Olduwon Tool Set

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Olduwon Tool Set

• Simple tool set found at many erectus sites
• Choppers
• Cleavers
• Evidence from multiple sites worldwide is
  evidence of communication and knowledge sharing

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Acheulean Tool Set

• More complex tool set, found at erectus,
  heidelbergensis, and other early human sites
• Hand axes with scalloped edges
• Made up until roughly 100,000 y.a.

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Use of Fire

• Take into consideration
• Early humans lived in groups
• Early humans were omnivorous (with a few
  exceptions) this means hunting and gathering
• Early humans were not always the top of the food
  chain (we had predators)
• Early humans, while much brighter than the
  animals they ate and competed with, were not as
  bright as people are today
• Come up with a day in the life of an early human
  and his/her relationship with fire
• What are some daily events and how might have
  fire come into play?
• How it may have been maintained and used
• environmental factors (warmer climates versus
  colder climates)
• major benefits of its use
• how it may have effected human development over
  time

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The Question of Violence

• The hunters and I are up early. Nine of
  us--eight of them plus me as observer--are in a
  small forested valley among rugged hills in a
  remote part of East Africa. We left together in
  the darkness of early morning, and now as
  daylight comes the band of hunters stops on a
  grassy hillside overlooking a lake. They gather a
  breakfast of berries and leaves while I sit
  nearby eating a granola bar. We do not speak, nor
  can we speak any language the other would
  understand. I am simply following quietly and
  taking notes. During breakfast the hunters hear
  calls from their neighbors to the north, and set
  off to meet them. We cross a series of ridges,
  and as the group traverses a stream bed and
  climbs the valley slope on the other side we see
  and hear a group of monkeys feeding in a stand of
  small trees. The monkeys are social and noisy,
  clamoring about and leaping around in the lower
  branches. The hunters quickly assess the
  situation and run to the base of the trees
  several begin to climb up toward the monkeys
  while others remain on the ground below, scanning
  the treetops. A large monkey falls from the tree
  while trying to escape and thuds into the dry
  leaves at my feet. A hunter rushes to grab it,
  then thumps it against the ground until it is
  dead. A moment later he steals another hunter's
  kill with impunity and stands in front of me
  gripping each monkey in a fist. After several
  minutes of frenzied action the hunt ends with
  five monkeys caught. Everyone then sits down
  around the base of the tree, feasting on the meat
  they have caught. The hunters politick throughout
  the meal, sharing and swapping scraps of the
  much-desired meat. For more than two hours they
  eat the monkeys, and the noise of bones crunching
  and contented grunting is all around me. The
  hunters share the bounty with one another, finish
  off most of the meal, and then nap for an hour.
  Every bit of the carcass--including bones and
  skin--is eaten raw. After they are sated and
  rested, they get up as if on cue and walk off in
  search of more food.