Lesson 2 Flashcards
2 categories of man’s achievement in science
- discovery
- invention
Dig at sites where people have left traces and use a variety of methods to date and analyze found objects
Archaeologists
Study culture by examining artifacts that people in the past made or used
Anthropologists
Early proto-humans
Hominids
Hominid vs Hominin
- hominid = consist of all modern and extinct Great Apes
- hominin = consist of modern humans, extinct human species, and all our immediate ancestors
Early hominids:
- Australopithecus afarensis
- Australopithecus africanus
- Homo habilis
- Homo rudolfensis
- Homo erectus
- Homo heidelbergensis
- Homo neanderthalensis
- Homo sapiens
- had both ape and human characteristics
- had ape-like face proportions
- long and strong arms and fingers
- plant-based diet
Australopithecus afarensis
- walks bipedally but still adapted to climbing
Australopithecus africanus
- discovered in KoobinFora in the Lake Turkana basin Kenya
- braincase size of 775 cm³
Homo rudolfensis
- oldest known early humans to have possessed modern-like body proportions
- ate meat and other types of protein
- earliest evidence of hearths occur during their time range
Homo erectus
- “handyman” because of their ability to carve tools
- diet was flexible and versatile
Homo habilis
- very large browridge
- larger braincase
- flatter face
- lived at the time of the oldest definite control of fire and use of wooden spears
- first to routinely hunt large animals
Homo heidelbergensis
- closest extinct human relative
- made and used sophisticated tools
- controlled fire
- lived in shelters
- made and wore clothing
- skilled hunters
- also ate plant foods
- occasionally made symbolic or ornamental objects
Homo neanderthalensis
- Species that we belong to
- evolved in africa
Homo sapiens
First hominid to migrate
Homo erectus
2 groups of homo sapiens that migrated
- neanderthals
- cro-magnons
Evidence of science and technology during prehsitoric era
- stone age
- bronze age
- iron age
Man is primarily a:
- food gatherer
- hunter
- lived in caves or huts
Stone age
3 distinct periods in stone age
- paleolithic period
- mesolithic period
- neolithic period
- “old stone age”
- used basic stone and bone tools, as well as crude stone axes, for hunting birds and wild animals
- first to leave behind art and carved small figurines
Paleolithic period
Variety of stones used:
- Flint and chert
- basalt and sandstone
- wood, bone, shell, antlers
Shaped or chipped for use as cutting tools, flakes, blades, and weapons
Flint and chert
Use for ground stone tools
Basalt and sandstone
4 fundamental tool traditions
- pebble tool tradition
- bifacial or handaxe tool tradition
- flake tool tradition
- blade tool tradition
Very first stone tool
Pebble tool tradition
Earliest universally acknowledged stone tool
Oldowan toolkit
Used as knives and scrapers
Flake tool tradition
- “middle stone age”
- period of climatic instability
- megafauna extinction occurred due to climate change
Mesolithic period
Small flint blade or fraction of a blade
Microflith
- “new stone age”
- significant for its megalithic architecture, spread of agricultural practices, and use of polished stone tools
Neolithic period
Shift to farming referred to as _____ that has radically changed how people lived
Neolithic revolution
2 alternative paths toward food production that led people out of the paleolithic period
- gathering - cereal horticulture / gardening - plow agriculture
- hunting - herding and pastoral nomadism
Pottery is a _______
Pyrotechnology
- stone was gradually replaced by bronze
- marked by the rise of states or kingdoms
- writing systems emerged
- ox-drawn plow and wheel were invented
Bronze age
iron is the dominant tool-making material
Iron age
How to make steel harder
Heat iron with carbon
