The First Humans

Recalling information 1) Do you believe dinosaurs and humans live at the same time?

Read and Answer (Not a note-taking slide) No matter what you may have seen in the movies, early man did not live during the same period in history as dinosaurs! Dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago. The first human like hominids did not appear until around 3 million years ago. Was you answer correct from the first slide? What was the time difference between dinosaurs and human-like hominids?

I) Hominids Hominids are human-like animals that walked upright. Existed 4.4 million years ago in eastern and southern Africa. Includes great apes (chimpanzees and gorillas).

Making a Connection Do you believe that humans today evolved (came from) from apes? Why or why not? Defend your answer!

II) Early Humans Apes and men were very different. Early human-like hominids could stand upright, apes could not. Hominid hands were jointed differently which allowed them to make and use tools.

5) Compare and contrast the different hands of these primates.

III) Lucy The bones of a 20 year old female (Lucy) were found in Ethiopia Africa. She belongs to the early human group called Australopithecus. Lucy was about 4 feet tall and weighed about 50 pounds. She made it possible for scientists to learn about early hominids.

Lucy Watch the following video and answer the questions that follow: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/evolution/finding-lucy.html What discovery led Johanson to believe Lucy walked upright? What was concluded about Lucy’s brain?

IV) Early Humans Early humans were hunters and gatherers. Humans moved from place to place hunting animals and gathering food. They did not live in one settled place. Early humans did not know how to farm.

*Homo is a Latin word meaning “human” V) Human Groups Human hominids are divided into 3 species that arose at different times in prehistory: 1) Homo habilis = person with ability (use tools) 2) Homo erectus = person who walks upright 3) Homo sapiens = person who thinks *Homo is a Latin word meaning “human”

Conclusion 8) After completing the activity, do agree that humans evolved from apes? Why or why not?

Play and Explore Piece together some dinosaur bones! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/games/skeleton_jigsaw/ 25 Strange Dinosaurs http://list25.com/25-strangest-prehistoric-creatures-to-roam-the-earth/ Video on the Weirdest Dinosaurs- BBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDvJk3pvzdU Early Man Timeline http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive Ape to Human: History Channel Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sMqFivWTmk