Peopling%20of%20the%20Earth

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Peopling of the Earth Beginnings to 4000 B.C.E.
From Early Humans
to homo sapiens
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Where did early humans originate?
Out of Africa -3-4 million years ago
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What were early humans capable of? -walked
upright -hunted animals and gathered berries,
plants, insects -developed tools -discovered and
used fire -lived in social groups
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Homo sapiens(thats us!) evolved from Homo
erectus

• By 200,000 years ago, people whose skeletons were
  like those of Homo sapiens were already living in
  Africa.
• Between that time and about 100,000 years ago,
  people who were both anatomically and genetically
  like us emerged in eastern and southern Africa.

This is a reconstructed Homo sapiens skull, found
in Israel. It has been dated to about 90,000
years ago.
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How did Homo Sapiens differ from early humans?
Approximate geographical range of Homo sapiens by
28,000 BCE
LARGER RANGE OF MOVEMENT!
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Migrations of Homo sapiens
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Why were homo sapiens able to able to migrate
further?
Language!

• Homo sapiens had language
• so they could exchange complex ideas with each
  other.
• and they could store and add to the ideas of
  previous generations.
• Because they swapped ideas, they kept finding
• new ways of doing things.
• new ways of living.

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Language made collective learning possible.

• The stores of knowledge and skills humans built
  up are called culture.
• No other animal can store and accumulate
  knowledge and skills in this way.
• We call this ability collective learning.

It is what human history is about!
It is what makes us special!
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How did collective learning change human culture?
At first, changes in technology were very
slow. After about 100,000 years ago, the pace of
change began to increase. Evidence appears from
about that time of humans living in east,
central, and southern Africa. They were

• Making more advanced and varied tools.
• Experimenting with body decoration and abstract
  symbols.

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Remains discovered at Blombos Cave are one
example of the more complex culture some humans
were developing as many as 90,000 years ago.
View looking out of Blombos Cave to the Indian
Ocean

• The people who lived in this seaside camp
• Made sharp stone spear points using methods that
  appeared in Eurasia only 50,000 or more years
  later.
• Made objects from bone, the earliest use of this
  material known.
• Scored bits of bone and ochre with marks that may
  have had symbolic meaning.

Bone points from the cave
Ochre piece with scrape marks. A person may
have scraped the ochre to get powder to use to
make body paint.
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Acceleration!
From about 40,000 years ago, archaeological
evidence shows faster and faster cultural change
and increasing complexity.
The engraved horse panel in the Cave of
Chauvet-Pont-DArc in southern France. The image
is about 31,000 years old. (http//www.culture.gou
v.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet)

• Humans began to
• Create both naturalistic and abstract art.
• Make more specialized tools.
• Weave and knot fiber.
• Decorate clothing.
• Make jewelry.
• Build semi-permanent structures.

Venus of the Kostenki I site in Russia dated to
about 23,000 years ago. This stone female head is
wearing headgear of woven basketry. (New York
Times, Dec. 14, 1999. Photo Bill Wiegand,
University of Illinois.)
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Homo sapiens ability to adapt increases. What
forces them to adapt?
Different Environments!
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Differences between early humans and homo sapiens
1. Language develops. 2. Habitats
expand. 3. Technology multiplies. 4. Wall
painting and sculpture are created.
Because of these differences, homo sapiens were
able to migrate further and adapt to various
environments.
Stay tuned to see how history develops as humans
adapt to different environments!