Bell-Ringer 9/18

• What do you know about the earliest known humans?

• Please take out 5 notecards

Unit #2 - Ancient Civilizations

• Please take out 5 notecards

• Big Question:• How did it all begin?

Vocabulary• Artifacts• a simple object (such as a tool or weapon) that

was made by people in the past• The caves in France being explored by

archeologists contained many prehistoric artifacts such as pottery and weapons.

• Hominid• a term used for humans and any species of two-footed

animals we are most closely evolved from• There was a time when it was thought only humans

were hominids, but it is now believed we are closely related to the great ape, along with chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans!

• Paleolithic Age• Part of the Stone Age beginning about

750,000BC and lasting until about 8,500 BC. It was a prehistoric time when man first developed stone tools

• In the Paleolithic Era, man used stone as a weapon to hunt the Wooly Mammoth.

• Neolithic Age• The 2nd part of the Stone Age when people

created better tools, discovered metal and settled down into farming communities.

• During the Neolithic Age, people discovered farming which gave them the ability to settle down in one place creating villages and societies

• Homosapiens• a term used for modern humans (from Latin:

homo "human being" and sapiens "wise, intelligent")

• All people are members of Homo sapiens…for now!

• Pre – History (prehistoric)• Before the invention of writing – 5000 years

ago• So, what do you use to learn about this past?– Scientific clues

Bones Artifacts

What they looked likeHow tallFood they ateDiseases they had

How they dressedWork they didHow they worshiped

Early Footprints• Mary Leaky – Scientific expedition in

Tanzinia, East Africa• 1978 – pre-historic footprints, resembled

humans• Determined footprints were made by

humanlike creature

Early Footprints

• 1,000 miles north in Ethiopia• Female adult hominid skeleton was found• Nicknamed Lucy

Hominids Walk Upright

• Lucy was a species of Australopithecines–Walked upright– Traveled long distances– Spot threatening animals– Carry food & children– Developed opposable thumb –

crucial for picking up small objects, making tools

Old Stone Age Begins• Pre-Historic era• Amazing feats• Invention of tools, mastery over fire,

development of language

Paleolithic Age Neolithic Age

Early Stone Age2.5 Million BC – 8,000 BCOldest chopping tools Most of this time was the ice age

New stone Age8,000BC – 3,000 BCPeople polished stone toolsMade pottery, grew crops, raised animals* Language development

New Hominids in East Africa

1. 2.5 Million y/o fossil found in N. Tanzania

2. Fossil named Homo Habilis“Man of Skill”

3. Found tools made of lava rock – used to cut meat, crack bones, make survival easier

1. 1.6 Million y/o fossil in east Africa2. Fossil named Homo Erectus“Upright Man”

3. Became skillful hunters & invented sophisticated tools for digging, cutting, scraping.

4. 1st hominids to migrate out of Africa. - Fossils show H.E. made toosl found in India, China, SE Asia, Europe

• (1) Which geographic characteristics of East Africa may have helped preserve hominid remains?

• (2) why were the discoveries of hominid footprints and Lucy important?

• (3) How did homo erectus use fire to adapt to the environment