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Human Origins in Africa
MAIN IDEA
INTERACTION WITH ENVIRONMENT Fossil evidence shows that the earliest humans originated in Africa and spread across the globe.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW
The study of early human remains and artifacts helps in understanding our place in human history. • • • •

TERMS & NAMES
artifact culture hominid Paleolithic Age • Neolithic Age • technology• Homo sapiens

SETTING THE STAGE What were the earliest humans like? Many people have

asked this question. Because there are no written records of prehistoric peoples, scientists have to piece together information about the past. Teams of scientists use a variety of research methods to learn more about how, where, and when early humans developed. Interestingly, recent discoveries provide themost knowledge about human origins and the way prehistoric people lived. Yet, the picture of prehistory is still far from complete.

Scientists Search for Human Origins
Written documents provide a window to the distant past. For several thousand years, people have recorded information about their beliefs, activities, and important events. Prehistory, however, dates back to the time before theinvention of writing—roughly 5,000 years ago. Without access to written records, scientists investigating the lives of prehistoric peoples face special challenges.
Scientific Clues Archaeologists are specially trained scientists who work like

TAKING NOTES
Categorizing Use a diagram to list advances of each hominid group.

Hominid Group
Cro-Magnons

detectives to uncover the story ofprehistoric peoples. They learn about early people by excavating and studying the traces of early settlements. An excavated site, called an archaeological dig, provides one of the richest sources of clues to the prehistoric way of life. Archaeologists sift through the dirt in a small plot of land. They analyze all existing evidence, such as bones and artifacts. Bones might reveal what the people lookedlike, how tall they were, the types of food they ate, diseases they may have had, and how long they lived. Artifacts are human-made objects, such as tools and jewelry. These items might hint at how people dressed, what work they did, or how they worshiped. Scientists called anthropologists study culture, or a people’s unique way of life. Anthropologists examine the artifacts at archaeologicaldigs. From these, they re-create a picture of early people’s cultural behavior. (See Analyzing Key Concepts on culture on the following page.) Other scientists, called paleontologists, study fossils—evidence of early life preserved in rocks. Human fossils often consist of small fragments of teeth, skulls, or other bones. Paleontologists use complex techniques to date ancient fossil remains and rocks.Archaeologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, and other scientists work as a team to make new discoveries about how prehistoric people lived.

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Culture
In prehistoric times, bands of humans that lived near one another began to develop shared ways of doing things: common ways of dressing, similar hunting practices, favorite animals to eat. Theseshared traits were the first beginnings of what anthropologists and historians call culture. Culture is the way of life of a group of people. Culture includes common practices of a society, its shared understandings, and its social organization. By overcoming individual differences, culture helps to unify the group.

CULTURAL DATA
Annual movie attendance, 1998–2000 (per person)*
5.0 2.9

0.3* UNESCO, last update 3/03

Components of Culture
Common Practices Shared Understandings Social Organization

Marriage rates, 1999 (per 1,000 population)*
8.6 6.0 5.1

• what people eat • clothing and
adornment

• sports • tools and technology • social customs • work

• language • symbols • religious beliefs • values • the arts • political beliefs

• family • class and caste...