Chapter 1 - Migration and Peopling of the Earth

What does BCE mean?

Before Common Era

What does AD mean in these notes?

After Death

What is the 2nd Millennium BCE?

2,000–1,000 BCE

What is the 1st Millennium BCE?

1,000–1 BCE

What is the 1st Millennium AD?

0–1,000 AD

What is the 2nd Millennium AD?

1,001–2,000 AD

What is the global story of human origins?

African Origins: hominin development across millions of years

Homo sapiens: tools, family life, and cognition

Culture: language, art, and shared knowledge

Migration: humans dispersed across the globe.

What did most humans live as from 300,000–12,000 years ago?

Most humans lived as hunters and gatherers.

What did agriculture lead to?

Agriculture led to the development of stable cities and larger populations.

What is the main idea of Becoming Human?

The story changes as new evidence comes to light.

What is the common source of modern human origins?

Africa.

What preceded Homo sapiens?

Many hominin species preceded Homo sapiens.

What developments characterized modern humans?

Modern humans developed tool making, family life, language, and refined cognitive abilities.

How did humans spread beyond Africa?

Migration carried human populations beyond Africa.

What were later differences among human groups primarily based on?

Later differences among human groups were primarily cultural.

When did humans leave Africa?

Approximately 100,000–50,000 years ago.

Why is it difficult to pinpoint when humans left Africa?

There was no written language, so researchers must use fossils and science.

What are creation narratives?

They are ways communities explain where humans came from.

How do creation narratives vary?

Creation narratives vary across time and cultures.

What creation traditions are included in the chapter?

Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Yoruba, Buddhist, and Han Chinese traditions.

What do many creation narratives emphasize?

Many emphasize divine or supernatural creation.

Did creation narratives use evolutionary explanations?

No. These narratives did not use evolutionary explanations.

What should be distinguished for this course regarding origins?

Cultural narratives should be distinguished from evolutionary research methods.

How old is the universe according to science?

Approximately 14 billion years old.

Why do religions provide answers about origins?

Religions allow people to get answers to questions and provide comfort.

What are the major time periods in Precursors to Modern Humans?

13.8 billion years ago: Universe

4.5 billion years ago: Earth

3.8 billion years ago: earliest forms of life

23 million years ago: African apes

How old is the universe according to the Precursors to Modern Humans timeline?

13.8 billion years.

How old is Earth?

4.5 billion years.

When did the earliest forms of life appear?

Approximately 3.8 billion years ago.

When did African apes appear?

Approximately 23 million years ago.

What is evolution?

Species change and develop over generations.

What is natural selection?

Useful traits are more likely to persist.

Is evolution a progressive process?

No. Evolution is an adaptive process, not a progressive one.

Who helped establish evolutionary explanations of life?

Charles Darwin.

How did climate changes affect early human development?

Climate changes expanded savannas and contracted forests.

What is bipedalism?

Walking upright.

What did opposable thumbs increase?

Physical dexterity.

What happened to cognitive skills in early human development?

Cognitive skills increased.

What happened to social life among hominins?

Hominins became highly social.

Why did communication become increasingly important?

Hominins were social and needed to work together.

What was the dominant subsistence pattern for most of human existence?

Hunting and gathering remained the dominant subsistence pattern until about 12,000 years ago.

What distinguished Homo sapiens culturally?

Language and new cultural forms distinguished Homo sapiens.

What foods were collected by hunter-gatherers?

Berries, nuts, fruits, grains, and hunted foods.

What did hunter-gatherers have significant time for besides obtaining food?

Socializing, games, and other pursuits.

What was the social structure of hunter-gatherer communities like?

Communities were comparatively egalitarian between the sexes.

What characterized hunter-gatherer life?

Mobility, kinship, and shared resources.

What does cave art include?

Large game animals, occasional human figures, handprints, and abstract symbols.

What might large game animals in cave art represent?

They may be illustrations of how to get game and where it was.

What might cave art have been used for?

Possible ritual or shamanic uses.

What does cave art provide evidence of?

Symbolic thought and group identity.

How did art affect early human groups?

People bonded over art.

What were early sculptures shaped from?

Bone and stone.

What subjects appeared in early sculptures?

Animal figures and female figurines.

What may female figurines have represented?

Female fertility.

What is the Venus of Willendorf?

A well-known example of an early female figurine.

How old is the flute from Germany?

Approximately 35,000 years old.

What do early art and music demonstrate?

They demonstrate symbolic expression beyond immediate subsistence.

Why is language considered an evolutionary milestone?

Language enhanced communication and allowed accumulated knowledge to be transmitted.

What did language allow humans to do with knowledge?

It allowed bodies of knowledge to be transmitted across distance and time.

What are phonemes?

Units of sound that could be arranged into complex sequences.

What did arranging phonemes into complex sequences make possible?

Subtle and complex meanings became possible.

When does the chapter place the development of complex language?

Around 100,000 years ago.

How does human phoneme use compare with gorillas?

Humans use more than 50 phonemes compared with about 12 in gorillas.

What were the first languages in Africa like according to the notes?

They mostly involved clicking and whistling.

What are the Original Language Family Groups?

Original language family groups are the early groups of languages associated with human populations.

How do historians know about the past?

Through fossils, artifacts, maps, and scholarship.

What are fossils?

Physical remains.

What are artifacts?

Tools, art, and other objects.

What do maps show historians?

Spatial patterns.

What is scholarship?

Interpretation and revision.

Why are Chicago-style citations used?

To show the reader where the evidence came from.

What is historical methodology?

How we study our area of discipline.

What does history have?

History has subdisciplines.

What does the social subdiscipline of history examine?

Gender, race, and relationships.

What does the religious subdiscipline of history examine?

The influence of religion on the formation of laws.

What does the political subdiscipline of history examine?

Laws.

What does the economic subdiscipline of history examine?

Trading and other economic activity.

What is a primary source?

A source whose date is close to the time of the actual event.

What is a secondary source?

A source from a time farther away from the event.