UKS2 Topic: Dinosaurs and Fossils Block D: Fossil humans
Session 2 The human journey
Science: Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide
National Curriculum
Teaching Objectives
National Curriculum
information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.
To create a map showing where and when early humans travelled out of Africa.
Geography: Locate the world’s countries, concentrating on their environmental regions, key
Teaching Objectives
physical and human characteristics.
To locate places where early human fossils have been found and identify the surrounding
environmental region.
Resources
Weblinks
Early human fossils picture
cards; Large wall map.
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/ - Interactive map of the human journey from
150,000 years ago; http://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2009/08/the-humanjourney.html - A static map showing one way of displaying the human journey;
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/mystery-skull-interactive - How scientists
work out which species a new human fossil belongs to;
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/mystery-skull-interactive - Mystery skull
identity game.
Whole class: The first humans evolved in East Africa, in the region of Kenya and Tanzania. The first humans to travel out of
Africa were Homo erectus from about 1 million years ago. The second journey was of Homo sapiens (us), about 80-60,000 years
ago. Show chn the interactive map on the w/b. Ask questions as you play the journey. Where did the first modern humans
travel to? (central, southern and western Africa) Where did they travel from 135,000 to 115,000 years ago? (up the Nile to the
Levant) What was the Sahara like at this point? (green, not a desert) Why didn't they expand into Europe from here? (There was
a big ice age and it grew too cold) How did the next group travel out of Africa? (across the southern bit of the Red Sea) Which
way did they go at first? (Around the Asian coastline to China) What happened 74,000 years ago? (a volcanic eruption that
reduced the human population to only 10,000 people) When and how did people get to Australia? (from 74,000 to 65,000 years
ago by boat) When did people get to Europe? (about 50,000 years ago) When and how did people get to America? (25,00022,000 years ago over the Bering Straits.)
Tell chn that they're going to make a version of this map for the classroom. Using the static map as a reminder, divide the class
into two groups, one working on drawing the route of the human journey on the wall map, and the other using atlases or
online maps to pinpoint the places mentioned on the picture cards. Divide each half of the class into pairs working on a
particular human fossil or route. When the first group has finished with the wall map, get the second group to pin on the
picture cards in the right place on the map while the first group uses Google Earth to identify the environment of each of the
places mentioned on the picture cards.
Easy/ Medium/ Hard
Some chn will find it hard to concentrate on finding out the information needed to add to the map, and there may be too many
chn trying to work on it. You may want some children to work in small groups of 4 instead and make a small version of the map
with fossil cards added.
For any chn that become disengaged with the task, ask them to try this game to identify new hominid skulls by comparing them
to known fossils.
Plenary Admire the finished class map and group maps. Discuss the following questions:
How did early humans travel? (On foot and by boat) How long did it take humans to travel to Australia? (20,000
years) Why do children think early humans mainly travelled by the coastline? (It would have been an open
environment and easier to walk on, with easy access to food). What kind of environments have humans managed
to survive in?
Outcomes Children will
 Explain where, how and when early humans traveled out of Africa
 Locate places and countries on a map
 Identify features of the physical environment
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
We refer you to our warning, at the foot of the block overview, about links to other websites.