1. EARLY HUMANS BEFORE HISTORY

2. History is said to begin with the invention of human writing about 5,500 years ago. Most historians use written records to gather information.

3. The story of humankind actually starts much earlier in the time before people developed writing, the period called prehistory.

4. Archaeologists and anthropologists are scientists who study various kinds of information to develop theories about our ancient past.

5. Archeology is the study of past societies through analysis of what people left behind. Archaeologists investigate prehistoric life by unearthing and interpreting artifacts left behind by prehistoric people.

6. Artifacts - Include any object shaped by human hands - tools, pots, weapons, art, and even buildings made by early humans.

7. Anthropology is the study of human life and culture. Culture can include what people wear, how they organize their society, and what they value.

8. Anthropologists use artifacts and human fossils to give us a picture of people’s everyday lives. Fossils are rocklike remains of biological organisms, from leaves to skeletons.

9. Both Archaeologists and anthropologists have developed rigorous scientific methods to investigate the past. They excavate (dig up) land at sites all around the globe to uncover fossil remains of early humans, ancient cities, burial grounds, and other objects.

10. By analyzing their finds archaeologists get a better understanding of ancient societies. For example by examining artifacts such as pottery, tools, and weapons, they learn about the social and military structures of a society. They can learn about the diets and activities of early people by analyzing bones, skins, and plant seeds.

11. Once they locate artifacts and begin to understand their use, the archaeologist and the anthropologist must date their finds. When?

12. Among the tools for determining the age of organic remains is Radiocarbon dating. Organic matter includes anything that was once alive. A small percentage of the carbon atoms absorbed by every living thing is radioactive (called C-14). When a living thing dies it stops absorbing carbon. Then because radioactive carbon decays at a known rate, scientists can measure how much the radioactive carbon in something has decayed and figure out when the animal or plant died. Radiocarbon dating, can only be used for things that are less than 50,000 years old.

13. When the scientists want to date things that are older than 50,000 years, going back as far as 200,000 years they can use thermoluminescence. This is a measurement of the light given off by electrons trapped in the soil surrounding fossils and artifacts.

14. Today scientists can use microscopic and biological analyses of organic remains – things like blood, hair, and plant tissues left on tools and weapons to gain more information. They have found that blood molecules may survive millions of years. Ancient Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is continually providing new information on human evolution.