Hominids and Hunter-Hominids and Hunter-GatherersGatherers

Investigating prehistory

• Historians rely on written records- Did hominids write?

• Archaeologists- study/analyze material remains like tools, pottery, weapons, clothing, jewelry

• Anthropologists- study bones of our ancestors and their culture (way of life, beliefs, values, practices)

Early Hominids• Australopithecus- 4 million years BC

– S/E Africa– 500 cm³ brain size– First hominid to walk upright

• Homo Habilis- “handy man”, 2.5 million years BC• 700 cm³ brain size• E Africa• First to make stone tools

Early Hominids

• Homo Erectus- “upright man”, 1.6 million years BC– Africa, Asia, Europe– 1,000 cm³ brain size– First to leave Africa

• Neanderthal- 200,000-30,000 BC, Europe and SW Asia, 1,450 cm³ brain, first to have ritual burials

PrehistoryPrehistory• Most of our existence is prehistoric

• Paleolithic Age-Old Stone Age- hunters and gatherers.• Neolithic Age-New Stone Age-farmers and herders.

Early Hominids

• Cro-Magnon- Homo Sapiens- 40,000 (or 150,000) to 8,000 BC– Europe– Brain size 1,400 cm³ brain size– Fully modern humans– First to create art, more organized

• http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/collections/museum/hominid/australopithicus/australopithicus.shtml

Hunter-Gatherers

• Mode of Production- the way goods and services are produced, used, and traded

• Hunter-Gatherers- nomads who obtained food, clothes, shelter from plants and animals

The Bering Strait today

Land Bridge quicktime

• beringlandbridge1l.mov

Hunter-Gatherers

• They hunted wooly mammoths, elk, reindeer, musk oxen, wooly rhinos, saber-toothed tigers, etc

• They hunted with stone spear tips called Clovis points

Clovis points

Stone Axe

Folsom Point

Darts and Fish hook

Animals

Animals

Animals

Animals

Shelter

Shelter