Human Origins in Africa
Why is the study of Prehistoric
Man so Elusive?
The Great
Rift Valley
extends from
Turkey
through the
Jordan River
valley, the
Red Sea and
down
through the
area of Lake
Victoria
almost to the
Zambezi
River.
The Great Rift Valley
How the Great Rift Valley Was Created
The subsidence of rock resulting from two or more parallel rocks
moving apart is known as a graben. When this happens on a large
scale, with tectonic plates moving apart, a rift valley is created.
Why is
The
Great Rift
Valley
such a
rich
source of
fossils
and
artifacts?
The Olduvai
Gorge and the
Laetoli Plain
are located in
what modern
country?
What important
findings were
found there?
Were they
fossils or
artifacts?
The young
Donald
Johanson with
his amazing
discovery.
What was it?
In 1976 he was
inducted into
the Academy
of
Achievement
for his
discoveries.
One of the
great fossil
finds:
LUCY
A hominid
What characteristics of the
Great Rift Valley shown here
in this diagram helped
archaeologists,
anthropologists and
paleontologists in finding
Lucy?
How do each of those
scientists help put
the pieces of the
puzzle together?
Who first
discovered
these
footprints?
Why are
they so
important?
What important valley
in Africa is this scene
a part of?
What explains why
these two early
hominds left footprints
3.5 million years ago?
Who discovered these
footprints?
Why are they so
important?
The Leakeys in the
Great Rift Valley
Dr. Louis Leakey and
his wife Mary Leakey,
archaeologists,
display the skull of a
human ancestor,
Zinjanthropus, in
1959.
How does this cartoon help explain the why the red routes on the
previous map went further than the yellow routes?
Out of Africa
How do the dates on
this map show that
man originated in
Africa and then
migrated elsewhere?
These skulls are both examples of Homo Sapiens
Which is the Neanderthal and which is the Cro-Magnon Man?
Does this
describe a
Neanderthal
or a CroMagnon
Man?
How do you
think an
anthropologist
figured out that
Neanderthal Man
buried his dead?
How does this
scene suggest
Neanderthal
Man is like
us…a homo
sapiens?
Fungus Once Again Threatens French
Cave Paintings
PARIS, Dec. 8 — For the second time in a decade,
fungus is threatening France’s most celebrated
prehistoric paintings, the mysterious animal images that
line the Lascaux cave in the Dordogne region of
southwest France, scientists say.
A Map of the Cave
at Lascaux in
modern France
shows that many of
the paintings were
in almost
inaccessible parts
of the cave.
Why?
Go to the website below to discover what it feels like to
be in the cave at Lascaux
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
Celebrated art historian,
Sister Wendy Beckett,
examines the paintings
in the caves at Lascaux
in her book, Story of
Painting.
what will she say
explains why these
magnificent pictures of
animals were painted in
the deepest parts of the
underground where few
people ever saw them?
What seems to be the subject these painters most
wanted to portray? What kinds of explanations
does Lord Attenborough suggest?
This horse was painted by a Cro-Magnon at
Lascaux in modern France
How do these paintings and the burial site in the last slide give evidence that
both the Neanderthal and the Cro-Magnon were Homo Sapiens like us?
Are these artifacts or fossils?
How do
these
findings help
us to know
that the
people who
made these
are from the
Paleolithic or
the Neolithic
Age?
How do the items pictured help explain the timeline in
the next slide?
The
Paleolithic
Age
Becomes…
The Neolithic
Age
How?