Human Migration

Australopithecus (Evolution)

200,000 BCE

Existed 4,500,000 years ago. First hominid. Located in South and Central Africa. They lived in trees and were animal like creatures. They ate fruits, nuts, berries, and few meats

The movement out of Africa (Migration)

200,000 BCE

Recent African origin or Out of Africa II, refers to the migration of Homo sapiens out of Africa after their emergence at c. 300,000 to 200,000 years ago, in contrast to "Out of Africa I", the migration of archaic humans from Africa to Eurasia between roughly 1.8 to 0.5 million years ago. This theory suggests that humans all moved out of Africa and didn’t just evolve from different creatures from different places.

Hand axe (Tool/Weapon)

200,000 BCE

This was first found around 2,500,000 years ago. A hand axe is a early human stone tool with two faces that is the most used tool in human history. It is usually made from flint or chert. Hand axes tend to be symmetrical. The most common hand axes have a pointed end and rounded base, which gives them their characteristic shape. Homo habilis was the first to have known to use this tool which helped them cut animals and carve them out.

Spear (Weapon/Tool)

200,000 BCE

The oldest artifacts at the site are roughly 279,000 years old. In comparison, the earliest known fossils of Homo sapiens, previously discovered at sites elsewhere in Ethiopia, are about 200,000 years old. Projectiles empowered prehistoric hunters to strike at a distance, reducing the risk of injury from dangerous animals and broadening the range of prey that people might capture.

The first Ice Age (Migration)

200,000 BCE

The Pleistocene Epoch is typically defined as the time period that began about 2.6 million years ago and lasted until about 11,700 years ago. The most recent Ice Age occurred then, as glaciers covered huge parts of the planet Earth. This made humans adapt to the cold climate and move to find more suitable living spaces.

Fire (Tool/Weapon)

200,000 BCE

Fire was first controlled by humans anywhere from about 230,000 years ago to 1.4 or 1.5 million years ago, depending on which evidence you accept as definitive. Fire was a huge invention for humans because it allowed them to get their food cooked which allowed them to have a more nutrient based diet which allowed them to expventually lead to bigger brains.

Human Migration

Period: 200,000 BCE to 3000 BCE

Homo Habilis (Evolution)

199,999 BCE

2,500,000 years ago. It was a tool making hominid and the first people to make and use tools (Tear dropped shaped hand axe, and carving tools) next step in the evolutionary chain after the Australopithecus. They had larger brains and a larger prefrontal cortex which allowed them to make better decisions.

Homo Erectus (Evolution)

199,998 BCE

These were around 1,800,000 to 350,000 years ago. Early African Homo erectus fossils are the oldest known early humans to have possessed modern human-like body proportions with relatively elongated legs and shorter arms compared to the size of the torso. These features are considered adaptations to a life lived on the ground, indicating the loss of earlier tree-climbing adaptations, with the ability to walk and possibly run long distances. There brains are 50% larger than the Australopithecus.

Homo Sapiens (Evolution)

199,997 BCE

The species that you and all other living human beings on this planet belong to is Homo sapiens. During a time of dramatic climate change 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa. Like other early humans that were living at this time, they gathered and hunted food, and evolved behaviors that helped them respond to the challenges of survival in unstable environments.

Movement to Asia (Migration)

80,000 BCE

Around 80,000-60,000 they started walking out of Africa to Asia. They went to follow food they were chasing. This was a very important part for humans because they started discovering new land and more different types of food.

Mount Toba Catastrophe (Migration)

74,000 BCE

Toba is thought to be the greatest known volcano to erupt. It is believed to have been 19 times more powerful than Mt. St. Helens. The ash that covered the skies is thought to have made the world 7 degrees colder. Over 90% of humans at the time are thought to have died, leading to a bottleneck of only 10,000 or so people to survive. This led to a human population who went through very tough times to keep the human race alive.

Europe movement (Migration)

40,000 BCE

Between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago, humans moved north into Europe. However, their range was limited by an ice sheet that extended into the northern part of continental Europe. The icy conditions at the time also helped expand early human territory. A massive sheet of ice, combined with lower sea levels, formed a bridge between Siberia and Alaska that we call the Bering straight.

From Wolves to Dogs (Weapon/Neolithic Revolution

25,000 BCE

Wolves at one point in time were mans biggest rival but now in today’s world they are mans best friend. So where along the lines did that change? This changed somewhere around 40,000 - 20,000 bce. Humans use these as killing machines to help them secure their prey. These can be classified as Neolithic or as a weapon. Dogs helped humans by giving them company and also to help get them food.

Neolithic Villages (Neolithic Revolution)

8000 BCE

Between the years 8,000 bce to 4000 bce people started settling and building villages. They had crops to grow on the outskirts of the city/village. Jobs started to become sexualized as men started doing more “manly” things. They also started making more tools to make their lives easier.

Agriculture (Neolithic Revolution)

8000 BCE

Between the years 8,000 bce and 4,000 was when the agricultural movement started happening. They no longer needed to hunt as they started settling and made more farms to grow crops. Agriculture also supported more people so they could have a lot more people in their villages. This allowed them to live sedentary lives. This revolutionized the way that humans live now.

Canoes (Tool/Migration)

8000 BCE

Constructed between 8200 and 7600 BC, and found in the Netherlands, the Pesse canoe may be the oldest known canoe. Australian Aboriginal people made canoes using a variety of materials, including bark and hollowed out tree trunks. These allowed humans to fish easy and also move short distances to different shores. It gave them another way to provide food during their Neolithic domestication period so it allowed them to have another source of protein.

Domestication of animals (Neolithic Revolution)

4000 BCE

When this frost started happening it was around 8,000 - 4,000 bc. This was very useful to humans so they didn’t always have to hunt also it privdided a steady food source from growing the food. So we could hunt to provide extra food along with the steady source of cattle.