Transcript Discovery of Early Humans in Africa

Unit 1 Foundations
Human Origins
Theories on
prehistory and
early man
constantly change
as new evidence
comes to light. Louis Leakey, British
paleoanthropologist
OBJECTIVES
 Differentiate
between myths and
history regarding human origins.
 Identify
human culture.

 Start
thinking in a global perspective.
 Begin
working with the habits of mind.
Essential Questions

How do paleoanthropologists interpret the
past?

What images of humankind are
represented in the creation stories?

What did Charles Darwin’s contribute to
the field of paleoanthropology?
Creation Myths
Myths = interpretive stories of the
past. Cannot be verified
historically. Deep moral
message.

Enuma Elish – 2,000 BCE - Akkad in
Mesopotamia
All oral tales passed down through
until
 generations
Rigveda – 1,000
BCEfinally
- India written

down
The Book of Genesis – 1,400 – 1,600 BCE –
Mesopotamia
Lets take a
look at some
creation
“myths”!
Enuma Elish - Mesopotamia

Tiamat and Kingu revolt against the other
Mesopotamian dieties.

Mesopotamian dieties call upon Marduk for
help.

Marduk dismembers Tiamat and Kingu.

Victorious gods made humans out of the
blood of the defeated.
Rigveda – Hindu

Emphasizes the mystical qualities
of life and of human origins.

Humans are part of nature.

All humans are not equal.

Caste system.

The giant man, Purusha was dismembered by
god.

Indra and Agni came from his mouth.
The Book of Genesis –
Jewish/Christian

God created heaven and
earth from nothing.

Then god made light,
darkness, water, dry land,
plants, birds, fish, sun,
moon, and stars.

Humans are the final
crowning achievement of
god’s creativity.

Humans are special and were
created in god’s image.

Humans rule over all other
creatures.
Edda – Norse Creation

Originally
there was
•Buri’s
grandson
Odina
killed
chasm with fire on one
Ymir
side and ice on the other
•From Ymir's dead body,

Where
fire and
Odin
created
theice
world.
combined
mist
formed
Ymir's
bloodthe
was
the
sea;
giant named
Ymirhis
and a
hisa flesh,
the earth;
cow to feed him
skull, the sky; his bones,
the
mountains;
 The
cow fed byetc
licking
salty sons
ice blocks
until
one
•Bor’s
create
man
and
day, a from
man named
Buri
woman
driftwood
appeared.
found on the beach
Evolutionary Explanations
the mid 18th
century an
intellectual
movement had
begun.
 Scientific method
called for direct
observation.
 By
Darwin and Wallace
Darwin and Wallace (2)

Established the theory of biological evolution of
species stating that similar species were in fact
related to each other, not separate creations.
Darwin Goes Solo!
1859 – On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural
Selection.
 The better adapted to survival
an organism was, the greater
chance it had of surviving and
passing that trait on to
offspring.
 Known as natural selection or
survival of the fittest.

…problems…
 It
rejected the authority of religious
texts.
 No
Teleology ~ Natural selection
states that organisms survive
because they are more “fit,” not
because they are more
special….do our lives have
purpose?
FOSSILS

Fossils Rock!!
* Appearing in the order in which they were unearthed!!
Early Humans
 Existence
of humans
and “human-like”
creatures (HOMONIDS)
traced to over 4
million years ago.
 Radiocarbon
dating is used to date
once living things
 DNA
used to track changes over time
Neanderthal {200,000 BCE}
The Missing Link – 1856
CE – Thomas Huxley.
 Could make a variety of
tools.
 Survived in challenging
environments.
 Maintained family bonds.
 Lived in groups.
 First to have ritual burials.
 Further studies=not THE
missing link…

Homo Erectus
{1,600,000 BCE}
The Worldwide Wanderer
The most widespread of all
hominids (Africa, Europe,
Asia,..etc)
 Java Man – 1891 CE – E.
DuBois.
 Used fire for light and cooking.
 Beijing Man – Chinese
discovery
 Brain size keeps getting smaller

Australopithecus Africanus
{4 M – 1 M BCE}
1924 – medical student finds
fossils in South Africa.
 1959 – Louis Leakey Olduvai Gorge –
Australopithecus boisei – Zinj
-1.7 M.
 First hominid to walk upright.
 Studies now involve
paleoanthropology, the study
of the tools, species and
plants included in the locale

Homo Habilis {2.5 M – 1.5 M}
Louis and Mary
Leakey – “Handy
Man”
 Lived side by side
with Zinj.
 Hunter and
scavenger.
 Features: opposable
thumbs, upright, and
bipedal.
 First to make stone
tools.
 Brain capacity = 700 g

Australopithecus Afarensis
{3.2 M – 3.5 M}
 Discovered
by Johanson in 1974
 Hadar, Ethiopia
 “Lucy
in the Sky with Diamonds”
 3’9” and 60 lbs.
 Human-like hands.
 No evidence of tools.
 Curved arms.
 Brain capacity = 400 g
The latest…
Sahelanthropus
tchadensis
 2001
- Toumai
 Discovered
 Moves
in Chad
date of earliest hominid to
6-7 million years ago!
Java
Man
Zinj
Homo
Habilis
Neanderthal
Lucy
Modern Man has
only been around
about 200,000 yrs
The Debate
over African
Origins
 Multi-regionalists
 Both
–vs- Out of Africa
sides agree that racial differences
are simply adaptations to climate and
are superficial
Global Migration
 Reasons
for migration don’t
change…
 Push?
 Pull?
The Genetic Record
 Differences
and similarities in
DNA proteins suggest similar
ancestry.
 EXAMPLE: Modern humans
are 97% the same as
chimpanzees
 We had a common ancestor
until about 6 million yrs ago
 Tends
to support the “Out of
Africa” theory
…the search
continues….
What happened to all of the
other hominids?
Defeated others via
aggression, warfare, and
plain murder.



There was probably mating
among species which
created the new human.
Homo sapiens sapiens filled
the ecological niche and
displaced the other hominids
homo sapiens sapiens

Modern humans who
originated in Eastern
Africa

Came into contact with
Neanderthals & Homo
Erectus; were the only
ones left after awhile
homo sapiens sapiens

Burst of creativity 100,000
years ago

Homo sapiens sapiens =
developed symbolic
expression, had spiritual
beliefs (burial ceremonies),
and creative artwork.
HUMANS CREATE CULTURE

By the time Homo
sapiens had evolved,
cultural creativity
trumped biology as the
default method for
coping with nature.

Humans began to want
to control nature rather
than to just survive
within nature.
The seven creative behaviors of
Homo sapiens sapiens
 Persistence
 Migration
 Base
camps
 Improved tools / technology
 Art
 Language
 Domestication of plants and animals
Key Stages in Human
Development
Changes in the Toolkit

Presents clearest evidence of
human development

Homo habilis began cultural
adaptations by developing
simple tools

2.5 M – 150,000 BCE handheld axe.

250,000 BCE – side scrapers
and backed knives –
standardized size

40,000 BCE– narrow blades of
stone, and blades made from
ivory, bone, and antler.
Not All Tools are Created Equal

Not always created for food or labor.

EXAMPLE: bone flute was made for
musical entertainment – high aesthetic
value.
Stone Ages, Etc.
– 2.5 million to 12,000 B.C.
 (Old Stone Age)
 Paleolithic


Mesolithic – 12,000 to 8,000 B.C.
(Middle Stone Age)
– 8,000 B.C. to 5,000 B.C.
 (New Stone Age)
 Bronze – circa 4,000 B.C. to 1,500
B.C.
 Iron Age – circa 1,500 to 550 B.C
 Neolithic
Language!
No physical evidence for language
development
 Language began as soon as brain was
large enough?
 Brain had to be reorganized for
language?
 Language promoted development of
concepts and reflective thought

Cave Art and Portable Art
 Evidence
of creativity, group
process, and sharing of information.
 Paintings of humans, cave stenciling,
limestone engravings, rock paintings,
Venus figures are most common.
 Why was cave art placed so deeply
into the recesses of the cave?
Increased Population and
New Settlements
 Early
groups competed with one
another for food and resources
 Hunter-gatherer tribes averaged five
hundred, divided into bands
 Each band needed 77 square miles of
unfertile land or 7-8 square miles of
fertile land
 Movement to small settlements took
advantage of water resources
From Hunter-gatherer to Farmer
Neolithic Revolution!






Began settling for longer
periods of time.
Began experimenting with
seeds and planting cereal
crops
Domesticated dogs and sheep.
Pressure of population
expansion.
8,000 BCE almost all humans
hunted and gathered.
2,000 years ago almost all
farmed.
Why the shift to agriculture?
The Last Ice Age ended
Large game animals
died out
Meat spoiled quickly
In warm weather
Food became scarce
People relied on more plant
foods for survival
Grow their own and live in
permanent settlements to
protect their crops!
Domesticate
their own
animals!
The Development of Agriculture
Effects
Farming settlements grew
into villages
Villages practiced division of labor, enabling
some workers to specialize in useful crafts
and develop new technology
Productivity
People acquired
rose
more goods
Life made
relatively
“easier” Demand for goods
led to an increase idea of private
in trade
property
The Growth of Cities…
 That
leads us into chapter two!!
 Primary
legacy of early hominids:
migration, tools, grouping,
language, art, farming, and the
desire to control their
environment.