6.1 - Ways of Knowing: Early Humans

Lesson Purpose

Considering we have never met a Homo habilis or an Australopithecus, how do we know about these early human species? Disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, primatology, and history give us bits and pieces of evidence to help solve the puzzle of how humans have evolved over time. While we have learned a great deal about this topic in the last hundred years, there are still many unanswered questions and more evidence to be found!

The outcomes of this lesson are: 1.) To describe how early humans lived; 2.) To understand what scholars from multiple disciplines know about a topic and the questions they can ask to gain an understanding of the topic from an integrated perspective.

Activity 1 - Driving Question Notebook

Activity Objectives
This activity presents the driving question for Unit 6. It’s meant to help you stay focused on this question as you learn new material.

Activity Tasks

DQ - What makes humans different from other species? - Complete the first column of this table by writing down your initial ideas on the driving question.
Share your ideas with the class. What else did others write down?

Activity 2 - Intro to Anthropology

Activity Objectives
In this introduction to anthropology, Professor Kathy Schick describes the study of anthropology and what it means to be an anthropologist. This video will provide you with information on this discipline and possibly inspire you to investigate this field in the future.

Activity Tasks

Watch the video and try to answer these questions:
1. 0:28 What is anthropology?
2. 3:00 How does anthropology inform us about early humans?
3. Discuss - What would anthropologists do if they found evidence of a new culture. What kind of questions would they ask? Why would they ask those questions?

Being an anthropologist is like being a detective who uses clues from both the modern world and the past to learn about our early human ancestors. If you like traveling, seeing new cultures, learning a new language, or searching for clues to solve puzzles, you’ll make a great anthropologist!

Activity 3 - Intro to Archaeology

Archaeology informs us about early humans by examining the remains of ancient peoples (fossils) and the items they left behind, such as tools and pottery.

Hiking and searching to find new dig sites, using pickaxes and shovels to excavate fossils, putting clues together from fossil records to discover long-lost information from the past – these are the types of things an archaeologist does to learn about our early human ancestors.

Activity Objectives
Professor Nick Toth describes the study of archaeology, the tools used by archaeologists to study fossils, and the questions that archaeologists ask to uncover clues about the past. The discoveries made by archaeologists are just one of the many ways we know about our early ancestors.

Activity Tasks

Watch the video and try to answer these questions:
1. 0:25 What is archaeology?
2. 0:35 What do archaeologists do?
3. 3:25 How does archaeology teach us about early humans? What are the different types of archaeology?
4. Discuss - What would archaeologists do if they found fossils from an unknown society. What kind of questions would they ask? Why would they ask those questions?

Activity 4 - What do you know? What do you ask?

Activity Objectives
This activity asks you to decide what kinds of questions scholars from different disciplines might ask about an object or a significant event. The goal is to help you solidify your understanding of the different disciplines, but more important, to move yourself toward thinking in an interdisciplinary fashion.

Activity Tasks

Select an event or object to think about and complete this worksheet. A fossil or tool might be a good option since you've learned earlier about what archaeologists and anthropologists study.
Think of three disciplines that would help you find out more about the object or event. What would someone from this discipline know or want to know about this object or event?
If your team got together, what are the 2 most important scientific and historical questions they would ask about the event or object?
Why is your team the best team for the job?

Activity 5 - Historos Cave

Activity Objectives
Earlier in this lesson, you learned about the fields of archaeology and anthropology. Now you’ll put that information to use as you attempt to describe how early humans at a fictional site would have lived. Although Historos Cave is fictional, the images in this activity are from a variety of sites in the area around Blombos Cave, South Africa. This activity will allow you to draw on previous information from the lesson as well as new research in order to draw conclusions about how early humans lived.

Activity Tasks

Divide into 3 groups of 4 students each and look at this worksheet. Each group member should choose one of the following roles:
1. Anthropologist
2. Archaeologist
3. Geologist
4. Paleontologist
Describe what each scientist would focus on when investigating the cave, and think about how each discipline would answer the following questions:
1. What were some of the physical traits of the early humans living in this cave?
2. What were they eating and how did they get at that food?
3. What was a day in the life of an early human like here?

Activity 6 - Little Big History Kickoff

Activity Objectives
In this activity, you are introduced to the Little Big History project (LBH), which is the culminating project for the course. You will be using a Big History approach to examine a single object about which you’ll create a Little Big History. This is an opportunity for you to practice what you’ve learned throughout the course.

Activity Tasks

What is a Little Big History? The LBH is defined in 3 ways:
1. It captures change over time and includes at least three thresholds of increasing complexity.
2. Unlike many histories, the chronological account must refer to at least one time period, event, or piece of evidence dating from before the evolution of humans.
3. Since Big History uses many approaches to knowledge, such as geology, cosmology, biology, and chemistry, an LBH should include at least two approaches to knowledge.
You will work individually to investigate one of the following:
1. an object or a commodity (anything that is bought and sold)
2. a process or technical innovation
3. a social construct or institution
4. an activity
At the end of the research process, you will have completed:
1. An individual paper
2. A presentation of the subject of their LBH
Choose an object for your LBH project. Watch some of the videos for ideas. Think about these questions to test whether it is a good choice:
1. Is my LBH idea too big or too small? (Sports is a very big topic—probably too big.)
2. How could I narrow or expand the idea? (Narrow it down to one sport; a tool for a sport, such as a baseball bat; or think about gaming in general.)
3. Am I really truly interested in this topic? Do I really want to study it for the rest of the school year?

Challenge Yourself! - Optional Activities

1. The world's most famous fictional archaeologist? Indiana Jones.
2. Making Stone Tools - Nicholas Toth shows how early humans made stone tools that were simple but effective.

TAKE THE QUIZ!