1. How Archaeologists Study the Past
Chapter 1 Lesson 3

2. Terms & Names Artifact Fossil Hominid Paleolithic Age Mesolithic Age
Neolithic Age

3. Finding Clues to the Past
What is an Artifact?
It is a human-made object
Early Human Tools
Early Human Counting Tools

4. Finding Clues to the Past
What is a Fossil?
It is a remain of early life that has been preserved in the ground.

5. What is the difference between a Fossil and Artifact?
Human-made
Remains of things that were made
A remain of human life
Remains of living things (people, plants, animals

6. Earliest Humans Hominids
A human or humanlike creature that walks on two feet
Australopithecine
Lived from about 4.5 million to 1 million B.C.
Found in southern and eastern Africa
First humanlike creature to walk upright
Homo habilis (handy man)
Lived from about 2.5 million to 1.5 million B.C.
Found in East Africa
First to make stone tools
Homo erectus
Lived from about 1.6 million to 250,000 B.C.
Found in Africa, Asia and Europe
First to move out of Africa
Homo sapiens (modern man)
Has lived from about 400,000 B.C. to the present
Early Homo sapiens found in Africa, Europe and Asia
Physically modern humans

7. Important Finds Lous and Mary Leakey
1960 the found Homo Habilis fossils in East Africa
Their discoveries showed that human evolution began in Africa
Professor Donald Johanson and Tom Gray
Discovered “Lucy” in 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia
She was 3.5 million years old, and the oldest hominid discovered up to that time

8. The Stone Age Divided into 3 stages
Paleolithic Age (old Stone Age)
Neolithic Age
(New Stone Age)
Mesolithic Age
(Bridge)
2.5 million – 8000 B.C.
Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens
Lived as hunters and gatherers
Simple stone tools with single sharp edges to cut and chop
8000 – 3000 B.C.
Only Homo sapiens lived during this time
Learned to polish stone tools and make pottery
Began to grow crops, raise animals and settle in villages
10,000 – 6000 B.C.
Developed needles and thread, harpoons and spear throwers
Developed grindstones to prepare the vegetables they collected

9. Poster Project
What have you learned?

10. 3 Essential Questions
What are the differences between Artifacts and Fossils?
What have archaeologists learned about early humans from the evidence they have found?
Who lived and what happened during the prehistoric period known as the stone age (Paleolithic Age, Mesolithic Age, Neolithic Age)?