ARDIPITHECUSBy Bailey, Skylar, Dylan, and Ian

INTRODUCTIONTake a journey with us into the past back to when Ardipithecus lived. They were very different from us in many ways; they were also somewhat like us. In our presentation, you will learn about their homes, abilities, diet, life, and other interesting things about this group of hominids.

When and WhereThey existed four to six million years ago, and they lived in jungles in Ethiopia. There were lots of ways to die in Ethiopia: disease, wild animal attack, snake bite, falling off of a cliff, etc. They had a very perilous lifestyle. (1)

They were quadrupeds in trees and bipeds on the ground. They had small brains and had lots of hair. They were pretty much monkey-men. (2)

What They Looked Like

Homes

Ardipithecus lived in trees; they did not build shelters. They slept on branches, and their fur kept them warm on the coldest of nights. They used trees to sleep in because they did not have time to build shelters, and even if they did, they had small brains, so they were probably quite obtuse. (3)

Food

They were omnivores. Omnivores are animals that eat both meat and plants. Ardipithecus ate fruits, nuts, and raw meat. They ate raw meat because they had not yet found a way to cook their food. They mostly ate fruits and nuts because they were the easiest to get. (4)

Being ThemLife As They Knew It

Ardipithecus were woodland omnivores. They were hunter-gatherers; unfortunately, they did not have tools so hunting was harder than it was in later times. Additionally, they did not have baskets so they had to carry all if their food in their hands and stomachs. (5)

They did not yet discover fire. Ardipithecus did not need fire to keep warm because of their abundance of fur. If they had fire, they wouldn’t have gotten as many diseases and parasites from the meat. They didn’t have fire so they had no choice but to eat the raw meat. (6)

Fire

Religion

Archeologists believe that some Ardipithecus practiced a ritual of passing a child’s skull around. They believe this because they discovered a skull that had cut marks on it in a way that made them think they were practicing a ritual instead of cannibalism. (7)

Tools

Because Ardipithecus had such small brains, they did not have the ability to create stone tools. This made it much more difficult to cut meat and to hunt for food. (8)

LanguageWhat Did They Speak?

Ardipithecus did not have a distinguished or written language, again, because of their small brain size. They most likely communicated by hand signals or noises and grunts. (9)

Clothing

Ardipithecus did not wear clothing. They had fur for protection so clothing was not needed. Also, their fur kept them warm because it covered their whole bodies.(10)

ART ABILITIESArdipithecus did not paint or do any other type of art because they had no time because they had to hunt, gather food, and survive. Additionally, Ardipithecus most likely did not have the ability to paint or do any other types of art.(11)

Miscellaneous

Ardipithecus is over one million years older than famous Australopithecus Lucy. They are direct descendants of chimpanzees; before them, gorillas; and the father of all ape-like creatures, orangutans. (12)

Closing/SummaryThe discovery of Ardipithecus was a very important find because it tells us even more about humans who lived millions of years ago. Ardipithecus could not do many things that we can do today, but they still managed to survive for many years. Though they had small brains, they could hunt animals without tools and could gather fruits and plants. They are the oldest hominids found so far, but who knows, maybe there were hominids that existed even earlier.

Trivia Questions1. When did Ardipithecus exist?2. What language did they speak?3. How did they walk?

Trivia AnswersArdipithecus lived 4-6 million years ago.That’s a trick question; they did not speak an actual language.Ardipithecus were bipeds on the ground and quadrupeds in the trees.

End Notes

1. Chris Johns, ed. National Geographic 4 Million Year Old Woman (New York: National Geographic, 2010) 35-66

2. Ibid.3. Ibid.4. Ibid.5. Ibid.6. Ibid.7. Ibid.8. Ibid.9. Ibid.10. Ibid.11. Ibid.12. Ibid.

Picture Credits

1. evolution-1.jpg; evolution-1.jpgglogster.com2. Novdhistorika.blogspot.com3. janekurtz.wordpress.com4. lunaticoutpost.com5. homeguides.sfgate.com6. nmsu.edu7. johnvoelzblog.blogspot.com8. halloweencostumes.com9. morphsuits.com10. philipcoppens.com11. goldismoney2.com12. disruptthenarrative.com13. animationfactory.com14. ohinternet.com

Bibliography

Johns, Chris, ed. National Geographic: 4 Million Year Old Woman. New York: National Geographic, 2010.