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Journey of Man JOURNEY OF MAN “Where do we all come from?” Today, some six billion people are spread across the planet. But there was a time – not so long ago-when the human species numbered only a few thousand and their world was single continent: Africa. Then something happened. A small group left their African homeland on a journey into an unknown, hostile world. Against impossible odds, these extraordinary explorers not only survived but went on to conquer the earth. Their story can finally be told through the science of genetics. Dr. Spencer Wells is part of a team that had been re-writing history. He has been disentangling this epic story from evidence all people carry with them – in their DNA – inherited from those ancient travelers. Some important conclusions arise from this journey: The story of our DNA starts in the Kalahari Desert where the San Bushmen live. We go back 50,000 years from there. 80,000 year old bones were found in Die Kelders Cave in South Africa. We know that they had simple stone tools. It was the Middle Stone Age. The group that left Africa arrived in Queensland, Australia. Evidence was found from rock paintings. Aborigines have song lines that say they are originally from Australia. They arrived from along the coast of India. 50,000 years ago approx. 10% left Africa towards Australia through India. 45,000 years ago others struck out from Africa to the Middle East because of the Ice Age and drought. Africa is the cradle of civilization, Central Asia is its nursery. Our ancestors went through Central Asia 40,000 YA due to grazing animals (they honed their hunting skills and adapted to cold). Caves in Southern France show the first to arrive in Europe: the Cro Magnon. They arrived from Africa 35,000 YA. They had a cold, dark life which explains lighter skin adaptations. One nomadic group left Khazakstan (central Asia) straight northeast into the Ice Age. 13,000 YA they crossed an ice sheet into Alaska. These descendants of Siberia (10-20 individuals) made their way down the American west coast over 800 years. Navaho indigenous people have their own Creation Story that say they are from the mountains. Yet they carry the same central Asian genetic marker as Niyazov from Kyrgystan. -100 degrees F = -73 degrees C (-25 degrees F = -35 degrees C) The Journey of Man Viewing Guide Directions: Please write your answer to the questions in the space provided. The questions go in order with the movie. 1. What is the time machine that is being used to go back in time? 2. What story does the scientist believe he has discovered? 3. What does DNA have to do with history? 4. What happened in the 1950s that allowed for the Journey of Man to be tracked? 5. Where does the scientist believe that humanity began? 6. What is the name of the people who live where the Journey of Man began? 7. How long ago does the scientist think the Journey of Man began? 8. How does the scientist explain his relationship with the San Bushmen? 9. What does the scientist say about the faces of the San Bushmen? 10. What is a mutation and why is it important to the scientist? 11. What is a DNA marker? 12. What is unique about genetic markers of the San Bushmen? 13. What is unique about how the San Bushmen speak? 14. What material did the San Bushmen use for arrow tips? 15. What were the advantages of the San Bushmen ancestors over their competitors? 16. What does the sharp edge of a hoof print tell about the animal who left it, and why was that such an important idea for the San Bushman ancestors to understand? 17. How are these advantages tied to language? 18. What does Spencer Wells learn about human development from the cave? 19. What happened 50,000 years ago to the people of the cave? 20. Where does human evidence turn up after Africa? 21. Why are Australian plants and animals so different those found in other parts of the world? 22. When do humans show up in Australia? 23. How does Spencer Wells believe people came to Australia? 24. What evidence does he have for how Africans came to Australia? 25. How do current Aborigines react to Spencer Wells assertion that they came from Africa? 26. Why is evidence of a coastal migration along southern Africa so hard to find? 27. What kind of human group is Spencer Wells looking to test and why? 28. Why does Spencer Wells only sample men? 29. What does the change from “C” to “T” in the DNA sequence represent and what does the change in DNA sequence prove? 30. Why is the DNA evidence so important to figuring out how people got to Australia? 31. When you look at the face of the man in India, does he look like the Australians and San Bushmen? 32. The descendants of the people who migrated from Africa to Australia account for only 10% of the world’s population. Where did everyone else come from? 33. Why might the second migration wave from Africa have taken a different route? 34. Where do humans NOT go during the second wave? Why is it strange that they are not found there until much later? 35. What does the cave art tell us about the journey that early European’s may have made? 36. What kinds of physical and technological changes happened as early Europeans (Cro- Magnons) became European? 37. What is one reason that the migration to Europe went through Central Asia? 38. What does Spenser Wells mean in calling Africa the cradle of man and Central Asia the nursery? 39. Who is Nyasov and why is he important? How long has Nyazov’s family been in Central Asia? 40. What did the ancestors of today’s Native American’s have to endure to reach the Americas? 41. Who are the Chukchi and what physical/behavioural adaptations allow the Chukchi to live in the extreme conditions of the Arctic? 42. What animal and plant is vital to the survival of the Chukchi? 43. What was Beringia? 44. What caused the sea level change allowing arctic hunters into the Americas? 45. How many long ago did Native Americans arrive in North America? 46. How many people initially made the trip into the new world? 47. How long did it take the arctic ancestors to populate North and South America? 48. Which American Indian tribe is related to the Chukchi's of Siberia? 49. How long in total did it take human beings to reach the Americas from Africa? 50. Why might the narrator not be able to do this research 200 years from now? Written Response Questions for The Journey of Man Write a 500 – 1000 word personal response that addresses and/or answers any three below questions. In your response, use direct evidence, scenarios, examples, and cases to support your view. Include a word count at the bottom of the page. 1. What was most surprising about this film? 2. What is the thesis of this film? What is the film trying to prove/argue? 3. Why is DNA important evidence for this film? 4. Why is the man in Kazakhstan so important to the thesis of this film? 5. Do you agree with the evidence put forth in this film? Why or why not? 6. According to the film, why do people have darker skin, longer arms, lighter hair, etc? 7. Why is the trek of the Africans so unbelievable? 8. How might the information in this film change the way people treat each other? 9. How does genetics and biological evidence poise conflict with native creation stories? 10. How are we all African under our skin? The Journey of Man Viewing Guide (ANSWERS) Directions: Please write your answer to the questions in the space provided. The questions go in order with the movie. 1. What is the time machine that is being used to go back in time? Blood (DNA) 2. What story does the scientist believe he has discovered? Shows a clear past or genetic family tree 3. What does DNA have to do with history? Tracts our genetic history 4. What happened in the 1950s that allowed for the Journey of Man to be tracked? Discovery of DNA and connection to human evloution 5. Where does the scientist believe that humanity began? Africa 6. What is the name of the people who live where the Journey of Man began? San Bushman 7. How long ago does the scientist think the Journey of Man began? 50 000 years 8. How does the scientist explain his relationship with the San Bushmen? All part of the same tribe (we are distantly related) 9. What does the scientist say about the faces of the San Bushmen? Resemble that of all homo sapiens 10. What is a mutation and why is it important to the scientist? Change in the DNA code, source of the time machine, passed onto next generations 11. What is a DNA marker? Inherited mutations (on Y chromosomes) 12. What is unique about genetic markers of the San Bushmen? Oldest branch 13. What is unique about how the San Bushmen speak? Clicks 14. What material did the San Bushmen use for arrow tips? Bone (new technology) 15. What were the advantages of the San Bushmen ancestors over their competitors? communication and hunting technology (tracking animals, bone weapons, using the past to predict the future) 16. What does the sharp edge of a hoof print tell about the animal who left it, and why was that such an important idea for the San Bushman ancestors to understand? Direction the animal traveled and time (tracking information) – find food instead of food finding them 17.
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