The origin of humans and early human societies: Paleolithic

During the Paleolithic Period, humans made stone tools and began migrating throughout the
world.

Key Terms

Term Definition

prehistory Events that occurred before the invention of writing

Historians typically note the invention of writing as the start of history. This is
history the point when we have written records to work with and interpret

Paleolithic Literally means old stone age. Refers to the time period when hunting,
Period foraging, and fishing were the primary means of humans obtaining food.

Homo
sapiens Anatomically modern humans. Our subspecies is called Homo sapiens sapiens

hunter- Someone who gets their food primarily by hunting or fishing animals and
forager gathering plants

human When people move from one place to another, usually over a long distance,
migration with the plan to live permanently in the new area

Timeline

Date Event

200,000 years ago First known anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens

200,000 years ago -

12,000 years ago Paleolithic period, or old stone age

From Africa, the first known birthplace of humankind, people

100,000 years ago began populating other land masses

Earliest known date at which humans developed the capacity for

50,000 years ago language
We believe that anatomically modern humansour subspecies of Homosapiens sapienshave
been around for roughly 200,000 of the planets 4.5 billion years. And even though 200,000
years is a very short period of the history of the planet, it is still a very long time. 200,000 years
would represent at least 6,000 generations of your ancestors. 200,000 years is nearly 1,000
times as long as the United States has been a country. It is 100 times as distant in the past as
the time of Jesus and the Roman Empire. It is 40 times as distant in the past as the earliest
written records ever found.

Think about the scope of what must have happened during that time: adventures, sorrows, the
rise and fall of civilizations. And we have the privilege of exploring this vast expanse of human
experience and knowledge.

What were the earliest humans like? Many people have asked this question. Because there
are no written records of prehistoric peoples, scientists have to piece together information
about the past. They use different research methods to learn more about how, where, and
when early humans developed.

Our main tool is what has been written by those who came before us. In fact, this is what
formally defines history. The oldest written records archaeologists have discovered in
Mesopotamia, cuneiform and Egypt hieroglyphic (around 3.500 B.C) the date when they
were created is the currently accepted date at which formal history begins in that part of the
world. But who knows, we might one day find older records.

Even with written records, though, we have to be careful. The writing may be in a dead
language that we know little about. If one tribe exterminates another, we tend to get only the
biased story from those who survived. Many times, narratives are only written down after
generations of being transmitted orally, with every transmitter of the story embellishing or
editing as they see fit. Even for events that happened yesterday, two direct observers could
have two completely different perceptions of what happened and why.

Things get even tougher when speaking of prehistory, the events that occurred before the
existence of written records. But we still have many tools. Archaeologists can excavate ancient
structures and burial sites and begin to infer how the people lived from fossilsin this case,
human remainsand artifactshuman-made items. Archaeologists can estimate the age of
fossils and artifacts through several techniques, as carbon dating which measures the amount
of radioactive carbon in fossils to place them in time. Age can also be determined by
identifying the age of the layer of rock that the artifacts are buried in. This is called
stratigraphic dating, from the Latin stratum (layer).

Recent discoveries provide the most knowledge about human origins and the way prehistoric
people lived. Yet, the picture of prehistory is still far from complete.

EVOLUTION

Scientists have several theories about why early hominids evolved. One, the aridity
hypothesis, suggests that early hominids were more suited to dry climates and evolved as the
Africas dry savannah regions expanded. According to the savannah hypothesis, early tree-
dwelling hominids may have been pushed out of their homes as forest regions became smaller
and the size of the savannah expanded, causing them to adapt to living on the ground and
walking upright instead of climbing.

Australopithecus

The Discovery of Lucy While Mary Leakey was working in East Africa, U.S. anthropologist
Donald Johanson and his team were also searching for fossils. They were exploring sites in
Ethiopia, about 1,000 miles to the north. In 1974, Johansons team made a remarkable find
an unusually complete skeleton of an adult female hominid. They nicknamed her Lucy after
the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. She had lived around 3.5 million years agothe
oldest hominid found to that date.

Hominids Walk Upright Lucy and the hominids who left their footprints in East Africa were
species of australopithecines. Walking upright helped them travel distances more easily. They
were also able to spot threatening animals and carry food and children. These early hominids
had already developed the opposable thumb. This means that the tip of the thumb can cross
the palm of the hand. The opposable thumb was crucial for tasks such as picking up small
objects and making tools. (To see its importance, try picking up a coin with just the index and
middle fingers. Imagine all the other things that cannot be done without the opposable
thumb.)

The Old Stone Age Begins

The invention of tools, mastery over fire, and the development of language are some of the
most impressive achievements in human history. Scientists believe these occurred during the
prehistoric period known as the Stone Age. It spanned a vast length of time. The earlier and
longer part of the Stone Age, called the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Age, lasted from about 2.5
million to 8000 B.C. The oldest stone chopping tools date back to this era. The New Stone Age,
or Neolithic Age, began about 8000 B.C. and ended as early as 3000 B.C. in some areas. People
who lived during this second phase of the Stone Age learned to polish stone tools, make
pottery, grow crops, and raise animals.

Hominids continued to evolve and develop unique characteristics. Their brain capacities
increased, and approximately 2.3 million years ago, a hominid known as Homo habilis began to
make and use simple tools. By a million years ago, some hominid species, particularly Homo
erectus, began to migrate out of Africa and into Eurasia, where they began to make other
advances like controlling fire.
 Picture of a Homo habilis skull on a blue background. Skull is missing two of its front teeth.

Homo habilis skull. Image courtesy Wikimedia commons.

Picture of a Homo erectus skull on a white background. The cranium is more shallow than that of a
Homo sapiens skull.

Homo erectus skull. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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