Human Origins in Africa Why is the study of Prehistoric Man so Elusive?

The Great Rift Valley extends from Turkey through the Jordan River valley, the Red Sea and down through the area of Lake Victoria almost to the Zambezi River.

The Great Rift Valley

How the Great Rift Valley Was Created The subsidence of rock resulting from two or more parallel rocks moving apart is known as a graben. When this happens on a large scale, with tectonic plates moving apart, a rift valley is created.

Why is The Great Rift Valley such a rich source of fossils and artifacts?

The Olduvai Gorge and the Laetoli Plain are located in what modern country? What important findings were found there? Were they fossils or artifacts?

The young Donald Johanson with his amazing discovery. What was it? In 1976 he was inducted into the Academy of Achievement for his discoveries.

One of the great fossil finds: LUCY A hominid

What characteristics of the Great Rift Valley shown here in this diagram helped archaeologists, anthropologists and paleontologists in finding Lucy? How do each of those scientists help put the pieces of the puzzle together?

Laettoli Ffootprints Who first discovered these footprints? Why are they so important? Laettoli Ffootprints

What important valley in Africa is this scene a part of? What explains why these two early hominds left footprints 3.5 million years ago? Who discovered these footprints? Why are they so important?

The Leakeys in the Great Rift Valley Dr. Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey, archaeologists, display the skull of a human ancestor, Zinjanthropus, in 1959.

How does this cartoon help explain the why the red routes on the previous map went further than the yellow routes?

Out of Africa How do the dates on this map show that man originated in Africa and then migrated elsewhere?

These skulls are both examples of Homo Sapiens Which is the Neanderthal and which is the Cro-Magnon Man?

Does this describe a Neanderthal or a Cro-Magnon Man?

How do you think an anthropologist figured out that Neanderthal Man buried his dead? How does this scene suggest Neanderthal Man is like us…a homo sapiens?

Fungus Once Again Threatens French Cave Paintings PARIS, Dec. 8 — For the second time in a decade, fungus is threatening France’s most celebrated prehistoric paintings, the mysterious animal images that line the Lascaux cave in the Dordogne region of southwest France, scientists say.

A Map of the Cave at Lascaux in modern France shows that many of the paintings were in almost inaccessible parts of the cave. Why? Go to the website below to discover what it feels like to be in the cave at Lascaux http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

Celebrated art historian, Sister Wendy Beckett, examines the paintings in the caves at Lascaux in her book, Story of Painting. what will she say explains why these magnificent pictures of animals were painted in the deepest parts of the underground where few people ever saw them?

What seems to be the subject these painters most wanted to portray What seems to be the subject these painters most wanted to portray? What kinds of explanations does Lord Attenborough suggest?

This horse was painted by a Cro-Magnon at Lascaux in modern France How do these paintings and the burial site in the last slide give evidence that both the Neanderthal and the Cro-Magnon were Homo Sapiens like us?

Are these artifacts or fossils? How do these findings help us to know that the people who made these are from the Paleolithic or the Neolithic Age? How do the items pictured help explain the timeline in the next slide?

The Paleolithic Age Becomes… The Neolithic Age How?