November 29th, 2022

Big Bang to Humankind

  • Earliest stone tools - 3.3 million years ago.
    • We are limited by what preserves - wooden and bamboo tools don’t 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 → 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
    • “Island dwarfism” — 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
        • Not found in Africa
      • 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