1. Hominids and Early Humans
Name _______________________________
Period _______
Hominids and Early Humans
1) Identify the term prehistory.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
2) What famous discovery did the archaeologists Mary and Louis Leaky make in 1959?
3) Identify the term hominid.
4) Identify the term ancestor.
5) What is an Australopithecus?_______________________________________________________________
6) What conclusions did Donald Johanson make based on his own discovery, known as Lucy, in 1974?
7) How is Homo habilis different from Lucy?
The term prehistory is what historians call the time before there was writing.
Mary and Louis Leaky discovered bones in East Africa that were more than 1.5 million years old that belonged to a hominid.
A hominid is an early ancestor of humans.
An ancestor is a relative who lived in the past.
An Australopithecus is one of the earliest ancestors of humans. The
name means “southern ape.” It appeared in Africa about 4-5 million years ago. It stood upright and walked on two legs.
Its brain was about one-third the size of modern humans.
Johanson concluded that she could walk on two legs and she was small in size based on her
bones. The ability to walk on two legs was a key step in human development.
Homo habilis, or “handy man” was more closely related to modern
humans because it had a larger brain than Lucy. Lucy’s brain was about 1/3 the size of modern humans.
Handy man’s brain was about half the size of modern humans.

2. 8) How is Homo erectus different from Homo habilis and Lucy?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
9) What is a Homo sapien?
10) Identify the meaning of each name.
Australopithecus-____________________________
Homo habilis-_______________________________
Homo erectus-______________________________
Homo sapiens-______________________________
11) Describe three ways that Homo erectus made use of fire.
1-_________________________________________________________________________________
2-_________________________________________________________________________________
3-_________________________________________________________________________________
12) Describe how Homo sapiens use of fire was different from how Homo erectus used it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Homo erectus, or “upright man” walked completely upright like modern man. He learned to control fire and he
migrated out of Africa.
Appearing in Africa about 200,000 years ago, homo sapiens, or “wise man” developed characteristics of modern humans.
They migrated around the world Same species as modern humans (YOU).
They developed language.
Southern ape
Handy man
Upright man
Wise man
He had the ability to control fire after it was started naturally.
He used it for cooking food.
He used it to keep warm
He used it for protection against animals.
Homo sapiens were able to start their own fires. Homo erectus could control it, but could only use it if
it was started naturally.

3. Hominids and Early Humans
Name _______________________________
Period _______
Hominids and Early Humans
1) Identify the term prehistory.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
2) What famous discovery did the archaeologists Mary and Louis Leaky make in 1959?
3) Identify the term hominid.
4) Identify the term ancestor.
5) What is an Australopithecus?_______________________________________________________________
6) What conclusions did Donald Johanson make based on his own discovery, known as Lucy, in 1974?
7) How is Homo habilis different from Lucy?

4. 8) How is Homo erectus different from Homo habilis and Lucy?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
9) What is a Homo sapien?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10) Identify the meaning of each name.
Australopithecus-____________________________
Homo habilis-_______________________________
Homo erectus-______________________________
Homo sapiens-______________________________
11) Describe three ways that Homo erectus made use of fire.
1-_________________________________________________________________________________
2-_________________________________________________________________________________
3-_________________________________________________________________________________
12) Describe how Homo sapiens use of fire was different from how Homo erectus used it.