s.s. unit 1 lesson 1

SOCIAL STUDIES7TH GRADE

Ms. Vicky TreviñoMondays and Wednesdays

ROUTINES

• Bring the book.• Main idea.• Why it matters now.• Terms and names.• Read and make an outline.

OBJECTIVES

• Studying early human development• Understand early humans’ need to survive

and how they met that need.

MAIN IDEA

• Fossil evidence shows that earliest humans originated in Africa and spread across the globe.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

• The study of early human remains and artifacts help in understanding our place in human history.

TERMS AND NAMES

• artifact• culture• hominid• Paleolithic Age• Neolithic Age• technology • Homo sapiens

LESSON 1 Human Origins in Africa

• Scientists Search for Human Origins– Archeologists study artifacts.– Evidence found through archeological diggings.– Analyzing bones and artifacts.– Bones reveal what people looked like, the food

they ate, diseases and their age.– Artifacts are human-made objects such as tools

and jewelry and give information about their work and their Gods. (culture)

• Paleontologists study fossils.• Fossils are evidence of early life preserved in

rocks.• Small fragments of teeth, skills or other bones.• Antropologists work as team to make

discoveries.

Culture: the way of life of a group of people.• Common ways of dressing• Similar hunting practices• Favorite animals to eat• See page 6: Components of Culture

Early footprints found

• Mary Leakey looked for clues about human origins in Laetoly, Tanzania, East Africa in 1978.

• Found footprints preserved in volcanic ash.• Australpithecines: humanlike beings also

called hominids.• 3,600,000 years ago a man’s ancestor walked

fully upright.

The Discovery of “Lucy”

• 1974 in Ethiopia a complete skeleton of an adult female hominid was found, they named her Lucy after the song.

• She livd 3.5 million years ago.

Hominids walk Upright

• To travel distances more easily.• To spot threatening animals• To carry food and children.• They also developed opposable thumb to– Pick up small objects– Making tools

THE OLD STONE AGE BEGINS

• Paleolitic Age– 2.5 million to 8000 B.C.

• Achievements – Invention of tools: stone chopping tools– Mastery over fire– Development of language

• Neolithic Age• From 8000 B.C. to 3000 B.C

• Ice Age• Glaciers advances and retreated 18 times.

– Achievements• Polish stone tools• Make pottery• Grow crops• Raise animals

HOMO HABILIS MAY HAVE USED TOOLS

• Louis and Mary Leakey discovered a hominid fossil and named it Homo habilis.

• Homo habilis means man of skill.• Tools made of lava rocks used to cut meat and

crack open bones.

HOMO ERECTUS DEVELOPS TECHNOLOGY

• Homo erectus means “upright man.”• More intelligent and adaptable.• Used intelligence to develop technology.• Applying knowledge, tools, and inventions to meet

their needs.• Skillful hunters.• Migrated to India, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe.• Used fire to keep them warm, cook, and frighten

animals.

THE DAWN OF MODERN HUMANS

• Homo sapiens means “wise man.”• Had larger brains.• Neanderthals were not ancestors of modern

humans.• Cro-Magnons competed for land and food

with Neanderthals.

Neanderthals’ Way of Life

• Europe and Southwest Asia.• Powerfully built.• Heavy slanted brows and well-developed

muscles, and thick bones.• Lived between 200,000 and 30,000 years ago.• Tried to control their world.• Developed religoius beliefs and rituals.

Cro-Magnons Emerge

• 40,000 years ago• Migrated from North Africa to Europe and

Asia.• Made new tools and planned their hunts.• Populations grew faster an replaced the

Neanderthals.• Advanced in spoken language.

Fossils, Tools, and Cave Paintings

• Fossils found in Chad and Kenya.• 6 and 7 million years old resembled to

hominids.• A bone flute 43,000 to 82,000 years ago

suggests Neanderthals talent, musical expression.

• Paintings give information on daily activities.