Overview

Modern humans evolved from primates and, over many thousands of years, settled the farthest reaches of the globe, adapting to the exceedingly different environments they encountered. Archaeological finds of ancient structures, tools, burial remains, and even music instruments and cave paintings document their early societies and cultures and the rise of farming and trade. Over time, they developed more complicated social institutions: religions, economies, and hierarchies. Our ancient ancestors were vastly different from modern humanity but still had the same basic needs we have today. Lower elementary students will read Discovery in the Caves and explore what cave paintings reveal about how early humans lived. Early Humans prompts upper elementary students to use the evidence in the text to write about the methods archaeologists use to deter-mine how our ancestors lived.

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Interested in learning more about this time period? Read a more complete history in the “Era Summaries.”

Learning expectatiOns

Lower elementary: Our very distant ancestors—who lived well over one million years ago—made stone tools and fire and lived in social groups. Students should understand that much of what we take for granted—such as towns, farms, and metal tools—did not exist for the great majority of the human past and appeared only within the last ten thousand years. They should know that those changes completely altered the entire direction of human history in that they moved people toward complex communities and cultures.

Upper elementary: Most scientists think that humans arose in Africa and developed over millions of years. Students should know that we are still learning from new fossil finds about the patterns of human evolution. Modern humans appear to have moved gradually out of Africa and across the world; students should realize that artistic and musical expression, and rituals with

World History, Era 1

From First Fire to First Community: Humanity Evolves(ca. 200,000 bce to 3000 bce)GradEs: 3, 4, 5

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spiritual significance, began among these early humans. Students should understand that in the last ten thousand years, humans transitioned from the enormously long Paleolithic, with its hunter-gatherer lifestyles, to settled, agricultural Neolithic communities—with increasingly sophisticated cultures, rituals, technologies, and trade. Students should realize that this transi-tion was one of the most important in human history, because it laid the crucial groundwork for all later human civilizations.

sUggested anchOr texts

Early Humans by DK PublishingAdventures in the Ice Age by Linda Bailey and Bill SlavinIce Mummy: The Discovery of a 5,000-Year-Old Man by Mark Dubowski and Cathy East Dubowski

FeatUred anchOr text

Early Humans by dK pUbLishingThis book was selected because of the wide variety of topics covered and for the way it

handles the content so that elementary students can grasp the most important information. Using clear, vivid photography of artifacts, students are treated to a museumlike experience. The distinct topics, addressed briefly but responsibly throughout the text, provide opportunities to examine the relationships among the ideas developed in each section. These questions focus on the first thirty-three pages of the text, but the combination of content-rich text, vivid illustra-tions, and photographs make this text worthy of further exploration—at various grade levels.

text stUdyThese text-dependent questions address students’ ability to use both text and illustrations to

develop an understanding of a wide swath of history and archaeology. The questions ask students to compare information and make connections across eras discussed in the text. The perfor-mance assessment enables them to summarize and synthesize the information in an informative/explanatory essay.

1. based on the information in “human or ape?”, where and when did the first humans appear?

● On pages 6 and 7, the author shows drawings and photographs of archaeological finds, such as the scene at Laetoli in East Africa and the upright “Lucy,” excavated in Ethiopia in East Africa.

● A map of Africa is included, showing the places in South and East Africa where early humans have been found.

● According to page 6, “around six million years ago, the ape family had split into two distinct branches . . . one that led to humans.”

Note: Teachers can point out that the caption on the map of Africa suggests that it’s still an open question whether early humans emerged in Africa or if they migrated there after emerging elsewhere.

The caption on the map might lead to a discussion on the questioning that guides science.

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World History, Era 1 | From First FirE to First Community | 3

2. how does the author use comparison on page 7 to support the claim that early humans had distinct differences from apes?

● In the upper right illustration, the caption explains that the Australopithecines’ brains were just a bit bigger than the gorillas’ brains at the time, but still bigger than the gorillas’ brains of today.

● The caption associated with the picture of the oldest skull, featured in the center of the page, explains that early human muzzles and teeth were arranged differently than the apes’, despite other similarities between the two.

● In the bottom right set of diagrams, comparisons are made between human and gorilla neck, feet, and hips.

● These comparisons make it clear that early humans were distinctly different from the apes.

3. On page 8, how does this author define hunter-gatherer? ● The author defines hunter-gatherer as “living off the game that they hunted and the plants that they gathered.”

4. describe the diet of the hunter-gatherer. ● Prehistoric people ate what they could hunt.

○ They hunted elk, stags, and seals, as pictured in the illustrations on page 9.

● Prehistoric people ate what they could gather. ○ They ate nettles in soup and used the juice to make cheese. ○ They used dandelion leaves for salads, herbs to flavor foods, and spices, such as coriander, for digestion.

○ They ate and stored many grains, seeds, nuts, and berries or used them to flavor food. ○ They gathered eggs and fished for salmon with spears.

5. according to page 10, why was man called Homo habilis? explain what the human brain had to be able to do to make tools. contrast this human toolmaking ability to an animal’s limited tool-using ability.

● Homo habilis means “handy man.” People were given this name because they were able to make tools.

● The human brain had to be able to use memory, plan ahead, and work out “abstract problems” before it could make a tool.

● According to the caption in the upper right quadrant of page 10, chimpanzees would use items from nature as tools. Humans were able to “use one set of tools to make other tools.”

6. according to archaeologists, how did the use of tools by Homo erectus improve on the way Homo habilis used them?

● According to page 14, Homo erectus developed a greater variety of tools. A hand axe from this era, for example, was “held in the fist, and the axe was used for cutting meat or digging up edible roots.” (The hand axe is shown on page 15.)

● Homo erectus was likely the first to create fire deliberately; they are believed to have used it to cook food and keep warm, but also as a tool for hunting animals, driving them into traps.

7. On which continents have the bones of Homo erectus been found? ● According to the map on page 14, bones have been found in Africa, Europe, and Asia. (The caption specifically names the countries of China and Java.)

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8. according to the text, how did the coming of fire change the way people lived? ● On page 16, the author says that fire kept them warm in a very cold climate.

● The text also says that fires kept the wild animals out of the living areas, providing safety for the people.

● Fires enabled the people to roast meat and boil water for cooking.

● Fire hardened the tips of wooden spears.

● When people used fire to burn off a forest, they created fields for farming.

9. Using the text and illustrations on pages 18 and 19, describe the scientist’s view of the lifestyle of neanderthals.

● Neanderthals lived in a cold climate and may have lived in a similar way to the Inuit people. ○ They made stone weapons and tools. ○ They made their own clothes out of deerskin. ○ They buried their dead, showing some evidence of religious beliefs. ○ Evidence suggests that they cared for disabled people who lived with them.

10. how does the view of the aboriginal people of australia differ from the scientists’ view of them? ● According to the text and caption on page 19, the Aboriginal people believe “they came from the land and have been in Australia forever.”

Note: Students may be interested to look at the base word original within the word aboriginal. ● Scientists believe humans, in the form of Homo sapiens, may have boated to Australia from the islands of Southeast Asia.

11. according to page 20, how have the scientists learned about ice age hunters? ● Because there are so few archaeological finds to tell about life in the Ice Age, scientists have studied the way the Inuit people live today.

○ Because they live along frozen coastlines and inland in Greenland and North America, the Inuits suggest how it was possible to survive in such extreme conditions.

○ Scientists have studied the way Inuits hunt, fish, make kayaks, and harpoon seals, walrus, and whales.

12. cite evidence from pages 22 and 23 to describe Homo sapiens’ lifestyle of about ten thousand years ago.

● Modern man populated every continent, except Antarctica.

● They used a wide variety of tools and stone blades.

● Villages and tribes communicated with each other, and the settlements were larger.

● People communicated “through the spoken word and through art, engravings, sculpture, and music.”

13. why are the four skulls pictured on the bottom of page 23? ● The skulls represent “a classic view of the evolution of humanity from the apes,” as described by Charles Darwin.

14. after reading pages 24 and 25, describe the relationship between hunting ten thousand years ago and the earliest works of art.

● According to pages 24 and 25, the earliest art was found on the cave walls and roofs of Lascaux in France. The paintings illustrate animals the humans were going to hunt.

● Carvings were done on animal bones, showing a human hunting a bison in one example.

● People carved charms on antlers for good luck in hunting.

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World History, Era 1 | From First FirE to First Community | 5

15. according to pages 30 and 31, farming was “humanity’s greatest-ever advancement.” how does the author support that claim with evidence?

● People could control their own sources of food by growing plants and raising animals rather than depending on wild plants and animals.

● It meant they could stay in one place and feed more people, growing the population.

● Towns developed because groups of people would gather in one area.

16. what is the purpose of the photograph of three sickles on page 30? ● The three sickles represent the stages of tool development during early times.

○ The photograph illustrates the flint-cutting edge of the Stone Age, the bronze-cutting edge of the Bronze Age, and the iron-cutting edge of the Iron Age.

○ It shows the progression of farm tools during the prehistoric ages.

17. compare the clothing of the ice age with the clothing of the iron age, as described on pages 32 and 33.

● The Ice Age people wore skins and furs of animals, cured and stretched to make clothing.

● Eventually, wool was made from sheep in the late Stone Age.

● In the Iron Age, fine fabrics were woven using sophisticated looms for the weaving.

perFOrmance assessment

Using the completed questions related to this text, create a list of scientists’ claims in one column and identify the archaeological evidence gathered to support that claim in another column. Use this work as a warm-up for the writing.

Give students the following task:

● Write an informative/explanatory essay describing at least two or three claims made by the author of this Eyewitness book, Early Humans. Introduce your topic, describe three to five examples of scientific claims made in the book, and explain how they are supported by the archaeological evidence presented in the text, illustrations, and captions.

Students should write a sentence that introduces their topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section. At earlier levels, students may draw or dictate their informative/explanatory text and/or write a label, sentence, or series of related sentences. See standards for more details.

cOnnectiOns tO cOmmOn cOre state standards FOr engLish LangUage arts

● Question 1 asks students to use both illustrations and text to glean information about the central topic of this section (RI.3.1,2,3,7; RI.4.1,2,3,7; RI.5.1,2,3,7).

● Question 2 addresses the author’s craft, asking students to note how the author compares two objects to make the differences between them clear (RI.3.1,2,3,8; RI.4.1,2,3,8; RI.5.1,2,3,8).

● Questions 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 11 require students to recall information presented in the text (RI. 3.1; RI.4.1; RI.5.1).

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● Question 5 requires students to recall information from the text, but it also asks them to cite evidence from the text to explain that information (RI.3.1,2,3; RI.4.1,2,3; RI.5.1,2,3).

● Questions 6 and 17 give students a chance to cite and compare information presented in two different sections of the text (RI.3.1,2,3; RI.4.1,2,3; RI.5.1,2,3).

● Using illustrations and text, students must synthesize the information presented in both forms in order to answer question 9 (RI.3.1,2,3,7,8; RI.4.1,2,3,7,8; RI.5.1,2,3,7,8).

● To answer question 13, students must understand the information presented in the “evolution” paragraph, as well as the illustrations and their captions, but they must also synthesize that knowledge with information they have learned in previous sections (RI.3.1,2,3,7; RI.4.1,2,3,7; RI.5.1,2,3,7).

● Question 14 asks students to make connections between two related ideas presented in the text that are enhanced by accompanying illustrations (RI.3.1,2,3,7; RI.4.1,2,3,7; RI.5.1,2,3,7).

● Question 15 focuses on how authors support their claims with evidence. (RI.3.1,2,3,7,8; RI.4.1,2,3,7,8; RI.5.1,2,3,7,8).

● Question 16 asks about the author’s purpose in including a particular photograph (RI.3.1,2,3,5,7,8; RI.4.1,2,3,5,7,8; RI.5.1,2,3,5,7,8).

● The performance assessment offers students a chance to revisit the wealth of information they have learned from this book, organize it, and present their understanding of it in an informative/explanatory essay (W.3.2; W.4.2; W.5.2).

mOre resOUrces

primary sOUrcesChauvet Cave paintings, ca. 30,000 bce (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Shard of decorated pottery bowl, ca. 6,000 bce (British Museum)

Image of archaeologists uncovering Shanidar skeleton, 1953 (Smithsonian Institution)

35,000-year-old flute (Smithsonian Institution)

Oldest playable flute, Ancient China, 9,000 years old (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Includes links to listen to the flutes being played

UseFUL websitesMuseum of the Stone Age

Stonehenge archaeological excavation article, 2008 (Smithsonian magazine)

Human Evolution Evidence (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History)

Photo gallery depicting the evolution of domestic dogs from wolves (National Geographic)

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