A basic overview of the genus Homo, and their habitation of various environmental zones, which lead to the advent of new technologies.

1. EXPANSION OF HOMO &THEIRTECHNOLOGY

2. 
BIPEDALISM
+
THE RIGHT ENVIORNMENTAL
CONDITIONS
=
THE SPREAD OF HOMO
ACROSSTHE GLOBE

3. Epochs differentiated by climate change
Epoch Quaternary Period
Holocene 11,000 B.P. Agriculture and states develop
Pleistocene 2.5-.01
MYA
Climate fluctuations; Homo and A. boisei
Pliocene 5-2.5 MYA Bipedalism
Miocene 23MYA S. tchadensis, O.tugensis, A. kadabba; cooler and drier,
grasslands forming
Oligocene 38 MYA Cooler and drier; anthropoids in Africa; separation
platyrrhines and catarrhines; separation of hylobates
Eocene 54 MYA Warm climates; modern mammals appear; proto-
primates
Paleocene 65 MYA First mammal radiation

4. Global Expansion
mtDNA is used to track the spread of humans out of Africa
and across the globe
Humans span the globe and inhabit new regions separated
by large bodies of water
Peopling of the
Americas
Pacific Islanders
The Pleistocene (Ice Age) “ends” 12, 000 years ago, climates
begin to warm, glaciers retreat, and land surfaces
(Daryl Marshke, Michigan Photography)

5. 
Dates and access routs are still up for debate…

6. The origin of MODERN humans is also still up for
debate…
AFRICAN ORIGIN
HYPOTHESIS
 Modern humans evolved in
Africa before spreading to
different geographical
locations around the globe
MULTI REGIONAL
HYPOTHESIS
 Modern humans evolved
independently in different
areas around the globe after
migrating out of Africa

7. THE BIG PICTURE
1. Sahelanthropus Tchadensis (Toumai)
2. Orronin Tugensis
3. Ardipithecus Ramidus
4. Australopithecines
A. Anamensis (4.2-3.9 mya)
A. Afarensis (3.8-3 mya)
A. Africanus (3-2 mya)
A. Garhi (2.5 mya)
A. Robustus (2-1 mya)
A. Boisei (2.6-1.2 mya)
A. Sediba (1.9-1.7 mya)
H. Rudolfensis (2.4 mya)
H. Habilis (2.2 mya)
H. Erectus (1.9 mya)
H. Sapiens (200,000 ya)
Neandertals
Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH)
5. Homo

8. Homo Rudolfensis
•DATES: 2 – 1.8
•WHERE: Kenya
•BRAIN: 775 cm^3
•TEETH: very large molars
•PROTRUDING JAW (Prognathism):
moderate
•TOOLS: N/A

9. Homo Habilis:
“Handy Man”
•DATES: 2.4 – 1.4 mya
•WHERE: East Africa
•BRAIN: 900 cm^3
•TEETH: dental arcade
•PROTRUDING JAW (Prognathism):
moderate
•TOOLS: Oldowan

10. STAGES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Lithic = stone tool
1. PALEOLITHIC – 2.5 million years ago
 Paleo = ancient
 Basic forms of blade tools and flint knapping techniques
 Homo habilis = first indication of stone tool use
2. MESOLITHIC – 20,000 years ago (dates differ by region)
 Meso = middle
3. NEOLITHIC– 12,000 years ago
 Neo = new
The advent of tools in the archaeological record gives scientists a means of classifying
human development by the technology used.

11. Homo Erectus:
“Upright Man”
•DATES: 1.9 - 0.03 mya
•WHERE: Africa, Asia & Europe
•BRAIN: 850-1250 cm^3
•TEETH: curvature, no diastema
•PROTRUDING JAW (Prognathism):
slight
•TOOLS: Archeulean

12. Upright man travels the world…
• Homo erectus
specimens found in
the Old World

13. Why did H. erectus exist for so long???
MIGRATION
out of Africa

14. Neandertals
•DATES: 200,000 – 4,000 ya
•WHERE: Europe & West Asia
•BRAIN: 1435 cm^3
•TEETH: large muscle attachments
•PROTRUDING JAW (Prognathism):
mild
•TOOLS: Mousterian
•MUSCULAR AND SYMBOLIC BEINGS

15. Homo Sapiens: “Wise
Person”
•DATES: 150,000 ya – present day
•WHERE: World wide
•BRAIN: 1130-1250 cm^3
•TEETH: just like yours
•PROTRUDING JAW (Prognathism):
minimal
•TOOLS: Levalloisian and beyond
•SYMBOLIC BEINGS

16. Anatomically Modern
Humans (AMH)
•DATES: 195,000 - present
•WHERE: World wide
•BRAIN: 1350 cm^3
•TEETH: just like yours
•PROTRUDING JAW (Prognathism):
hardly any
•TOOLS: All of the above
•SYMBOLIC BEINGS

17. Modern humans are hardly on the timeline…
1 mya4 mya 3 mya 2 mya P

18. Cranial Evolution

19. Global Expansion
Humans adapted their tools and lifestyles to fit the need of the
new environment in which they inhabited during expansion…
“In forest environments, people needed tools for working wood; in the
open savannah and plains, humans began to use the bow and arrow
to hunt the game they could not stalk closely; the people in
settlements that grew up around lakes and along rivers and coasts
developed harpoons and hooks; in the sub-Arctic regions, they needed
tools to work the heavy skins of seals and caribou.”
(Haviland et. al, 2017:223)

20. 
BIGGER CRANIAL CAPACITY
+
NEW ENVIORNMENTAL
CONDITIONS
=
ADVANCEDTECHNOLOGY
& CULTURAL CREATIVITY

21. THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC
Tool advancements
Blade tools
Atlatls
Bow and arrow
Art, music, and symbolic thought
Cave paintings
Figurines
Instruments