Early Humans: Pre-Civilization
Franceschini
Common Core SS Standards addressed throughout the reading packet:
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6H.1.3 Use primary and secondary sources to interpret various historical perspectives.
6H.2.3 Explain how innovation and/or technology transformed civilizations, societies and regions over
time (e.g., agricultural technology, weaponry, transportation and communication).
6G.1.1 Explain how the physical features and human characteristics of a place influenced the
development of civilizations, societies and regions (e.g., location near rivers and natural barriers, trading
practices and spread of culture).
6G.1.4 Explain how and why civilizations, societies and regions have used, modified and adapted to their
environments (e.g., invention of tools, domestication of plants and animals, farming techniques and
creation of dwellings).
6G.2.1 Use maps, charts, graphs, geographic data and available technology tools to draw conclusions
about the emergence, expansion and decline of civilizations, societies and regions
Common Core Reading Standards addressed throughout the reading packet:
 Locate and cite details, State main ideas and summarize.
 Determine meanings of words and phrases.
 Determine how information is presented (sequentially, comparatively, etc.).
 Integrate and analyze visuals (maps, charts, pictures) etc. with text.
Common Core Writing Standards addressed throughout the reading packet:
 Produce clear and coherent writing appropriate for the task.
 Use technology and internet to produce writing.
 Informative and Explanatory Writing in the context of SS
Anthropology
Objectives: SWBAT create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting anthropology and archaeology and then use
it to write a compare/contrast composition.
An anthropologist is a type of scientist that studies human history. Anthropologists
study humans and other human-like creatures known as hominids. They compare the bones
of these creatures to one another, looking for changes in brain size and posture.
Anthropology is the scientific and humanistic study of humankind’s present and past.
It studies cultural and biological variations. Anthropologists study people and the cultures
they create. The major subfields that fall under the larger heading of anthropology are
archaeology, physical (biological) anthropology, cultural anthropology, and anthropological
linguistics.
Mankind began keeping a written history about 5,500 years ago. Much of what we
think of as human history happened between then and now. However, in reality this is just a
scratch on the surface of human history. Anthropologists and archeologists have traced
human history back some 4.4 million years.
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Archaeology
Archaeology is a subfield of anthropology. It is the scientific study of the human
past and present through material remains. In other words, they study the things that
people made, used, or modified. When archaeologists investigate an area where people left
evidence of their presence (such as garbage, building foundations, cemeteries, and an
assortment of other everyday things commonly left behind) they attempt to answer specific
research questions about the early people who used the area. In fact, archaeology is the
only scientific tool we have that can be used to study people from the past who did not
leave written descriptions about their every day lives.
An archaeologist is someone who tries to figure out what life was like in the ancient
past by looking at the remains of ancient people. An archaeologist must know the
difference between an artifact and a fossil.
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Fossils are the remains of living things (plants, animals, people), not of things that
were made.
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Artifacts are the remains of things that were made, not the remains of living
things.
One of the main things both archaeologists and anthropologists do in their line of
work is the dig. Why? Well, first of all, the wind is constantly blowing fresh dirt and
trash all over the world. This airborne debris lands on the ground in tiny layers. After years
of these tiny layers building up, what was once on the surface is buried underground. It's
not that the ground has really sunk; it's more that more layers have been added on top.
Digging is important. For instance, by discovering seeds, archaeologists can also
discover what kinds of crops the people who lived there grew or, if people didn't live there
at all, what kind of wild plants or fruits or vegetables grew there. Also, a dig might turn up
fragments of clothing or shoes, giving archaeologists clues to what kind of clothing the
people who lived there wore.
The basic idea behind the dig is to discover the past.
Assignment: Compare and Contrast the jobs of an anthropologist and an archaeologist using
a Venn Diagram and then write a paragraph about their similarities and a paragraph about
their differences.
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Prehistoric Humans
Objectives: SWBAT categorize early hominids. SWBAT locate where man first evolved.
Little is known about the lives of early human beings. What we do know has been
gathered through the study of ancient caves by scientists called archeologists. They
believe early humans probably lived in caves along the southern coast of Africa. This region
provided ample supplies of food as well as a warm climate. It is believed that the men
probably traveled in hunting packs or groups into the mainland looking for big game while the
women stayed near the coast.
Early Hominids
Human-like animals that walked upright were known as hominids. It is believed that
the earliest hominids lived around 4.4 million years ago in the humid forests of eastern and
southern Africa. These animals, known as Australopithecus, are believed to have been
around three to five feet tall. They probably fed on leaves, fruits, and the remains of dead
animals. There is no evidence that Australopithecus made their own tools. There is,
however, strong evidence that they used sticks and bones to help them dig and defend
themselves.
Hominid Types
Scientists such as anthropologists divide hominids into three different types based
on their body shapes and lifestyles. The first kind of hominid is referred to as Homo habilis,
which means person with abilities. It is believed that Homo habilis lived until about 1.5
million years ago. The second type of early human living on the Earth was Homo erectus,
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which means person who walks upright. Homo erectus lived on the Earth until about 150,000
years ago. The final type of hominid living on the Earth is Homo sapien. Homo sapien means
person who can think. All humans living on the Earth today are Homo sapiens.
Essential Questions:
1. Where do scientists believe early man first evolved?
2. How do anthropologists categorize hominids? What are the 3 categories?
3. Who was Australopithecus?
Now write 5 questions and answers of your own in your notebook using the text.
Prehistoric Humans > Part 2
Objectives: SWBAT ID different hominid species in the evolutionary chain. SWBAT discuss the significance of
the emergence of language. SWBAT interpret the significance of Lucy.
Homo Habilis
It is believed that Homo habilis were the first hominids to create and use tools.
These creatures lived in Africa about 1.5 million years ago. Homo habilis probably lived
alongside Australopithecus. However, their larger bodies and brains would have given them a
clear advantage.
Homo Erectus
Homo erectus inhabited Africa, Asia and Europe some 1.6 million years ago, and
remained active in these areas until around 250,000 years ago. Their large brains allowed
them to easily adapt to a wide variety of environments. Fossils of Homo erectus have been
found in forests, plains and grasslands.
Hominids Leave Africa
Due to the scarcity of evidence, there is a great deal of disagreement among
scientists about exactly when prehistoric peoples left Africa and migrated to other parts
of the world. Some evidence suggests that Homo habilis may have been the first to leave
Africa. However, if they did, it is unlikely that they remained very long. There is, however,
strong evidence that Homo erectus migrated from Africa around 1.6 million years ago.
Fossil evidence shows that Homo erectus had arrived in Asia by around 460,000 years ago
and in Europe around 400,000 years ago.
Language Develops
The first simple languages spoken by Homo erectus likely developed around 500,000
years ago. This would have been a dramatic development of paramount importance.
Prior to spoken languages, members of a group communicated with one another by grunting
or through simple noises and hand gestures. Spoken language allowed group members to
exchange complex thoughts and ideas, and pass on their culture from one generation to the
next. Now groups could discuss plans, teach techniques, explain how to track animals, or
where to go to find water, as well as form religion and folklore. The knowledge of one
generation could now be passed down to the next, building from generation to generation,
expanding the human experience.
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Essential Questions:
1. What advantages did Homo-habilis and Homo-erectus have over other early hominid
species?
2. How do scientists know Homo-erectus migrated from Africa.
3. Homo-erectus developed language. Why was this significant?
4. Why was the discovery of Lucy important for anthropologists?
Now write 5 questions and answers of your own in your notebook using the text.
Prehistoric Humans > Part 3
Objectives: SWBAT assess the impact homo-sapiens had on evolution. SWBAT ID the first species of homosapiens. SWBAT explain how Neanderthals were more advanced than predecessors.
Homo Sapiens
Hominids evolved and developed for millions of years prior to the arrival of Homo
sapiens on the Earth. This evolution was slow. The development of a new skill or tool often
took thousands of years. With the arrival of Homo sapiens, this all changed. The speed of
advancements increased dramatically. Instead of thousands of years, great progress was
made in hundreds or even dozens of years.
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Neanderthals
The first Homo sapiens are believed to have been the Neanderthals. Neanderthal
people first appeared on the Earth around 200,000 years ago in Africa. They migrated from
Africa to the rest of the world around 100,000 years ago. Neanderthals were around five to
six feet in height. They had thick sturdy bones, and muscular shoulders, legs, arms and
necks. Neanderthals also had large brains. In fact, their brains were slightly larger than
those of modern humans.
Neanderthals and Tool Making
Like earlier hominids, Neanderthals made and used tools. However, the tools
produced by the Neanderthals were much more advanced than those used by their
predecessors. Neanderthals learned to create specialized cutting and scraping tools by
chipping away at the edge of a rock. They learned to combine different types of stone into
a single tool, and they discovered how to use a wide variety of soft and hard stones for
specialized tasks
Neanderthal Shelters
The Neanderthal lived throughout a widely divergent climate and habitat. These
peoples adapted quickly to new environments as they migrated. Some lived in caves, while
others built shelters out of branches and animal skins. Still others dug pits and covered
them with branches, animal skins and leaves.
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Neanderthal Culture
Because the Neanderthal spread throughout Africa, Asia and Europe, their cultures
were as different as the places they inhabited. Archeological finds have given historians a
small glance into some of their beliefs and ways of life.
There is strong evidence that the Neanderthal had a belief in the afterlife. Burial
plots have been found where the dead were covered with flowers and buried with food along
with the tools they would need in the next life. There is also evidence that Neanderthal
cared for their sick and injured. Fossil remains show serious injuries, such as broken legs,
which had healed completely. It is even possible that Neanderthal used medicines.
Essential Questions:
1. What impact did Homo-sapiens have on evolution?
2. Who were the Neanderthals?
3. In what ways were Neanderthals were advanced than there predecessors?
Now write 5 questions and answers of your own in your notebook using the text.
Prehistoric Humans > Part 4
Objectives: SWBAT state when modern humans evolved. SWBAT deduce what happened to other species such as
Neanderthal. SWBAT state who Cro-Magnon man was and examine their advantages over Neanderthal man
Homo Sapiens Sapiens
It is believed that modern humans like you and I first originated on the Earth
around 50,000 years ago in Africa. These modern humans are referred to by historians as
Homo sapiens sapiens. Within just a few thousand years these modern humans had spread to
every continent across the entire planet, and onto many islands.
As Homo sapiens sapiens migrated outward from Africa, it is believed that they
wiped out Neanderthals, either by absorbing them through intermarriage, or by destroying
them through war and competition.
Cro-Magnons
The earliest Homo sapiens sapiens were the Cro-Magnons. These early modern
humans are named after the location of their discovery in France in the 1860s. Since their
original discovery, many other Cro-Magnon fossils and artifacts have been found throughout
Europe, Asia and Africa.
Cro-Magnons were taller than the Neanderthal, but they were not as muscular. A
very important advantage is that they had much improved technologies, languages and
cultures over those of the Neanderthals. Many anthropologists feel they were more
intelligent.
The Tools and Technology of Cro-Magnons
The advanced tools and technology of Cro-Magnons allowed them to quickly adapt to
and master their environments. In addition to stone, Cro-Magnons used other materials for
making tools. These materials included bones, antlers, teeth and ivory. With these new
materials, they were able to create sharper blades, needles for sewing, and fishhooks for
fishing. Cro-Magnons also invented new kinds of long distance weapons, such as bow and
arrows and spear throwers.
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Axes allowed humans to chop down trees. Evidence has been found to show that
early humans used some of these logs to make canoes. New technologies dramatically
increased the amount of food available. This in turn allowed for the population of CroMagnon to explode.
Cro-Magnon Social Life
At first, Cro-Magnon life was not all that different from the lives of earlier
hominids. They lived in caves or temporary structures, and spent their lives hunting and
gathering in small groups. As food sources increased, human settlements became more
permanent. Many groups began building homes out of logs or stone. Smaller groups joined
together forming larger groups.
As these groups developed, so did the need for order. In order to allow individuals
to interact with one another, it was necessary that these groups developed rules, or laws.
To help enforce these laws, there had to be leaders appointed. Each group or tribe had
their own methods for appointing leaders. Sometimes leaders were selected through
fighting. In other cases they were appointed according to religious beliefs or through
inheritance.
Essential Questions:
1. How long ago did modern humans evolve? What species are we?
2. Who was Cro-Magnon and what advantages did they have over Neanderthal?
3. What most likely happened to Neanderthal man?
4. What factors allowed Cro-Magnon to move from a nomadic lifestyle to a more
permanent one?
Now write 7 questions and answers of your own in your notebook using the text.
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Questions:
1. Which two species came immediately before modern humans?
2. What two species did Australopithecus fall between?
History of Man
SPECIES
TIME PERIOD
Ardipithicus ramidus
Australopithecus anamensis
5 to 4 million years ago
4.2 to 3.9 million years ago
Australopithecus afarensis
Australopithecus africanus
4 to 2.7 million years ago
3 to 2 million years ago
Australopithecus robustus
Homo habilis
2.2 to 1.6 million years ago
2.2 to 1.6 million years ago
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens archaic
Homo sapiens neandertalensis
2.0 to 0.4 million years ago
400 to 200 thousand years ago
200 to 30 thousand years ago
200 thousand years ago to present
Homo sapiens sapiens
Questions:
1. According to the chart, which is the oldest hominid species?
2. How long ago did Homo-erectus live?
3. Which species lived from 4 to 2.7 million years ago?
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Ice Ages Affect Human Evolution
Objectives: SWBAT explain the significance of the ice age on how it affected hominid migration.
During the last 2 million years the Earth has experienced four long periods of cold
climate known as ice ages. During each ice age, the average temperature around the world
has dropped dramatically. While the middle latitudes near the equator stay warm, the
higher latitudes both in the north and in the south get very cold, making life in these
regions more difficult. During these periods, massive glaciers form which can cover
thousands of square miles. As ice sheets spread across the landscape they freeze out plants
and animals. As more and more water freezes, the sea level decreases by as much as 300
feet (91m). As sea levels drop, land bridges appear between continents and islands. Cooler
temperatures forced change on early hominids. They either had to adapt to their new
environments, migrate, or perish. Land bridges allowed hominids to migrate to new lands
such as the Americas, Japan, Malaysia, and Australia. Cooler temperatures spawned the
development of clothes and the discovery and mastery of fire.
Essential Questions:
1. How did ice ages allow hominids to migrate?
 Thinking Question: How do you think the first Native Americans arrived to
America? Explain your answer and use evidence.
 Now write 3 questions and answers of your own in your notebook using the text.
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Tools and the Stone Age
Objectives: SWBAT name the three ages of archaeology. SWBAT examine how tools changed life for hominids
The Stone Age is the first of the three-age system of archaeology, which divides
human technological prehistory into three periods:
The Stone Age
The Bronze Age
The Iron Age
Early hominid species lived during the Stone Age. Two of the most important
advancements in human history were the development and use of tools and the use of fire.
Tools allowed hominids to become the masters of their environments. They learned to hunt,
to build and to perform important tasks that made life easier for them. The first tools
were made out of stone. Thus, historians refer to the period of time before written history
as the Stone Age. Tools were also made from wood as well. Fire allowed food to be cooked
and provided a source of heat.
Humans during the Stone Age were hunter-gatherers. Hunter-gatherers survived
by hunting wild animals and by gathering wild plants and fruits. They did not farm or
domesticate animals. They were nomadic, meaning they were constantly moving in search
of food. Nomads did not live in permanent shelters. Many early hunter-gatherers often
lived in caves, thus people have often referred to them as cavemen. As humans evolved they
learned to build more shelters with their tools.
Historians divide the Stone Age into three different periods based on the
sophistication and methods of tool design. The first period is referred to as the Paleolithic,
or Old Stone Age. The Old Stone Age began about 2 million years ago with the development
of the first tools by Homo habilis and lasted until around 12,000 years ago. By the late
Paleolithic Era, Homo-sapiens sapiens dominated the planet. The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone
Age, began around 12,000 years ago and continued through about 8,000 years ago. The
Neolithic, or New Stone Age lasted from 8,000 years until around 5,000 years ago.
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As a group discuss how you think tools made life easier for hunter-gatherers
Essential Questions:
1. What are the 3 ages of archaeology and in which of these did hunter-gatherers
live?
2. How did tools improve life for hunter-gatherers?
Additional Questions:
1. What were the 3 periods of the Stone Age?
2. Why do you think fire was important to hunter-gatherers?
3. Use the chart on page 7 to answer these questions. When was the Paleolithic Era?
When was the Mesolithic Era? When was the Neolithic Era?
Thinking Question:
 What do you think separates humans from even the most intelligent animals? Write
your answer in a short paragraph
The Agricultural Revolution (Neolithic Revolution)
Objectives: SWBAT mark the transition from nomadic cultures to more permanent ones. SWBAT explain what the
agricultural revolution was. SWBAT analyze the causes/effects map the causes and effects of the agricultural
revolution.
For hundreds of thousands of years hominids depended on nature for their survival.
Food came from wild plants and animals. A natural disaster could reduce the amount of food
in the environment which might have a devastating effect on the peoples in nearby regions.
During the Paleolithic and Mesolithic eras of the Stone Age, humans were hunter-gatherers.
Around 10, 000 to 8,000 years ago things began to change. It began with the ending of the
ices age. Warmer temperatures allowed new types of plants to grow. Humans learned to
use these new plants for food shelter and clothing. With better tools and warmer
temperatures people began to learn how to grow their own food crops rather than just
picking fruits, nuts, roots and berries. This was the beginning of farming so this provided a
new way to obtain food. Grains such as wheat, barley, rice and corn were grown in different
parts of the world. Wild animals were also domesticated. Goats were utilized for their meat
and milk, cattle, pigs and chickens provided a steady source of food for the support of a
group of humans.
This revolutionary advancement was that of agriculture. Instead of hunting and
gathering food from the environments where they lived, humans learned to simply grow
their own food. This new period of the Stone Age was called the Neolithic Era. It is
referred to as the Agricultural Revolution or the Neolithic Revolution.
So what is a revolution? A revolution refers to a change. Being able to farm
changed many things. When people were able to grow enough food they were able to save
some for later. This is called having a surplus. This meant they no longer had to be
constantly on the move for food. They could give up their nomadic lifestyle and live in
permanent camps.
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Villages Develop
With the advent of farming and domesticated animals to feed a society, life became
much easier for early humans. As a result, many more humans survived the difficulties of
life. The population quickly rose from around 2 million humans on the Earth to more than 90
million.
Farming allowed people to build villages along rivers, or wherever the ground was
fertile enough for crops to grow. Archeologists have found some villages that are believed
to have been built more than 8,000 years ago. Some of these ancient villages, such as
Jericho, still survive to this day.
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Technologies Advance Quickly
With an abundance of food and more permanent shelters, people had more time to
devote to the development of new technologies. Better farming equipment, such as the oxdriven plow, were invented. The wheel aided humans greatly in transporting goods from one
location to another. The loom allowed people to weave cloth and create finer and more tools
were created for measuring the passage of time, such as calendars, star charts and sundials.
This helped farmers track when the growing season would arrive, and when the best time to
plant crops would be.
People learned improved farming techniques, such as how to use fertilizers in their
fields, and how to better utilize water through irrigation. Villagers dug large canals and
complex systems of ditches, delivering water from distant sources to where it was most
needed comfortable clothing.
Essential Questions:
1. What marks the beginning of the transformation of nomadic cultures to permanent
ones?
2. What was the Agricultural Revolution? How long ago did it begin? What else is it
sometimes called?
3. What were the causes and effects of the Agricultural Revolution?
 Create a cause and effect map and then use it to write a paragraph
Additional Questions:
1. Why do you think many villages were built along rivers?
2. Why did technology advance quickly once there was a surplus of food?
3. Name 3 important technologies and tell why you think they were so important.
Now write 7 questions and answers of your own in your notebook using the text.
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Questions:
1. What 3 species of Homo Sapiens came prior to Homo Sapiens Sapiens?
2. Approximately how many years ago did Australopithecus Afcanus inhabit the earth?
3. Name all the species of man in the homo line.
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Questions:
1. According to this chart, what is the oldest known species?
2. What species lived from about 4 million to 3 million years ago?
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Precious Metals
Gold, silver, platinum, brass, iron, and bronze; these metals are closely associated with our
history. Mankind has searched for and fought over these metals since the end of the
Neolithic (Stone Age). Metal has lifted mankind’s technology from simple stone tools and
weapons to computers and space travel. Without our precious metals we would still be living
in tribes, wandering in search for food.
The Neolithic ended when people stopped using stone tools and started to use tools made
out of metal. No one really knows how or why people started to use metal tools rather than
stone; the inventors of metal tools didn’t write anything down. Scientists think people
started using copper and gold for ornaments and jewelry before they started using metal
for tools. The reason scientists think jewelry came first is because they have found human
skeletons surrounded by metal jewelry and stone tools . Archeologists found the Varna
Necropolis in 1972. (Necropolis is a fancy scientist word for graveyard.) The gold and
copper artifacts found in Varna Necropolis are mostly beads and other forms of jewelry.
The tools found in the graves are mostly made from stone. These graves have been dated to
4700 to 4200 BCE. It didn’t take long for people to start making tools out of copper. In
fact, Otzi, the Iceman, was found high in the Alps with several artifacts including a flint
knife, flint-tipped arrows, and a copper-bladed ax. His body and his tools were preserved in
the glacier ice that covered them. He is the oldest human mummy around. His body dates
back to approximately 5300 BCE; so, about the same time as the Varna people.
So why use copper and gold? Copper and gold can be found as native metal. Native metal
means you can pick up a nugget of copper or gold and pound on it with a hammer and make
stuff out of it. You don’t have to heat it up or melt it out of the rock. However, if you pound
on unheated native metal too much it will crack. So about all you can do with native metal is
make beads or very simple tools. If you heat native copper, you can make better tools.
Otzi’s ax is the product of a different process. Most copper in the world is not the pure
native copper. Most copper is found in what is called an ore. An ore is a mixture of metal,
rock and other junk. At some point in time people learned (again, scientists don’t know when
or how) that if you heat up crushed ore to a very high temperature the metal will melt and
leave the junk you don’t want behind. This process is called smelting.
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Precious Metals - Continued
Written for the KidsKnowIt Network by:
Brandon Guymon
Copper isn’t very good for making tools. It’s better than stone, but it’s too soft; it will bend
if it hits another hard object. Also, because copper is so soft you can’t make big tools out of
it. If you want to make big tools you have to use a lot of copper. Using that much copper
makes the tool too heavy to use and too expensive to make. Remember, smelting metal is
difficult work. To solve the problem of copper being too soft, people learned that if you
melt copper and tin and mix them together you make bronze. Scientist and historians call
the time period that bronze was used the Bronze Age.
Bronze is much better than copper to work with. For the first time, large tools, including
swords and armor, could be made. The ancient Egyptians used a crooked bronze sword called
a khopesh. In Europe, the most common type of bronze sword was a long 20 to 35 inches (50
to 90 cm) leaf-shaped blade. China was also making bronze swords during the Bronze Age.
The Chinese swords were more complicated than the Mesopotamian and European swords.
They used two different harnesses of bronze and more complicated blade shapes.
There is one main problem with using bronze to make tools. The problem is: finding copper is
easy; finding tin is hard. For example, during the Bronze Age in Europe most of the tin was
found in the Cornwall region of Great Britain. If you wanted to make bronze you had to
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trade for the tin. This was true if you were an Egyptian, European, or almost any one else.
There are really only two places that we know of that had copper and tin together. So
unless you lived in one of those two places, you had to trade for the tin.
Scientists think the supply of tin became scarce. Something happened, they’re not sure
what, to disrupt the tin trade routes. It could have been disease, war, or migration. No
matter what the cause, a new metal had to be found. The solution was iron. Iron was a little
easier to work with and much easier to find. Iron wasn’t as good as bronze but it was good
enough and it was cheaper. Eventually people learned how to make iron in a way that it
became as good as bronze. Then people learned how to make steel from iron. Steel is much
better than iron or bronze.
The use of steel is the foundation of our modern world. Steel is all around you. It makes the
nails and screws that hold up houses. Without steel we wouldn’t have skyscrapers and
modern cities. Without steel we couldn’t have cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes, or modern
ships. Without steel our modern world would be very different
But what about the other metals, do we still use them today? Yes, of course we do. Copper
and gold are still used in jewelry. It’s copper wire that brings electricity to your house.
Copper and gold form the circuits that allow your computer and other electronics to work.
The pins on your computer’s CPU are plated in gold. Most houses have copper water pipes.
Bronze is used in bells, sculptures, Olympic medals, and probably in other places as well. We
use metal everywhere. It is in nearly everything we do. You would have to work really hard
not to use some kind of metal every day. Look around and see just how much our modern
world depends on our precious metal.
Gold - Part 1
Written for the KidsKnowIt Network by:
Brandon Guymon
Gold. The very word stirs the imagination, conjuring pictures of vast treasures of
shimmering yellow metal. Gold has started mass migrations, nearly emptying cities as men
swarm the hills, desperately searching for the precious metal. Gold has launched conquering
armies, sending Spanish conquistadors to crush entire civilizations to get more for the
greater glory of Spain, not to mention their own pockets. Gold sent English privateers to the
Caribbean to steal it while the Spanish fought to send it to Spain. For as long as history
records, and even longer, mankind has gone to great lengths and great risks to find gold.
The Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs discovered a particularly rich gold mine in a country called
Nubia. The Egyptian armies took over the land and used the gold to manipulate rival empires.
Gold has caused all this and more, but what is gold?
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Gold is an element. Gold doesn’t react with very many other elements. It will not corrode or
rust away. Most acids won’t even eat it away. In fact, one of the ways to test if you have
real gold or fake gold is to dip it in acid and see if the acid eats it away.
Gold is shiny and people like the look of it. Gold is used for money and jewelry. Gold is a very
soft metal; the softness of gold makes it easy to bend and shape but it doesn't hold its
shape very well. This isn’t very useful if you want to make jewelry. The solution has been to
add other harder metals to gold. So how do you add metal to another metal? The trick is,
you have to melt the metals to liquid then mix them together. A combination of metals like
this is called an alloy. People have been making alloys for a very long time. For example,
bronze from the Bronze Age is an alloy of copper and tin. When gold is made into an alloy its
purity (the amount of gold metal in the mix) is measured in karats. 24 karat gold is pure gold;
the lower the number the more other metal has been added. The gold alloys used in modern
jewelry are 10 karat or 14 karat gold. 10 karat gold has less gold in the alloy but is harder.
14 karat has more gold and is softer. White gold is an alloy created by adding metals that
change gold's yellow color to silver. Like yellow gold, the most common alloys of white gold
are 10 karat and 14 karat gold.
Gold - Part 2
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Written for the KidsKnowIt Network by:
Brandon Guymon
People have been using gold for ornaments and jewelry long before they were writing things
down. Archaeologists have found gold jewelry dating back to very early Copper Age peoples.
The oldest known golden treasure comes from a place archaeologists call the Varna
Necropolis. Necropolis is a fancy scientist word for graveyard. In the Varna Necropolis,
archaeologists found about 3000 different gold artifacts. The combined weight of these
artifacts is close to 6 kg (13 lbs. 4 oz.). These graves have been dated to 4700 to 4200 BCE
One of the earliest written references to gold that archaeologists have found comes from
ancient Egypt. By the time of the written reference, Egypt had long since conquered Nubia
and the rich Nubian gold fields. Amenhotep III was using gold to manipulate the rulers of
rival empires. In a diplomatic message, King Tushratta of Mitanni asks Amenhotep to give
him gold saying that gold “was more common than dirt in Egypt.” That letter was sent
approximately 2500 BCE. Amenhotep was cunning. He would give gold to the rulers of other
empires in the area making each one think he was their friend, that way if any one of them
tried to attack Egypt the rulers would try to stop the attacker.
Egypt truly had a lot of gold, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn’t more common than dirt. One
of my favorite gold artifacts was found in the tomb of another one of Egypt’s Pharaohs, one
of Amenhotep III‘s grandson. Amenhotep’s Grandson was Tutankhamun. In 1922, the
archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb. Tutankhamun’s, or King Tut’s
tomb was the only royal tomb that hadn’t been cleaned out by ancient tomb robbers. That is
the reason King Tut is so famous, not because he was a particularly important king (he was
only 17 or 18 when he died), but because most of his stuff was still with him when Howard
Carter found him. Anyway, my favorite golden artifact is a golden dagger that was found
with King Tut’s body. Because it was decorated with so much gold it probably was
spectacularly useless as a knife, but it’s pretty
Later, and on the other side of the world, the Spanish were taking literally tons of gold and
silver artifacts from the Native Americans and shipping them off to Spain, if they could get
it past the storms and the English privateers that is. There they were melted down and
used to buy weapons and equipment for Spain’s army and navy.
Gold - Part 3
Written for the KidsKnowIt Network by:
Brandon Guymon
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Surprisingly though, with as much gold that was found and used in the ancient world, 75% of
the gold that has been mined has been mined after 1910 CE. In 2009, people calculated that
all of the gold ever mined was about 165,000 metric tons. If you could melt down all that
gold and put it on one place it would make a cube measuring 20.28 meters (67 feet) on each
side. That’s a whole lot of gold.
South Africa and China are the biggest producers of gold in the world; each country
producing almost 2000 metric tons (1000kg/metric ton) of gold per year. The states of
South Dakota and Nevada supply most of the gold used in the United States. Nevada alone
supplies about 79% of the gold used in the United States.
lot of the gold we get comes from mines like the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah. The Bingham
Canyon Mine is the largest open pit mine in the United States. At this mine they dig for
copper. While mining and extracting copper, they also extract a lot of gold from the rocks
they crush and pulverize. In this case, gold is a side product of the mine. Many of the mines
in Nevada are also open pit mines and they use the same method; they dig a really big hole in
the ground, find the rocks they want, crush them up, and chemically extract the gold right
from the powdered rock.
One of the main differences between the palaeolithic and neolithic periods was in the main
methods people used to acquire food. In the palaeolithic, anatomically modern humans and
their ancestors were mainly nomadic hunter gatherers. By the neolithic people had
developed farming, allowing them to live in settlements such as villages and towns. Diet also
changed as a result of people eating more cereals and other farmed crops.
Compared to the neolithic, the palaeolithic people had a far less complex technology. They
used basic stone, bone and antler tools and developments such as art and other forms of
"higher culture" only occur in the later stages of the palaeolithic. Neolithic people mastered
the use of many more types of raw material, notably clays to make pottery and the
beginnings of metalworking. Exchange and trade networks were also comparatively more
developed.
pal age early stone age
Neo age last part of stone age Just before bronze age
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