The Beginnings of Humanity

6 Million Years Ago - Ardipithecus

Located In East Africa

Climbed Trees (4 Limbs) and Walked (2 Limbs) in Woodlands

Ate ripe fruits and animals (thin enamel on teeth = soft foods)

4 Million Years Ago - Australopithecus

Located across Africa in Woodlands & Grasslands

Walked Only Shorter Arms Ate tougher foods

(thicker enamel on teeth)

Larger Brain* Dikika Baby, Age 3

2 Million Years Ago - Homo

Left Africa and traveled to Europe (Spain) and Asia (China/Java)

Developed Stone Tools Teeth and Jaws smaller Larger Brain Rituals Began

Conclusion

• How much have human developed over the past 6 million years?

• How different are 21st century humans from the earliest humans?

*Dresden, 1945 *Ghana

Sources

1. National Geographic, July 2010

2. Ardipithecus Skeleton (Slide 2) from Discover Magazine.com http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/10/01/ardipithecus-we-meet-at-last/

3. “Ardipithecus Ramidus Lights the Way,” National Geographic.com http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/human-evolution/human-ancestor

4. “Childhood Origins,” by Christopher P. Sloan, National Geographic, November 2006. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/11/dikika-baby/sloan-text

5. http://www.iupui.edu/~mstd/a103/Paleolithic%20Tool%20Types.htm