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Human Beings Almost Everywhere200,000 – 10,000 BCE

Big Era Two

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Remember Big Era One?

Imagine that your friend got

stuck at the beginning of Big

Era One, but you’ve made it

to the end!

You feel sorry for her,

because you got to see so

much. Write her a LETTER

telling her what happened in

Big Era One.

First, can you

remember what

happened in Big Era

One?

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What happened inBig Era One?

Dear __________,

• The Universe popped up 13 billion

years ago. (That’s where you are,

right?)

• Stars and Galaxies popped up from

about 12 billion years ago.

• Our Sun and Earth popped up

about 4.6 billion years ago.

• Life popped up on Earth about 3.8

billion years ago.

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What else happened in Big Era One?

Dear __________,

• Complicated life-forms showed up

after about 600 million years.

• Some organisms got onto the land

from about 400 million years ago.

• Dinosaurs ruled the earth until

about 67 million years ago.

• Then our hominid ancestors

showed up.

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Big Era Two is the first era

in which there were

human beings, people like

you and me (ME?)

When did we appear?

(Remember, they

appeared at the end of

Big Era One!) So, what

IS so special about

humans?

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1.8 mil. yrs ago

27k

How, when, and where did we become

human?

• Meet one of our close ancestors, Homo erectus.

• Homo erectus was one of the hominid groups that was developing increasingly large brains in both Africa and Asia between about 500,000 and 200,000 years ago.

This is a reconstructed Homo erectus skull, found in northern China. It dates to some time after 1.6 million years ago.

250k yrs ago

Today

Big Eras3-9

10k

Brain Development

500k – 200k yrs ago

Big Era 1 Big Era 2Homo erectus

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Homo erectus was a traveler!

Homo erectus

began migrating

to southerly parts

of Eurasia

sometime after

about 1.8 million

years ago.

200k yrs ago

Today

Big Eras3-9

10k1.8 mil. yrs ago

27k

Big Era 1 Big Era 2Homo erectus

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200k yrs ago

Human Origins: Homo sapiens in Africa

Homo sapiens(that’s us!) evolved from Homo erectus

• By 200,000 years ago, people whose skeletons were like those of Homo sapiens were already living in Africa.

• Between that time and about 100,000 years ago, people who were both anatomically and genetically “like us” emerged in eastern and southern Africa.

This is a reconstructed Homo sapiens skull, found in Israel. It has been dated to about 90,000 years ago.

100k yrs ago

S.W. Asia

200k yrs ago

Human Origins: Homo sapiens in Africa

Tod

ay

Big Eras3-9

10k y

ears

ag

o

Big Era 2

Big Era 1

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Homo sapiens traveled

even further than Homo

erectus. From their African

homeland, Homo sapiens

groups migrated to……Where?

See the Map!

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Migrations of Homo sapiens

Possible coastal routes of human migration

Possible landward routes of human migration

Migrations in Oceania

Human Origins200,000-250,000

years ago

Southwest Asia100,000 years ago

Europe40,000 years ago

Siberia40,000 years ago

Australiaas many as 60,000

years ago

North America12,000-30,000

years ago

Oceania1600 B.C.E.-500 C.E.

Chile12,000-13 ,000

years ago

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40k y

rs a

go

Eu

rop

e &

Sib

eri

a

60k y

rs a

go

Au

str

alia

100k y

rs a

go

S.W

. A

sia

40k y

rs a

go

Eu

rop

e &

Sib

eri

a

60k y

rs a

go

Au

str

alia

100k y

rs a

go

S.W

. A

sia

13k y

rs a

go

Am

eri

cas

200k y

rs a

go

Hu

man

Ori

gin

s

That’s amazing!

Why were modern

humans able to move into

so many different

environments? After all, no other

large animals had

spread so widely!

So what was so

special about us?

Tod

ay

Big Eras3-9

10k y

ears

ag

o

Big Era 2

Big Era 1

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Language!

• Homo sapiens had language

– so they could exchange complex ideas with

each other.

– and they could store and add to the ideas of

previous generations.

• Because they swapped ideas, they kept finding

– new ways of doing things.

– new ways of living.

Language SharedIdeas

New Ideas

Learning

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Language made collective learning possible.

• The stores of

knowledge and skills

humans built up are

called “culture.”

• No other animal can

store and accumulate

knowledge and skills in

this way.

• We call this ability

“collective learning.”

It is what

human history

is about!

It is what

makes us

special!

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Storing up and building on new skills and new knowledge is what set our species on the path of continuing cultural changes that led to the world we now live in.

Monte Alban, Oaxaca, Mexico, 200 BCEGreat Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, 1300-1500 CE

Towers, Kuwait City, Today

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At first, changes in technology were very slow.

After about 100,000 years ago, the pace of change began to increase.

Evidence appears from about that time of humans living in east, central, and southern Africa. They were:

How did collective learning change human culture?

For example, Blombos Cave

• Making more advanced and varied tools.

• Experimenting with body decoration and abstract

symbols.

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Remains discovered at Blombos Cave are one example of the more complex culture some humans were developing as many as 90,000 years ago.

View looking out of Blombos Cave to the Indian Ocean

Bone points from the cave

Ochre piece with scrapemarks. A person may havescraped the ochre to get powder to use to makebody paint.

The people who lived in this

seaside camp:

• Made sharp stone spear

points using methods that

appeared in Eurasia only

50,000 or more years later.

• Made objects from bone, the

earliest use of this material

known.

• Scored bits of bone and

ochre with marks that may

have had symbolic meaning.

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From about 40,000 years ago, archaeological evidence shows faster and faster cultural change and increasing complexity.

Humans began to:

• Create both naturalistic

and abstract art.

• Make more specialized

tools.

• Weave and knot fiber.

• Decorate clothing.

• Make jewelry.

• Build semi-permanent

structures.

The engraved horse panel in the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arc in southern France. The image is about 31,000 years old.

Venus of the Kostenki I site in Russia dated to about 23,000 years ago. This stone female head is wearing headgear of woven basketry.

Acceleration!

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• By the time humans appeared, our

closest living relatives were

probably the hominids known as

“Neandertals” (or, “Neanderthals”).

• When Homo sapiens groups arrived

in western Asia and Europe,

Neandertals were already there. By

100,000 years ago Neandertals

were living from Spain to Inner

Eurasia.

• They had a long record of living

successfully in both warm and cold

environments. But they

disappeared from the record about

28,000 years ago.

Were other

surviving hominids

changing in the

same way as Homo

sapiens?

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Approximate geographical range of Neandertals, 100,000-28,000 years ago

Approximate geographical range of Homo sapiens by 28,000 years ago

Did Homo sapiens meet Neandertals?

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• Members of the two species may have met in Southeast Asia.

• The last physical traces of Homo erectus, dating to about 28,000 years ago, were discovered in Java. By that time Homo sapiens was already living in that region.

Range of last surviving Homo erectus

Did Homo

Sapiens

meet Homo

Erectus?

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Would they have:

• Learned from each other?

• Fought?

• Traded?

• Eaten each other?

• Mated?

What do you think might

have happened when Homo

sapiens met Neandertals or

Homo erectus?

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Homo sapiens and other species

• We’re not sure what might

have happened if Homo

sapiens met Neandertals or

Homo erectus, but we do

know that these two hominid

species died out.

• And so did many other large

animals, called megafauna,

which once roamed the

earth.

• What might these

extinctions tell us about our

own species?

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What happened in Big Era Two?

• Humans appeared, and they started TALKING!

• Therefore, they could share new ideas and build up a

store of ideas – what we call “culture.”

• They learned to live in many different environments.

• And they migrated to all the world’s major landmasses

and many of its islands, big and small.

Before you answer that

question, let’s review …

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So what do you

think is so

special about

Homo sapiens?

What does

it mean to

be human?

Why does

human

history

matter?

Stay tuned

for Big Era

Three!

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End of Big Era Two