Human Evolution
Laetoli Footprints
• Laetoli, Tanzania
• 3,5 million years ago
• Volcanic eruption devastated the
landscape near Laetoli, Tanzania
• It released tons of ash into the
atmosphere
• Ash+rain= mud
• Animals ventured across the
smooth, wet surface, leaving
prints…
• other footprints were left, ones
that look as familiar as our own
Laetoli Footprints
Hipparion
Laetoli Footprints
Study and discuss the trackways. Then, answer
the following questions:
1) What creatures probably made the tracks?
2) How were these creatures moving (walking,
running, etc.)?
3) What interactions do the tracks suggest?
4) What is the evidence for your answers?
What do you think?
• Do individuals with longer feet also have
longer legs?
• Are people with longer legs taller?
• Are the number of strides a person takes in a
given distance different when he or she is
running or walking?
Laetoli Footprints
• two individuals clearly
walked here. And details
of the prints suggest that
another followed them...
stepping in the prints left
by one of those who
walked ahead
• a hallmark of typical
modern upright
locomotion
Laetoli Footprints
• The Laetoli footprints were formed and
preserved by a chance combination of events
-- a volcanic eruption, a rainstorm, and
another ashfall. When they were found in
1976, these hominid tracks, at least 3.6
million years old, were some of the oldest
evidence then known for upright bipedal
walking, a major milestone in human
evolution.
Autralopithecus
• They appeared about 4
million years ago
• Walked on two feet
• Small brain
Finding Lucy
Finding Lucy: Questions
• What evidence did Johanson use to show that
Lucy walked upright?
• Why might bipedalism have been an
advantage in early hominids?
• What changes in the environment might
influence the change?
• Why might larger brains have evolved after
bipedalism?
Bipedalism (I)
• The knee joint found in
Hadar, Ethiopia, first
indicated a bipedal
hominid had lived 3
million years ago.
Bipedalism (II)
• Lucy, a 40 percent
complete skeleton of a
new species of hominid,
now known
as Australopithecus
afarensis
Bipedalism (III)
• A skull, that
demonstrated that
Lucy's kind were smallbrained, although they
walked upright
The Transforming Leap,
from Four Legs to Two
Read the text and answer:
• Why do you think hominids started to walk on
two legs?
• List the advantages of bipedalism (walking on
two legs)
Walking tall: comparing skeletons
Walking tall: comparing skeletons
Walking tall: comparing skeletons
Answer the questions after comparing the
skeletons and watching the video “Walking tall”:
• What modifications in the human skeleton allow
us to walk upright?
• List the similarities and differences between
human and chimpanzee skeletons.
• What advantages does walk upright convey?
• Why can't the chimpanzee walk on two legs?
Important changes
•
•
•
•
The most important changes in the process of human
evolution were:
________________ and _____________. This improved
vision and freed the hands for carrying things and making
tools.
The capacity of the cranium _________. This allowed for
the development of the ______________.
The use of ____________ to cook food and frighten animals
away. Cooked food caused the size of the _____ and _____
to decrease.
Later, _____ helped Homo Sapiens to communicate
knowledge.
Australopithecus
•4.5-2.0 million
years ago
•Lived in Africa
•Walked on two
feet
•Free hands
•First to use stone
•tools
•Varied diet:
hunting and
gathering
•Meat eaters
( more protein
= bigger brains)
Homo Habilis
•2.3-1.6 million
years ago
•First HUMAN
•Lived in Africa
•First to make
stone tools
•Varied diet:
hunting and
gathering
• Bigger brains
•Tries to
understand its
environment
Homo Erectus
•2 million – 300,000
years ago
•Migrations: lived in
Africa, Asia and
Europe
•Discovered fire
and how to use it
•Varied diet: hunting
and gathering
•Excellent hunter
•Lived in organized
groups
•Specialization of
labour: hunters, tool
makers, gatherers
Homo
Neanderthalensis
•150,000 – 30,000
years ago
•Lived in Europe
•First to bury their dead
•Adapted to cold
weather (warm clothes)
•Strong and resistant
body
•Lived in organized
groups
•Variety of tools; burials
Homo Sapiens
•120,000 years ago
•Origin: Eastern Africa,
then migrated to other
continents
•Adapted to variety of
conditions
•Taller, slimmer and
more intelligent
•Made better tools with
variety of materials:
stone, bone, horn
•Take advantage of all
kinds of resources
•Complex language
•Art