Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

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424

Prehistoric peoples

Human or ape?

Humans have smaller jaws and larger

brains than apes. The human hand

has a longer thumb; apes have longer

fingers. The human pelvis and thigh

allow upright motion, giving the

spine an S-shaped curve. Human legs

are longer than arms; apes have the

reverse. unlike apes, humans cannot

use their big toes as extra thumbs;

the foot has adapted to walking

and can no longer grasp.

Compared wiTH the rest of life on earth,

human beings arrived quite recently, after the

dinosaur age and the age of mammals. The

whole story of human evolution is incomplete,

because many parts of the fossil record have

never been found. Humanlike mammals first

emerged from the ape family about five million

years ago in Central africa. They came down

from the trees and began to walk on two legs.

Hominins, or early humans, were more apelike

than human and lived in the open. over

millions of years they learned to walk upright

and developed bigger brains. These large brains

helped them develop language and the ability

to work together. Hominins lived in groups and

shared work and food, wandering through the

countryside gathering fruit, roots, nuts, berries,

and seeds, and hunting animals. Standing

upright left their hands free to make tools

and weapons, shelters and fire. They lived in

caves and in shelters made from branches and

stones. These early humans spread slowly over

the rest of the world and soon rose to

dominate life on earth.

modern people

when humans learned to

domesticate animals and grow

crops, they stopped wandering

and settled down on farms and

later towns began to develop.

Larger brain

of human

From HominidS To HumanS

about 2.3 million years ago hominins called Homo habilis

(meaning “handy man”) shaped crude stone tools and built

rough shelters. other, more advanced, hominins, called

Homo erectus, moved out of africa into europe and asia.

They lived in camps, made use of fire, and probably had a

language. after the ice age, neanderthals lived in europe.

neanderthals looked much like people today, wore clothes,

made flint tools and fire, and buried their dead. They

vanished about 30,000 years ago and were replaced by

“modern people,” who invented farming about 9,000

years ago and began to settle down in communities.

Shortly after, the first civilizations began.

luCy

in 1974, archaeologists discovered a

complete fossil hominin skeleton in

ethiopia, northeastern africa. She was

nicknamed lucy, after the Beatles’ song

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

lucy was three million

years old. although

nearly human, she was

probably not one of

our direct ancestors.

Large

shoulders

designed for

walking on

all fours

wiSdom TooTH

early people needed

wisdom teeth in order

to eat roots and berries.

Today we no longer need

wisdom teeth, and

many people

do not even

develop them.

When alive, Lucy was

about the same height

as a 10-year-old girl, and

weighed 60 lbs (27 kg).

Prehistoric

PeoPles

c. 7,000,000 bce apes and

hominins begin to evolve

in different ways.

c. 2,500,000 bce First stone

tools made. paleolithic

(old Stone) age begins.

c. 2,000,000 bce Homo

erectus appears.

c. 350,000 bce First

neanderthals (an early

form of Homo sapiens –

“wise man”) develop.

c. 50,000 bce First modern

people, Homo sapiens,

develop.

c. 8,000 bce neolithic

(new Stone) age begins.

c. 7,000 bce Farming

villages and pottery.

c. 3,500 bce Sumerians

in mesopotamia develop

writing. Sumerians begin

to live in cities.

c. 3,000 bce metal tools

and weapons begin to

replace stone.

Homo erectus

made more

advanced

tools, such as

this spear.

Lucy’s remains

were found

at Hadar.

Neanderthal

man

Modern

people

wore

shoes.

Simple

clothing

Lucy

gathered

fruit to eat.

Homo

erectus

Homo

habilis

Sewn leather

clothing

Fossil remains

of the earliest

hominins have

all been found

in East Africa.

Rough

woven

cloth

Simple

stone

tool Sophisticated carving

Find out more

archaeology

Bronze age

evolution

prehistoric life

Stone age

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