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EVIDENCE:
BECOMING HUMAN: AN INTERACTIVE WEB
TUTORIAL ON HUMAN EVOLUTION
Note: Use the controls located on the top right hand of your screen to : play (►), adjust
volume (
), rewind/forward (
) and stop.
www.becominghuman.org
 Enter the following web-address: www.becominghuman.org
Episode 1: Hadar
 Please plug-in your head-phones.
1. Why is Hadar so important for those studying human origins?
 Under the ‘Contents’ section (located on the left hand side of the screen), navigate your mouse and single
click on “Becoming Human: the documentary. Wait for the program to load and then single-click on “Begin
the Program”. Then, please answer the following questions.
2a) In what year did Donald Johanson make his first fossil hominid discovery?
1.
b) What human fossil did he find?
Who we are as a species and where we come from make up a fantastic story spanning how many years?
.
c) How old was the specimen he found?
2a) What is the name of the host of this web-documentary.
b) What is his occupation?
.
d) How did Johanson determine the age of this fossil?
3. The story of human origins begins (state location)
when our ancestors first did what?
?
e) What did detailed analysis of the fossil reveal about the physical characteristics of the human ancestor he
found?
4. Over millions of years, what happened to our ancestors?
Where did they go?
.
.
?
Episode 2: Lucy
5. What happened to the various species of our human ancestors?
?
6. Today, how many human species survive?
1.
What important discovery did Johanson make in 1974?
?
 At the end of the Prologue, the “Evidence” module will automatically load. Single ‘click’ on the picture
to the right of your screen to begin the ‘EVIDENCE’ module.
2. How did Johanson determine the gender of the skeleton?
3.
.
Why was the discovery of Lucy important in understanding human origins?
.
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4. What does australopithicus
afarensis mean?
3. Define “Relative Dating”
5. Why is Lucy’s discovery important to anthropologists?
4. What is “Absolute Dating”?
Episode 3: Reconstructing Environments
1. What does Kaye Reed do as a “Paleo-ecologist”
 Scroll your mouse to the top of the screen and single click on the ANATOMY MODULE. Play the
documentary.
Episode 1: The Common Ancestor
1.
2.
What was Hadar’s environment like 3 million years ago?
In which year?
2.
3.
Why was Lucy vulnerable in her environment?
4.
What physical traits allowed Lucy to preserve herself in her environment?
 Scroll your mouse to the “RELATED EXHIBITS” section at the bottom of your screen. Single click on
option #5: “The Dating Game” and answer the following questions:
Due to a variety of anatomical and molecular studies, which primate is considered to be the closest living
relative of modern humans? What % genetic similarity exists between humans and this primate?
.
3.
.
Who proposed that humans and African apes must have shared a common ancestor?
What does this close genetic similarity NOT mean? ( 2 ideas)
a)
b)
c) What, however, DOES this close genetic relation mean?
RELATED EXHIBIT: “The Dating Game”
1. What is dated when the age of fossils is determined?
2. Why does this section say that 20,000 years is not a very big margin of error?
4. What sort of variety of ape life existed in African forests 8 million years ago?
5. As we travel back in time, our ancestors look less like
6.
.
and more like
What anatomical features allowed our ancestors 8 million years ago to be successful in the lush African
forests? (2 things)
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5. What areas of primate life would bipedalism improve?
7. When did the world climate change after this? How did the climate change?
5.
8.
How did the change in world climate affect the lush African forest the early Apes lived in? ( 2 things)
So, Paleoanthropologists have concluded that the central anatomical feature that separates Australopithicus
from Apes is:
.
Episode 3: Turkana Boy
9. What happened to most ape species?
Note: Australopithicus is the first hominid genus (=set) of our early ancestors. The second genus (family) of
hominids is called Homo. A Hominid is a specific family of primates. Primates make up one order of
Mammals.
9.
1.
When did the genus Homo first appear?
2.
What can’t experts agree on, regarding the genus of Homo?
What happened to the other ape species?
10. So—who/what is the common ancestor between apes and humans?
3. By 1.8 million years ago we encountered a hominid called:
who stands in contrast to all earlier human ancestors.
Episode 2: Walking Tall
4.
1.
A.Afarensis----------------------------------------------
What important fossil was formed 3.5 million years ago? When was it found? Where and by whom?
Make sketches of the brain/skull composition of:
.
H. Erectus----------------------------------------------
2.
What did this fossil reveal, as a central physical feature of Hominids?
3.
How does the structure of the human foot (as opposed to a chimp’s foot) assist humans in being bi-pedal?
H. Sapiens---------------------------------------------
.
4.
.
According to Paleoanthropologists, what environmental conditions encouraged bipedalism?
5. What did Alan Walker and Richard Leaky discover in 1984 in Kenya? (Be specific)
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2.
Listen carefully to Alan Walker’s comments. His words are slightly muffled, but his insights are
important.
.
6.
What did Alan Walker discover about what Homo Erectus ate?
3.
7.
What explanation does Walker offer to explain the relationship between H. Erectus (as a meat eater=
carnivore) and the spread of H. Erectus populations out of Africa?
.
What differences exists between H. Sapien and H. Neanderthalensis skulls?
What alternative thesis does Cathy Willermet present about the legacy of Neanderthals, and their relationship
to H.Sapiens?
.
.
8. Why didn’t the populations of herbivores spread across the globe?
8.
4. What evidence supports her thesis?
When did H. Erectus begin to leave Africa?
Episode 3: Extinction
 Single click your mouse on the “Lineages” module from the top of your screen. Play the documentary
1. What causes are suggested as most responsible for the extinction of Neanderthals?
LINEAGES
Episode 1: Cave Man
1.
What fossil was discovered in a German cave in 1856?
2.
For how long was this human ancestor a successful species?
3. Where are Neanderthals fossils almost exclusively found in the world? Why?
2. What aspects of Neanderthal culture are similar to our own? (5 things)
4.
What evidence is presented to suggest that Neanderthals were a separate human species, compared to H.
Sapien
.
 Single click on the last module, “Culture” at the top right hand of your screen. Play the documentary
Episode 2: Lineages
CULTURE
1 What question have anthropologists wrestled with since the discovery of Neanderthals?
Episode 1: Koonalda
1.
How long have Australian Aboriginals lived continuously in the Nullarbour Plains?
2.
What evidence of complex human culture is found in the Koonalda Caves?
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3.
What “profound change” did this art symbolize about the way our ancestors viewed the world and
themselves?
.
Australopithicus
Afarensis
Range
Episode 2: Arnhem Land
1.
What reason is given for the abundance of female images in Arnhem Land compared to the abundance of
animal pictures in Europe?
.
Environment
2. How do Australian Aboriginals learn about their ancestors?
Episode 3: Quercy France
1.
How is the method used to create Australian rock art so different compared to modern painting/artistic
techniques?
Variation
.
 POST-SCRIPT: Single click on the Homind Profiles at the bottom of your screen,
and make notes on the following:
Australopithicus
Afarensis
Homo Erectus
Neanderthalensis
Homo Sapien
Body Size
Age
Diet
Key Sites
Homo Erectus
Neanderthalensis
Homo Sapien
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