2.01 The First People

Studying Prehistory

• Prehistory refers to the period of time without information.

• Writing has existed for only about 5,000 years.• People who study prehistoric humans include:– Anthropologists: “Anthropo” is Greek for “man.”

Anthropologists study early humans (fossils, footprints, culture)

– Archaeologists study artifacts that are left behind by people. List examples of artificats:

Fossil Evidence

• Archaeological evidence suggests that modern humans came from Africa and spread around the globe.

• There is limited evidence about early humans. Therefore, many scientists disagree about what conclusions can be drawn about them. Future discoveries may change the ideas that scientists hold today.

Lucy• In 1974 in Ethiopia, a

team led by Donald Johanson found the remains of a skeleton that he believed belonged to a human ancestor. The skeleton was named “Lucy” after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

• Lucy belongs to a group called Australopithecus, or “southern ape.”

Fossil Evidence

• Other researchers added to Johanson’s findings. In the late 1970s in Tanzania, anthropologist Mary Leakey found parts of a skeleton believed to date back 3.7 million years, also classified as Australopithecus.

• These skeletons are called hominids (human-like creatures.)

The First People• From studying bones,

anthropologists can describe what the first humans looked like.

• These individuals had powerful jaws, receding chins, low foreheads, and heavy eyebrow ridges.

• Scientists believe they sometimes used caves as shelters.

The First People

• They probably ate seeds, fruit, nuts, and other plants. Eventually, they learned to hunt by making tools, working together, and communicating.

• As humans became successful hunters, they became nomadic – moving great distances in search of food. Early people migrated (moved) from Africa to Asia.

The First People

• It is believed that between 100,000 to 400,000 years ago, a new species, Homo sapiens, appeared, developing first in Africa, then spreading to Europe and Asia.

• All people living today belong to the species Homo sapiens.

The Ice Age

• Scientists believe we live in a warm era that began about 10,000 years ago. That is when the last period of the Ice Age ended.

• The Ice Age refers to several periods of extremely cold weather all over the earth.

• Sea levels dropped during the ice age, and ridges that had been underwater uncovered.

• Humans and animals migrated over some of these land bridges.

Neanderthal people

• In caves in Europe and Southwest Asia, anthropologists have found remains of early Homo sapiens called Neanderthals.

• Neanderthals lived about 35,000 to 130,000 years ago. They wore animal skins as clothing and used fire for warmth and cooking.

• Neanderthals, unlike earlier hominids, buried their dead. They also buried food and tools with the dead. This implies a belief in an _________.

Neanderthal people

• Like earlier hominids, Neanderthals disappeared. No one knows why.

Cro-Magnon people

• About 35,000 years ago, another kind of Homo sapiens – the Cro-Magnons – appeared in Europe.

• These people made even better tools and weapons – for example, spear-throwers that made them effective hunters.

• Paintings of the animals Cro-Magnons hunted have been found.

Cro-Magnon people• Cave art in Spain and France

show bulls, bison, and horses. The most famous ones are in Lascaux, France. Scientists are not sure why Cro-Magnons painted such scenes.

• About 10,000 years ago, Cro-Magnons as distinct types of humans no longer existed. In appearance, people looked basically like they do today.

Stone Age Periods

• Old Stone Age: About 2.5 million years ago until about 12,000 years ago. It began with the development of stone tools. Also called the Paleolithic age – from the Greek “palaois” (ancient) and “lithos” (stone.)

Stone Age Periods

• Middle Stone Age: About 10,000 to 5,500 years ago. Also called the Mesolithic Age (from the Greek “mesos,” meaning “middle.” Tools included the bow and arrow, fishhooks, fish spears, harpoons made from bones and antlers. People tamed dogs and built canoes from logs.

Stone Age Periods• The New Stone Age (also called the Neolithic Age

– from the Greek “neos,” meaning “new.”)• Lasted from about 5,500 years ago to 4,000 years

ago.• Stone tools were produced by polishing or

grinding (rather than chipping the stones.)• People began to develop agriculture – raising

crops for food.• The practiced domestication – the taming of

animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs.

Neolithic agricultural revolution• The development of agriculture changed the

basic way people lived: People shifted from food gathering to food producing.

• In prehistoric times people were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Men went out to hunt animals; women and children gathered plants and fruit for food.

• Over time people learned to raise wheat, barley, rice, and millet.

• The use of the plow and fertilizer were major steps in the development of agriculture.

Neolithic agricultural revolution

• Because agriculture changed human life, it is called the Neolithic agricultural revolution.

• As people settled, villages became larger and more complex, and grew into cities.

• In Jericho, on the west bank of the Jordan River, scientists have found evidence of a Neolithic walled town that may date back before 8,000 B.C.

Neolithic agricultural revolution

• In Turkey, scientists have dug out Çatalhöyük, a town that may have had many hundreds of residents between 6,700 B.C. and 5,600 B.C.