CONSIDERING EARLY MAN

ARCHAEOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, & PALEONTOLOGY Archaeologist: A person who studies the remains of ancient societies to learn about past ways of life. Anthropologist: A person who studies early human beings and the way societies and cultures originate and are organized. Paleontologist: A person who studies life existing in prehistoric times through fossils of plants, animals, and other organisms.

HOW DO WE DATE ANCIENT FOSSILS & ARTIFACTS? Potassium Argon Dating Radio Carbon Dating + Organic material, up to 50,000 years. + Rate of decay of radioactive carbon atoms. Potassium Argon Dating + Dates stone, up to 3 billion years.

LAETOLI FOOTPRINTS Mary Leakey Tanzania, 1978 3.6 million years One of earliest evidences of hominid existence. Ash, rain, prints, sun, ash, plant growth.

LAETOLI FOOTPRINTS

Australopithecus Afarensis LUCY

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT LUCY? How old is she? Where was she found? 3.6 million years, Ethiopia. How do we know? Fossilized crocodile and turtle eggs, same sediment level. Potassium argon dating method. What is Lucy’s ultimate significance? Oldest, most complete, best preserved skeletal remains of early hominid existence.

MORE ABOUT LUCY... They think she died at 20 and suffered from severe arthritis. How do they know??? Paleopathology A paleopathologist is one who studies old and diseased things, specifically, diseases of human and animal as inferred from recent or fossilized skeletal remains.

CHART REFERENCE: AUSTRALOPITHCUS Location: Ethiopia, Tanzania (“southern ape”) Time Period 4-1 million years ago Physical Characteristics 3-5 ft. tall, 500 cubic centimeters cranial capacity (1/3 of modern human Technology used objects in crude form Special Characteristics 1st hominid? Lucy and Laetoli footprints

A FOSSIL HUNTER'S DREAM Olduvai Gorge - Area in northern Tanzania where Louis and Mary Leakey unearthed a skull of a Homo habilis.

Homo habilis Skull fragments: 1.8 million years

Chart Reference: Homo habilis Location: Tanzania (Olduvai Gorge), Leakey’s Time Period: 2.5 - 2 million years Physical Characteristics 50% larger cranial capacity (750 cubic cm.) Technology: stone tools found in Olduvai Gorge Special characteristics: Beginning of stone age, (100 lbs of elephant meat carved in one hour!)

Homo erectus

LEAVING AFRICA

Chart Reference: Homo Erectus Location: Africa, Europe, S.W. Asia, S.E. Asia Time Period: 2-1 million years Physical Characteristics Cranial capacity 1000 cubic cm, 6 ft. tall! Technology: 1st to use fire Special characteristics: 1st to leave Africa

NEANDERTHAL Take notes on the following during the video. Two theories on the fate of Neanderthal Theories as to why he became extinct Evidence of sophistication

Chart Reference: Neanderthal Location: Europe, S.W. Asia (Neander Valley, Germany) Time Period: 200,000-30,000 years Technology: Temporary shelters, wood, bone and stone tools, excellent hunters Physical characteristics: Cranial capacity of modern humans (bigger?), 10-20% heavier bone mass than modern man, low brow, barrel chest, 5-51/2 feet tall Special Characteristics: Burial ceremonies (afterlife?), evolution, or extinction?, braved the Ice Age

INTRODUCING CRO-MAGNON MAN... (Anatomically modern man)

THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD Archaeologists sometimes call the late Paleolithic period of Cro-Magnon man as “The Great Leap Forward.” Compile a list of Cro-Magnon achievements that might justify this claim.

THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD

Cro-Magnon Technology Atlatl (Spear-thrower)

Cro-Magnon Tool Kit

Altamira, Spain Discovered in 1879. Dates 12,000 – 25,000 BC.

Lascaux, France

Chart Reference: Cro-Magnon Location: Africa, Europe, Asia, Americas Time Period: 70,000-15,000 years BC Physical Characteristics: Modern Man, larynx (organized speech, 50 yr. life expectancy (Neanderthal=40) Technology: (over 100 tools) stone, bone wood=fish hook, spear, harpoon, atlatl, chisel, sewing needle, Special Characteristics: cave art, jewelry, “leap” in technology, creativity

THE DAWN OF AGRICULTURE Excavation at Jarmo, Iraq Robert Braidwood Excavation at Jarmo, Iraq

JARMO, IRAQ 1 of earliest Neolithic villages found Settlement of 100-150 people Stone sickles, bowls Domesticated goats, sheep and dogs 16 layers of sediment 16th=charred seeds of wheat and barley dating to 7,000 BC 1 of earliest known uses of agriculture

CATAL HUYUK - EXCAVATION SITE

Catal Huyuk – Neolithic Village

CATAL HUYUK South Central Turkey Neolithic village Population 6,0000 6,000 BC Largest Neolithic village ever excavated Shrines for worship, mother goddess Evidence of agriculture, grain storage