Pre-History

1
Pre-History
2
The time period before humans started keeping
written records is called pre-history, or the
prehistoric period. It lasted for a very long
time, but we know relatively little about it.
3
What we do know has been discovered by a group of
historian/scientists called anthropologists.
They study the origins and development of people
and their societies. Like detectives, they find
clues to how people lived, then create theories
to fit the facts.
4
Since these are just theories, sometimes new
facts are discovered and the theories must change
to fit the new facts. For this reason, History
is not a fixed, unchanging thing. It is always
growing, expanding, and changing.
5
One type of anthropologist is the archaeologist.
These scientist/historians find and study the
material remains of past humans. Things they
look at are buildings, homes, and campsites, as
well as artifacts such as tools, weapons,
pottery, clothing, and jewelry.
6
Who is a famous movie archaeologist?
7
Indiana Jones
8
Probably the most famous real-life
anthropologists are the Leakeys. Mary and Louis
Leakey went to Africa, to the country of
Tanzania, and searched for prehistoric clues in a
canyon called the Olduvai Gorge.
9
In the Olduvai Gorge in 1959, Mary Leakey found a
small skull she said belonged to a human-like
creature called a hominid. Hominids include
humans and their closest relatives that walk
upright on two feet. Today, we are the only
hominids left on earth.
10
The skull Mary Leakey found allowed scientists to
reconstruct an entire new species of hominid
called Panthropus. This is a replica of that
skull.
11
This is a recreation of how Panthropus would have
looked.
12
In 1974, American anthropologist Donald Johanson
made another major discovery in the African
country of Ethiopia. He found many pieces of a
skeleton about 3 million years old. He named the
skeleton Lucy after the Beatles' song "Lucy in
the Sky With Diamonds." Its scientific name is
Australopithicus.
13
Johanson's skeletal fragments.
14
Lucy's upright skeleton.
15
Scientists say that around 200,000 years ago,
homo sapiens first appeared, with two groups
Neanderthal man, like this
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
and modern man, which is us.
19
About 50,000 years ago Neanderthal man became
extinct, leaving modern humans as the only
hominids left on earth. Or are we?
20
(No Transcript)
21
Anyway, 30,000 years ago, nomadic humans came to
North America from Asia across a land bridge
exposed by the last ice age. It was called the
Beringia, after the water that now covers it, the
Bering Strait.
22
Those that came to America were the first Native
Americans. When the ice age ended, they were cut
off from returning to Asia, and they spread out
and adapted to their surroundings, forming
tribes, villages, and even cities.
23
And it all started with that long, almost
forgotten, mysterious time called Pre-History.