The Third Chimpanzee activities The history of modern humans 1) The table below lists the ancestors and cousins of modern humans and when each species first appeared. Cut out the boxes and have students match a species to its first appearance. Species First appearance Old World monkeys 30 million years ago Gorilla 10 million years ago Upright hominid 6-­‐7 million years ago Australopithecus robustus / Australopithecus africanus 3 million years ago Homo habilis 2.33 million years ago Homo erectus 1.7 million years ago Homo sapiens 500,000 years ago Anatomically Modern Homo Sapiens 200,000 years ago Neanderthals 130,000 years ago Cro-­‐Magnons (Early Modern Humans) 60,000 years ago © Education Umbrella, 2014 1 2) Now, do the same to compare important primate and human innovations and their first appearance. Innovation First appearance Stone tools 2.5 million years ago Compound tools 60,000 years ago Cave paintings 40,000 years ago Agriculture 10,000 years ago Written language 5,000 years ago Steel 4,000 years ago Radio communication 130 years ago Nuclear energy 72 years ago © Education Umbrella, 2014 2 3) Finally, do the same to chart the migration of modern humans across the globe. Alternatively, use the map on the next page. For each location, students write when humans first arrived there (in thousands of years). Area First colonised by modern humans East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya) 200,000 years ago Northeast Africa, Arabia (Egypt, Yemen, Israel, Iraq) 100,000 years ago South/Southeast Asia (India, Pakistan, China) 70,000 years ago Australia 50,000 years ago Europe (not including Scandinavia) 40,000 years ago Polynesia (Indonesia, New Guinea) 30,000 years ago Siberia (northern Russia) 25,000 years ago Alaska 15,000 years ago Southern Canada, USA, Mexico, Central/South America New Zealand, Madagascar 12,000 years ago 1500 years ago © Education Umbrella, 2014 3 Homo erectus
Neanderthals
Homo sapiens
© Education Umbrella, 2014 4