2.01 The First People
Studying Prehistory
• Prehistory refers to the period of time without
information.
• Writing has existed for only about 5,000 years.
• People who study prehistoric humans include:
– Anthropologists: “Anthropo” is Greek for “man.”
Anthropologists study early humans (fossils,
footprints, culture)
– Archaeologists study artifacts that are left behind
by people. List examples of artificats:
Fossil Evidence
• Archaeological evidence suggests that modern
humans came from Africa and spread around
the globe.
• There is limited evidence about early humans.
Therefore, many scientists disagree about
what conclusions can be drawn about them.
Future discoveries may change the ideas that
scientists hold today.
Lucy
• In 1974 in Ethiopia, a
team led by Donald
Johanson found the
remains of a skeleton that
he believed belonged to a
human ancestor. The
skeleton was named
“Lucy” after the Beatles
song “Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds.”
• Lucy belongs to a group
called Australopithecus,
or “southern ape.”
Fossil Evidence
• Other researchers added to Johanson’s
findings. In the late 1970s in Tanzania,
anthropologist Mary Leakey found parts of a
skeleton believed to date back 3.7 million
years, also classified as Australopithecus.
• These skeletons are called hominids (humanlike creatures.)
The First People
• From studying bones,
anthropologists can
describe what the first
humans looked like.
• These individuals had
powerful jaws, receding
chins, low foreheads, and
heavy eyebrow ridges.
• Scientists believe they
sometimes used caves as
shelters.
The First People
• They probably ate seeds, fruit, nuts, and other
plants. Eventually, they learned to hunt by
making tools, working together, and
communicating.
• As humans became successful hunters, they
became nomadic – moving great distances in
search of food. Early people migrated
(moved) from Africa to Asia.
The First People
• It is believed that between 100,000 to 400,000
years ago, a new species, Homo sapiens,
appeared, developing first in Africa, then
spreading to Europe and Asia.
• All people living today belong to the species
Homo sapiens.
The Ice Age
• Scientists believe we live in a warm era that
began about 10,000 years ago. That is when
the last period of the Ice Age ended.
• The Ice Age refers to several periods of
extremely cold weather all over the earth.
• Sea levels dropped during the ice age, and
ridges that had been underwater uncovered.
• Humans and animals migrated over some of
these land bridges.
Neanderthal people
• In caves in Europe and Southwest Asia,
anthropologists have found remains of early
Homo sapiens called Neanderthals.
• Neanderthals lived about 35,000 to 130,000
years ago. They wore animal skins as clothing
and used fire for warmth and cooking.
• Neanderthals, unlike earlier hominids, buried
their dead. They also buried food and tools with
the dead. This implies a belief in an _________.
Neanderthal people
• Like earlier hominids, Neanderthals
disappeared. No one knows why.
Cro-Magnon people
• About 35,000 years ago, another kind of
Homo sapiens – the Cro-Magnons – appeared
in Europe.
• These people made even better tools and
weapons – for example, spear-throwers that
made them effective hunters.
• Paintings of the animals Cro-Magnons hunted
have been found.
Cro-Magnon people
• Cave art in Spain and France
show bulls, bison, and
horses. The most famous
ones are in Lascaux, France.
Scientists are not sure why
Cro-Magnons painted such
scenes.
• About 10,000 years ago,
Cro-Magnons as distinct
types of humans no longer
existed. In appearance,
people looked basically like
they do today.
Stone Age Periods
• Old Stone Age: About 2.5 million years ago
until about 12,000 years ago. It began with
the development of stone tools. Also called
the Paleolithic age – from the Greek “palaois”
(ancient) and “lithos” (stone.)
Stone Age Periods
• Middle Stone Age: About 10,000 to 5,500
years ago. Also called the Mesolithic Age
(from the Greek “mesos,” meaning “middle.”
Tools included the bow and arrow, fishhooks,
fish spears, harpoons made from bones and
antlers. People tamed dogs and built canoes
from logs.
Stone Age Periods
• The New Stone Age (also called the Neolithic Age
– from the Greek “neos,” meaning “new.”)
• Lasted from about 5,500 years ago to 4,000 years
ago.
• Stone tools were produced by polishing or
grinding (rather than chipping the stones.)
• People began to develop agriculture – raising
crops for food.
• The practiced domestication – the taming of
animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs.
Neolithic agricultural revolution
• The development of agriculture changed the
basic way people lived: People shifted from food
gathering to food producing.
• In prehistoric times people were nomadic huntergatherers. Men went out to hunt animals;
women and children gathered plants and fruit for
food.
• Over time people learned to raise wheat, barley,
rice, and millet.
• The use of the plow and fertilizer were major
steps in the development of agriculture.
Neolithic agricultural revolution
• Because agriculture changed human life, it is
called the Neolithic agricultural revolution.
• As people settled, villages became larger and
more complex, and grew into cities.
• In Jericho, on the west bank of the Jordan
River, scientists have found evidence of a
Neolithic walled town that may date back
before 8,000 B.C.
Neolithic agricultural revolution
• In Turkey, scientists have dug out Çatalhöyük,
a town that may have had many hundreds of
residents between 6,700 B.C. and 5,600 B.C.