Number

Name

Date

Neanderthal
Fossils
3 ½ million years ago
Walked upright
8 million years ago
Himalayas developed
Climate change
Less forest =Upright
Why did walking upright give students a competitive advantage?
Gave them more energy
Leads to more change of survival / 3000 generations ago ancestor lived at same time as Neanderthal
60000 first generation that left Africa
Fossil bones and relics key to past imagine what it is like to travel back in time
All fossils would fit in back in car
3 ½ million years into past
300,000 generations ago
Australopithecus Afarensis
Nesting in the trees
“Lucy”
Lives in a troop/ there are rival troops/ territory like modern chimp-10 square miles
Stand and walk on 2 legs- walk upright
Could live 50 years
Why would apes walk upright on two legs?
8 million years ago ancestors in forest used both hands and feet to get around
Dramatic change in landscapes- beneath the sea ocean floor is expanding shifting continents
Himalayas rose up cause monsoons making more dry air in Africa so Rain Forests retreat and Great Rift Valley develops
Land more sparsely treed therefor they have to spend more time on ground.
See farther- but not safer from predators
In the natural world sex and raising babies important- extra energy important. Energy saved might enable more babies.
More babies =species survival
Australapithicus Afarensis lived in east Africa. As climate changed as a result of the upthrust of the Himalayas which lead to drier conditions and the reduction of rain forests and the development of the savanah. They started to walk upright and this was an advantage. Saving energy by walking upright meant that they could use their energy for other things.

Documentary:Walking with the cavemen Part one

Walking with the cavemen: Part two

Paranthropusboisei
homo habilis
2 million years ago
Why are there MANY species of ape men existing at once?
environmental changes
boisei adaptation to food source (tough vegetation)
Habilis
scavenger
Habilis eat meat
Why are the
boisei okay if environment doesnt change? / 2 million years ago
many species of apemen
one species ParanthropusBoisei like modern gorilla
one dominant male mates with the females
one senior females
competition from outsider wanting to join the group
must be accepted by dominant male and other females
Homo Habilis
animals sabre tooth, lions
many ape men: Habilis, Rudolphensis, Boisei
many strategies for survival which one is our ancestor
Why are there so many ape men that walk upright?
fault of the sun
the tilt on its axis got colder poles iced up trapped water so the earth got drier
rainforest died out
clumps of trees left
new species develop like grass
new species developed to eat the new plants
lots of food of different types led to different ape species
Boisei adapt to eat tough vegetation like roots of reeds
strong teeth and jaws
new female to troop challenge for dominant male
Boisei eat termites- uses stick to get them
Habilis harder time in dry times
tries a raid on another troop
don’t have same teeth and jaw can’t eat the hard vegetation
became inquisitive scavengers finding food difficult have to spend lots of time looking for food. Need luck.
Investigate mysteries like vultures circling- why?
They’ve spotted food
Habilis eat meat taken from other predators
Need to be careful they’re not still around (Lion got the dominant male)
compete with other ape men Rudolphensis (very similar) fight for food
When rain comes Boisei make a display -not good at making shelters
Habilis “Jack of all Trades”
Boisei “master of one” okay as long as the environment doesn’t change
summary: two million years ago there were many species of ape like men on the African Savannah. they had adapted to changing environment and to eating different food. Boisei ate reeds and had developed tough teeth. Homo Habilis were scavengers and ate many different kinds of foods .
Over the next few hundred thousand years environment changes and Boisei can’t adapt
New female joins Boisei troop
Trouble with being a specialist is that you get left behind
So they eventually die out leaving only fossilized bones.
Habilisscavenging lifestyle makes them quick-witted and successful
Real breakthrough- first creatures to make stone tools MAKE STONE TOOLS
Eating meat gave them bigger brains ½ again as big as Boisei
Smarter –work as team to scare off the lion (that killed of the leader in earlier times)
Walking with the Cavemen Part 3
Can get one meal from the carcass-bone marrow- very nutritious
Tools enabled them to get food
So does this enable Habilis to become the dominant apeman in Africa?
New Apeman species arrive in East Africa Homo Ergaster.
1 ½ million years ago
Ergaster tracking an injured wildebeest(example of cooperation)
Have a sophisticated calling system
Ergaster can cover great distances even in heat
b/c of Sophisticated cooling system
  • long modern looking noses cool and moisten air as they breathe
  • hairless bodies and millions of sweat glands
  • so no more panting don’t have to spend time sitting in the shade
An enormous brain => we get that from them
  • Enables cooperation
  • Understand the world around them/ remember things/ can use reasoning to figure out what things mean like foot prints were made by a creature walking in a particular direction
  • Type of cloud mean rain
  • New species on the scene might mean change of season
Bigger brains let them create “the Rolls Royce of stone axes” found all over Africa=> means they were able to learn from each other
They changed the way they lived
Ergaster’s huge brain uses more energy uses 1/6 of their energy
Use it to deal with most complicated thing in their world
=> understanding other people
Not panting also frees up body to breathe and make sounds first to have a human voice
Ergasters are nomadic hunter gatherer
Why did Homo Ergaster’s hand axes stay the same for one million years old?
How were Heidelbergensis different from us? / They form groups based on family relationships not just survival
Being of pair bonds instead of dominant males mating with multiple females
First group of early many to have noticeable whites of their eyes
Can look and see into each other’s minds and communicate with eye contact.
Males compete for females
Society with Enemies and friends leads to spreading out beyond Africa
followed course on the Nile river out of Africa towards the middle east following and eventually getting to southern China
We even start to call them Homo Erectus
It could be they found an easier tool to work instead=> Bamboo
One million years in the future a mystery:
In Africa our ancestors ½ million years ago same stone axe is exactly the same, no changed in 1 million years
Not that they are stupid, but their brains don’t work the same
Takes a trigger to change their thinking
Encountering fire learning to harness it for warmth, safety, a tool and suddenly they controlled the world
Gave them more time from trying to survive to do other things.
Walking with the Cavemen Part 4
Southern England almost ½ million years ago
Heidelbergensis hunting giant antlered animal
Brains almost as big as ours
Appear to behave just like us
Left the dead where they have died=>unlike us they can’t picture other worlds ie no concept of the afterlife or world beyond death
  • That’s why modern humans have some sort of ceremony
So big difference between use and them is IMAGINATION
Heidelbergensis spreads through Africa and Europe
The north (Europe) has an ice age
The south (Africa) has a terrible drought
Heidelbergensis develops into two different species
140,000 Europe of Heidelbergensis has disappeared all of Europe icy Heidelbergensis has evolved into Neanderthals
To survive cold they are short, short extremities to reduce heat loss.
Noses broader and shorter- cold them down while working hard
Minds also changes
Ice age made them very tough bones are much tougher than modern humans
Are able to work together to take down a 7 tonne mammoth
A lot about their lives that are like us they probably have: Love happiness amusement…
But still don’t have imaginative thinking like we do=>there life doesn’t need it just being strong and tough.
Back in Africa lots of dessert=> people like us taller and thinner good for heat
Not surviving well with drought
When they are close to extinction only the most resourceful and imaginative survive