Peopling of the Earth
Beginnings to 4000 B.C.E.
From Early Humans…
to homo sapiens…
Where did early humans originate?
Out of Africa
-3-4 million
years ago
What were early humans capable of?
-walked upright
-hunted animals and gathered berries, plants, insects
-developed tools
-discovered and used fire
-lived in social groups
Homo sapiens
(that’s us!) evolved
from Homo erectus
 By 200,000 years ago, people whose
skeletons were like those of Homo
sapiens were already living in Africa.
 Between that time and about 100,000
years ago, people who were “like us”
emerged in eastern and southern
Africa.
This is a reconstructed Homo sapiens skull,
found in Israel. It has been dated to about 90,000
years ago.
How did Homo Sapiens differ from early humans?
Range of Neanderthals
Range of modern
Humans by 28,000 years ago
Approximate geographical range of Neandertals, 100,000-28,000 BCE
Approximate geographical range of Homo sapiens by 28,000 BCE
LARGER RANGE OF MOVEMENT!
Migrations of Homo sapiens
Europe
40,000 years ago
Siberia
40,000 years ago
North America
12,000-30,000
years ago
Oceania
1600 B.C.E.-500 C.E.
Southwest Asia
100,000 years ago
Human Origins
200,000-250,000
years ago
Australia
as many as 60,000
years ago
Possible coastal routes of human migration
Possible landward routes of human migration
Migrations in Oceania
Chile
12,000-13 ,000
years ago
Why were homo sapiens to able to migrate further?
Language!
• Homo sapiens had language
– so they could exchange complex ideas with each
other.
– and they could store and add to the ideas of previous
generations.
• Because they swapped ideas, they kept finding
New
Ideas
– new ways of doing things.
– new ways of living.
Language
Shared
Ideas
Learning
Language made
collective learning possible.
• The stores of knowledge
and skills humans built up
are called “culture.”
• No other animal can store
and accumulate
knowledge and skills in
this way.
• We call this ability
“collective learning.”
It is what human
history is about!
It is what
makes us
special!
How did collective learning change
human culture?
At first, changes in technology
were very slow.
After about 100,000 years ago,
the pace of change began to
increase.
Evidence appears from about
that time of humans living in
east, central, and southern
Africa. They were:
For example, Blombos Cave
 Making more advanced and varied tools.
 Experimenting with body decoration and abstract symbols.
View looking out of
Blombos Cave to
the Indian Ocean
Remains discovered at Blombos
Cave are one example of the more
complex culture some humans
were developing as many as
90,000 years ago.
The people who lived in this
seaside camp:
 Made sharp stone spear points
using methods that appeared in
Eurasia only 50,000 or more
years later.
 Made objects from bone, the
earliest use of this material
known.
 Scored bits of bone with marks
that may have had symbolic
meaning.
Bone points from
the cave
Ochre piece with scrape
marks. A person may have
scraped the ochre to
get powder to use to make
body paint.
Acceleration!
From about 40,000 years ago,
archaeological evidence shows
faster and faster cultural change
and increasing complexity.
Humans began to:
 Create art.
 Make more specialized tools.
 Weave and knot fiber.
 Decorate clothing.
 Make jewelry.
 Build houses they were going to
live in for awhile.
The engraved horse
panel in the Cave of
Chauvet-Pont-D’Arc
in southern France.
The image is about
31,000 years old.
(http://www.culture.g
ouv.fr/culture/arcnat/
chauvet)
Venus of the Kostenki I site in
Russia dated to about 23,000 years
ago. This stone female head is
wearing headgear of woven
basketry. (New York Times, Dec. 14,
1999. Photo: Bill Wiegand,
University of Illinois.)
Homo sapiens ability to adapt increases. What
forces them to adapt?
Different Environments!
Differences between the early humans and modern homo
sapiens
1.
2.
3.
4.
Language develops.
Habitats expand.
Technology multiplies.
Wall painting and
sculpture are created.
Because of these differences, homo sapiens were able to
migrate further and adapt to various environments.
Stay tuned to see how history develops as humans adapt
to different environments!