Chapter 1 - The First Humans and the Paleolithic Era

Question 1

What do CE and BCE stand for?

Answer 1

CE - common era
BCE - before the common era

Question 2

What is prehistory?

Answer 2

Prehistory is history before written records. (Reeeeeally old!)

Question 3

What do anthropologists study and why?

Answer 3

Anthropologists study artifacts to learn about the cultural aspects of human society.

They usually focus on one society or culture at a time, studying:

• what they wore
• what they ate
• how they learned and created customs they followed
• how they developed languages

Question 4

What is Archeology?

Answer 4

The study of human history and prehistory through things people made, used, and left behind.

Question 5

What is a Historian?

Answer 5

A scholar who studies our past, using written records and historic art to find te answers.

Question 6

When was the Paleolithic Era?

Answer 6

Started 6-7 million years ago

Question 7

What are Hominids?

Answer 7

The first human-like creatures who had some human attributes, such as the ability to walk upright and opposable thumbs.

Question 8

What do the names Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, and Homo sapien sapiens mean?

Answer 8

Australopithecus - “Southern Ape”
Homo habilis - “able man”
Homo erectus - “upright man”
Homo sapiens - “wise man”
Homo sapiens sapiens - “wise, wise human”

Question 9

Who is Lucy?

Answer 9

Lucy is a famous Australopithecus hominid. She was discovered in 1974 and changed the way scientists looked at human evolution.

Question 10

What years were Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, and Homo sapien sapiens around?

Answer 10

Australopithecus ~ 4 million years ago
Homo habilis ~ 2 million years ago
Homo erectus ~ 1.5 million years ago
Homo sapiens ~ 400, 000 years ago
Homo sapiens sapiens ~ 200, 000 years ago

Question 11

What do we know about Homo habilis?

Answer 11

Lived ~ 2 million years ago

The name means “able man. ”

A short hominid who lived in East Africa.

They had bigger brains than the Australopithecus.

They were the first hominids to use stone tools.

Question 12

When did hominids discover fire?

Answer 12

~ 500, 000 years ago

(probably by rubbing 2 sticks together, or making sparks by hitting stones together)

Question 13

What was the significance of discovering fire?

Answer 13

This would have helped them:

• hunt
• cook
• protect themselves (like from other animals)
• stay warm

Fire also enabled hominids to move to areas with colder climates.

Question 14

Who are believed to have been the first hominids to leave Africa?

Answer 14

Homo erectus, because they discovered fire.

Question 15

Are we related to Homo erectus?

Answer 15

No, but we share a common ancestor.

Question 16

What do we know about Homo erectus?

Answer 16

They lived ~ 1.5 million years ago
The name means “upright man. ”
They were more advanced Hominids.
Even though prev. hominids walked upright, these hominids had longer arms and legs which made them look more like today’s humans.
We are not related to them, but would share a common ancestor.
Probably the first hominids to leave Africa.
They discovered fire!

Question 17

What do we know about Homo sapiens?

Answer 17

They lived ~ 400, 000 years ago
The name means “wise man. ”
They quickly became the main species.
They made tools from stones, animal bones, and horns.
They used these tools to develop new hunting and farming techniques.
Physically, they looked even closer to what we are today because of their large brains, small jaws, and longer and straighter limbs.
The two types of homo sapiens are neanderthals and homo sapiens sapiens.

Question 18

Did homo sapiens use tools?

Answer 18

Yes, they made tools from stones, animal bones, and horns.

Question 19

What do we know about Neanderthals?

Answer 19

They lived in and around present-day Europe and Parts of Turkey.
They likely made clothes out of animal skins to keep warm.
They were the earliest people to bury their dead.
They had large brains but heavier builds which made them slower moving than the homo sapiens sapiens who eventually replaced them.

Question 20

Were we (the homo sapien sapiens) the first to leave Africa?

Answer 20

No! The Homo erectus were because they discovered fire first.

It is also hypothesized that homo sapiens sapiens moved out of Africa very slowly, only moving two or three miles in a whole generation.

Question 21

When was the Paleolithic era?

Answer 21

The paleolithic area, or this old Stone Age, spanned about 2,500,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE.

Question 22

What is a nomad defined as?

Answer 22

A person who has no permanent home and travels to find food.

Question 23

What did the nomadic lifestyle of the first humans look like?

Answer 23

They had no permanent home and would travel around in small groups to survive, building shelters wherever they went.

They would have followed grazing animals and changed locations based on the growing seasons.

Question 24

What is the great migration?

Answer 24

The great migration was a time when humans traveled from Africa and began to explore every continent except Antarctica.

They hunted across the continents and found places with fresh water and fertile lands.

The great migration took roughly 1,000,000 years.

Question 25

How did humans travel during the great migration?

Answer 25

Most humans followed the animals they hunted across the continents, often headed to more wet and fertile lands.

The Ice Age also pushed humans towards warmer regions and connected the continents through land bridges that were uncovered as sea levels lowered.

Question 26

What was the Ice Age?

Answer 26

The most recent glacial period during which most of the earth was covered by ice and oceans froze over

It lasted about 100, 000 years and ended around 10, 000 BCE

Question 27

Why did early humans make cave paintings?

Answer 27

Early humans used cave paintings to communicate and probably to tell stories and share myths.

They also drew hunting strategies and probably use the paintings as part of rituals they hoped would guarantee a good hunt.

Question 28

What did early humans make cave paintings?

Answer 28

Stone lamps filled with animal fat were used to light the caves allowing people to see their paintings.

Paint was made from animal fat and various mineral ores which created reds, yellows, and blacks to use in their paintings.

They would paint using their fingers, sticks, leaves, and hollow reeds which were used to blow paint through.

Question 29

How do scientists learn about things that happened in prehistory?

Answer 29

Scientists learn about prehistory through artifacts.

Artifacts are objects such as: tools, instruments, buildings, pottery, or anything else made by humans.

They use these objects to find clues about prehistoric life.

Question 30

What sorts of objects did Paleolithic people make?

Answer 30

Paleolithic people made simple tools, such as hand axes, stone spearheads, bows, arrows, harpoons, bone fish hooks, baskets, rope, statues, an flutes.