What Makes Us Human?

Culture The life ways of a group, including behaviors, objects, ideas,

religion, passed down from generation to generation.

Language The ability to communicate both written and verbally.

Ability to reason - Higher level of thinking. Empathy -

to identify with and understand another person’s feelings or difficulties.

EVOLUTION

The gradual development of something into

a more complex or better form. The gradual development of something into

a more complex or better form.

• Walking upright helps hominids travel distances easily.• Hominid: Humans and other creatures that walk upright.

• They also developed opposable thumb which made it easy to use tools. • These early hominids evolved into the modern human species- Homo

Sapiens.

Greek for “old Stone” the earliest period in a cultural development.

Lasted from approximately one million years ago to 10,000 BCE.

Humans lived by: Hunting & Fishing Collecting wild plants. Considered Hunter-gathers.

Nomads: Never settled in one place & followed their food.

Paleolithic Period

Paleolithic Period Continued

Art: Cave Paintings, sculpture made of mammoth Ivory, animal horns & animal bones.

Making and controlling fire.Acquiring language.Developing religious & magical beliefs-

(honor when burying dead).Evolution of the Human species from an

apelike creature to true Homo Sapiens.

Paleolithic ArtPaleolithic Art

What can this art tell us about early humans?

Ending of the Paleolithic Period

Fire and the use of tools made it possible for humans to spread beyond Africa.

By 12,000 B.C.E., human societies spread to Europe, Asia, North America, South America, and Australia.

While most human societies at the end of the Paleolithic period migrated in pursuit of game, some groups were more sedentary.

More stable groups began the switch from hunter-gatherer to Farmer.

Vocabulary Chapter 1 Hominid - Humans and other creatures that walk

upright. Paleolithic Age (Old Stone) - Greek for “old Stone” the

earliest period in a cultural development. Nomad - Never settled in one place & followed their

food. Neolithic Revolution – The switch early humans made

from hunter-gatherer to an agrarian society. Agrarian – Based on agriculture Domestication – to tame (an animal), to live in close

association with human beings as a pet or work animal. Civilization - an advanced state of human society, in

which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached.

Polytheism – belief in more than one god.

Neolithic Period

Greek for “New Stone Age” also referred to as the Neolithic Revolution.

Started around 10,000 BCE lasting to approximately 3100 BCE.

Humans started domesticating animals and plants for food. They were transitioning from a hunter-gatherer

society to an agrarian community. Domesticated animals improved the supplies of

available protein, provided hides and wool for clothing.

Neolithic Period Continued Humans began to use new methods in

farming.Slash & Burn: cut trees or grasses and

burned them to clear a field. Ashes then fertilized the soil.

Humans began to build permanent settlements while some were still nomadic.

Began to use clay pottery, woven baskets for storing, transporting, & cooking food.

Art: Wall paintings, sculpture, and introduction of pottery and clay.

The Neolithic

Period

Neolithic Period Continued This Neolithic Revolution took place at

different times in different parts of the world. The rate at which people and cultures evolved

was based on different crops and different environments, and what materials were available.

Unlike the Paleolithic Age when more than one human species existed the only human species that reached the Neolithic period were Homo Sapiens.

This period is known as the beginning of civilization.