Name
Class
Date
SKILLS TEST 2
Standard
READING
1 Read an article about early human migration and write when each event happened.
Early human migration
It is difficult to discover much about
how Homo sapiens first managed to
spread around the world. The only
clues we have are fossils, skeletons
and objects such as tools that they
left behind. However, experts have
pieced together this evidence in an
effort to find out more about early
migration patterns.
Some remains of our ancestors,
Homo erectus and Homo antecessor
are over a million years old but Homo
sapiens arrived much later. For many
years, the oldest human remains that
we knew about were around 200,000
years old and were found in what
is now Ethiopia in Africa. However,
in 2017, bones and stone tools
were found in Morocco which were
estimated to be 100,000 years older
than anything unearthed before.
As far as we know, the early
inhabitants of East Africa lived in
the same place for about 130,000
years. Then, suddenly, about
70,000 years ago, they started to
move. Why? The most likely reason
is that climate change made it
impossible for them to survive.
This was the ice age and the
human population dropped rapidly
at this time. There were only about
10,000 of us left in the whole world!
The first migrants probably headed
east. They crossed the Red Sea
from Africa to Yemen. The Red Sea
is only about 18 km wide here and,
at that time, the sea level was about
70 m lower than it is now so there
were probably islands where they
could stop and rest. From Yemen,
humans travelled east to India and
then south to Australia. The oldest
human remains in Australia are
only about 45,000 years old but a
rock shelter in Northern Australia,
which humans made, is older so
scientists think people arrived here
about 55,000 years ago.
At the same time, other early
humans were travelling across
Asia and into North America, two
continents which were joined
together at that time. Experts think
A The oldest person we have discovered in Australia
lived and died about
years ago.
2 Read the article again and answer the questions.
1
Which two species does the article mention apart
from Homo sapiens?
2
Which country in Africa did experts believe Homo
sapiens originated from?
3
Why do experts think that humans started leaving
Africa? Because of
4
What was the total world population of humans at
this time? About
5
In which direction did the first migrants travel?
6
Which two continents used to be connected?
and
7
In which two places did archaeologists find similar
tools and weapons?
and
8
What discovery led to migration becoming less
important?
B A French tribe disappeared about
years ago.
C Until recently, experts believed that the first Homo
sapiens appeared about
years ago.
D Asia and America divided from each other about
years ago.
E Homo sapiens started to leave Africa about
years ago.
that the land bridge from Asia to
America existed until about 13,000
years ago. Tribes came from Asia
and slowly made their way down
the Pacific Coast, through Mexico
and right to the southern tip of
South America.
There are some findings that
archaeologists can’t explain. They
have discovered tools and weapons
in America which are about 16,000
years old. Strangely, there are
similar tools and weapons in France.
These belonged to a tribe which
disappeared from Europe about
18,000 years ago. Did the French
tribe cross the Atlantic Ocean 17,500
years before Columbus?
This migration continued until
humans discovered agriculture,
which happened about 12,000
years ago. Everything changed.
Instead of moving to look for food,
people grew their own food and
lived in permanent settlements,
which grew into towns and cities
– the start of the modern world.
F People started growing their own food about
years ago.
G Homo sapiens arrived in Australia about
years ago.
7
Think Level 4 Skills Test Unit 2 Standard page 1 of 3
PHOTOCOPIABLE
8
© Cambridge University Press 2018
Name
Class
Date
SKILLS TEST 1
Standard
LISTENING
3
Listen to a radio show about survival. Complete the information with one word or number in each gap.
Name of boy: Jake Denham
Age: 1
Hometown: 2
Problems he had: Lost a 3
What he did: Built a 4
Temperature: 5 Below
Time when rescued: After 6
Advice: Never ski 7
7
4
Listen again and mark the sentences T (true), F (false), or DS (the article doesn’t say).
1
Jenny heard the story from Jake Denham.
2
Jake and his family went skiing in the same state that they live in.
3
Jake’s parents weren’t skiing when he got lost.
4
On the evening when Jake got lost, there was no wind.
5
There were lots of crevasses on the mountain he was lost on.
6
When Jake found the ski tracks, it was easy for him to get down the mountain.
7
Jake saw the lights before the rescuers found him.
8
Jake had a big meal when he got back to his parents
8
Think Level 4 Skills Test Unit 1 Standard page 2 of 3
PHOTOCOPIABLE
© Cambridge University Press 2018
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