Ancient Humans And Early Civilizations Notes
...possible, from a wide variety of sources before they can make conclusions
- Primary documents: written by people of the period
- Secondary documents: written about past events
- Historians almost never unearth all the facts so there is always a bias
- They must think about economic developments, to figure out the way in which people survived or made a living. This is based on such things as social developments (art, music etc.)
- Many times, scientists and historians find themselves studying people who did not have a written language
- Fossils: are the recognizable remains of an animal/plant or impressions left by them
- Anthropologists: are scientists who study the origin, development, distribution, social habits, and culture of a certain race of people
- Paleontologist: examines the fossil remains of animal and plant life to understand past geological periods
- Paleoanthropologist: combines the works of anthropologists and paleontologists
- The oldest known human remains have been found in Africa
Human Evolution
- The evolution theory suggests that plants and animals both developed through the process of natural selection
- There had to be a competition for the need for survival. Those less suited to survive would fail to live, thus each generation must become stronger
- Darwin's Theory of Evolution helps explain the genetic differences in each specie and genus, as well as how variations are past along
The Physical Evolution of Humans
- Hominids: Are humanlike creatures that began to appear over four million years
ago.
- They are distinguished from apes in the sense they are completely bipedal as well
they have larger brains so naturally they are all part of the human family
- Bipedalism (the ability to walk on two feet) allowed humans to develop skills with their free hands
-...
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