Human Origins: The Stone Ages

SOL 8.2

Human Culture• Culture=WAY OF LIFE• Includes knowledge people have, language

they speak, ways they eat and dress, religious beliefs, achievement in art and music

Human Origins• History began with the invention of writing- 5,500

years ago• Prehistory: Time period before writing

developed• Hominids: Human beings and the humanlike

creatures that preceded them.• Anthropology: Scientific study of hominids• Physical anthropologists compare hominid

bones and other fossils, looking for changes

Human Origins

• Paleontologists: study fossil remains to determine the characteristics of various prehistoric periods

• Archaeologists: investigate prehistoric life by unearthing and interpreting the objects left behind by prehistoric people

• Artifacts: objects that were shaped by human hands. Ex) tools, pots, and beads

Dating Early Artifacts

• Easy to determine relative sequence in which events happened

• More recent remains are found above older ones

• Problems arise in assigning a definite age to fossil bones, tools, and other remains

• Radiocarbon Dating: used for organic matter that is less than 50,000 years old

• Researchers can date older remains- up to 26 billion years ago

Discovery of Lucy• Hadar- site 45 miles north

of Aramis

• Donald C. Johanson and Tom Gray uncovered the 3.2 million year old skeleton of a hominid nicknamed “Lucy”

• Hers was the most nearly complete skeleton of any erect-walking pre-human found up to that time

• 1994- assembled first almost complete skull of Lucy- proving that males and females were different sizes

• Hominids like her spent time climbing trees and could walk upright

• Earliest known evidence of upright walking comes from Kenya-

• 1995 discovery of a fossilized shin bone

Replica of Lucy

How do we know all this?

• Archaeologists study past cultures by locating and analyzing human remains, fossils, and artifacts.

• Archaeologists apply scientific tests such as carbon dating to analyze fossils and artifacts.

3 Periods of the Stone Age

1. Paleolithic Age – Old Stone Age• Lasted from 2 million BCE to around 8,000 BCE.

2. Mesolithic Age – Middle Stone Age• Lasted from 8,000 BCE to 6,000 BCE.

3. Neolithic Age – New Stone Age• Lasted from 6,000 BCE to 3,500 BCE.

Human Origins

• The first “humans” appeared 2,000,000 years ago.

• Homo sapiens emerged in East Africa between 100,000 and 400,000 years ago.

• Homo sapiens migrated from Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas.

• Millions of years ago the continents were connected as one large continent called Pangea.

Human Origins• First pre-human hominids date back- 4.4 million

years– Australopithecus

– Lived in humid forests of Africa– Fed on fruits, leaves, nuts, fish, and meats

from animals killed by other predators– No evidence of making or using tools

Human Origins• Hominid groups

– Homo=human (Latin)

– Scientists divided homo into three groups that arose at different times in prehistory• Homo habilis- person with ability• Homo erectus- person who walks upright• Homo sapien- person who thinks

Paleolithic Age: Homo Habilis

• Oldest hominids to make tools

• Lived in Africa- 2.5-1.5 million years ago

• Larger brains indicate more physically and mentally advanced

• Most evidence for them came from researchers Louis and Mary Leakey and later their son, Richard

Paleolithic Age: Homo Erectus

• Homo erectus – manlike creature who walked upright and could “speak”.

• Men were hunters and gatherers and women and children helped gather food.

Homo Erectus

• Appeared in Africa and lived from 1.6 million years ago to 250,000 years ago

• Female movement restricted by constant demands for child care

• Learned to make fire

• Made clothing

• May have spoken a language (not sounds)

Homo Erectus

Paleolithic Age• Were nomadic (migrated in search of food,

water, shelter)

• Invented the first tools,

including simple weapons

• Learned how to make fire

• Lived in clans – Group joins for a purpose

• Developed oral language

• Created “cave art”

Paleolithic Age: Cave Art

• Purpose is not known: ??? – religious, hunting, ceremonial, transmit info

• Paintings on cave walls and ceilings

• Found in areas not easily accessed

• Common themes: wild animals– Bison, horses, deer– Drawings of humans are rare

• Primarily found in France and Spain– Lascaux, France

Paleolithic Age

• Early humans were hunters (men) and gatherers (women and children) whose survival depended on the availability of wild plants and animals.

• These people were nomadic – they migrated from place to place in search of food, water, and shelter.

• They invented the first tools and simple weapons from stone.

Paleolithic Age

• Dug roots out of ground with wooden digging stick• Later made crude tools out of stone

• Technology- skills and useful knowledge available to them for collecting material and making the objects necessary for survival

• Improving technology lead to specialized tools– Food choppers– Skin scrapes– Spear points

Prehistoric Tools

Paleolithic Age

• Neanderthals were people who lived about 230,000 years ago at the end of the Paleolithic Age.– About 5 feet tall.– Brain was smaller than ours, but skulls larger– Made tools (knives, spears) and used tusks to

create needles to sew “clothing”.– Had strong family ties and even buried their

dead.

Neanderthal

Prehistoric Tools

Paleolithic Age• First Homo Sapiens• Remains discovered in Germany in the 1850• Lived in small groups• No permanent houses• Culture and Beliefs

– Cared for sick and aged– Signs of serious injuries on fossils– Belief in life after death

Modern Homo Sapiens

Cro-Magnon: Homo sapien

Paleolithic Age

• Cro-Magnon were people who lived about 38,000 years ago.

• They replaced Neanderthals.

• With Cro-Magnon, technology improved.– Used fish hooks, harpoons, knives.– First shelters were built from bones and hides.– Most famous for cave art.– Group that developed fire.

Ice Ages

• Climatic changes played important role in development of early human kind

• Ice Ages: 2 million- 10,000 years ago, Earth experienced 4 long periods of cold climate

• Human Beings responded by:

1. Migrating to warmer places

2. Strategies to keep them warm- clothing and fire

3. Died if they could not adapt

Mesolithic Age

• 8,000 – 6,000 BCE

• After the Ice Age as climates warmed and grasslands grew.

• Developed better fishing techniques– Boats, nets.

• Also began to domesticate animals.

Neolithic Age

• 6,000 – 3,500 BCE

• Development of Agriculture– Learned how to plant seeds and grow food.– Agriculture freed people from hunting and

gathering and “towns” began to form and grow.

• The beginning of settled agriculture was a major step in the advance of civilization.

Neolithic Age

• Developed agriculture

• Raised & Domesticated animals

• Used advanced tools

• Made pottery

• Developed weaving skills

• Domesticated Plants

Neolithic Age

• First wheels and axels were used.• First forms of government were

established.– To protect themselves and food supplies.

Bronze Age

• The discovery of copper about 4,000 BCE changed the New Stone Age.

• Copper is better than stone, but very soft.• Copper mixed with tin forms bronze

– Harder and more durable.

• Tool making moved from stone to bronze to iron.

• Smelting – removing metal from ore.– Allowed for more metals for tools and

weapons

Bronze Age

• Bronze is harder than copper or tin

• Bronze is easier to cast

• Metal was expensive- only used by kings, priests, and soldiers

Bronze Age Weapons

Dawn of Agriculture• Neolithic Revolution took place

at different times– Middle East- 8,000 BC– China- 5,000 BC

• Crops included:– Wheat and barley (Middle

East)– Rice (Southeast Asia)– Corn (Americas)– Bananas and yams (Africa)– Potatoes (South America)

• Farming made life easier- steady supply of food and people could stay in one place longer

Technological Advances

• Invention of plow and training oxen to pull it

• Learned to fertilize fields

• Invented loom and began weaving textiles of linen and wool

• Baking bricks

• Hammered metal to make jewelry

• Calendar created to measure seasons

• Warfare

• Believed in many gods (spirits/deities)

Ice Man: Otzi

• “Ice Man” found in Italian Alps- 5,000 years old

• Europe’s oldest human natural mummy

Stonehenge

• Stonehenge is an example of an archaeological site in England that was begun during the Neolithic Age and completed during the Bronze Age.

• From study of these things we have learned about the Stone Age.

First Villages

• 4,000 BCE- population rose to 90 million

• Villages of about 200 began to develop where soil was fertile and water abundant

• Aleppo and Jericho- modern Israel West Bank- 8,000 BCE

• Çatal Hüyük- Turkey- 7,000-6,300 BCE– Largest Neolithic village

that has been discovered

– Rectangular flat-roofed houses made of mud bricks and placed in wooden frames

– Villagers painted interior walls

– Houses of several relate families lived in a compound with shared walls

Questions for Understanding1. What was a most important step in the advancement of civilization during the Neolithic Era?

– Permanent settlements that included agriculture and the domestication of animals

2. In what era was fire discovered?

– The Paleolithic Era

Questions for Understanding

3. The first use of advanced tools was a part of what era?

– The Neolithic Era

4. What is Eurasia?– Asia and Europe together make up

Eurasia. They are both separate continents though.