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Early
Humans for Kids
Introduction
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Did early man live at the same time as dinosaurs?
The
answer to that one is simple. Nah! No way. Not a chance. Nobody knows for
sure why dinosaurs disappeared, but they do know that dinosaurs died out
about 65 million years ago. The first hominids (human-like primates) did
not appear until 3.6 million years ago. Even if scientists are off a few
million years or so, early man simply did not live during the same period
in history as dinosaurs.
This is not to say that early man had it easy. They
did have to face saber-toothed tigers, cave lions, and woolly mammoths! But,
they did not have to fight dinosaurs! (Some of the movies you've
seen have men fighting dinosaurs - fortunately for mankind, this is movie
nonsense. Dinosaurs were long gone before man first appeared.)
As you learn about Early Man, you may find words with which you are
not familiar. I'll give you three definitions right now, because these are terms
you will see quite often!
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Hominids are the family of mankind and his or her relatives.
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Fossils are remains of living things (plants, animals, people),
not things that were made.
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Artifacts are remains of things that were made, not remains
of living things.
The Old Stone Age people were hunters/gatherers. We know about
these people because scientists have found fossils
and
artifacts, which reveal traces of their life. Human-like
hominids first appeared about 3 million years ago! Man went
through a lot of different stages to evolve into the human being of today!
Since the evolution of man (and the Stone Age) covers a period of roughly
3 million years, we've created a Cheat Sheet, a sort of who's who for Early Stone
Age Man to make it easy to .. Meet Early Man!
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Cheat Sheet: Who's Who for Early Man
| Time Period |
Name |
Quick Glimpse
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Introduction |
Did man live at the same time as
dinosaurs? What is a hominid? What is an artifact? What is a fossil? Find
out here! |
About
3 million BCE |
Australopithecus
"Southern Ape" |
Human-like hominids
Lucy
Basic traits of humans. Special because he could stand up. Main
physical difference between early man and apes are the hands. |
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About
2 million BCE |
Homo
Habilis
"Handy Man"
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First true humans
Stone tools -
the first tool-maker
Lived in Africa
Taller, had a larger brain |
About
1.5 million BCE
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Homo
Erectus
"Upright Man" |
Made
and controlled fire
The first hunters
Traveled over land bridges from Africa, to begin to populate the
world, about 1 million years ago |
About
500,000 B.C. |
Homo
Sapiens
"Wise Man"
& Neanderthals |
Neanderthals
Buried their dead with ceremony.
Stone-tipped spears, bone needles, bone fish hooks, sewed their
clothes from animal skins, warm boots Buried their dead with ceremony.
Stone-tipped spears, bone needles, bone fish hooks, sewed their
clothes from animal skins, warm boots
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About
25,000 BCE until about 10,000 BCE |
Homo
Sapiens Sapiens &
"Moderns"
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Cave
Paintings
Cro-Magnon
& "Moderns"
Bow and arrows, well constructed huts with central hearths
for fires; necklaces & pendants, cave art, little statues made
from ivory, antler, bone; tools and weapons for hunting and
fishing, oil lamps. Used honey to sweeten food. End of the last Ice
Age about 10,000 years ago. |
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Links
for Kids |
Games, Stories, Interactive
Activities |
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Links
for Teachers |
Lesson Plans, Additional Resources |
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Charles
Darwin |
Theories of Human Evolution |
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Lots
of Free Powerpoints
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San
People of the Kalahari Desert |
Timeline
Interactive
Free
Early Humans Games
Early
Humans Lesson Plans
Free
Early Humans Powerpoints
Free
Early Man Clipart
Free
Video Clips about Early Man
Free
Templates
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to Early Humans for Kids
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