Ms. Carmelitano

 If the present is “midnight” what “time” do you think human beings came into being?

 Little is known about early human species because they had no writing  Historians call this time pre-history  Instead of studying written records, scientists study:  Fossils  Bones  Artifacts: Human-made objects  Tools  Jewelry

 It was once believed that the “birth place” of the human species was Asia  In the 1930’s that all changed!  Louis S. B. Leakey  Believed Africa was the birth place of humans  In the 1930’s he found fossil evidence of human beings in Sub-Saharan Africa; Tanzania

 Mary Leakey 1978  Found prehistoric footprints that resembled those of modern humans in volcanic ash in Tanzania  (Homo Habilis)

 Anthropologist Donald Johanson studied in Ethiopia  1974 – Discovered a complete skeleton of an adult female hominid (Australopithecus)  Lived 3.5 million years ago  Oldest, most complete hominid found to that date

 Evolution  A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form

 Human evolution: the process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors.  Hominid – A human that walks upright (on 2 feet)  Lucy and the Leaky footprints came from Hominids, they walked on two feet  Bipedalism – or the ability to walk on two feet

 Physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated evolved over a period of six million years.  human traits:  bipedalism  large and complex brain  ability to make and use tools  capacity for language  complex symbolic expression, art, and elaborate cultural diversity

 The first eras of human existence can be separated into two sections  Paleolithic: Old Stone Age from 2.5 million to 8000 B.C.  Hominid Species first emerged  Hominid Species began to use stone tools intelligently  Fire is discovered (Homo-Erectus)  Mesolithic: Middle Stone Age  Homo Sapiens first emerged  Advance in the use of stone tools

 Australopithecus  Existed: 4 million BCE  Homo Habilis  2.5 million B.C.E  B.C.E. – means ‘before common era’  C.E. or A.D. – means ‘common era’  Homo: Human  Homo-Erectus:  Existed 1.6 million BCE  “Upright man”

 Homo Sapiens:  “wise man”  Modern Humans  The first Homo-sapiens evolved in Africa 100,000 and 400,000 years ago  Homo Sapiens: Neanderthal  200,000-30,000 BCE  Homo Sapiens Cro-Magnon  40,000-8,000 BCE

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