CHAPTER 1:SECTION 1 – EARLY HUMANS

The First Humans

Hominids: family of mankind and his or her relatives Appeared 3 million years ago

Not existent during the dinosaur age (they died out 65 million years ago)

Planet was teeming with life Mammals: deer, giraffes, hyenas, sheep, goats,

horses, elephants, camels, beavers, cave lions woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, dogs with large teeth

Insects: ants, termites All kinds of birds, plants, & fish

Differentiation between Apes & Early Humans

Couldn’t stand upright

Hands were designed for climbing and clinging

Early Humans Apes

Could stand upright

Hands were designed differently, allowing for development and usage of tools

Lucy

Excavated in 1974 in Africa Bones resembled those of a female Presumed age of death: about 20 years

old when alive, she was 4 feet tall &

weighed about 50 pounds Scientists speculate that she may have

fell into a lake or river & drowned Archaeology: study of bones Archaeologist: someone who studies

archaeology

Fossils and Artifacts

Fossils: remains of living organisms Artifacts: remains of things that were

made

The Stone Age

Name was derived from stone, which was used by man to make tools

People who lived in this time period were known as hunter-gatherers Hunter-gatherers did not plant crops They gathered wild fruits, nuts, berries, and

vegetables & hunted with their stone tools Were taller and smarter than Lucy’s people Did not know how to make fire

New group of people

These people knew how to make fire They began to cook their food, reducing

disease Told stories around the fire every night,

telling about the hunt Same size as modern humans Tool-making skills were improved

Weapons included stone axes & knives Could make warm clothes from animal skins Could stay warm with fire

Migration

About a million years ago, man began to slowly leave Africa

These people will soon populate the world

Ice Age allowed them to walk across giant walkways of frozen ice Continents were not developed back then A word to describe the landscape is

Pangaea

Cro-Magnon

Yet another group of early men Lived in Europe Did not struggle for survival because

they worked together Learned to cure & store food for winter Used traps, nets, fishhooks, rafts, &

canoes Made clothing & jewelry Invented bow and arrow

Cro-Magnon con’t

Drew paintings deep inside dark caves Colors used most often were brown,

yellow/tan, dark red, and coal black Animals were well drawn & filled in with

natural colors Stick figures = hunters Hands = stencils of hands

Questions/Discussions

What is a hunter-gatherer? What is the Stone Age? Why was the ability to make

fire so important? How could early humans travel

from Africa to Australia without a boat?

What did the Cro-Magnon paint on cave walls?