Chapter Two

Prehistory and Human Evolution

“Theories on prehistory and early man constantly change

as new evidence comes to light.”
Louis Leakey, British anthropologist

Theories of Evolution Biological Evolution Vs Cultural Evolution

 Cultural or Creationist Theory

 Believes in a god who is absolute creator of heaven and earth, out of nothing, by
an act of free will.

 Such a deity is thought to be constantly involved (‘immanent’) in the creation,

ready to intervene as necessary, and without whose constant concern the creation
would cease or disappear.

 Christians, Jews, and Muslims are all Creationists in this sense.

 Generally they are known as theists

 Creationism means the taking of the Bible, particularly the early chapters of
Genesis

 strongly opposed to a world brought on by evolution

 The Earth is between 6,000-10,000 years old

 According to the Creationist view Evolution leads to an immoral worldview

 Biological Evolution
 Charles Darwin
 On the Origin of Species (1859)
 First to link biological diversity to evolution began his work on evolution
when employed as a naturalist for a voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle second
voyage (1831-1836).
 All species had descended from one or a few original types of life or tracing
back to common ancestors
 Modification by Natural Selection
 Natural selection is the principal driving force behind evolution.
 The age of the Earth is 4.5 billion years

1|Page
The field of science which studies the human fossil record is known as Paleoanthropology. It is
the intersection of the disciplines of paleontology (the study of ancient life forms) and
anthropology (the study of humans).

Anthropologists–scientists who study human characteristics–work closely with other scientists

 Physical Anthropologists – compare hominid bones and other fossil remains

looking for change.
 Paleontologists – study fossil remains to determine the characteristics of
prehistoric periods.
 Archaeologists – study prehistoric life through artifacts left behind by prehistoric
people.
Dating Early Artifacts
There are several methods used when dating and linking artifacts:
 Radiocarbon dating – measuring how much the radioactive carbon has decayed
in organic remains
 Chemical dating – measuring the chemical composition of a specimen.
 DNA evidence – calculating a rate of change over time by comparing modern
DNA to an ancient counterpart
Hominid Evolution

 Hominids are a classification of beings that include human beings and the humanlike
creatures that preceded them.
 “great apes” the ancestors of human being
 Bipedal (walks on two legs).
 Intelligent (large brain, uses tools).
 These hominid fossils are believed to be 4.4 million years old–the oldest direct human
ancestor known.
 The time of the split between humans and living apes used to be thought to have
occurred 15 to 20 million years ago, or even up to 30 or 40 million years ago.

2|Page
Hominid Place Dated Description
Species
Sahelanthropus Chad in Between 6 and 7 - The oldest known hominid or near-hominid
tchadensis Central million years old. species
Africa - The skull has a very small brain size of
approximately 350 cc. It is not known whether
it was bipedal
- It is close to the common ancestor of humans
and chimpanzees.
Orrorin W. Kenya about 6 million years - a human ancestor adapted to both bipedality
tugenensis old and tree climbing
Ardipithecus E.Africa 4.4 million years - The skull and brain are small, about the size of
ramidus (Middle a chimpanzee.
Awash and - It was bipedal on the ground
Gona,
Ethiopia)
Australopithecus Kanapoi in between 4.2 and 3.9 - The teeth and jaws are very similar to those of
anamensis Kenya and million years ago older fossil apes.
rom Allia - strong evidence of bipedality
Bay in
Kenya
Australopithecus Hadar, between 3.9 and 3.0 - Discovered by Donald C. Johanson and Tom
afarensis Ethiopia million years ago Gray
- longest-lived and best-known early human
species
- The finger and toe bones are curved and
proportionally longer than in humans.
- Partially adapted to climbing in trees
Australopithecus (South 3 and 2 million years -
africanus Africa) ago
Australopithecus E. Africa About 2.5 million -
garhi (the site of years ago
Bouri,
Middle
Awash,
Ethiopia)
Australopithecus 2.6 and 2.3 million -
aethiopicus years ago.

Australopithecus Southern Between 2 and 1.5 -

robustus Africa million years ago.

Stages of Early Human Development

3|Page
  Scientists use the Latin word Homo, meaning “human,” to name early hominids and
all later human beings.
 Scientists such as anthropologists divide hominids into three different types based on
their body structure and lifestyles.

I. Homo habilis, or “person with ability,” lived until about 1.5 million years ago.
 Fossils found in southern and eastern Africa
 Used simple bone and stone tools
 Nicknamed “handy man”
 They had fire that occurred naturally like from a lightning strike but
could not make fire on their own.
 It constructed simple huts made of branches that were held in place by
stone
 It used rock as hammers
 They probably communicated using some primitive gestures and
simple sounds

II. Homo Erectus- or “person who walks upright,” BIPEDALISM

 Homo erectus lived throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia from 1.8 million to 30,000
years ago.
 The discovery of how to make fire allowed them to keep warm, cook food, and scare
away threatening animals.
 They also developed hunting skills and made clothing.
Language
 To communicate, Homo erectus may have used little more than gestures and grunts.
 By 50,000 B.C., however, prehistoric peoples had developed speech–one of
humanity’s greatest achievements.
 Speech enabled individuals to work in groups, to exchange ideas, and to pass culture
on to younger generations.
 The modern human species–appeared, cultural changes occurred with greater
frequency and took on greater sophistication

Migrations
 Scientists disagree on when prehistoric peoples left Africa and moved to other parts
of the world.
 Skeletal remains in Java, China, and Europe reveal that Homo erectus migrated from
their native Africa to Asia and Europe.
The Ice Ages
 Between 2 million and 10,000 years ago, Earth experienced four long periods of cold
climate, known as the Ice Ages.

4|Page
  Massive glaciers formed and caused ocean levels to drop as much as 300 feet,
creating land bridges between previously separated landmasses:
 Japan and mainland Korea
 Great Britain to western Europe
 Malay Peninsula almost to Australia
 Asia and North America at the Bering Strait
 These land bridges allowed early humans to migrate throughout the world.
 Most theories of human evolution are variants of two conflicting models –
 The "multiregional" model
 The "out-of-Africa replacement" (OAR) model.
 Both explanations accept Africa as the evolutionary origin of the Homo genus and the
subsequent migration of these early hominids, Homo erectus, into Europe and Asia
around two million years ago.
 However, the models differ in their account of H. sapiens evolution, which is where
the controversy lies. Was Africa the sole place of origin of our own species as well as
that of our ancestors?
 'Out of Africa' Model, is that Homo sapiens developed first in Africa and then
spread around the world between 100 and 200,000 years ago, superseding all other
hominid species. The implication of this argument is that all modern people are
ultimately of African descent.

 The 'Multi-regional' Model is that Homo sapiens evolved simultaneously in

different parts of the world from original Homo erectus settlers. This means that
people in China descended from the Homo erectus population there, while
Australians may have descended from the Homo erectus population in South East
Asia.
 Homo sapiens began migrating into the lower latitudes of East Asia by at least 70,000
years ago.  Along the way, some of them interbred with archaic humans, including
both Neandertals and Denisovans.  Genetic markers from these archaic human
populations are found in the gene pool of some Southern Chinese, New Guinean, and
other Micronesian Island populations today. 
 Homo sapiens from Southeast Asia travelled to Australia by 46,000 years ago and
possibly as early as 60,000 years ago.  Because Australia was not connected to
Southeast Asia by land, it is probable that these first Australian Aborigines arrived by
simple boats or rafts.  Modern humans reached the Japanese Islands by 30,000 years
ago or somewhat earlier.  Around 35,000-30,000 years ago, Homo sapiens big game
hunters moved into Northeastern Siberia.  Some of them migrated into North America
via the Bering Plain, or Beringia , by 20,000-15,000 years ago. 
 Some Homo sapiens may have reached the Americas a bit earlier than this, but the
evidence is still considered questionable by most paleoanthropologists.  The Bering
Plain intercontinental land connection appeared between Siberia and Alaska as a
5|Page
 result of sea levels dropping up to 450 feet (137 m.) during the final major cold
period of the last ice age.  Until that time, all human evolution had occurred in the
Old World.
 A consequence of human migrations into new regions of the world has been the
extinction of many animal species indigenous to those areas.  By 11,000 years ago,
human hunters in the New World apparently had played a part in the extermination of
135 species of mammals, including 3/4 of the larger ones (mammoths, mastodons,
giant sloths, etc.).  Most of these extinctions apparently occurred within a few
hundred years.  It is likely that the rapidly changing climate at the end of the last ice
age was a contributing factor.  However, the addition of human hunters with spears to
the existing top predators (mostly saber-toothed cats, lions, and dire-wolves) very
likely disrupted the equilibrium between large herbivores and their predators.  As a
consequence there was a major ecosystem disruption resulting in the rapid decline of
both non-human carnivores and their prey.  Humans were very likely the trigger that
set off this "trophic cascade".  Unlike most other major predators, people survived by
switching their food quest to smaller animals and plants.

III. Homo sapiens - “person who thinks,”

 Modern humans, originated in Africa about 50,000 years ago, and within 20,000
years dominated almost every continent.
 “Homo” (Latin) means “man” or “human” “Sapiens” (Latin) means “wise” or
“intelligent”

 Many scientists belive that Homo sapiens sapiens came into contact with
Neanderthals and even Homo erectus

6|Page
 I. The Neanderthals
 Early Homo sapiens date back about 200,000 years. The first Homo
sapiens were probably the Neanderthals.
 They were named after the Neander Valley in Germany where their
remains were first discovered in the A.D. 1850s.
 Neanderthals were nomadic hunter-gatherers who used fire and
sophisticated tools such as stone knives, spear points, and bone tools.
 Most Neanderthals lived in small groups of 35 to 50 people.
 The Neanderthals were advanced culturally.
 They buried their dead in shallow graves, cared for their sick and aged,
and possibly practiced medicine

II. The Cro-Magnons

 The earliest Homo sapiens in Europe is called Cro-Magnons, after the place where
their remains were first found.
 They were more technologically advanced than Neanderthals and had a more
sophisticated culture.
 The Cro-Magnons’ many technological improvements included canoes, bone fishing
hooks, and the bow and arrow.
 These improvements led to more food, and by 15,000 B.C
 The first leaders, who devised and enforced rules, most likely evolved from
cooperative hunting.
 A transition from temporary to more permanent housing occurred as the food supply
increased and hunting methods improved.
 Cro-Magnons created the first lasting art
 Cave paintings were found at Lascaux and Vallon-Pont-d’Arc in France, as well as
in Spain and Africa.

Human Culture
 Culture is
 The knowledge a people have
 The language a people speak
 The ways in which they eat and dress
 Their religious beliefs
 Their achievements in art and music
 Tool Making
 One of the earliest aspects of culture that people formed was the use of tools.
 At first tools were made out of wooden sticks. Later, people made crude tools
of stone.

7|Page
 The Stone Age
 The use of stone tools by early people led historians to name prehistory as the
Stone Age.
 The Stone Age is divided into three shorter periods depending on differences
in tool making techniques.
 Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) 2.5 million B.C. – 12,000 B.C.
 Hunter-Gatherer
 Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) 12,000 B.C. – 8000 B.C.
 Neolithic (New Stone Age) 8000 B.C. – 5000 B.C
The Neolithic Revolution or “New Stone Age”
 During the Neolithic period, society made one of its greatest cultural changes–the
shift to agriculture.
 Farming as main food source: 8500 BCE (Near East)
 First domestic animals: dog, sheep, goat
 During the earlier Mesolithic period, people domesticated animals, taming them for
human purposes.
 The Neolithic Revolution occurred as early as 8000 B.C. in the Middle East and as
late as 5000 B.C. to 4000 B.C. in the Americas and China.
 The crops that Neolithic people domesticated varied, depending on the region’s
climate and varieties of wild plants.
Impacts of Neolithic Revolution
 Villages began to develop around fertile soil and an abundant water supply.
The First Villages
- Jericho, in the modern West Bank, dates back to 8000 B.C.
- Çatal Hüyük, in present-day Turkey, was one of the largest Neolithic
villages that founded between 7000 B.C. and 6300 B.C.
 Technological Advances - New technologies- Pottery, textiles, baskets
 The plow, the loom, the wheel, clay bricks, and calendars were all invented during
this period.
 As a result of land ownership, people developed boundary lines, rules of inheritance,
and warfare as villages competed for resources. ò
 Neolithic people also believed in many deities, or gods and goddesses.

What economic, political, and social changes resulted from the rise of cities?
 River Valley Civilizations
 Nile River in northeastern Africa.
 Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
 Indus River valley (c. 2500 B.C.) in South Asia.
 the Huang He valley -East Asia
 Social organization- Hierarchy, warfare, state formation

8|Page