Is known about the lives of early human beings.

1. Prehistoric Man

2. • Prehistory is the period that begins with the
appearance of the human being, about five
million years ago, and finishes with the
invention of writing, about 6,000 years ago.
• It is a long period divided into three stages:
the Palaeolithic Age, the Neolithic Age and
the Metal Age.

3. Hominization
• Hominization is the evolutionary process that
results in the present human being. It was a
very long process.

5. Australopithecus

6. Australopithecus
• The first ancestors of the human beings appeared
about five million years ago. They were quite
similar to chimpanzees.
• Face proportions (a flat nose, a strongly projecting
lower jaw) and braincase (with a small brain,
usually less than 500 cubic centimeter) and a body
that stood on two legs and regularly walked
upright.
• Height: Males: average 4 ft 11 in (151 cm); Females:
average 3 ft 5 in (105 cm)
• Weight: Males: average 92 lbs (42 kg) ; Females:
average 64 lbs (29 kg)

7. Homo Habilis

8. Homo Habilis
• Two million years ago a new human species
called Homo Habilis appeared. They made tools
of stone and lived on hunting and gathering.
Homo Habilis lived in Africa.
• Has a slightly larger braincase and smaller face
and teeth than in Australopithecus.
• Height: average 3 ft 4 in - 4 ft 5 in (100 - 135 cm)
• Weight: average 70 lbs (32 kg)

9. Homo Erectus

10. Homo Erectus
• Appeared a million and a half years ago. This
species discovered and learned how to use fire.
Homo Erectus remains have been found out in
Africa, in Europe and Asia.
• Body proportions with relatively elongated legs
and shorter arms. Braincase relative to the size
of the face. Have the ability to walk and
possibly run long distances.
• Height: Ranges from 4 ft 9 in - 6 ft 1 in (145 -
185 cm)
• Weight: Ranges from 88 - 150 lbs (40 - 68 kg)

11. Homo Antecessor

12. Homo Antecessor
• is an extinct human species discovered in the
Atapuerca site ( Spain). He appeared about
800,000 years ago. Most probably he is the
oldest European.
• Brain size: approximately 1000 cc
• Body size and shape: similar to modern
humans, but more robust, males averaged
about 1.6-1.8 metres tall.
• Robust teeth, receding chin.

13. • Then, about 100,000 years ago Homo sapiens
appeared. This species is divided into two
subtypes: Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis or
Neanderthal man and Homo sapiens sapiens.

14. Neanderthal Man

15. Neanderthal Man
• Neanderthal man looked like us but he was more
robust and sturdy. This species became extinct.
• Some defining features of their skulls include the
large middle part of the face, angled cheek
bones, and a huge nose. Their bodies were
shorter and stockier than ours.
• Height: Males: average 5 ft 5 in (164 cm);
Females: average 5 ft 1 in (155 cm)
• Weight: Males: average 143 lbs (65 kg);
Females: average 119 lbs (54 kg)

16. Homo Sapiens Sapiens

17. Homo Sapiens Sapiens
• Homo sapiens sapiens is the species we belong
to. Archaeologists have found remains of Homo
Sapiens in America and Australia.
• Body size and shape: Modern humans now
have an average height of about 160
centimetres in females and 175 centimetres in
males.
• Brain: average brain size of about 1350 cubic
centimetres which makes-up 2.2% of our body
weight.

18. • Jaws are short which result in an almost
vertical face.
• Teeth are relatively small compared with
earlier species.
• Legs are relatively long compared with the
arms.

19. Palaeolithic Age
• The Palaeolithic Age began with our first
ancestors and finished about 10,000 years
ago. During that period, human beings used
tools made of stone and lived on hunting and
gathering.

20. The Palaeolithic Age
Hunters and Gatherers
• The first human beings
survived because they
hunted, fished and
gathered wild fruits.
• These groups of human
beings were nomadic.
• The groups that they
formed are called tribes.

21. How Palaeolithic human beings used
stone:
• Paleolithic means Old
Stone. In the Palaeolithic
objects were made of
stone, wood and animal
bones. Most objects were
made of stone and that is
why this period was also
called Stone Age.

22. • The technique to make tools and objects out
of stone was very simple. They knocked two
stones together until they got small pieces
from one of them. These pieces became
cutting objects. They used them to hunt and
cut animals skins and meat. Examples of
objects made of wood and animal bones are:
harpoons, needles and lances.

23. The Discovery of Fire
• Fire was discovered about half a
million years ago.
• For human beings in the
Paleolithic Age it was one of the
most important discoveries.
• The climate was extremely cold
and with fire they could heat and
light their caves, cook their food
and frighten wild animals away

24. Cave Art
• Palaeolithic tribes decorated
their caves walls with paintings
and made sculptures to keep
these divinities favourable to
them. Among the sculptures
that they made the Venus
forms were exceptional.
• The most famous prehistorical
paintings are in the caves of
Altamira, in Spain, and Lascaux,
in France. This kind of art is
called cave art

25. Neolithic Age
• In the Neolithic Age, which began about
10,000 years ago, human beings lived in
villages. Human communities cultivated the
land and raised cattle. Agriculture and cattle
raising gave rise to a productive economy.

26. The Neolithic Age
• Human beings discovered agriculture and cattle
raising about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East
( Mesopotamia, Egypt)
• Hunting wild animals and gathering fruits and
plants were not the only way of getting food.
They learnt to cultivate plants and domesticate
animals.
• When human beings knew how to produce their
own food their lives changed. This process is so
important that we call it revolution.

27. • When men and women started to live in
villages, there was a specialization of work.
• Some people cultivated fields, other people
looked after the animals and others made
weapons, fabrics, and other objects.
• There were two important technical
innovations in the Neolithic Age: fabrics and
pottery.

28. • They produced fabrics
from animals wool
using tools like bone
spindles, and
rudimentary looms.
• Pottery was made by
hand and baked in a
bonfire.

29. Cave Paintings
The Neolithic Art
• Art is an excellent testimony of
the way human beings in the
Neolithic Age lived.
• The human figure becomes more
important in the paintings in the
caves and artists began to paint
scenes: groups of people hunting,
harvesting vegetables or dancing.
Figures were very schematic.

30. Metal Age
• We call the the Metal Age to the period
beginning about 7000 years ago, when
human beings started to make objects
out of metals.

31. The Metal Age
Inventions
• The wheel, the sail and the
plough were invented in the
Middle East about 5000 years
ago. We still use them today.
• The wheel had different
applications: for
transportation being used in
carts pulled by bullocks or in
pottery wheels to make
better ceramic pieces.

32. The First Cities
• Agriculture, cattle raising and the new technical
advances, improved peoples lives. Because of
this, population increased. Some villages became
small cities with hundreds of inhabitants.
• Cities were encircled by walls, and inside there
were buildings with different functions: houses,
stores, shops or workshops. First cities houses
were small, their walls were made of adobe or
stone and their ceilings were made of straw.

33. Art of the Metal Age: Megalithic
Monuments
• In the late Neolithic Age, human beings built
what we can call the first monuments using
big blocks of stone, called megaliths (Big
stones). The main monuments were menhirs,
dolmens and cromlechs.

34. Menhirs
• Menhirs were big, long
stones vertically driven
into the ground.
Menhirs were probably
religious constructions
dedicated to worship
the sun.

35. Dolmens
• Dolmens were collective
burial places. They were
composed of big, long
vertical stones which
formed a wall and were
covered by several
horizontal slabs of a
great size.

36. Cromlechs
• Cromlechs were wide
circles formed by several
menhirs. They were
probably used as
sanctuaries.