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.

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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?