Evolution of Man2nd Lecture in Social Studies 2

Civilization

Bearer of CivilizationMan

Evolution is driven by natural

selection and mutation and

Isolation.

Revolutio

(Revolution)

Turn-AroundCompleteChange

Mother of man - 3.2 million years ago

One fossil discovery above all has transformed views of how we became human. But who was Lucy, and why is she so important to human evolution?

Australopithecus Afarensis

Lucy was discovered in 1974 by anthropologist Professor Donald Johanson and his student Tom Gray in a maze of ravines at Hadar in northern Ethiopia.

Like a chimpanzee, Lucy had a small brain, long, dangly arms, short legs and a cone-shaped thorax with a large belly. But the structure of her knee and pelvis show that she routinely walked upright on two legs, like us.

This form of locomotion, known as 'bipedalism', is the single most important difference between humans and apes, placing Lucy firmly within the human family.

Charles DarwinNaturalist

The breakthrough in his ideas came in the Galapagos Islands, 500 miles west of South America.

ControversyDarwin's theory was that homo sapiens was simply another form of animal. It made it seem possible that even people might just have evolved - quite possibly from apes

Natural Selection

1. Adaptation: all organisms adapt to their environments.

2. Variation: all organisms are variable in their traits.

3. Since not all organisms are equally well adapted to their

environment, some will survive and reproduce better than others -- this is known as natural selection. Sometimes this

is also referred to as "survival of the fittest".

Climate Fluctuations

Humans have a highly developed cerebral cortex which is responsible for memory and:

attentionperceptual awarenessreasoning and problem solvinglanguageconsciousness.

Studies suggest that the shift to bipedalism meant the upper limbs were free to engage in other activities. This led to a sharp increase in learning as the hands were used to manipulate the environment around them.

What’s the point bro?Enduring Understanding

Homo Habilis

Homo Sapien

Homo Floresiensis

Homo Erectus

HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS

HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS

Hominids1 HOMO HABILIS ~ NICKNAME: Handyman LIVED: 2.4 to 1.6 million years ago HABITAT: Tropical Africa DIET: Omnivorous – nuts, seeds, tubers, fruits, some meat2 HOMO SAPIEN ~ NICKNAME: Human LIVED: 200,000 years ago to present HABITAT: All DIET: Omnivorous - meat, vegetables, tubers, nuts, pizza, sushi3 HOMO FLORESIENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Hobbit LIVED: 95,000 to 13,000 years ago HABITAT: Flores, Indonesia (tropical) DIET: Omnivorous - meat included pygmy stegodon, giant rat4 HOMO ERECTUS ~ NICKNAME: Erectus LIVED: 1.8 million years to 100,000 years ago HABITAT: Tropical to temperate - Africa, Asia, Europe DIET: Omnivorous - meat, tubers, fruits, nuts5 PARANTHROPUS BOISEI ~ NICKNAME: Nutcracker man LIVED: 2.3 to 1.4 million years ago HABITAT: Tropical Africa DIET: Omnivorous - nuts, seeds, leaves, tubers, fruits, maybe some meat6 HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Goliath LIVED: 700,000 to 300,000 years ago HABITAT: Temperate and tropical, Africa and Europe DIET: Omnivorous - meat, vegetables, tubers, nuts7 HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Neanderthal LIVED: 250,000 to 30,000 years ago HABITAT: Europe and Western Asia DIET: Relied heavily on meat, such as bison, deer and musk ox

Homo HabilisHandyman

HOMO SAPIEN Evolve in Africa and now worldwide

HOMO FLORESIENSISHobbit

Went extinct recently.

HOMO ERECTUS"up-right man"

HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS

Goliath

First humans to venture into cold Europe

HOMO NEANDERTHALENSISNeanderthal

Welcome to the family…

Homo Erectus

Neanderthal

Heidelbergensis

FLORESIENSIS

Lucy

Homo Habilis

Homo Sapien 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Your Ex

Bully in school