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EARLY HUMANS HOW DID OUR ANCESTORS EVOLVE AND LIVE? 6.

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Presentation on theme: "EARLY HUMANS HOW DID OUR ANCESTORS EVOLVE AND LIVE? 6."— Presentation transcript:

1 EARLY HUMANS HOW DID OUR ANCESTORS EVOLVE AND LIVE? 6

2 CONTENTS UNIT 6 EARLY HUMANS BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS2 UNIT 6 BASICS 3Unit 6 Overview 4Unit 6 Learning Outcomes 5Unit 6 Lessons 7Unit 6 Key Concepts 8Looking Back: What Happened in Unit 5? KEY CONTENT 11Threshold 6: Collective Learning 13How Did Our Ancestors Evolve? 14What Makes Humans Different? 15Collective Learning: Part 1 of 4 16How Did the First Humans Live? 17Foraging 18Looking Ahead: What’s Next in Unit 7?

3 3 UNIT 6 OVERVIEW Key Disciplines: Anthropology and archaeology Timespan: The first humans are thought to have evolved at least 200,000 years ago Key Question: How did our ancestors evolve and live? Threshold for this Unit: Threshold 6: Collective Learning BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

4 4 UNIT 6 LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of Unit 6, students should be able to: 1.Narrate how human ancestors evolved and cite the available evidence. 2.Use information and evidence from multiple documents to argue if language and collective learning make humans different. 3.Gather evidence from different texts to describe how early humans lived. 4.Begin the “Little Big History” assignment using key research skills, such as problem-framing and identifying and citing resources. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

5 5 UNIT 6 LESSONS 6.0 Collective learning and big history Our talent for preserving and sharing information, passing it from one generation to the next, has made us the most powerful species on the planet. 6.1 How did our ancestors evolve? We might share a lot with our primate cousins, but our bigger brains, our ability to walk upright, and other physical “improvements,” are all adaptations that make humans unique. 6.2 What makes humans different? You may think you can talk to the animals, but our ability to use language separates us from other species. Without it, we wouldn’t have the ability for collective learning, which allows us to dominate the biosphere. Continued next slide BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

6 6 UNIT 6 LESSONS Continued from previous slide 6.3 How did the first humans live? Our Paleolithic ancestors were foraging nomads who eventually migrated across six continents. These early humans made tools, used fire, and sustained themselves in diverse environmental conditions. 6.4 Ways of knowing: Early humans We’re obsessed with understanding the roots of who we are as a species. Anthropologists, archaeologists, and primatologists are the most obsessed, as they work to paint a picture of early human life. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

7 7 UNIT 6 KEY CONCEPTS BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS adaptation anthropology archaeology bipedalism collective learning foraging Homo sapiens migration primates

8 LOOKING BACK

9 9 Unit 5 focused on the emergence of living things on planet Earth. During the first 9 billion years in the history of the Universe, there were no living things. We learned: About the conditions required for the emergence of life. What similarities exist across all living things. How life has changed over time, evolving from simple life forms to complex organisms. How life is affected by changes in astronomical, geological, and biological conditions. How DNA enables living things to pass adaptations to new generations. WHAT HAPPENED IN UNIT 5? BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

10 KEY CONTENT

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13 13 HOW DID OUR ANCESTORS EVOLVE? Main Talk / David Christian Taxonomy is a branch of science which seeks to show the relationships between living things. Taxonomy uses fossils and genetic evidence to classify living things: Taxonomy tells us that humans are related to other animals, and we are most closely related to primates. The dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, which enabled mammals (and eventually primates) to assume a larger role on Earth. Humans and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor about 7 million years ago (this is different than saying we descended from apes). A key difference between humans and chimps was that humans walked on two feet (bipedalism) and chimps typically walk on all four. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

14 14 WHAT MAKES HUMANS DIFFERENT? Main Talk / David Christian Humans began to exhibit unique behaviors and show evidence of collective learning sometime between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago. Homo sapiens began moving into new environment, making sophisticated tools, and wearing clothing; during this time, we also migrated out of Africa. Collective learning makes humans unique in the animal world: means that unlike other animal species, we are not limited to evolving as a result of genetic changes. Our species also evolves as a result of collective learning. No other species displays the same degree of creativity or set of behaviors as humans. Human language gives our species a unique ability to communicate about a wide range of complex topics, and it also allows us to preserve and pass on this knowledge. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

15 15 COLLECTIVE LEARNING: PART 1 OF 4 Article / David Christian Human culture isn’t the product of individual geniuses; rather, our culture has been slowly built over time by millions of people. Collective learning depends on the ability to access and share information. Humans are able to pass on their discoveries and innovations because of the power of language. Collective learning gives humans infinite capacity for memory and allows us to work in teams. Archaeologists look for evidence of collective learning, such as evidence of tool-making in early humans. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

16 16 HOW DID THE FIRST HUMANS LIVE? Main Talk / David Christian The earliest humans lived in the Paleolithic era. The word root paleo means old, and lithos means stone, so the name literally means old stone age. This name was chosen because stone tools were the first type of tools that early humans used. Humans were foragers during the Paleolithic era, gathering local plants and hunting or scavenging for animals. Humans were also nomads during this time, moving from place to place over a large area to access these plants and animals. Evidence suggests that early humans tended to live in small groups of 15-30 people and believed in a world inhabited by spirits. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

17 17 FORAGING Article / Cynthia Stokes Brown Humans and their ancestors have existed for approximately 7 million years but our species only began farming 10,000 years ago, which means that humans have spent most of their time on earth as foragers. Some human societies have maintained the foraging lifestyle into recent times, including the Bushmen of Botswana, the Aborigines of Australia, and the Yanomami of the Brazilian rainforest. However, pressure from modern agricultural and industrial societies has forced many of these groups to modify their traditional practices. Anthropologists continue to study modern foraging peoples. They continue to debate gender roles in foraging societies, the physical and mental health of foragers, and the impact of foragers on their environments. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS

18 LOOKING AHEAD

19 19 WHAT’S NEXT? In Unit 7, we will focus on the origin and development of agriculture and its impact on the way humans lived. We will learn: How the development of agriculture changed humans’ lifestyle. How cities, states, and civilizations developed to organize agricultural societies. About the development of writing and the impact that has on what evidence is available to modern-day historians. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 6 / EARLY HUMANS


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