Part 1.1: Human origins

Midterm

__**Scientific Theories**__

Evolution

**Where do Homo sapiens come from?**

5 to 6 million years ago in Africa

**Hominids/Homininae**

twenty or thirty different species of human-like creatures

* all had bipedalism

**Bipedalism**

ability to walk upright on two legs, facilitated by the evolution of increasingly more flexible hip joints

**Neanderthal**

**early hominid species from Eurasia**

**“Java Man”**

early homo erectus fossil found in Java, Indonesia in Asia

**“Peking Man”**

Homo Erectus found in cave of China

**Australopithecus Africanus**

class of early hominids

**“Lucy”**

**famous Australopithecus Africanus fossil, more than 3 million years old**

**Homo Erectus**

Advanced version of hominid with larger brain, closest to modern humans

**Homo Sapiens**

Modern Humans

**Homo Floresiensis**

unique species of hominids from the island of Flores in Asia, only 3 feet tall

**“Otzi the Iceman”**

Famous fossil of a prehistoric man found in the European Alps in the 1990s, fully dressed and with all his tools including a bronze axe

__**Migration out of Africa**__

between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago humans migrated out of Africa thanks to the Ice Age land bridges

**Hunter-Gatherer Society**

Main social organization and subsistence strategy: gathering, hunting, and fishing way of life

* Lasted until 12,000 years and made up 95% of human history
* men most often specializing in hunting larger animals and women in gathering food and trapping smaller prey
* Nomadic

__**Into Eurasia**__

left hundreds of cave paintings and female figurines

**Lascaux**

prehistoric cave in France dating to the Magdalenian period; Over 600 parietal wall paintings cover the interior walls and ceilings of the cave

**Venus of Willendorf**

famous female figurine found near the town of Willendorf in Austria, very prominent breasts and sexual organs

__**Into Australia**__

Aboriginal people

**“Dreamtime”**

collection of stories and ceremonies in Australia telling the early beginning of occupation during prehistory

__**Into the Americas:**__ Clovis Culture

one of the first prehistoric cultures in the North America named after their **Clovis points** (prehistoric stone tools/spear points)

__**Settling Down: The Great Transition**__

Paleolithic civilizations abandon nomadic lifestyles

* The last Ice Age came to an end and human civilizations flourished and grew. They found it possible to settle down and create permanent settlements

**Gobekli-Tepe**

a ceremonial site in turkey called to “world’s oldest temple”, 11,000 years old, evidence of early agriculture in the region