Human Beings Almost Everywhere 200,000 – 10,000 BCE Spread of Humanity Human Beings Almost Everywhere 200,000 – 10,000 BCE

The Evolutionary Path

Hominids The term "hominid" means "humans and relatives of humans closer than chimpanzees". All hominid species other than Homo sapiens sapiens are extinct.   Other hominid species included Homo erectus and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.

A little Latin explanation Homo – ‘man’ or more accurately human Erectus – ‘upright’ Sapiens – derived from the word ‘sapient’ meaning wise. Therefore Homo sapien – Wise man Homo erectus – Upright man

What makes a Hominid special? Bipedalism The primary feature distinguishing hominids from our genetic ancestors is walking erect on two legs –bipedalism

What is so great about bipedalism? Carrying - freeing hands allowed people to carry objects, tools and weapons Efficient cooling - by standing on two feet, humans could expose more of their body to the air, cooling them and allowing them to travel further Less energy required - an energy efficient way to travel long distances which also means we don’t have to eat as much Upright posture - Allows for better vision in open environments

What makes a Hominid special? Larger Brains Another feature distinguishing hominids from our genetic ancestors is the increased size of our brains

What is so great about larger brains? Communication – allowing people to share ideas, plan ahead and retain information Quick thinking – allowing people to creatively think as they react to a dangerous situation Complex thinking – allowing people to take into consideration many factors affecting a situation before deciding on an action Creative thinking – allowing people to develop technology that would help make their life easier

What makes a Hominid special? Use of tools Another feature distinguishing hominids from our genetic ancestors is the way in which we create tools to assist our daily lives

What is so great about tools? Effort – allowing people to spend less energy completing a task Speed – allowing people to take less time completing a task Defence – allowing people to overcome the fact that most natural predators are more than a match for us one-on-one Shelter – allowing people to protect themselves from the elements by creating a shelter using resources from the environment

How and When did we become human?

Meet one of our close ancestors, Homo erectus. Homo erectus was one of the hominid groups that was developing increasingly large brains in both Africa and Asia between about 500,000 and 200,000 years ago. Homo erectus 250k yrs ago Today 10k Brain Development 500k – 200k yrs ago Big Era 1 Big Era 2 Photo Franz Weidenreich Reconstruction of Homo Erectus The Smithsonian Institution Human Origins Program http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/erec.html 1.8 mil. yrs ago 27k Homo erectus

Homo erectus was a traveler! Homo erectus began migrating to southerly parts of Eurasia sometime after about 1.8 million years ago. 200k yrs ago Today Big Eras 3-9 10k 1.8 mil. yrs ago 27k Big Era 1 Big Era 2 Homo erectus

Homo sapiens (that’s us!) evolved from Homo erectus By 200,000 years ago, remains have been found of people whose skeletons were like those of Homo sapiens were already living in Africa. About 100,000 years ago, they started to travel. Homo sapiens Photo Skhul V The Smithsonian Institution Human Origins Program http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/skhul.html 200k yrs ago Human Origins: Homo sapiens in Africa 200k yrs ago Human Origins: Homo sapiens in Africa 100k yrs ago S.W. Asia Homo sapiens 10k years ago Today

Homo sapiens traveled even further than Homo erectus Homo sapiens traveled even further than Homo erectus. From their African homeland, Homo sapiens groups migrated to… …Where? See the Map!

Migrations of Homo sapiens Human Origins 200,000-250,000 years ago Southwest Asia 100,000 years ago Europe 40,000 years ago Siberia Australia as many as 60,000 North America 12,000-30,000 Oceania 1600 B.C.E.-500 C.E. Chile 12,000-13 ,000 Possible coastal routes of human migration Possible landward routes of human migration Migrations in Oceania

What did you notice about HOW humans spread across the globe? Did they head inland? Did they follow the coast? Did they follow rivers?

Where’s the FOOD? In order to survive, early man needed a ready source of food to survive. Plant and animals thrive where there is abundant water. This is one of the reasons why many human settlements (even today) are found near sources of water such as rivers, lakes or the coast.

Maybe a mixture of these factors? So what would have stopped Homo sapiens travelling north into Europe for almost 60 000 years? An Ice Age? Lack of food? Mountain barriers? Maybe a mixture of these factors?

Why were Homo sapiens able to move into so many different environments? After all, no other large animals had spread so widely! So what was so special about us? 200k yrs ago Human Origins 100k yrs ago S.W. Asia 100k yrs ago S.W. Asia 60k yrs ago Australia 60k yrs ago Australia 40k yrs ago Europe & Siberia 40k yrs ago Europe & Siberia 13k yrs ago Americas Today 10k years ago

Language! Homo sapiens had language so they could exchange complex ideas with each other. and they could store and add to the ideas of previous generations. Because they swapped ideas, they kept finding new ways of doing things. new ways of living. New Ideas Learning Language Shared Ideas

Language made collective learning possible. The knowledge and skills humans build up is called “culture.” No other animal can store and accumulate knowledge and skills in this way. We call this ability “collective learning.” It is what human history is about! It is what makes us special!

Storing up and building on new skills and new knowledge is what set our species on the path of continuing cultural changes that led to the world we now live in. Towers, Kuwait City, Today Great Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, 1300-1500 CE Monte Alban, Oaxaca, Mexico, 200 BCE Photos by Ross E.. Dunn

How did collective learning change human culture? At first, changes in technology were very slow. After about 100,000 years ago, the pace of change began to increase. Evidence appears from about that time of humans living in east, central, and southern Africa. They were: For example, Blombos Cave Making more advanced and varied tools. Experimenting with body decoration, art and symbols.

The people who lived in this seaside camp: Remains discovered at Blombos Cave are one example of the more complex culture some humans were developing as many as 90,000 years ago. View looking out of Blombos Cave to the Indian Ocean The people who lived in this seaside camp: Made sharp stone spear points using methods that appeared in Eurasia only 50,000 or more years later. Made objects from bone, the earliest use of this material known. Scored bits of bone and ochre with marks that may have had symbolic meaning. Bone points from the cave Ochre piece with scrape marks. A person may have scraped the ochre to get powder to use to make body paint. Photos: Arizona State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences http://clasdean.la.asu.edu/news/images/bone/

Faster change! From about 40,000 years ago, archaeological evidence shows faster and faster cultural change and increasing complexity. The engraved horse panel in the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arc in southern France. The image is about 31,000 years old. Humans began to: Create more art. Make specialized tools. Weave and knot fiber. Decorate clothing. Make jewelry. Build semi-permanent structures. Venus of the Kostenki I site in Russia dated to about 23,000 years ago. This stone female head is wearing headgear of woven basketry. Horse panel photo (http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet) Headgear photo New York Times, Dec. 14, 1999. Photo: Bill Wiegand, University of Illinois.)

By the time humans appeared, our closest living relatives were probably the hominids known as “Neandertals” (or, “Neanderthals”). When Homo sapiens groups arrived in western Asia and Europe, Neandertals were already there. By 100,000 years ago Neandertals were living from Spain to Inner Eurasia. They had a long record of living successfully in both warm and cold environments. But they disappeared from the record about 28,000 years ago. Were other surviving hominids changing in the same way as Homo sapiens?

Did Homo sapiens meet Neandertals? Approximate geographical range of Neandertals, 100,000-28,000 years ago Approximate geographical range of Homo sapiens by 28,000 years ago

Did Homo Sapiens meet Homo Erectus? Members of the two species may have met in Southeast Asia. The last physical traces of Homo erectus, dating to about 28,000 years ago, were discovered in Java. By that time Homo sapiens was already living in that region. Range of last surviving Homo erectus

Learned from each other? Fought? Traded? Eaten each other? Mated? What do you think might have happened when Homo sapiens met Neandertals or Homo erectus? Would they have: Learned from each other? Fought? Traded? Eaten each other? Mated?

Homo sapiens and other species We’re not sure what might have happened if Homo sapiens met Neandertals or Homo erectus, but we do know that these other two hominid species died out. And so did many other large animals, called megafauna, which once roamed the earth. What might these extinctions tell us about our own species?

Before you answer that question, let’s review … What happened in this time period? Humans appeared, and they started TALKING! Therefore, they could share new ideas and build up a store of ideas – what we call “culture.” They learned to live in many different environments. And they migrated to all the world’s major landmasses and many of its islands, big and small.

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