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Stone Age Technology World’s Early People DIGGING UP DNA STONE AGE TECHNOLOGY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Worlds_Early_People_FC.indd 1 2/7/17 11:22 AM 2 Who Lived in the Stone Age? When you think of “old,” what comes to But they helped hominins to thrive. mind? Last year’s shoes? Life before the The first species to make tools is from the Internet? Try a little earlier – 2.5 million genus (category) we call Homo (human). It years earlier! is known as Homo habilis, or “handy That’s about the time some of the first person.” It most likely lived in Africa 1.5 hominins, or humanlike species that walk to 2.4 million years ago. Homo habilis upright, started making tools from rocks. represented a big change. How big? Big Their tools were simple – mainly stones enough that we call its time the Paleolithic split to form a point or a sharp edge. era, or the Old Stone Age. l THE BRAINS ability to make of Homo habilis and use tools. were about Homo habilis’s half the size of tools and brain- present-day human power helped it brains. However, spread. Over the brains of Homo millennia, it habilis were larger adapted, or made than the brains changes that of the hominins helped it survive, to that came before live in regions that it. This may have earlier species had contributed to its found too harsh. d HOMO ERECTUS, or early as 2.5 million communities, hunt “upright person,” years ago, Homo for food, create art, was probably a lot erectus was at its and control fire like Homo habilis, peak about 1.9 for warmth and but taller and thin- million years ago. preparing food. ner, with a bigger It may have been brain. While it the first to live in may have lived as u WHAT DOES lithos, meaning lived during the Paleolithic mean? “stone.” The suffix Paleolithic period, It comes from the -ic turns the or Old Stone Age. English word paleo, whole thing into During this time, meaning “of pre- an adjective. many different historic times,” and Some of the most kinds of tools were the Greek word advanced hominins made from stone. Worlds_Early_People_2-3.indd 16 2/6/17 1:12 PM 3 d HOMO ERECTUS and easier to eat. be split into tools. mastered fire. Have Firelight made it Eventually, fire you ever sparked easier to see things would help early a flame with a at night, and it kept humans smelt piece of flint? It’s predators away. metals, so they not easy! Cooking Heat made rock could make better d HOMO ERECTUS tect them, children Scholars agree that made food tastier brittle so it could tools and weapons. also made another were more likely our species, Homo change – mates to survive. It’s hard sapiens, began stayed together to to imagine a about 200,000 raise their young. characteristic years ago. That’s That’s called “pair more important about 50,000 years bonding.” With two to us modern before Homo erec- parents to feed, humans than our tus died out. care for, and pro- tight family ties. ARCTIC OCEAN Homo Erectus Migration Route l Boxgrove, England WITH ALL THESE (500,000 years ago) advantages, it’s Mauer, Germany no wonder Homo (600,000 years ago) erectus success- EUROPE ASIA ATLANTIC Ubeidiya, Israel fully migrated, or OCEAN (1 million years ago) moved, over much Zhoukoudian, China of the world. In (700,000 years ago) a period longer Tighenif, Algeria (670,000 years ago) PACIFIC than 1.5 million OCEAN years, it adapted to a wide variety PACIFIC of environments. AFRICA Lake Turkana, Kenya OCEAN (1.6 million years ago) An environment is Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania the surroundings N (1.8 million years ago) and conditions in Trinil, Indonesia INDIAN (700,000 years ago) a particular geo- W E OCEAN graphical area. Homo erectus lived Migration route S in many regions of Homo erectus AUSTRALIA fossil site Africa and Eurasia, 0 1,000 mi. Swartkrans, South Africa (1.5 million years ago) Extent of land areas, including China, 18,000 BCE 0 1,000 km. Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. Worlds_Early_People_2-3.indd 17 2/8/17 2:22 PM 4 Here Comes Homo Sapiens When Homo sapiens (“wise person”) first came on the scene about 200,000 years ago, it was just one of multiple Homo species. It looked a lot like a modern human. r AT FIRST, HOMO sapiens’s brain But it could – and did – meet other was about the species that lived in the same areas same size as simi- important, its brain Most scholars and were just about as advanced. lar species’ brains. size kept growing think bigger brains But Homo sapiens from generation to made Homo However, Homo sapiens was the first was lighter, with generation. It could sapiens need more modern human. The progress it made smaller muscles. learn from expe- food. That drove it led to civilization as we know it. It was more rience and adapt to hunt and gather adaptable. Most better to change. more. BY THEN, ALL THE existing Homo species walked upright, used fire, and made similar stone tools. Within their own species, they began to work together to hunt large animals. This helped them get more protein. Some scientists think some species may have learned tool-making techniques from each other. Worlds_Early_People_4-5.indd 16 2/8/17 2:30 PM 5 l AS HOMO attacked by sapiens changed predators or larger NEANDERTHALS AND DENISOVANS from scavengers clans, or freeze. Homo erectus and Homo sapiens lived into hunter- Groups of about at the same time as Neanderthals and gatherers, 30 extended family Denisovans. These two Homo species communities members began also used tools, lived and hunted in became more to work together. groups, and used fire. common. Survival They built shelters, was very hard for gathered food, people on their and protected own or in small one another. groups. They could easily starve, be Migrations of Early Humans ARCTIC OCEAN NORTH u NEANDERTHALS EUROPE AMERICA ASIA were squat and muscular. They had PACIFIC heavy brows and big noses. People OCEAN ATLANTIC joke that Neanderthals weren’t smart. OCEAN AFRICA But they practiced rituals and buried their dead, activities that usually SOUTH INDIAN Homo erectus happen in fairly complex cultures. migration route AMERICA OCEAN They lived in Western and Central Homo sapiens N AUSTRALIA migration route Europe and much of Asia. Their Extent of land areas, barrel-chested bodies were well 0 1,000 mi. W E 18,000 BCE adapted to surviving cold winters in 0 1,000 km. S the north, where the weather was so different than on the warmer u MANY HOMO They also moved food was especial- determine, from African plains. species followed on when they had ly scarce, such as looking at this herds of animals. gathered all the during a drought. map of early They had no choice nuts, berries, and Then they would migration, which but to stay close to edible plants in an travel to new of the species was their food source. area. Sometimes regions. Can you more adaptable? r AS HOMO erectus had before it, early Homo sapi- ens also migrated out of Africa to other continents. But with its greater adapt- u DENISOVANS ability, it was much were discovered in 2010 in the better prepared to Denisova Cave in the mountains of survive. Taller and Siberia. Not much is known about built to travel faster, their appearance. Bone needles it could cross terrain and other tools show that, like much more quickly. the Neanderthals, they used tools Technologies – tools, extensively. Denisovans appear clothing, fire, and to have lived at the same time as other innovations – Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. helped Homo sapiens adjust to new environments more rapidly. Worlds_Early_People_4-5.indd 17 2/8/17 2:30 PM 6 The Mystery of Prehistory Analyzing evidence isn’t just the secret to solving crimes on TV. Carbon dating of bones and weapons, DNA evidence of family relations, and food remains – archaeologists use all these things and more. They treat many things they dig up as evidence of events that happened long before people could write things down. What is archaeology? It comes from the Greek word for the study of ancient things. Archaeologists study early humans, but they also examine and learn from history – sometimes as recent as the last century. STONE TOOLS AND WEAPONS tell a story of how early people survived. The tools they used were adapted to the types of animals they hunted and the plants they ate. If they pounded grain or nuts into flour, they most likely left behind tools for that purpose. Spears and other weapons reveal the ways they protected themselves. BONES can be carbon-dated, a technique that determines when a person or animal lived. Bones can be examined to analyze health, age at death, and even, some- times, how someone died! If a bone has marks on it, it might tell scientists what kinds of tools or weapons were used. It can also show which animals were part of the diet. DNA ANALYSIS tells scientists where an animal or an early person’s parents and ancestors came from. It reveals whether any of those ancestors belonged to another Homo species. It can determine if an early human had certain diseases. It can even tell which people were descended from a certain individual. Worlds_Early_People_6-7.indd 16 2/6/17 1:19 PM 7 r IF YOU WERE an early Homo sapi- ens, what one tool would you find most useful? Would you want a stone blade to cut meat and vegetables? A spear for hunting? A bone needle to sew clothing? FOOD REMAINS tell scientists which edible plants and animals grew nearby.
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