Chapter 1

The First Civilizations

Early Humans

1. What is an Anthropologist?

• They study how humans developed & how humans relate to one another

Early Humans

• 2. What is an Archaeologist?

• Hunt for evidence buried in the ground where settlements might have been

• They dig up artifacts & fossils– Artifacts = tools, weapons & other

things made by humans

– Fossils = traces of plants or animals preserved in rock

Early Humans

• 3. Who is Lucy? • A hominid fossil found by an American anthropologist named Donald Johnson in 1974

• Lucy was found in Ethiopia, a country on the African continent

• Lucy’s skeleton is nearly

3 MILLION YEARS OLD!!

Early Humans

• 4. Where do scientists think the first human beings developed?

• In East Africa• Early humans first lived

in the rain forests & then SLOWLY spread to the plains

• Probably spread in search of food & new places to live

Early Humans

• 5. What is the Stone Age?

• A time period when people used stone tools & weapons

• Began about 2.5 million years ago

• Also called Paleolithic period – “Old Stone Age”

Early Humans

• 6. What were Paleolithic people like?

• They were hunter-gather nomads

• They hunted & gathered food wherever they could find it

• Moved around all the time, did not have a regular home

Early Humans

• 7. What was Paleolithic technology?

• Technology = tools & methods humans use to perform tasks

• Paleolithic technology = using flint (really hard stone) to make other stones into tools

Early Humans

• 8. What discovery changed the lives of Paleolithic people?

• Learning how to create & tame fire

• Fire helped people stay warm, cook food & scare wild animals away.

Early Humans

• 9. What were the Ice Ages?

• Long periods of extreme cold

• Thick sheets of ice covered parts of Europe, Asia & North America

• People began using animals skins as clothing to keep warm

Early Humans

• 10. What was the Neolithic Age?

• Began after the last Ice Age ended – around 8,000 B.C.

• People began to farm & settle in villages

• Began to domesticate animals – tame animals for human use

Early Humans

• 11. Why was farming important?

• Allowed more people to be fed & increased the world’s population

• Changed the type of food people ate

• People began creating villages

Early Humans

• 12. What were some negative effects of farming?

• Lots of people close together in one area

• Diseases to spread more easily

• Water became dirty quicker

• Garbage piled up

Early Humans

• 13. What were some of the earliest Neolithic villages?

• Catal Huyuk – located in present day Turkey

• Jericho – located in present day Israel

Early Humans

• 14. What were some benefits of settled life for early humans?

• Steady food supplies • Healthy, larger

population• People began to

specialize in jobs such as pottery, weaving, farming

Summary Questions

• What are some difference between the Paleolithic & the Neolithic Ages?

• What are some negative & positive effects of farming?

• Why was it called the Stone Age?