Chapter 1:i Discovery of

Early Humans in Africa

History - the story of mankind - is divided into two time periods:

Pre-history History

The period of history before

people recorded events in writing.

The period during which people left written records of

their activities.

Circa 5,500 years ago

The historical period is further sub-divided into periods:

Pre-history History

Circa 5,500 years ago

Before Christ Anno Domini

Anno Domini means“In the year of the Lord”

0

Hominid

• member of the group that includes human beings and earlier human-like creatures

Anthropologists study primitive cultures in an effort to understand

our ancestors.

The discipline of Anthropology can be divided into two fields:

Physical Cultural

Compare bones and other fossil remains looking for changes in such features as

the brain and posture.

Study artifacts and cultural

characteristics of humans and their ancestors.

Paleontologists are scientists

who study fossil remains.

Margaret Mead pioneered many of the techniques now employed

by anthropologists to study human

societies and their technology.

Margaret Mead was honoured by the United States Post Office with a stamp for her pioneering work.

Archaeologists are scientists

who study earlier peoples and cultures.

Artifacts are objects made or used by humans, such as tools, . . .

Source: Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2000, p. 19.

ornaments,

Source: Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2000, p. 35.

and pottery.

Archaeologists often dig into midden piles to learn about past cultures.

Distinctive designs identify which canned

beverages the tab opened. Tab quantities

indicate the popularity of each beverage. The brief

time in which each tab design was manufactured

helps date samples.

Radiocarbon Dating

• a modern scientific method for telling the age of once-living material by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon remaining in it

Japanese paleontologist Gen Suwa found one of the oldest hominid teeth at a site near Aramis, Ethiopia, in 1972.

Suwa and Tim D. White of the University of California

eventually unearthed the remains of 17 individuals believed to have lived 4.4

million years ago.

Lucy’s was the most nearly complete

skeleton of any erect-walking pre-human found up that time.

As scientist unearth more clues, newer evidence may require them

to reinterpret older evidence.

Many scientists believe that

Australopithecus (“southern ape”) was the first pre-human hominid.

[Image source: http://www.toyen.uio.no/human/afarensis.htm]

Howdycousin!

Wanna gofor a walk?

They lived in the humid forests of

eastern and southern Africa.

[Image source: http://www.toyen.uio.no/human/australopithecus.htm]

Australopithecines were probably nomads who fed on fruits, leaves, and nuts, as well as fish caught in streams and meat scavenged from

animals killed by predators.

[Image source: http://www.toyen.uio.no/human/australopithecus.htm]

Earth experienced four long periods of cold climate known as Ice Ages where glaciers spread out and covered large

portions of the earth.

Culturethe way of life of a given people at

a given time; it includes . . .• knowledge• language• behaviour (dietary laws and dress)• religious beliefs• achievements in art and music

Technology is the the skills

and knowledge used by people to make tools and do work.

[Image source: http://www.nativewayonline.com/knapsu_1.ht]

The period in history before the advent of writing when people first learned to fashion tools out of stone

is known as the Stone Age.

Paleolithic Mesolithic Neolithic

Pre-history History

Circa 5,500 years ago

Old Stone Age New Stone AgeMiddle

Stone Age

2.5 m.y.a 12,000 B.C. 8,000 B.C.

Stone Age

Homo Habilis (“human of ability”) are probably the oldest hominids known to manufacture tools.

[Image source: http://www.toyen.uio.no/human/australopithecus.htm]

[Image source: http://ampere.scale.uiuc.edu/anth102/oldowan.html]

The Leakey Family

At first mostly food gatherers, Homo Erectus (“human who

walks upright”) eventually

learned how to hunt animals.

Distribution of Homo erectus remains.

[Image source: http://www.scale.uiuc.edu/anth102/erectus_map_txt.html]

[Image source: http://ampere.scale.uiuc.edu/anth102/ach_handaxe.html]

Scientists disagree on when prehistoric peoples left Africa and moved to other parts of the world.

Language made it

possible for the older

generation to pass its

culture on to younger

generations.(Source: Scientific American, March 1990, p. 111.)