1.1 - Human Origins in Africa Flashcards
PREHISTORY
The period in world history in which there were no written records - roughly 5,000 years ago. Without written records, scientists investigating the lives of prehistoric peoples dace special challenges.
ARCHAEOLOGY
The study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains.
ARCHAEOLOGIST
A person who is specially trained to uncover the story of ancient peoples. They learn about early people by excavating and studying the remains and traces of early settlements.
ARTIFACT
Artifacts are human-made objects, such as tools and jewelry. These items might hint at how people dressed,
what work they did, or how they worshiped.
CULTURE
Culture is a people’s unique way of life. Anthropologists examine the artifacts at archaeological digs.
ANTHROPOLOGIST
Anthropologists re-create a picture of early people’s cultural behavior. (What kind of houses did they live in? What sort of gods did they worship, What customs did they observe? etc.)
PALEONTOLOGY
Paleontology is a science dealing with the life of past geological periods as known from fossil remains
HOMINIDS
Humans and other creatures that walk upright, such as Australopithecines, are called hominids.
AUSTRALOPITHECINES
Australopithecines were a hominid species that were able to walk upright (1) which let them travel distances more easily and (2) had developed the opposable thumb - the tip of the thumb can cross the palm of the hand.
STONE AGE
The prehistoric ages (Stone, Iron, Bronze) are named to identify the type of tools that were used.
PALEOLITHIC AGE
Old Stone Age - paleo means old and lithos means stone in ancient Greek. Lasted from about 2,500,00 years ago until approximately 8,000 B.C.E. Tools made from stone date back to this era.
NEOLITHIC AGE
New Stone Age - started about 8,000 B.C.E. and ended as early as 3,000 B.C.E. in some areas. In this age people learned to
1. polish stone tools
2. make pottery
3. domesticate certain species of animals
4, grow crops
5. practice a settled way of life
HOMO
The word homo is the Latin word that means human being. It is not gender specific, that is it can mean either a man or a woman.
In the study of prehistory, the word homo coupled woth another Latin word always designates the kind of human being that is being described, for example
- Homo Habilis - a skilled human being
- Homo Erectus - a human being who is upright (is able to walk with two legs.)
- Homo Sapiens - a wise human being. You and I are members of the species of Home Sapiens.
HOMO HABILIS
2,500.000 years ago in Africa.
Louis and Mary Leakey discovered a hominid fossil at
Olduvai (OHL•duh•vy) Gorge in northern Tanzania. The Leakeys named the fossil Homo habilis, which means “man of skill.”
1. The Leakeys and other researchers found tools made of lava rock.
2. They believed Homo habilis used these tools to cut
meat and crack open bones.
Tools made the task of survival easier.
HOMO ERECTUS
1,600,000 years ago in Africa
- more intelligent and adaptable species than Homo
habilis. - used intelligence to develop technology—ways of
applying knowledge, tools, and inventions to meet their needs. - became skillful hunters and invented more sophisticated tools for digging, scraping, and cutting.
- became the first hominids to
migrate, or move, from Africa. - first to use fire.
- May have been the first to develop the beginnings of spoken language
