Origins of Mankind and
Civilization
Pre-history
Purpose
 The
purpose of today’s lesson is to
identify and understand the
important aspects of the lives’ of
early humans
 Objectives
– The students will predicted the needs of early
humans
– The students will determine early human
migration routes based on evidence
– The students will compose a diary entry from
the perspective of an early human
Prehistory
 The
story of humankind begins about
5,500 years ago…
 Prehistory:
– The long period of time before people
invented systems of writing
Prediction
 Write
down three things that you
believe you could not live without
 Discuss with a partner
 Stone age humans had much simpler
needs
– Even simple needs were hard to get
 What
simple things did stone age
people need to survive?
Hominids
 The
first humanlike creatures can be
traced back 4.4 million years
 These are called hominids
 Anthropology-
the study of hominids
Scientists
 Anthropologists
– Study bones and fossils and look for
change
 Paleontologists
– Study fossils to determine
characteristics
 Archaeologists
– Study artifacts left behind (tools, pots,
beads, etc.)
Dating Early Artifacts
 Archaeologists
and anthropologists
have to determine when the fossils
or artifacts originated
 Radio-carbon dating:
– Test for carbon decay
Prehistoric Finds
 Oldest
human ancestor
– Fossils found in Ethiopia
– Teeth, bones, skull
– 4.4 million years old
– These creatures would have weighed
about 65 pounds, and stood 4 feet tall
Prehistoric Finds
 Lucy
– 3.2 million year old skeleton
– Found in 1974 in Africa
The First Hominids
 Australopithecus-
– “southern ape”
 Homo
habilis
– “person with ability”
The First Hominids
 Homo
erectus
– “person who walks upright”
 Homo
sapien
– “Person who thinks”
– All people today!
Humans
The Ice Ages
 Four
long periods of cold climate
 During, only the middle latitudes of
Earth were warm enough for human
and animal life
 Land bridges allowed for movement
Paleolithic Age
 Old
Stone Age
 Began with Homo habilis making
stone tools
 Lasted until about 12,000 BCE
 Homo habilis to Homo erectus
 Appeared in Africa 1.8 million years
ago
Early Humans were HunterGatherers


What does it mean to be a hunter-gatherer?
– Mostly hunted for the majority of their food
– Captured fish
– Gathered nuts, berries, and other easy to find
food to add to their diets
This lifestyle forced humans to move often in
order to find food
– Nomads
– Constantly tracking herds of animals
 Used animals for food, clothing, making
homes and even tools from their bones
Homo erectus
 Hunter-gatherer
society
 Fire
 Nomadic
 Gestures
language
and grunts… led to crude
Homo sapiens
 Neanderthals
– 100,000 years ago
– Nomadic, hunter-gatherers
– Better tools
– Advanced culture
 Cro-Magnons
– Improved technology
– Social life
Neolithic Revolution
Agricultural Revolution- shift from food
gathering and hunting to planting crops
– Causes: raising temperatures and
climate change, high supply of grain,
crops provided a steady source of food
Neolithic Revolution cont.
 Farming
Methods
– Slash and burn farming: cut down
trees and burn grasses cleared the
field and fertilized the soil
– Domestication of animals: horses,
goats, pigs, dogs, sheep, goats and
camel
Locations
– Africa wheat and barley
– China grain and wild rice
– Mexico and Central America corn,
beans and squash
– Peru tomatoes, sweet potatoes, white
potatoes
Neolithic Revolution
 Neolithic
Revolution advances lead to
the first civilizations!
Make Your Own Cave Painting
 It’s
time to crate some cave art of
your own!
 Using a piece of led not in a
mechanical pencil use the space
provided to draw a beautiful picture
or event.
– Think of any things in nature that you
might have seen that would be simple
to draw.