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Bridging World History - 27 - Unit 3

Unit 3

Human Migrations

Introduction to Unit This unit explores both the history of human migration and the means by which scholars have begun to unravelthe clues of this ancient story. The story of human migration began when the first humans picked up bundles,weapons, and children, and moved to a different location. They moved because they had to, whether their rea-sons were population pressure, decreasing access to food and shelter, or environmental degradation. Theymoved, in other words, when the risks of staying in one place exceeded the perceived dangers of venturing to anew area. In doing so, they hoped to bettertheir chances of surviving, thriving, andreproducing. Eventually, humans movedacross nearly all of the Earth’s landscapes,including rainforests, deserts, tundra, ice,oceans, and mountains. Scholars speculatethat early humans’ upright postures andlarge brains assisted them in developing themeans and strategies to move over long dis-tances. These same features enabledhumans to overcome environmental andphysical barriers in a variety of landscapes,and to adapt successfully to the social, polit-ical, and ecological realities of their newhomes. The result has been the expansion ofthe species from a mere ten to twenty thou-sand individuals at the beginning of humanmigration to more than six billion individualstoday.

Learning Objectives· Trace how and why early humans migrated out of Africa and across the Earth’s varied landscapes.

· Discuss the kinds of evidence scholars use to trace the paths of early human migrations—including oral histories, creation myths, historical linguistic evidence, archaeological evidence, and contemporary spokenlanguage.

· Analyze the importance of rock art as an early human cultural expression.

Preparing for This SessionRead Unit 3 in the Bridging World History online text. You may also want to refer to some of the Suggested Readings and Materials. If you feel you need more background knowledge, refer to a college-level world historytextbook on this subject (look under the index for Pacific Islands, Bantu, Africa [ancient], Languages).

Item #6814. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World History, MAP OFEARLY HUMAN MIGRATIONS (2004). Courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Unit 3 - 28 - Bridging World History

Before You Begin—25 minutesExamine this map of the earliest worldwidemigrations of humans, and discuss the followingquestions.

· Where does the map show the startingpoint of the migrations? Compare this mapto one in your textbook. Do both mapsshow the earliest humans beginning in theKalahari Desert?

· Summarize in a short paragraph the pathsof human migrations.

· Where is there no evidence of early migra-tions? What might have been the climateconditions that prevented human migra-tion to the most northern or southernareas of the Earth?

· The video will show that historians usetools, burials, fossil remains, ancient var-nish on rock and cave art, and the tracing of genetic lineages as evidence to explain the paths of earlyhuman migrations. They also use radio carbon dating that examines the carbon isotopes in any objectsfound at an archaeological site. How reliable do you think these kinds of evidence are for dating humanmigrations to different regions in the world?

Watch the Video for “Unit 3: Human Migrations”—30 minutes

Activity 1: Early Migrations Out of Africa—35 minutesIn small groups, use the information provided to discuss the questions that follow.

Archaeologist Mary Leakey writes,

It is plausible to interpret the tracks as being made by a malewhose foot had broad, splayed toes, closely followed by afemale, with one or the other leading a juvenile. It is a mostimportant find and demonstrates that 3.5 million years ago, thefully bipedal, striding gait had been completely developed.(Mary Leakey, Disclosing the Past [Garden City, New York:Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1984].)

What methods did Dr. Leakey and her team use to determine whenhominids lived in East Africa?

(cont’d., next page)

Unit Activities

Item #6685. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World History, ICE-FREE CORRIDOR FROM YUKON TO MONTANA, WITH LINES TRACING EARLYHUMAN MIGRATION (2004). Courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Item #3280. Bob Campbell, MARY LEAKEY EXCA-VATING THE HOMINID FOOTPRINTS OF LAETOLI,KENYA (1974). Courtesy of Bob Campbell.


Archaeologist E. Kofi Agorsah says,

Standing upright enabled early humans to develop stereoscopic vision and the ability to move faster, and alsoto carry their food and babies to new locations. Standing upright also freed their hands, and so they were ableto make tools. The making of tools marked the beginning of culture. (E. Kofi Agorsah, interview with OregonPublic Broadcasting, Bridging World History, Unit 3: Human Migrations [Oregon Public Broadcasting, January2004].)

The historian David Christian has called the use of tools and transferring the knowledge of tools to the next gen-eration “collective learning.” Do you think that the invention of language made the great migrations possible, orwas it the human migrations that made language necessary for survival?

Activity 2: Creation Myths and Linguistic Evidence ofMigrations—25 minutesUse the information below to discuss the kinds of evidence scholars use to trace the paths of early human migra-tions: creation myths and linguistic evidence.

Discuss the issues historians must consider when they use creation myths as evidence of the migrations ofhumans.

Legends of the aboriginal Kakadu people describe the “Dreamtime,” the era when their world was created. TheKakadu creation story begins with the Great Earth Mother Imberombera arriving in Australia by canoe, her wombswelling with human children. Coming ashore, she creates a world of hills and creeks, plants and animals for herchildren to inhabit.

In each place she stops on her wanderings, Imberombera, the great mother, bears children and instructs themin language and culture. Meanwhile, her giant consort Wuraka, although equally fertile, seems fatigued by hispotency and longs only to rest and join the sun in the east. Wuraka came from the west, walking through thesea. His feet were on the bottom, but he was so tall that his head was well above the surface of the water. Helanded at a place called Allukaladi, between what are now known as Mts. Bidwell and Roe, both of which hemade. His first sleeping place, after coming out on to land, was at Woralia. He then continued to Umurungukand so to Adjerakuk and Aruwurkwain, at each of which he slept one night. Imberombera also walked throughthe sea. She landed at a place now known as Malay Bay, the native name being Wungaran. She met Kuraka atArakwurkwain. Imberombera said to him, ‘Where are you going?’He said, ‘I am going straight through the bushto the rising sun.’ The first language they spoke was Iwaidja, that is, the language of the people of Port Essington. Wuraka carried his penis, or par/a, over his shoulder. He said to Imberombera, ngainma par/anungeroboama, my penis is too heavy; ngainma wi/a/u jirongadda, my camp is close by; ngeinyimma ngorobreiku/, you go a long way. (Barbara Sproul, Primal Myths [Harper and Row, 1979]: 323–25.)

Discuss how historians might use linguistic evidence to trace the paths of humans in preliterate eras.

For tens of thousands of years, while other languages around the world emerged, evolved, and disappeared, abo-riginal languages developed in relative isolation from the rest of humanity. These languages no longer have anyclear relationship to modern languages in Africa or Asia—suggesting their antiquity in the global story of humanlanguages. At the end of the first millennium CE, the Austronesian language family, which includes Polynesian lan-guages, was the most widespread in the world. During a span of at least three millennia, these languages hadbeen spread across a vast geographic area: from Indonesia to the Philippines, from Madagascar to Easter Island.Speakers of these languages could have migrated across the Pacific in only one way: by boat. The boat-makingand navigation skills required for these journeys demonstrated the sophistication of these early mariners.Historians use the linguists’ analysis to trace the spread of the speakers of the Austronesian language family.

Unit Activities, cont’d.


How do you think that historians deter-mined approximately when Malaysmigrated to Madagascar? Would youfind linguistic evidence more reliablethan folk tales about the migrationacross the Indian Ocean? Explain why toa partner.

Activity 3: Rock Art and Cultural Expression—35 minutesLanguage and storytelling are not the only forms of early cultural expression. Human populations settling in Australia created works of art, captured in carvings and paintings across the continent. These early symbolicexpressions were not limited to Australia, however, but appear in many parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia. The rockart created around the world tens of thousands of years ago bears witness to the creative spirit active at the dawnof humanity’s cultural evolution. In creating art, individuals and groups passed on their experiences to others, andin turn, learned from others as well. (This form of cultural exchange is another example of David Christian’s col-lective learning). Painted caves discovered in southern Europe and the Sahara seem to show symbolic expression.

Compare the paintings from Australia, the Sahara, and southern Europe. What similarities point to common earlyhuman experiences? What similarities show collective learning? What differences are due to variations in climateand landscape? Work with a partner to examine the examples of rock art below and on the next page.


Item #6813. Hot Pepper Studios, created forBridging World History, MAP OF EARLY OCEANIAMIGRATIONS (2004). Courtesy of Oregon PublicBroadcasting.

Item #2009. Jeanne Tabachnick, SAHARAN ROCK ART FROM THESAHARA DESERT AT TASSILI, ALGERIA (1980). Courtesy of JeanneTabachnick.

Item #1993. Klebba, CAVE PAINTINGS AT ZUURVLAKTE (1962). Courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, Africa Focus.



Item #2438. Jim Mann Taylor, SAHARANROCK ART (n.d.). Courtesy of Jim Mann Taylor.

Item #2442. Jim Mann Taylor, SAHARANROCK ART AT TASSILI N’ AJJER PLATEAUNEAR TAMRIT AND SEFAR (n.d.). Cour-tesy of Jim Mann Taylor.

Item #5006. Anonymous, Panel of the panther, Chauvet Cave(n.d.). Courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture and Commu-nication, Regional Direction for Cultural Affairs - Rhone-Alpes,Regional Department of Archaeology.

Item #2443. Jim Mann Taylor, SAHARAN ROCK ART AT TASSILI N’AJJER PLATEAU NEAR TAMRIT AND SEFAR (n.d.). Courtesy of JimMann Taylor.

Item #5008. Anonymous, PANEL OF THE HANDSTENCILS, CHAUVET CAVE (n.d.). Courtesy of theFrench Ministry of Culture and Communication,Regional Direction for Cultural Affairs - Rhone-Alpes, Regional Department of Archaeology.

(see Discussion Questions, next page)


Discussion Questions· What are the differences between drawn pictures and spoken language? In what ways are these means of

communicating similar? Can drawn pictures be called “language”? Why or why not?

· Select two of the photographs of the cave and rock art. Work with a partner to act out a scene where theartist orally explains his/her art. Now take that oral explanation and turn it into writing. What differences doyou notice between the oral and the written explanations?

· How can historians use the cave and rock art as evidence in their attempts to explain the past?

Activity 4: Bantu Migrations—30 minutes

Causes of Migrations

Causes of Migrations Generic Examples of Causes of Migrations Generic Global Effects of Migrations

Environmental Shift in climate, depletion of natural Redistribution of world’s population, Changes resources, drought, earthquake blending of cultures

Economic Increasing population, famine, Shifts in populationPressures unemployment

Political and Religious Slave trade, war, ethnic cleansing, repression Dislocation and oppression of peoples, Persecution spread of ideas and religions

Technological Tools, agriculture, iron smelting, Development of civilizations and empiresDevelopment communications and transportation networks

· Early humans moved across the Earth’s landscapes in response to the challenges and opportunities posedby the environment. Global migration continues today. Look at the above chart and discuss the reasons forchanges and continuities in human migrations over time.

· According to the maps on the next page, what directions did Bantu speakers move? What might have beenthe environmental and social reasons for the migrations? Do the migrations seem to fit the same patternsas the original “out of Africa” movements?

· As Bantu speakers moved into new regions, they learned important skills and new words from the peoplesthey encountered. They adopted words from Nilotic- and Cuschitic-speaking peoples, including thosewords related to livestock herding, irrigation, and dry grain agriculture. Today, ninety million people speakone or more of the hundreds of distinct Bantu languages. Does linguistic analysis seem more reliable thancreation myths?

· There are some common cultural elements in the many types of music and religious expressions of Bantu-speaking people. How do cultural similarities add additional proof to the explanation of the Bantu migrations?



Bantu Migrations from 4000 BCE to 1000 CE


Item #6680. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World History, SITE OF RICH FOSSIL EVIDENCE OF HOMO ERECTUS INKENYA/BANTU EXPANSION MAP 1 (2004). Courtesy of OregonPublic Broadcasting.

Item #6682. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World His-tory, BANTU EXPANSION MAP 2 (2004). Courtesy of Hot PepperStudios.

Item #6681. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World His-tory, LAND INHABITED BY BANTU SPEAKERS AFTER EXPANSIONINTO SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA, C. 3000 TO 2000 B.C.E.(2004). Courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting.


Read Unit 3 in the online text, Section 3, Reading 2: David Christian, “The Case for ‘Big History,’” Journal of WorldHistory 2, no. 2 (Fall 1991): 223–38 and answer the following questions.

Reading Questions · At what scale does Christian suggest that world history be seen?

· How does ‘big history’ encourage historians to “ask questions about our place in the universe”?

· In what ways do ‘big history’ and traditional creation myths put forth the same kinds of questions?

· Why does Christian see humanity’s growth as an aberration, or breakdown in the “ancient equilibriumbetween a large mammal species and the environment it inhabits”?

Optional: Visit the Web SiteExplore this topic further on the Bridging World History Web site. Browse the Archive, look up terms in the AudioGlossary, review related units, or use the World History Traveler to examine different thematic perspectives.

Homework

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