How Archaeologists Study the Past Chapter 1 Lesson 3

Terms & Names Artifact Fossil Hominid Paleolithic Age Mesolithic Age Neolithic Age

Finding Clues to the Past What is an Artifact? It is a human-made object Early Human Tools Early Human Counting Tools

Finding Clues to the Past What is a Fossil? It is a remain of early life that has been preserved in the ground.

What is the difference between a Fossil and Artifact? Human-made Remains of things that were made A remain of human life Remains of living things (people, plants, animals

Earliest Humans Hominids A human or humanlike creature that walks on two feet Australopithecine Lived from about 4.5 million to 1 million B.C. Found in southern and eastern Africa First humanlike creature to walk upright Homo habilis (handy man) Lived from about 2.5 million to 1.5 million B.C. Found in East Africa First to make stone tools Homo erectus Lived from about 1.6 million to 250,000 B.C. Found in Africa, Asia and Europe First to move out of Africa Homo sapiens (modern man) Has lived from about 400,000 B.C. to the present Early Homo sapiens found in Africa, Europe and Asia Physically modern humans

Important Finds Lous and Mary Leakey 1960 the found Homo Habilis fossils in East Africa Their discoveries showed that human evolution began in Africa Professor Donald Johanson and Tom Gray Discovered “Lucy” in 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia She was 3.5 million years old, and the oldest hominid discovered up to that time

The Stone Age Divided into 3 stages Paleolithic Age (old Stone Age) Neolithic Age (New Stone Age) Mesolithic Age (Bridge) 2.5 million – 8000 B.C. Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens Lived as hunters and gatherers Simple stone tools with single sharp edges to cut and chop 8000 – 3000 B.C. Only Homo sapiens lived during this time Learned to polish stone tools and make pottery Began to grow crops, raise animals and settle in villages 10,000 – 6000 B.C. Developed needles and thread, harpoons and spear throwers Developed grindstones to prepare the vegetables they collected

Poster Project What have you learned?

3 Essential Questions What are the differences between Artifacts and Fossils? What have archaeologists learned about early humans from the evidence they have found? Who lived and what happened during the prehistoric period known as the stone age (Paleolithic Age, Mesolithic Age, Neolithic Age)?