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The Big Bang. Our Galaxy: The Milky Way. Other Galaxies. Our Solar System. Earth. Plate Tectonics. The 1 st 4 Million Years. 1859 Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species. Australopithecines & modern humans are hominids, & members of the primate family .
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The 1st 4 Million Years • 1859 Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species. • Australopithecines & modern humans are hominids, & members of the primate family.
The 1st 4 Million Years • 3 distinguishing characteristics: • Bi-pedalism • Very large brain • Lower position of larynx
The 1st 4 Million Years Homo Habilis: • Evolved 2-3 million years ago with brain 50% larger • Seeds, grass, leaves, fruits, berries, low protein • Extinct by 1 million years
The 1st 4 Million Years Homo Erectus: • 1.8 million years ago • Resembled modern man from the neck down • Brain 1/3 larger • More protein - Social
The 1st 4 Million Years Homo Sapiens: • 400,000 to 100,000 years ago. • Brain size increased by another 1/3 • Greater speech capacity, expanded diet
The 1st 4 Million Years • Stone Age (2MM – 4K) • Paleolithic (Old) to 10K • Neolithic (New) to now
The 1st 4 Million Years • Paleolithic (Old Stone Age): • Stone tools • Scavenging/Foraging • Much later hunting • Fire - not used for food.
The 1st 4 Million Years • 2 – parent family • Women gathered, cooked, reared the children while the men hunted. Lived in small groups migrating to “chase” their food.
The 1st 4 Million Years • 3-5 hours daily for food, shelter and clothing. Time spent gathering, organizing, and passing on information, art, & religion.
Agricultural Revolution • Neolithic (New Stone Age) • Caused by changes in climate • 1st stage: semicultivation, followed by cultivation. • Transitions occurred independently in various place of the world.
Agricultural Revolution • Domestication of plants & animals occurred independently around the globe. • Exceptions were the Americas, Central Asia & Africa.
Agricultural Revolution • Global Warming in the Holocene period (beginning 9,000 B.C.E.) created environmental changes that reduced game & wild plant supplies.
Life in Neolithic Communities • Advantages of food production-stored extra, sustained health. • Society organized in kinship groups.
Cultural Expressions • Worshiped ancestral and nature spirits. • Used the megaliths • Spread of language groups
Early Towns & Specialists • Geographically favored. • Villages grew to towns & centers of trade • Metal works in the late Neolithic era, gold & silver • Support for non-farmers.