1. Early Humans & Paleolithic Age

2. Bell Work
Write down or list any information that you know regarding Early Humans and prehistory (before writing was developed).

3. Discovering the Past: Archaeology and Anthropology
Archaeology: What is it?
Anthropology: What is it?
Discovery of Early humans painted a picture and provided a theory to human development.
How can we determine such events?
Radiocarbon
Thermal-Luminescence
Microscopic and Biological Analyses of Organic Remains
Ask what the word theory means in this case?
Radiocarbon-All living things absorb carbon and slowly lose it when they die, the measurement to see how much of this carbon is left to determine the age is radiocarbon dating-good for only about 50,000 years old
Thermo-Luminesence-200,000 years ago; measures the light given off by electrons in the soil surrounding artifacts and fossils.
Organic remains-blood, hairs, and plant tissues left on tools and weapons (can survive millions of years). Then ask: How do we find the tools and weapons? (Archaeology).

4. Early Humans Scientific development of humans “Out-of-Africa” Theory
Hominid (Africa)
Australopithecus (Lucy)
Homo Habilis (Handy Man)
Homo Erectus (First to leave Africa)
Homo Sapiens (Neanderthals)
Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Most similar to US)
“Out-of-Africa” Theory
Spread to parts of Europe and Asia & replaced earlier humans
Go over each characteristic specific to the 5 types of humans above. Hominid-refers to humans that have slowly changed over time; Australopithecus-what the first hominids evolved into, slightly larger brain and ability to walk-upright; Homo habilis-first to use stone tools and developed a larger brain; Homo erectus-arms and legs in modern proportion; Homo Sapiens-extreme and rapid brain growth and mastered fire.
“Out-of-Africa” Theory-Homo Sapiens Sapiens replaced neanderthals and eventually spread out across the world. We ALL belong to the same subgroup of human beings.

5. Australopithecus
Ability to walk upright, larger brain capacity than ancestors.

6. Homo Habilis
First to use stone tools

7. Homo Erectus-First to leave Africa and learned how to use fire, arms and legs in modern proportion

8. Homo Sapiens
Mastered fire; extreme and rapid brain growth

9. Paleolithic Age ‘The Old Stone Age’
Ability to make simple stone tools emerged
New ways of obtaining food
Higher form of society emerged
Adaptions to the Environment and the use of fire emerged

10. Paleolithic Age Hunting and Gathering
A common way of obtaining food for hundreds and thousands of years.
Found out which animals to hunt and what plants to eat……How?
The development of stone tools took place during the Paleolithic Age
Provided humans with a more effective way to survive
How?: Trial and error; no system developed other than trying and failing
Animals: Buffalo, Horses, Bison, and Reindeer
Plants: Wild Nuts, Berries, Fruits, Wild Grains, and Green Plants

12. Paleolithic Age Way of life
Stone tools became the essential building block for all ways of life during the ‘Old Stone Age’
By using hard rocks as a saw/chisel/hammer, early humans would develop spears, hand axes, and tools with 1 or more cutting edge
Stone tools were also used for gathering
The use of fire helped in hardening the spears, which was needed to cut through the tough hides of animals.
The bow and arrow became another useful tool; along with harpoons and fish hooks made of bone
Gathering: cut up plants, dig up roots, cut branches

13. Society
The roles of men and women became clearly defined in the ‘Old Stone Age’
The main goal was to find food and both men and women worked hard at that task and worked together
Women: stayed closer to camp and were primarily gatherers
Men: Primarily hunters
Skills were passed on from generation to generation to ensure survival
Women acquired the berries, tree nuts, roots, and grains, and were responsible for the children at the camp. They trapped small animals as needed and kept the camp safe.
The men traveled far from camp to hunt large animals and the only thing sustaining life until they returned with meat was what the women had gathered and killed at the camp.
There was a sense of equality between men and women because they each relied on each other to sustain life.
Venn Diagram of Roles of men and Women
Compare and Contrast the roles of men and women in Paleolithic Society vs. today’s society.

14. Adaptations to Survive
Survival was key, as it remains today, as early humans developed an essential element that we take advantage of today….shelter
Natural Shelter
Caves were the most common
New types of shelter developed
Crossed wooden poles covered with animal hides.
New shelter: if wood was scarce then they would use the large bones of a mammoth to build frames

15. Use of Fire
Adjusted to colder climate conditions because of weather change and migration
Homo erectus first to learn how to make fire
Why was it so important?!
Warmth, kept animals away, hunting, social aspects, cooking, art/communication, improved life and habits of humans

16. Art The charcoal and ash from fire was used to create cave paintings
This was a form of communication and allowed for archaeologists to uncover the secretive world of early humans.
Radiocarbon dating was used to determine the age (pigments used in the painting)

17. “Panel of Horses”-cave painting from a cave found in France-Chauvet Cave
What does the this painting depict? Horses, rhinos, cave bears, and cave lions, mammoth
What similarities do you see between animals in the cave art and those of today? They look much the same as their counterparts today.

18. Ice Age...Death and Rebirth
Sheets of ice covered the Earth and caused a massive freeze
Many people had to adapt or die because of this
Migration (expansion of the population)
Changing not only themselves, but the environment (fire), early humans advanced after the Ice Age into a Neolithic people.
We’ll talk about the advancement of early humans on Friday, activities tomorrow.