Transcript What will be covered…

Homo Habilis
Lesson involving Comparisons between
Chimpanzee’s and Homo Habilis
Grade 8
E.Bavery
What will be covered…
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Where did we come from…previous day
Background lecture on Homo Habilis
Specific Aspects of Homo Habilis
– Tools
– Language
– Brain Size
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Youtube Clip of Chimpanzee behavior “body movements”
Group Activity: difference between chimps and early
humans-homo habilis
Debriefing Activity: what have we learned?
Recap
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Who can tell me one feature of Australopithecus
africanus?
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What is the definition you have of hominid?
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What does bipedalism show us?
Homo habilis Background
Earliest known member of our genusHomo
 Dated between 2.4 to 1.5 million years
ago
 Known as “Handy Man”: Why might this
be so? Evidence of tools found at the
sites of remains
 Around 5ft and 100 lbs
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Homo habilis Background
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Found in Africa
– Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa
 Habitat: expansions of grasslands and less tree
coverage
May have had long arms and may have
retention of primitive features of hand and foot
(bipedalism)
 Controversy Around Homo habilis
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– What do researchers say?
Specific Aspects
 Important
Findings dealing with
Homo habilis have been reported…
– Brain Size
 Growth in brain size compared to
Australopithecines
 Average size is 650 cc
 Still smaller than a modern
human brain
 Shape more like a human
– Tools
 “Made from rocks suitable for the
production of one tool or another”
 “Made from chunks of
volcanic rock”
 Had a purpose
 Nearby locations
– as far as 4 km away
– Language
 Bulge of Broca’s
visible
beginnings of
speech
 Comparisons to
Chimpanzees
and Modern
Humans Activity
Communication
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Chimpanzees
Language
– Use of Arms
Movement in Large
Gestures
– Not Clear
– Limited Sign Mobility
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Homo habilis
Language
– Early forms of speech,
such as phonics
– No Grunts
– Clearer set of Sign
Mobility
– Use of Arm Movement,
but controlled more
Activity
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Watch Youtube Video of a Chimpanzee doing
sign language (‘Chimpanzee Doing Some Basic Sign Language’)
– www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjVXGtoIW5c
Spilt into groups (Chimpanzee, Homo habilis,
and modern human)
 Set up a way of communication to solve the
problems on the board
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– Cannot use grunt noises
– As a chimp, no use of thumb, and very large arm
movements
– Modern Humans are limited to writing their
communication down
Problems to Solve
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Basic
– Math: 32 ÷ 4
– English: The cat is
gray.
– Science: describe a
lunar eclipse
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Complex
– Math: (4+18)*3÷11
– English: Sam went
swimming on Sunday,
after eating.
– Science: describe an
environmental problem
of today’s time