PBS NOVA Becoming Human: Last Human Standing

In this documentary, it talks about the how we(Homo Sapians), were the last ones standing. A couple of interesting facts i got from the documentary were:

1. The Neanderthals dissapered/died out after the ice age.
2. Some places were early humans were found were Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe!
3. At that time, when "we" arrived to Australia, the animals wayed over 100 POUNDS!!!! But after a few thousand years after we arrived, they disappeared.

Some Questions I had were:

1. Why did Neanderthals die out?
2. Weren't they use to the cold weather?
3. Did homo Sapiens interbred with Neanderthals?

Conclusion:

Most of my questions were answered by my group, but i still didn't understand if Neanderthals interbred with Homo Sapiens. If you have an answer, leave the comment bellow. If you dont know, then, just look at the comments if there is any!

"Last Human Stnading ." Becoming Huamn. PBS NOVA. 31 Aug. 2011. Television.

From Grunts to Grammar

About 2, 500,000 year ago, our ancestors probably had at least the beginning of speech. About 1 1/2 million years ago, the Larynx began to slowly do down into its place were it is now. "The Larynx contains the vocal cords that allow us to produce sounds from our throat. In most mammals the larynx sits higher in the throat and connects with the nasal passages." As soon as our ancestors started chasing game, the larynx got lower, and we could run longer distances because we were now breathing through the mouth and the nose! Although, our ancestors couldn't talk, they surely used hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate with one another. However when building complex water crafts for sea voyages later on, they must have needed some complexity in their speech because they needed to decide on where they were going and who was going to go. In conclusion, I now know what a larynx is, how it came to were it is now, and what are the advantages of having it lower for humans/ancestors.

"From Grunts to Grammar: The Evolution of Language." Odyssey: Adventures in Science Oct. 2009: n. pag. Print.

Taming Fire- The First Scientist?

Since the creation of fire, it changed the way we live ever since. Wild fires were started by natural phenomena, like for example, lightning from a thunderstorm. When wild fires swept through vast or small areas, prehistoric people and animals had to get out of its way. But there was a benefit to this natural disaster. If the early humans got away in time, but if the animals didn't get out in time they would be cooked, therefor the humans would have a very good food source instead of cooking it themselves. Humans have use fire intentionally for at least 250,000 years. About 250,000 years ago, hearths began to appear in Europe. From the definition in the article, hearths are: "Hearths are rudimentary fire places often identified by a ring of rocks that outlines them." An interesting fact about hearth fires, are that they heat objects to a higher temperature than wiled fires do. The first use of fire might have bean used about 1,000,000 years ago. They found prehistoric human remains in the Swartkrans caves of south Africa with burnt animal bones. They believed that the ancestors that had used fire, might have not known how to actually make it but dragged a log back to their cave from a wild fire. Cooking food took away food born parasites like bacteria and worms and destroyed toxins that in the meat. As a source of heat, campfires were very good at keeping our ancestors warm overnight or during a winter storm.

On Our Own Two Feet

Upright walking is very old, and came long before modern humans evolved big brains.We share a common ancestor with chimpanzees. The human skull is relatively flat but the chimps skull sticks out in front. A. afarensis live about 3 million years ago half way between chimps and humans. Human's Foramen magnum is in the center of the skull, and its larger to. The chimps is more in the back of the skull and it is smaller. One theory was that we stood up to use/make stone tools but big brains and stone tools didn't appear until a million years ago after bipedality. Another theory by C. Lovejoy was that we stood up on 2 legs to carry food to our mates, taking care of offspring and learning new behaviors which lead to a more developed brain. Another theory was that we stood up to cross the hot savanna to get to the forests or to get over the streams. However, none of these and more theories have bean proven to be true because they are difficult to test.

Who's Who Among the Early Himinins?

Early Hominins are known as "ape-men". Their skulls, teeth and limbs are similar to apes but they were bipeds, so that makes them human like. Sahelanthropus tchadesis was found in Chad in 2001 and it lived between 6 and 7 m.y.a.(million years ago). It had a small skull, which was roughly 300-400 cubic centimeters. They were closely related to apes rather than to humans. Ardipithecus means ground-ape. They date back to 4.4 m.y.a. They were found in Armis, Ethiopia in 1994. Kenyapithecus platyops was found in 2001 near Lake Turkana, Kenya and it dates back to about 3.5 m.y.a. but they are still unsure of the taxonomic identity because the skull was broken down into so many little pieces. Homo Habilis, the “handy man”, was found in Oduvai Gorge, Tasmanian but it doesn’t say from when they lived. Homo Habilis had a larger brain and narrower teeth than Astralopithicus or Paranthropus. The Homo Habilis is named the handy man because they were the first Hominins to make tools out of stone and use them properly, instead of all of the other Hominins. Other Hominins just used a rock for all of their needs. Homo Erectus known as “upright man” was a more advanced species of Hominins and fossils dates back to 1.8 m.y.a. One fossil was found, "The skeleton was thought to be one of a 12 year old boy who was 6 feet tall." (just like me). Imagine what the adults looked like. Fossils were found in Africa, Europe and Asia unlike the others and they showed signs of primitive dwelling, hunting and the use of fire and more advanced tools than Homo Habilis.

Susman, Randel. "Who's Who Among the early Hominins?" Odyssey: Adventures in science Oct. 2009: 22-25. Print.

Dated te 1.5 the skeleton is thought tu be

Why We Study Human Origins

The fossil record can help us to know how the early humans (primates) lived and adapted to their surroundings. Fossils are not only for seeing how our ancestors lived in the past, but they are also used for evidence of our ancestors. They also tell us about their physical features and behavior. In the past, people used religious teachings and myths to explain the beginning of humanity (human origins). By comparing our behavior from the past with animals we can learn more about our ancestors.

Charles Darwin was a scientist from the 1800s. He developed the theory of Evolution by observing plants and animals from his travels. Evolution is “ the process by which species of organisms arise from earlier life forms and undergo change over time through natural selection.” (Dictionary definition) Thomas Henry Huxley was a scientist just as Charles Darwin was and he proposed that apes and humans are anatomically more similar than apes are to monkeys. During Darwin’s and Huxley’s time, no human fossils were found yet, therefore they weren’t able to prove their theories were true. In 1925 Raymond Dart found the first hominid fossil in South Africa. From this evidence, many historians came up with theories about our ancestors. They thought, “They were tree-dwelling apes, or four-legged knuckle walkers, or even bipeds that lived in water.” (Randall Susman) To me, this theory was very interesting because it made the most sense out of all the other theories.

Some questions that I came up with reading this article were: People question WHY humans evolved, WHEN we evolved, WHERE did we originate?? WHY did some early humans (early hominids) not survive? WHAT makes us different than all other early humans? What is evolution? (definition)

Susman, Randall. "Why We Study Human Origins." Calliope:

Exploring World History. Sept. 1999: 4-5. Print.

The three theories

1. Astronomical Observatory:

One of the beliefs that people have is that Stonehenge was use for navigation in the sky called “Astronomical Observation” Astronomical basis to the Stonehenge, was first said by Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, an English scientist and astronomer. However, persuasive evidence of astronomical association for the Stonehenge was given about half a century later by an American astronomer, Gerald Hawkins. He found 165 points on the monument that were linked with the solstices, equinoxes and the solar and lunar eclipse. Supporting his theory is the fact that, at the dawn of the summer solstice, the sun, the center of the Stonehenge ring and the two stones - the Slaughter and the Heel Stones are all in a line.

2. The Alien Hand

Geologists believe that the blue stones of the Stonehenge originated in the Preseli Hills of Wales about 137 miles away from the site of the Stonehenge. Given the huge size of the stones, moving them over 100 miles would be a task for Hercules. Many doubt if people living 5,000 years ago either had the technology or if they were able to have the brute muscle power required to transport the stones from the Welsh mountain range to Salisbury Valley, in England. This led to the origin of the theory, role of the aliens, in raising the Stonehenge.

3. A burial ground

Discovery of a large number of cremated remains in the Aubrey holes have led the present day archaeologists to believe that the Stonehenge was a ceremonial burial site, right since its earliest days. Some have dubbed it as the domain of the dead, while some have gone a step further to suggest that only the elite were buried at Stonehenge. We might keep proposing new theories and refute the existing ones till some conclusive evidence about the Stonehenge is found. However, till then, the huge stones stand quietly shrouding within its massive structure, answers the questions for which man has been trying hard to unearth for centuries.

Conclusion:

The reason I chose these 3 theories is because I thought they were out of the ordinary. I also think that they are believable. Some people may think I am crazy, but I am just in 7th grade, and I believe that there is a different life form some ware out in the universe that might have made Stonehenge and many other things that have happened over history.

10 Questions That I Think Have to do With This Unit!

1. What is archeology?

2. Why do we study it?

3. What do archeologists do for a living?

4. What are the basic steps an archeologist has to take when going to dig up a sight?

5. Why is archeology important for learning about history?

6. Why do archeologists dig up sights?

7. Why does archeology affect the Future?

8. Does archeology affect the future? Why?

9. Do archeologists know everything after 1 or 2 digs?

10. What are the most important steps in excavating a site?

Huge Gladiator School Found Buried in Austria "Important" find boasts amphitheater, was nearly as big as two Walmarts.

When they started excavating in Austria, they found the foundation. In the picture to the left, you can see the hole thing in tact, but this is just an electronic model that they made but in the original excavation, they only found the foundation, artifacts, swards, weapons, dummies(they used to use them to practice their fighting), and outside of the gates of the school they found roman graves. They are currently working on reconstructing the roman gladiator school.

How do Historians Learn about the Past?

Historians learn about the past by using artifacts, geographically written records, books, interviews, and oral tradition. Historians who study the history of science use all kinds of information to help them understand how modern science was developed. For example, historians might look at the notebook that Isaac Newton used when he was trying to understand how light traveled through a prism. Historians might also look at writings from ancient philosophers and the language people used to describe the natural world. They might also look at drawings people made about inventions people used or drawings about what ancient people thought about the stars. They might also look at what other historians have written in the past so that they can get an idea about how an invention or idea was viewed during that time. With all of these types of information, historians try to determine what happened and how the things we know today came about. Historians do more than just look at the events of the past. They try to understand what they mean. That is they try to interpret the past to better understand how the past affects the present and how it might impact the future. It is very important to have a solid understanding of how our history was shaped. Many times people forget history and when they run into the same problems earlier people encountered they often make the same mistakes. If we don’t remember our history, we can repeat the same mistakes without ever learning from our past. Sometime historians disagree about how to interpret the past. Just like scientists disagree about how to interpret data, historians disagree about how to interpret events. Just as in science, is always better to read several different interpretations of a historical event and not just one. It is helpful to view all of the various viewpoints and after you have studied them and come to your own conclusions about what you think it means.

In the past, were did humans tend to settle and why?

Today in Humanities we were assigned to write a blog post about "In the past, were did humans tend to settle and why?" Hear is why i think:

Early peoples tended to settle near water and open fields to grow their crops. They tended to settle near water because it provided them with water for there plants and for there family's. They tended to settle next to fields not only to grow crops but also to raise cattle and sheep and goats. I think that most of the people that migrated to these types of terrains are very smart but even tho back then they didn't have as much knowledge as we have today, they were still very intelligent. They also move/migrate because of climate change. For growing crops, they needed sunny and warm weather. If they were Eskimos, they would want to go to a much colder climates like Canada, the North pole and the South pole. If they migrated to a much hotter area, they wouldn't be able to use all of there tools and there sleds also because it would take them a long time to adapt to there new territory.

In the picture above, you can see the migration map from the early ages. Most of them, as you can see, are not off shore, because they didn't have boats that could travel that long. They mostly traveled by foot and when they did, not many people survived because of the ruff terrain.

What is History and why do we study it?

Intro
What is so important about history? Why do people need to know all those names and dates? The reality is, they don't, and can't. There are so many important people and dates, it is impossible for any one to know all of them. Besides, it is pretty easy to look up most of the facts you need up on the internet now a days.

Hear is One of the quotes I have chosen:
"If you do not like the past, change it." William L. Burton












What i think this Quote Means:
I think that the Quote "If you do not like the past, change it." means that if you don't like the current state of what is going on in the world, try to make a difference so it doesn't affect the future.

Another Interesting Quote i chose was:
"The past is useless. That explains why it is past." Wright Morris















what I think this Quote means:
I think that the Quote "The past is useless. That explains why it is past." means that don't think about what you have done bad in the past think about how you can improve it in the future.

Now, you are probably wondering why i have chosen the two smallest Quotes. The reason i chose them is because i believe that little words affect someone more than just 30 pages of trying to explain something that makes no sense.

Why do we study History?

1.We study history to know how things were in the past and how they have changed over year's, also so we understand the mistakes made by our ancestors should not be repeated in future by us.

2. To expand our knowledge about history.

3. By studying history hopefully contries can prevent making the same mistakes over and over.

Those are the Three Maine reasons of why we study History in my opinion.

My Personal conection to Serbia!

My personal connection with Serbia is that i was born hear in Serbia, I have lived my entire life in Serbia. I was born during the bombing in 1999 of NATO. I was in the New York Times on the front cover, Beba Magazine did an article on my family and i. There were 2 pages about us. At that time Miki, my younger brother, wasn't born yet. I think i was only 6 when they did a article on us in the Magazine. And that is my personal connection to Serbia.

















My Personal connection to Maine is that most of my moms side of the family lives in the state of Maine. The Funny thing about Maine, is that it looks big on the map, but Belgrade has a bigger population than the hole state of Maine! The reason it holds less people than Belgrade alone, is because is has about 6,000 lakes and ponds in it, so that's why the population is so low. And that is my personal connection to the state of Maine.