Prehistory

A period of history which begins with the appearance of human beings and ends with the discovery of the written word (3500BC)

We divide it in:

Stone Age

=> Paleolithic Age ( 6 million years – 10.000 BC)

=> Neolithic Age ( 10.000 – 4000 BC)

Metal Age (5000 – 3000 BC)

We have no documents, only archeological remains

Main body changes through

hominization process

BIPEDALISM

BRAIN

OMNIVOROUS DIET

HAND. OPPOSABLE THUMB

Main body changes through hominization process

BRAIN

• A bigger size • A different shape

Main body changes through hominization process

SPINE & FORAMEN MAGNUM POSITION: BIPEDALISM

BIPEDALISM: WOMEN

Narrow pelvis

Dependents babies

Weak women

FAMILIES BONDS

Main body changes through hominization process

HAND- OPPOSABLE THUMBS

OMNIVOROUS DIET

Australopithecus (4-2 m.y.). Neither ape, nor human

Human Evolution: hominin

Human Evolution

•Lucy was discovered in 1974 by anthropologist Donald Johanson in northern Ethiopia.

•Like a chimpanzee, Lucy had a small brain, long, dangly arms, short legs and a cone-shaped thorax with a large belly. But the structure of her knee and pelvis show that she routinely walked upright on two legs, like us

Australopithecus

Human Evolution

Homo Habilis (2,4m.y.). They used stone tools to get at a

food source that no other creature was able to obtain - bone marrow.

Bone marrow contains long chain fatty acids that are vital for brain

growth and development. This helped to increase the brain size,

allowing our ancestors to make more complex tools. The process

used to make these tools was incredibly simple. Hominids picked up

one stone, known as a core and broke it with another, known as a

hammerstone or percussor.

Human Evolution

Homo Erectus (1,8 m.y.): He discovered fire. First one to leave

Africa.

Human Evolution

Neanderthals looked much like modern humans only shorter, more heavily built and much stronger, particularly in the arms and hands. Their skulls show that they had no chin and their foreheads sloped backwards. The brain case was lower but longer housing a slightly larger brain than that of modern humans. Since they were almost exclusively carnivorous, both male and female Neanderthals hunted.

Human Evolution

Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Upper Paleolithic, 195.000 years

ago)

Mind and aspect like modern men

The long trip of humans

•African

origin

•Spread

across Asia

and Europe

•Finally they

reached

Australia and

America