1. BEFORE THE NEOLITHIC
REVOLUTION:
HOMINIDS AND SKILLS
Social Studies for 8th E.G.B.
Teacher: Mauricio Torres

2. What is a Hominid?
 Hominids are a group that includes humans and
their closest relatives.
 All walk upright on two feet.
 Humans are the only hominids that live today.

3. Background
 With the Ice Age:
 The north African tropical forest began to retreat,
being replaced first by open grasslands and
eventually by desert (the modern Sahara).
 This forced tree-dwelling animals to adapt to their
new environment or die out.
 Some primates adapted to a partly or fully
ground-dwelling life.

4. Bipedalism
 Some Hominids adapted to this
challenge by
adopting bipedalism: walking on
their hind legs.
 This gave their eyes greater
elevation, the ability to see
approaching danger further off,
and a more efficient means of
locomotion.
 It also freed the forelimbs (arms)
from the task of walking and
made the hands available for
tasks such as gathering food.

5. Lucy
 The first hominids were
called by scientists:
Australopithecines.
 The oldest fossil found was
that of “Lucy”, in Ethiopia.

6. Homo Habilis
 At some point the bipedal
primates developed
handedness, giving them the
ability to pick up sticks,
bones and stones and use
them.
 Two million years ago emerged
a new hominid: homo habilis.
 They were the first to make
stone tools.
 In other words, these primates
developed the use of
primitive technology.

7. Homo Erectus
 Also around two million years
ago, another hominid appeared:
homo erectus.
 The name was given because
they walked fully upright.
 They had larger brains and
bones, smaller teeth and different
characteristics from other
hominids.
 They were the first to use fire!
 They also built more complex
tools.
 It’s also suspected that they were
the first to develop spoken
language.

8. Homo Sapiens
 Around a hundred thousand
years ago, a new group
emerged: homo sapiens…
the “Wise Man”.
 They evolved further than
their predecessors and split
into two categories:
 Homo sapiens
 Homo neanderthalensis
 Both species migrated out of
Africa and settled different
parts of Europe and Asia.
 They also developed the first
real signs of culture.

9. One happy family
 Sahelanthropus sediba  Homo gautengensis
 Sahelanthropus  Paranthropus  Homo habilis
tchadensis  Paranthropus  Homo rudolfensis
 Orrorin aethiopicus  Homo ergaster
 Orrorin tugenensis  Paranthropus boisei  Homo georgicus
 Ardipithecus  Paranthropus  Homo erectus
 Ardipithecus kadabba
robustus
 Homo cepranensis
 Ardipithecus ramidus
 Kenyanthropus
 Homo antecessor
 Kenyanthropus
platyops  Homo
 Australopithecus heidelbergensis
 Australopithecus  Homo rhodesiensis
anamensis  Homo
 Australopithecus neanderthalensis
afarensis  Homo sapiens idaltu
 Australopithecus  Homo sapiens (Cro-
bahrelghazali Magnon)
 Australopithecus  Homo sapiens
africanus sapiens
 Australopithecus garhi
 Australopithecus  Homo

10. Ask yourself
 What skills did humans develop in order to outlive their own
“cousins”?

11. Bibliography
 For further reading, use your books and check
pages 28 through 31.
 Burstein, S. M., & Shek, R. (2012). World
History (Teacher´s Edition). In H. McDougal
(Ed.). Orlando, Florida, US.: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Publishing Company.
 Ellis, E. G., & Esler, A. (2009). World History.
(P. Hall, Ed.) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey,
US: Pearson Education INC.