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.)