Beginnings of Human
Societies
Mrs. Rida
Lesson 2 Unit 2
Time
• How old is the universe?
• How old is the earth?
• When did humans appear on
earth?
What is the oldest thing in the room?
How old is the air?
• Part of air is hydrogen and helium
which were created 13 billion years ago.
• Other gases, oxygen, nitrogen, etc. were
created in stars and range from 1-12 billion
years ago.
• Because our bodies are made up of these
atoms, you too are billions of years old. Most
of your weight which is water (hydrogen and
oxygen) is 13 billion years old.
Recap of Timeline
• How far back did Homo Sapiens (the first
species of human beings) first appear?
• 200,000 years ago
• Does it seem like a long time ago?
• How does it compare to an individual person’s
lifetime?
• 1 minute vigil exercise
How long is time?
• How long do you think 200,000 minutes is?
• Approximately 6 months….so 200,000 is a BIG
number.
• If those 200,000 years were SQUEEZED
into 1 year, then the entire year of
2015 would have started at 11:58 PM
on December 31 and ended at 12:00
AM.
History of the world in 7 minutes
• History of the World in 7 Minutes
• Youtube
• Every second in the video represents 50 years.
• This IS A VISUAL TIMELINE
• Watch the spacing of events, how far apart they
are in the beginning and how close they are in
the last four minutes of the video
Things to ponder about
• What types of artifacts seem to be
left behind at the earlier parts of
human history?
• How does the video and pace of
history change at the half way mark?
• What surprised you about the video?
World History
• The field of history concerned
with how Humans have
evolved over time.
Example: Studying how humans
changed from hunter-gatherers
to farmers, up until today.
Study of History
• Well imagine you know NOTHING about that
life. Could you tell how people lived then?
• How is it possible to study people who
lived a long time ago if they did not leave
written records of the way they lived?
Archeology
Groups of people who use scientific
method to dig up and interpret the
artifacts and the cultures of the past.
• Example: Archeologists study old fossils
and bones to learn about early humans.
What does an Archeologist do?
• What thought processes would
an archeologist use when
analyzing these objects?
• How is this similar to when you
see or hear new words while
reading?
Prehistoric
The time or period
before recorded or
written history
• Example:
Prehistoric man
used tools made
from stones.
Stone Age
The earliest known
period of human
culture, marked by use
of stone tools.
• Example: The Stone
age lasted through
the Neolithic and
Paleolithic periods.
Cave Paintings
Paintings on caves,
walls and ceilings
especially from
prehistoric times.
• Example: The cave
paintings help us
figure out how
prehistoric people
lived.
Artifacts
Any object made
by mankind.
• Example:
Archeologists
find artifacts
from prehistoric
people.
The Cave Paintings of Chavet-PontD’arc
The Cave Paintings of Chavet-PontD’arc
Looking at the Maps:
Before reading the excerpt…
Purposes of Cave Paintings
• Who painted the images on caves?
• Why?
Archeologists use the time period of the paintings to
help them understand the image.
• How do we figure out how old these
paintings are?
– Relative dating
– Absolute Dating (Carbon Dating)
Relative Dating
Determine the age of
object based on how old
other fossils around it
are.
Example:
Stone Tools found under
many layer of earth are
older than those on the
top layers of the ground.
Absolute Dating
Determine the
specific age of an
object using a
chemical process.
Example:
The archeologist
used carbon dating to
determine the exact
fate of the skull
found at the site.