Discoveries in Africa and beyond

_Before the 1950s, anthropologists knew little about early humans

and their ancestors.
_Archaeopologists in east Africa stated uncovering ancient footprints,
bones, and tools.
_With these first key discoveries schols are began to form a picture of
life during prehistory.
Ancient Clues Found in East Africa In the 1930s
_anthropoloogists Mary Leakey and Louis Leakey Started searching
for clues to the humans past in a deep Canyon in Tanzania. called
Olduvai Gorge.
_As the Leakeys Searched the side of the forge, They found very
ancient tools Chipped from stone.
_More recent stone tools proved more Sohisticated-both smith and
polished-but the older ones wre exciting to the Leakeys.
_They felt the must be envidence of the makers of those tools in
Olduvai Gorge as well.
_In 1959, after more than two decades of searching Mary Leakey
found a skull embedded in ancient rock at Olduvai Gorge. After careful
testing Leakey Concluded that the skull belonged to an early hominids.
_additional endence of the first hominids was discovered in 1974 by
anthropologists Donalgd Johanson. In Ethiopia, Johanson found many
piece of a single hominid Skeleton, Wich was dated to at least 3 million
year a go.
 _For the first time, archaeologists had enough of one skeleton to
piece together and really look at an early hominid. Johanson named his
search ‘’Lucy”
Evidence of early Hominid Group
_They call the earliest groupb of hominid australopicines.All the
austrsalothecines lived in Africa,anthropologists think that they may
have lived there as early as 7 million year ago.
_About 2 million years ago , a groupnof hominids emegred that
anthropologists call Homo habilis. Scholar gave the group this name,
wich means “handy man,” because thry thought these were the first
Hominids to make stone tools.
_Another group of Hominids, called Homo erectus, also appeared
around 2 million years ago. They were given their name, which means
“upright man,” because their skeletons show that they were fully
upright walkers.
First finds of Humans Around the World
_scientists think that between 250,000 and 100,000 years ago, Homo
erectus disappeared and a new group of hominids emerged. This new
group called Homo sapiens,is the group to which modern humans
belong.
_Either way, scholars think that two group of Homo sapiens soon
arose—Neaderthals and the earliest modern humans.