Human Origins in Africa

Australopithecines	"Lucy" was the oldest one found to date found in East Africa could carry food and children  developed opposable thumb  brain size of 500 cubic centimeters first human-like creature to walk upright
Homo Habilis	found in East Africa Brain size 700 cubic centimeters first to make stone tools  discovered in 1960 means “man of skill” used tools made of lava rock to cut meat and crack open bones
Homo Erectus	means “upright man” more intelligent and adaptable  developed technology became skillful hunters  developed tools for digging, scraping and cutting first to migrate to south Africa settled in India, China, Southeast Asia and Europe first to use fire developed the beginning of spoken language

Cro-Magnons	identical to modern humans  about five and a half feet tall migrated from North Africa to Europe and Asia
Neanderthals	found in 1856 discovered in Europe and Southwest Asia  slanted brows, well developed muscles and thick bones lived between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago developed religious beliefs and performed rituals believed in a world beyond the grave made shelters from wood and animal skin had stone blades and scrapers  mysteriously vanished 300,000 years ago

Paleolithic Age- lasted from about 2.5 million to 8000 BC, oldest stone chopping tools date back to this era

Neolithic Age- began about 8000 BC and ended in 3000 BC, people who lived during this time learned to polish tools, make pottery, grow crops, and raise animals, glaciers retreated to roughly where they are now

Drawing Conclusions: 
Archeologists, anthropologists and paleontologists collect fossils and evidence of events or eras from the past. The Leakey's were a family of British anthropologists. Donald Johnson was another anthropologist. His team found "Lucy", the first sign of hominids.

Section 1 Assessment: 
artifact: artifacts are important because they provide primary evidence for events that happened thousands of years ago
culture: culture enhances the quality of life and provides a better wellbeing for an individual and a community
hominid: hominids show the development of different species over time.
Paleolithic Age: during the Paleolithic age, people established the process of hunting and gathering, which has supported humans for the majority of their time on Earth.
Neolithic Age: during the Neolithic age, people developed architectural practices and the use of polished stone tools
technology: technology developed most of the agricultural and architectual ideas and practices that we use everyday
homo sapiens: homo sapiens are important to understanding the development of humans and our accomplishment

I think that the advance made in homo Erectus were the most important because they began to develop technology and building more of a community.

Main Ideas: 
3) bones and artifacts give clues about what kind of materials were used for tools, clothing, and housing. they also give a brief description of what the people of that time looked like
4) the achievements of the early Stone Age were developing opposable thumbs and walking upright like a human.
5) the Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals differ from people of an earlier time because they are the most closely related to the people of today.