NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________ Reading Essentials and Study Guide netw rks The Rise of Civilization Lesson 1 Early Humans ESSENTIAL QUESTION What do archaeology and anthropology teach us about prehistoric humans? Reading HELPDESK Content Vocabulary archaeology the study of past societies through an analysis of the items people left behind them anthropology the study of human life and culture based on artifacts and human fossils hominid humans and other humanlike creatures that walk upright Homo sapiens sapiens “wise, wise humans”; a species that appeared in Africa between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago; they were the first anatomically modern humans Academic Vocabulary theory hypothesis or unproved assumption survive to remain alive or in existence Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use. “out-of-Africa” theory also called the replacement theory; this theory refers to when Homo sapiens sapiens began spreading out of Africa to other parts of the world about 100,000 years ago and replacing populations of earlier hominids in Europe and Asia NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________ Reading Essentials and Study Guide Cont. netw rks The Rise of Civilization TAKING NOTES: Classifying ACTIVITY Use the graphic organizer below to list key facts about early humans. Group Qualities/Advances Time Period Earliest Hominids Homo sapiens Homo sapiens sapiens IT MATTERS BECAUSE Scientists study and date items left by the earliest humans. Their studies help us understand prehistory, or the time before written records. Scientists’ studies help show how the earliest humans developed. They also show that early humans made tools, used fire, and managed to survive Ice Age conditions. Early humans also produced art. GUIDING QUESTION How do we define and learn information about prehistory? Historians use mostly documents, or written records, to create their ideas about the past. However, there are no written records for humankind’s prehistory. Prehistory is the time before writing was developed. The story of prehistoric humans depends on archaeological. It also depends on biological evidence. Archaeologists and anthropologists use this information to create theories, or ideas, about our early past. Archaeology and Anthropology Archaeology is the study of past societies through what people left behind. Archaeologists dig up and examine artifacts, which are objects made by humans. Artifacts may be tools, weapons, art, and even buildings made by early humans. Anthropology is the study of human life and culture. Culture includes what people wear, how they organize their society, and what they value. Anthropologists use artifacts and human fossils to create a picture of people’s everyday lives. Fossils are rocklike remains of biological organisms, such as a leaf imprint or a skeleton. Archaeologists and anthropologists use scientific methods to do their work. They excavate sites. This means they carefully dig up land in places around the world. They do this to uncover fossil remains of early humans, ancient cities, burial grounds, and other objects. Then they examine and analyze these remains. This gives archaeologists a better understanding of ancient societies. For example, these scientists examine artifacts such as pottery, tools, and weapons to learn about the social and military structures of a society. They analyze bones, skins, and plant seeds to learn about the diet and activities of early people. One of the most difficult jobs of scientists is to date, or find the age, of objects from the past. Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use. Prehistory NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________ Reading Essentials and Study Guide Cont. netw rks The Rise of Civilization Dating Artifacts and Fossils Scientists date human fossils and artifacts to help them understand when and where the first humans lived. Radiocarbon dating is one method used to determine age. All living things absorb a small amount of radioactive carbon, or C-14, from the atmosphere. A living thing slowly loses C-14 after it dies. A scientist can figure the age of the dead object by measuring the amount of C-14 that is left in it. This method is accurate for objects that are no more than about 50,000 years old. Scientists can use thermoluminescence to measure the age of objects that date back to 200,000 years ago. This method measures the light given off by electrons trapped in the soil around fossils and artifacts. Organic remains come from living things. They include blood, hairs, and plant tissues left on tools and weapons. Microscopic and biological analyses of organic remains give scientists still more information. This kind of analysis has shown that molecules (small particles) of blood may survive millions of years. This recent scientific discovery is very useful in telling us more about humans. It also tells us about their use of tools and the animals they killed. Ancient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) also provides new information on human evolution. The analysis of plant remains on stone tools gives information about the history of farming. All of these techniques teach us about the lives of early peoples. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Early Development GUIDING QUESTION How did hominids develop? Modern science has produced a clearer picture of how early humans developed. Even so, pieces of the puzzle are still missing. Scientists may have to revise their ideas about prehistoric human life when a new skull or skeleton is found. Hominids to Homo Sapiens What is a hominid? A hominid is a humanlike creature that walked upright. The earliest hominid lived in Africa 4 million years ago. Donald Johanson discovered this early hominid, and he called it Australopithecus (aw•stray•loh•PIH•thuh•kuhs), or “southern ape.” It lived in eastern and southern Africa. Archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey searched for clues about early human life for many years. Mary Leakey discovered a hominid skeleton in 1959 at Olduvai Gorge in East Africa. This was the oldest hominid found up to that time. It was about 1.8 million years old. A more advanced hominid developed between 2.5 and 1.6 million years ago. It had a somewhat larger brain. This hominid was named Homo habilis, which means “handy human.” Homo habilis may have used stone tools. Another hominid developed around 1.5 million years ago. It was called Homo erectus, or “upright human.” Other hominids also walked on two legs, but Homo erectus had arms and Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use. PROGRESS CHECK Explaining What have artifacts and fossils revealed about prehistory? NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________ Reading Essentials and Study Guide Cont. netw rks The Rise of Civilization legs in modern human proportion, or size. Remains in Asia show that Homo erectus was probably the first hominid to leave Africa. Homo Sapiens Sapiens PROGRESS CHECK Contrasting How do the facts we know about Homo sapiens sapiens and Neanderthals tell different stories about how hominids developed? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ The Paleolithic Age GUIDING QUESTION How did the first humans adapt to survive? Humans have the ability to make tools. This is one of the important features of our species (a group of living things that are similar and can create offspring). The Paleolithic Age is the early period of human history when humans used simple stone tools. It lasted from about 2,500,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C. Paleolithic comes from Greek words meaning “old stone.” The Paleolithic Age is sometimes called the Old Stone Age. Humans relied on hunting and gathering for their daily food for hundreds of thousands of years. Paleolithic people had a close relationship with their environment. They knew what animals to hunt and what plants to eat. They gathered wild nuts, berries, fruits, wild grains, and green plants. They hunted and ate different animals in different places, including buffalo, horses, bison, and reindeer. Fish and shellfish provided a rich source of food in areas near water. Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use. Hominids called Homo sapiens developed around 250,000 years ago. Homo sapiens means “wise human.” This hominid showed rapid brain growth and learned how to use fire. The first anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago. They are called Homo sapiens sapiens, which means “wise, wise human.” They probably spread out of Africa to other parts of the world about 100,000 years ago. Homo sapiens sapiens replaced populations of earlier hominids in Europe and Asia. This is called the “out-of-Africa” theory. One of the hominid groups they came across was known as Neanderthals. Neanderthals probably lived between 200,000 B.C. and 30,000 B.C. Neanderthal remains have been found in Europe and Turkey. They seem to be the first early people to bury their dead. Homo sapiens sapiens had replaced the Neanderthals by 30,000 B.C. The Neanderthals died out, maybe because of conflicts with Homo sapiens sapiens. The spread of these first modern humans was a slow process. It took many thousands of years for them to spread over the globe as they searched for food and new places to hunt. They may have moved only two to three miles in a whole generation. Even so, this was enough to populate the world over tens of thousands of years. Today, all humans belong to this same subgroup of human beings whether they are Europeans, Australian Aborigines (a•buh•RIHJ•nees), or Africans. NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________ Reading Essentials and Study Guide Cont. netw rks The Rise of Civilization The Paleolithic Way of Life Use of Fire Another important result of the migration of early hominids was the use of fire. Early hominids needed to adjust to new climate conditions when they moved from the tropics (warm areas near the equator) into colder regions. Archaeologists have discovered the piled remains of ashes in caves. These ashes prove that Paleolithic people used fire as long as 500,000 years ago. Remains of hearths, ashes, charcoal, and charred, or burned, bones at a site in northern China have been dated to 400,000 years ago. Fire not only gave warmth but kept wild animals away from the campsite. Hunters armed with spears used fire to force wild pigs into the open to kill them. People also gathered around the fire to trade stories and to cook. Cooked food tasted better, lasted longer, and was easier to chew and digest. This probably meant that nutrition of early humans improved. The Ice Ages Fire as a source of heat was especially important when the Ice Age began. The most recent Ice Age began about 100,000 B.C. It ended about 8000 B.C. Thick sheets of ice covered large parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. People migrated across land bridges. These had not existed before sea levels went down. Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use. Early humans used stone tools to hunt and gather food. Early people used very hard stones, like flint, to make these tools. They used one stone to chip away parts of another stone and create a sharp edge on it. Hand axes were the most common tools. These were pointed tools with one or more cutting edges. Hand axes were eventually set in wooden handles, which made them easier to use. Humans created spears to kill large animals. To make spears, humans attached wooden poles to spear points and hardened the tips in fire. Paleolithic hunters developed better tools over the years. The invention of the bow and arrow made hunting much easier. Harpoons (large spears to hunt big fish or whales) and fishhooks made of bone increased the amount of fish humans could catch. Paleolithic people were hunters and gatherers. This meant they had to follow animal migrations and vegetation cycles. Paleolithic humans were nomads. Nomads are people who move from place to place to survive. Archaeologists and anthropologists think these early nomads probably lived in small groups of 20 or 30. Hunting depended on carefully observing, or watching, animal behavior patterns, or ways of acting. Hunting demanded group cooperation for success. The main job of Paleolithic peoples was finding enough to eat. Both men and women were responsible for finding the food needed for survival. Paleolithic parents passed on practices, skills, and tools to their children to ensure the survival of later generations. Women probably stayed closer to camp because they gave birth to and raised children. They played an important role in getting food by gathering berries, nuts, roots, and grains. Women taught the children which foods were edible, or safe to eat. They trapped small animals and kept the camp safe. Men had to travel far from camp to hunt herds of large animals in the constant search for food. Many scientists believe that in Paleolithic groups, men and women were equal. It is likely that both men and women made decisions that affected the activities of the Paleolithic group. NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________ Reading Essentials and Study Guide Cont. netw rks The Rise of Civilization Ice Age conditions were a serious threat, or danger, to human life. The ability to adapt, or change to meet new conditions, was important to human survival. Early humans did not always change themselves to adapt to the environment. Sometimes they adapted by changing the environment. The use of fire is one example of this. Paleolithic Art Paleolithic peoples did more than just survive. The cave paintings of large animals have been found at Lascaux (la•SKOH) in southern France and Altamira in northern Spain. They show us the cultural activity of Paleolithic peoples. The Chauvet cave was discovered in southern France in 1994. It contained more than 300 paintings of lions, oxen, owls, panthers, and other animals. Most of these are animals that Paleolithic people did not hunt. This tells us that the animals were painted for religious or decorative purposes. Early artists painted with fingers and twigs and even blew paint through hollow reeds. They used stone lamps filled with animal fat to light the caves. They mixed mineral ores with animal fat to make red, yellow, and black paint. A variety of realistically painted animals covers the caves. Few humans appear in these paintings. They are drawn as sticklike figures when they do appear. This has led some scholars to think the paintings were done for a magical or religious ritual to bring success in hunting. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use. PROGRESS CHECK Describing Describe how the Paleolithic way of life revolved around acquiring food.
