- Earliest stone tools - 3.3 million years ago.
- We are limited by what preserves - wooden and bamboo tools donât preserve.
- Early hominids may not have had the hand grip to make or use tools.
- Homo erectus
- 1.8 million years ago - 300,000 years ago
- First hominid to leave Africa â spread pretty rapidly
- Cultural adaptations like fire
- Homo floresiensis
- Found on the island of Java
- They got isolated and genetic drift happened from Homo erectus
- âIsland dwarfismâ â species get smaller on islands to survive with less resources
- Premodern Homo sapiens - 400,000 years ago
- This group contains Neanderthals
- Only in Western Europe, Turkey, Israel, etc
- No new tools until 200,000 years later
- Hypothesis is they were really struggling to survive
- Built for strength, long walking, and adaptation to the cold
- Lots of interbreeding between Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens
- Neanderthals had art, ritual, and adornment
- Neanderthals were the first to bury their dead