This document summarizes hominid evolution from 4 million BC to 2500 BC. It describes key hominid species like Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens. Homo erectus were the first to migrate out of Africa and may have developed basic language. Later species like Homo sapiens and Neanderthals exhibited behaviors like using tools, controlling fire, developing religion and language, and working together in groups to hunt. The document also discusses the discovery of the famous hominid Lucy and examines how changes like bipedalism and opposable thumbs aided survival.

1. (4 million B.C. to 2500 B.C.)

2.  Prehistory & Inferences
 Types of Scientists
 Hominids (Lucy)
 Ages
 Type of Man
 Development of language

5.  BC= Before Christ
 AD= After Death (of Christ)
 BCE=Before Common Era
 CE= Common Era
BC BCE
AD CE

6.  Pre-history= before
writing
 Artifacts= remains, tools,
jewelry, human-made
 Inferences= the act or
process of deriving a
conclusion based solely on
what one already knows

16.  Archaeologists=
study by excavating
and studying traces
of early settlements
 Anthropologists=
study culture,
custom, family life
and social
relationships
 Paleontologists=
study fossils
(preserved in rocks)

17.  Discovered “Lucy” in
1974 in Ethiopia
 Lucy was named after
a Beatles’ song, Lucy
in the Sky with
Diamonds because
the song was
repeatedly playing
the night of the
excavation

18.  Lucy is 3 ½ feet tall and she
stood
 Used the pelvis and thigh
bones to tell that she was a
woman and that she stood
upright
 From her rib they could tell
that she was a vegetarian
 Her curved finger bones
should that she was probably
at home in the trees as well.
 Lucy is the oldest hominids
(upright walking) to date (3.5
million years)

19.  What are the benefits of
walking upright?
Carry food and children
Travel distances more easily
Spot threatening animals better
What are the benefits of the
opposable thumb?
Picking up small objects and making tools
Try picking up something like a coin or object without your
opposable thumb…

20.  Paleolithic Age(Old Stone Age/Ice Age)- 2.5 million-8000
million
 Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)- 8000 B.C.- 3000 B.C.
 Stone Age- polished stone tools, pottery, grow crops, raise
animals…

22.  Homo Habilis= “man of skill”
 Homo Erectus= “upright man”
 Begin to use technology (tools for
hunting, farming, migrating
 First to migrate from Africa into
India, China, Southeast Asia and
Europe
 Possibly might have developed the
beginnings of language
 Language played into
communication to move or hunt,
might have named things
(teamwork)

24. MMigigrraattioionn R Roouutteess
Africa 
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/

25.  Homo erectushomo sapiens= “wise men”
 Homo sapiens have much larger brains
 Neanderthal= 200,000 30,000 B.C.
 Religious beliefs (burials)
 Survived the Ice Age
 Lived in caves or temporary shelter made of wood and animal skin
 Cut up and skinned their prey
 Vanished about 30,000 years ago, and why remains a mystery

27.  Appeared around 40,000
years ago
 Their skeletons show that
they are identical to
modern humans
 Planned their hunts
 Studied the animals they
would hunt
 Survived because of their
hunting skills
 Advanced language skills

29.  Which of the following skills- tool-making, the
use of fire, or the development of language- do
you think gave hominids the most control over
their environment? Why?

31.  Tools/Defense (hunting)
 Language development
 Migration
 Inferences