The Peopling of the World Prehistory – 2500 BCE

1.1 – Human Origins in Africa How do we know things without written records? –Scientific clues Excavating traces of early settlements Bones, fossils Artifacts –Def: human made objects (i.e. tools, jewelry) –Carbon and potassium dating (issues?) –Anthropologists = people who study culture, humanity

Hominids Def: humans and other creatures Name given to very early humans Family: Hominidae –Means “great apes” – chimps, gorillas, orangutans Walk upright Footprints –much like ours today Opposable thumbs –Imagine life without them!

Human Development Homo habilis – “man of skill” –2.5 million years ago –May have used tools Homo erectus – “upright man” –1.6 million years ago –More intelligent Developed technology 1 st to migrate from Africa 1 st to use fire May have had spoken language

Technology Def: ways of applying knowledge, tools, and inventions to meet needs

Homo sapiens (“wise man”) Scientific classification Kingdom –Animalia Phylum –Chordata Class –Mammalia Order –Primates Family –Hominidae Genus –Homo Species –H. sapiens Subspecies –H. s. sapiens Trinomial name –Homo sapiens sapiens

The Stone Age Why is it called the “Stone” Age? Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age) –2.5 million years to 8000 BCE –Period of the last ice age i.e. last time the glaciers advanced Neolithic Age (New Stone Age) –8000 – 3000 BCE –Change… agriculture (will talk about in 1.2)

Neanderthals Early Homo sapiens NOT stereotypical cave men Vanished around 30,000 years ago –Most likely because they were replaced by….

Cro-Magnons 40,000 years ago they emerge Prehistoric humans (Homo sapiens) Made many useful tools More effective hunters –Populations grew faster with more food

The Search Continues Historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, other scientists and continuously studying and uncovering new information about early/prehistoric humans