The emergence of homo sapiens

THE EMERGENCE OF HOMO SAPIENS

THE EARTH AND EARLY MAN

Formation of Earth 4 billion B.C.Appearance of Life 1 billion B.C.Beginning of Age of Reptiles 125 million B.C.Appearance of Mammals 60 million B.C.Beginning of Glacial Age 1 million B.C.First Glacier Old Stone Age Java Man 500,000 B.C. Second Glacier - Peking ManThird Glacier - - Neanderthal Man 120,000 B.C.Fourth Glacier - - Cro-Magnon Man 75,000 B.C.Post-Glacial Age - 8,000 B.C. New Stone Age 5,000 B.C.

Bronze Age Egyptian, Cretan, Mesopotamian 3,500 B.C. civilizations

OLD STONE AGE 500,000 B.C.- 8,000 B.C.

One of the earliest sets of relics is that of Java man, discovered on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. The remains of 4 skulls and some leg bones dating from about 500,000 B.C. suggest that Java man was about five and a half feet tall and that he walked in a stooped position. His skull had room for only a small brain.

Peking man probably stood more upright than Java man, had a slightly larger brain, and lived in a cave. Various weapons and bones on the floor of the cave where his remains were unearthed show that Peking man was a skillful hunter. Charred bones reveal that Peking man made one of the most important discoveries of early man, the discovery of fire.

PEKING MAN(SINANTHROPUS PEKINENSIS)

JAVA MAN(PITHECANTHROPUS ERECTUS)

Neanderthal man bones were discovered in a cave in the Neander valley in Germany. His bone structure reveals that he had a large brain, even though his low forehead, jutting jaw, and receding chin made him look as much like an ape as a man. He was short and stooped and had powerful arms. Neanderthal man sought shelter in caves.

In 1908 archaeologist found in France the skeleton of a young Neanderthal boy. The head was pillowed on a small pile of stones. A fine fist hatchet lay close to his hand, and bones of wild cattle surrounded him. These articles seem to indicate that Neanderthal man wanted to provide for life after death.

An evidence at Shanidar, Iraq consists of pollen around and on top of a man’s body. Pollen analysis suggests that the flowers included ancestral forms of modern grape hyacinths, bachelor’s buttons, hollyhocks, and yellow flowering groundsels What does it show about the Neanderthal man of Iraq?

As the fourth glacier slowly receded about 75,000 years ago, Neanderthal man gradually disappeared. No one knows exactly why his race vanished from the earth. What possibly happened to them?

Modern man in Europe, known as Cro-Magnon, was a handsome six-footer with a broad face, a high, intelligent forehead, and a square chin. He stood straight as men now do. Cro-Magnon man took over the caves of the extinct Neanderthal man hunted the same animals.

The most remarkable accomplishments of Cro-Magnon man were his paintings, which can still be seen on the walls of dark caves in France and Northern Spain.

Cro-Magnon man also fashioned small stone figures of animals and humans and learned to decorate his weapons by carving designs in the handles. With bone needles, he sewed clothing out of animal hides.

He probably had a larger vocabulary than Neanderthal man. Language gave him an enormous advantage over animals because he could convey all his own knowledge and experiences to succeeding generations.

NEANDERTHAL MAN CRO-MAGNON MAN

Today scientists recognize that all men belong to one great human family, or species called Homo Sapiens (“thinking man”), which is divided into three physical types based on such characteristics as shape of the skull, type of hair, and skin color namely: (1) Caucasians ;(2) Negroes; (3) Mongolians.

No one of these groups, or races, remained isolated from the others. In the course of migration there was much intermarriage. The result was the development of many racial subdivisions such as the Polynesians in the Pacific and Dravidians in India. The United States has large numbers of the three major races: Caucasians (Europeans), Negroes (Africans), and Mongolians (Chinese, Japanese, and American Indians).

HOW MAN LEARNED THE SECRETS OF AGRICULTURE WILL PROBABLY REMAIN A MYSTERY FOREVER.

New Stone Age man began to plant seeds and create his own food supply. He still fished and hunted, but agriculture freed him from absolute dependence on wild plants and animals. As his supply of grain increased, he was able to use some of it as fodder for his livestock.

The development of agriculture and the domestication of animals meant that man had changed from a food-gatherer to a food-producer and had thus taken another important step toward civilization.

New Stone Age man know how to make pottery and weave cloth. Mysterious monuments suggest the New Stone Age man held religious beliefs.