The Hall of human biology&ev o l u t i o n S TONE S K U L L S TO O L S The evolutionary branch that ends in modern humans—Homo sapiens—is shown here, Note: U.S.penny in beside a timeline. In the Hall,find the skulls whose names are underlined in this chart. each picture is (see map on other side) included for scale.
Oldowan Chopper Two or three flakes would have been knocked off one end of a volcanic rock to create this end chopper. The tool shown here is bifacial,i.e.it is flaked on two sides. Most early Oldowan chop- pers are unifacial,i.e.flaked on one side of the rock only. (Choppers are one of the earliest tools. Some are up to 2.5 million years old.)
Acheulean Hand Axe Rather than the usual method of knocking flakes from a large rock using a hammerstone, this large bifacial tool, or core, was probably formed from one very large flake. Note its size and symmetry.
Mousterian Biface This tool—typically manufactured by Neander- th a l s — w ould usually be made from flint. Th e example shown here is a small biface.
Blade This small blade, part of the human tool kit, signifies the emergence of Homo sapiens, or modern humans. It is smaller and more deli- cate than tools used previously.
Point This point, also produced by Homo sapiens, differs from the other tools pictured here because it was deliberately structured to attach to something. © 2002 American Museum of Natural History. (continued over) All Rights Reserved. The Hallof h uman
2 3 1 8
4 bi 5
9 o Numbers 1-10 show locations of early
human remains. Fill in the lines on the l
map with the following information found ogy in the Hall: 6 I the hominoid fossils found at this site I the estimated age of these fossils 7 10 What does this information tell you about the movements of early humans out of
Africa? &
Location Key
1. La Brea, California, USA evo 2. Steinheim, Germany 3. Le Moustier, France STONE TOOLS (continued) 4. Hadar, Ethiopia Two characteristics that define us as humans are the relative size and shape of our skulls and 5. Lake Turkana, Tanzania brains and our ability to make and use tools. Although chimpanzees make tools and birds and 6. Southern Africa (3-2 million years ago) sea otters use tools to get food, the development and production of stone tools by early 7. Southern Africa (1.9-1.5 million years ago) humans was a major step towards becoming modern humans. l 8. Beijing, China ut 9. Niah, Borneo We have no way of knowing for certain how early tools were used. Our evidence is the tools 10. Lake Mungo, Southern Australia themselves, which are often found with fossils.Archaeologists classify tools—found in many dif- ferent locations and from different times—according to the similarities between them. i
There's a lot of detective work involved in figuring out what tools were used for. Earliest stone on tools were very large or crudely made. It took great strength to use them but probably less dex- terity. Knowledge of making and using tools was passed down from one generation to the next. © 2002 American Museum of Natural History. As stone tools developed, tiny blades and arrows were made. All Rights Reserved.