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1 Human Beings Almost Everywhere 200,000 – 10,000 BCE Big Era Two.
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Transcript of 1 Human Beings Almost Everywhere 200,000 – 10,000 BCE Big Era Two.
1
Human Beings Almost Everywhere200,000 – 10,000 BCE
Big Era Two
2
Remember Big Era One?
Imagine that your friend got
stuck at the beginning of Big
Era One, but you’ve made it
to the end!
You feel sorry for her,
because you got to see so
much. Write her a LETTER
telling her what happened in
Big Era One.
First, can you
remember what
happened in Big Era
One?
3
What happened inBig Era One?
Dear __________,
• The Universe popped up 13 billion
years ago. (That’s where you are,
right?)
• Stars and Galaxies popped up from
about 12 billion years ago.
• Our Sun and Earth popped up
about 4.6 billion years ago.
• Life popped up on Earth about 3.8
billion years ago.
4
What else happened in Big Era One?
Dear __________,
• Complicated life-forms showed up
after about 600 million years.
• Some organisms got onto the land
from about 400 million years ago.
• Dinosaurs ruled the earth until
about 67 million years ago.
• Then our hominid ancestors
showed up.
5
Big Era Two is the first era
in which there were
human beings, people like
you and me (ME?)
When did we appear?
(Remember, they
appeared at the end of
Big Era One!) So, what
IS so special about
humans?
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1.8 mil. yrs ago
27k
How, when, and where did we become
human?
• Meet one of our close ancestors, Homo erectus.
• Homo erectus was one of the hominid groups that was developing increasingly large brains in both Africa and Asia between about 500,000 and 200,000 years ago.
This is a reconstructed Homo erectus skull, found in northern China. It dates to some time after 1.6 million years ago.
250k yrs ago
Today
Big Eras3-9
10k
Brain Development
500k – 200k yrs ago
Big Era 1 Big Era 2Homo erectus
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Homo erectus was a traveler!
Homo erectus
began migrating
to southerly parts
of Eurasia
sometime after
about 1.8 million
years ago.
200k yrs ago
Today
Big Eras3-9
10k1.8 mil. yrs ago
27k
Big Era 1 Big Era 2Homo erectus
8
200k yrs ago
Human Origins: Homo sapiens in Africa
Homo sapiens(that’s us!) evolved from Homo erectus
• By 200,000 years ago, people whose skeletons were like those of Homo sapiens were already living in Africa.
• Between that time and about 100,000 years ago, people who were both anatomically and genetically “like us” emerged in eastern and southern Africa.
This is a reconstructed Homo sapiens skull, found in Israel. It has been dated to about 90,000 years ago.
100k yrs ago
S.W. Asia
200k yrs ago
Human Origins: Homo sapiens in Africa
Tod
ay
Big Eras3-9
10k y
ears
ag
o
Big Era 2
Big Era 1
9
Homo sapiens traveled
even further than Homo
erectus. From their African
homeland, Homo sapiens
groups migrated to……Where?
See the Map!
10
Migrations of Homo sapiens
Possible coastal routes of human migration
Possible landward routes of human migration
Migrations in Oceania
Human Origins200,000-250,000
years ago
Southwest Asia100,000 years ago
Europe40,000 years ago
Siberia40,000 years ago
Australiaas many as 60,000
years ago
North America12,000-30,000
years ago
Oceania1600 B.C.E.-500 C.E.
Chile12,000-13 ,000
years ago
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40k y
rs a
go
Eu
rop
e &
Sib
eri
a
60k y
rs a
go
Au
str
alia
100k y
rs a
go
S.W
. A
sia
40k y
rs a
go
Eu
rop
e &
Sib
eri
a
60k y
rs a
go
Au
str
alia
100k y
rs a
go
S.W
. A
sia
13k y
rs a
go
Am
eri
cas
200k y
rs a
go
Hu
man
Ori
gin
s
That’s amazing!
Why were modern
humans able to move into
so many different
environments? After all, no other
large animals had
spread so widely!
So what was so
special about us?
Tod
ay
Big Eras3-9
10k y
ears
ag
o
Big Era 2
Big Era 1
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Language!
• Homo sapiens had language
– so they could exchange complex ideas with
each other.
– and they could store and add to the ideas of
previous generations.
• Because they swapped ideas, they kept finding
– new ways of doing things.
– new ways of living.
Language SharedIdeas
New Ideas
Learning
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Language made collective learning possible.
• The stores of
knowledge and skills
humans built up are
called “culture.”
• No other animal can
store and accumulate
knowledge and skills in
this way.
• We call this ability
“collective learning.”
It is what
human history
is about!
It is what
makes us
special!
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Storing up and building on new skills and new knowledge is what set our species on the path of continuing cultural changes that led to the world we now live in.
Monte Alban, Oaxaca, Mexico, 200 BCEGreat Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, 1300-1500 CE
Towers, Kuwait City, Today
15
At first, changes in technology were very slow.
After about 100,000 years ago, the pace of change began to increase.
Evidence appears from about that time of humans living in east, central, and southern Africa. They were:
How did collective learning change human culture?
For example, Blombos Cave
• Making more advanced and varied tools.
• Experimenting with body decoration and abstract
symbols.
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Remains discovered at Blombos Cave are one example of the more complex culture some humans were developing as many as 90,000 years ago.
View looking out of Blombos Cave to the Indian Ocean
Bone points from the cave
Ochre piece with scrapemarks. A person may havescraped the ochre to get powder to use to makebody paint.
The people who lived in this
seaside camp:
• Made sharp stone spear
points using methods that
appeared in Eurasia only
50,000 or more years later.
• Made objects from bone, the
earliest use of this material
known.
• Scored bits of bone and
ochre with marks that may
have had symbolic meaning.
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From about 40,000 years ago, archaeological evidence shows faster and faster cultural change and increasing complexity.
Humans began to:
• Create both naturalistic
and abstract art.
• Make more specialized
tools.
• Weave and knot fiber.
• Decorate clothing.
• Make jewelry.
• Build semi-permanent
structures.
The engraved horse panel in the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arc in southern France. The image is about 31,000 years old.
Venus of the Kostenki I site in Russia dated to about 23,000 years ago. This stone female head is wearing headgear of woven basketry.
Acceleration!
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• By the time humans appeared, our
closest living relatives were
probably the hominids known as
“Neandertals” (or, “Neanderthals”).
• When Homo sapiens groups arrived
in western Asia and Europe,
Neandertals were already there. By
100,000 years ago Neandertals
were living from Spain to Inner
Eurasia.
• They had a long record of living
successfully in both warm and cold
environments. But they
disappeared from the record about
28,000 years ago.
Were other
surviving hominids
changing in the
same way as Homo
sapiens?
19
Approximate geographical range of Neandertals, 100,000-28,000 years ago
Approximate geographical range of Homo sapiens by 28,000 years ago
Did Homo sapiens meet Neandertals?
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• Members of the two species may have met in Southeast Asia.
• The last physical traces of Homo erectus, dating to about 28,000 years ago, were discovered in Java. By that time Homo sapiens was already living in that region.
Range of last surviving Homo erectus
Did Homo
Sapiens
meet Homo
Erectus?
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Would they have:
• Learned from each other?
• Fought?
• Traded?
• Eaten each other?
• Mated?
What do you think might
have happened when Homo
sapiens met Neandertals or
Homo erectus?
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Homo sapiens and other species
• We’re not sure what might
have happened if Homo
sapiens met Neandertals or
Homo erectus, but we do
know that these two hominid
species died out.
• And so did many other large
animals, called megafauna,
which once roamed the
earth.
• What might these
extinctions tell us about our
own species?
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What happened in Big Era Two?
• Humans appeared, and they started
TALKING!
• Therefore, they could share new
ideas and build up a store of ideas –
what we call “culture.”
• They learned to live in many
different environments.
• And they migrated to all the world’s
major landmasses and many of its
islands, big and small.
Before you answer that
question, let’s review …
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So what do you
think is so
special about
Homo sapiens?
What does
it mean to
be human?
Why does
human
history
matter?
Stay tuned
for Big Era
Three!
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End of Big Era Two