jewelry, tools, and other human-made objects) Anthropologists = study culture What is culture? Re-create picture of every day life Paleontologists = study fossils

Common Practices Shared Understandings Social Organization What people eat Clothing Sports Tools/Technology Social Customs Work Language Symbols Religious Beliefs Values The Arts Political Beliefs Family Caste/Class Structure Relationship between individual and community Government Economic System View of Authority

And They Were Discovered Mary Leakey Archaeologist who found prehistoric footprints that resembled modern day human tracks Found in Tanzania Created by australopithecines (walked upright -> aka hominid) Why is walking upright important? Donald Johanson Anthropologist who found a complete skeleton of an adult female hominid (named it Lucy) in Ethiopia Oldest hominid found to date Hominids had opposing thumbs (why is this important)

The Stone Age Invention of tools, fire, development of language, etc. Broken up into two stages Paleolithic Age Earlier stage of the Stone Age (lasted the longest) Neolithic Age Latter stage -> learned to polish tools, make pottery, grow crops, raise animals, etc.

Hominid Development Homo Habilis (man of skill/handy man) Made tools of lava rock Homo Erectus (upright man) Used intelligence to develop technology Became skillful hunters Invented tools for digging, cutting, etc. First to use fire (uses?) Development of language Hunting, naming objects, exchanged ideas, etc.

Hominid Development Homo Sapiens (wise man) Modern humans Larger brains then homo erectus Neanderthals Powerfully built people with slanted brows and thick bones Developed religious beliefs/performed rituals (funerals) Held belief there was a world beyond the grave Cro-Magnons Identical to modern humans Planned hunts (studied animal behavior) Advanced spoken language