1. Peopling of the Earth Beginnings to 4000 B.C.E. From Early Humans…
to homo sapiens…

2. Where did early humans originate?
Out of Africa
-3-4 million years ago

3. What were early humans capable of?
-walked upright
-hunted animals and gathered berries, plants, insects
-developed tools
-discovered and used fire
-lived in social groups

4. Homo sapiens (that’s us!) evolved from Homo erectus
By 200,000 years ago, people whose skeletons were like those of Homo sapiens were already living in Africa.
Between that time and about 100,000 years ago, people who were both anatomically and genetically “like us” emerged in eastern and southern Africa.
This is a reconstructed Homo sapiens skull, found in Israel. It has been dated to about 90,000 years ago.

5. How did Homo Sapiens differ from early humans?
Range of Neanderthals
Range of modern
Humans by 28,000 years ago
Approximate geographical range of Neandertals, 100,000-28,000 BCE
Approximate geographical range of Homo sapiens by 28,000 BCE
LARGER RANGE OF MOVEMENT!

6. Migrations of Homo sapiens
Siberia
40,000 years ago
Europe
40,000 years ago
North America
12,000-30,000
years ago
Southwest Asia
100,000 years ago
Oceania
1600 B.C.E.-500 C.E.
Human Origins
200, ,000
years ago
Australia
as many as 60,000
years ago
Chile
12, ,000
years ago
Possible coastal routes of human migration
Possible landward routes of human migration
Migrations in Oceania

7. Why were homo sapiens able to able to migrate further?
Language!
Homo sapiens had language
so they could exchange complex ideas with each other.
and they could store and add to the ideas of previous generations.
Because they swapped ideas, they kept finding
new ways of doing things.
new ways of living.
Language
Shared
Ideas
New
Learning

8. Language made collective learning possible.
The stores of knowledge and skills humans built up are called “culture.”
No other animal can store and accumulate knowledge and skills in this way.
We call this ability “collective learning.”
It is what human history is about!
It is what makes us special!

9. How did collective learning change human culture?
At first, changes in technology were very slow.
After about 100,000 years ago, the pace of change began to increase.
Evidence appears from about that time of humans living in east, central, and southern Africa. They were:
For example, Blombos Cave
Making more advanced and varied tools.
Experimenting with body decoration and abstract symbols.

10. The people who lived in this seaside camp:
Remains discovered at Blombos Cave are one example of the more complex culture some humans were developing as many as 90,000 years ago.
View looking out of Blombos Cave to the Indian Ocean
The people who lived in this seaside camp:
Made sharp stone spear points using methods that appeared in Eurasia only 50,000 or more years later.
Made objects from bone, the earliest use of this material known.
Scored bits of bone and ochre with marks that may have had symbolic meaning.
Bone points from the cave
Ochre piece with scrape
marks. A person may have
scraped the ochre to
get powder to use to make
body paint.

11. Acceleration! Humans began to:
From about 40,000 years ago, archaeological evidence shows faster and faster cultural change and increasing complexity.
The engraved horse panel in the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-D’Arc in southern France. The image is about 31,000 years old. (
Humans began to:
Create both naturalistic and abstract art.
Make more specialized tools.
Weave and knot fiber.
Decorate clothing.
Make jewelry.
Build semi-permanent structures.
Venus of the Kostenki I site in Russia dated to about 23,000 years ago. This stone female head is wearing headgear of woven basketry. (New York Times, Dec. 14, Photo: Bill Wiegand, University of Illinois.)

12. Different Environments!
Homo sapiens ability to adapt increases. What forces them to adapt?
Different Environments!

13. Differences between early humans and homo sapiens
1. Language develops.
2. Habitats expand.
3. Technology multiplies.
4. Wall painting and sculpture are created.
Because of these differences, homo sapiens were able to migrate further and adapt to various environments.
Stay tuned to see how history develops as humans adapt to different environments!