Lesson 1: The First People (The Stone Ages and Early Cultures)
🦴 Scientists Study Remains
How do we know what happened thousands of years ago when there were no books or cameras?
👨🔬 Scientists called archaeologists and anthropologists study the bones, tools, and caves early people left behind. These are called remains or artifacts.
🧠 Fun Fact: In 1974, scientists found a skeleton in Africa. They named her Lucy. She was over 3 million years old! Lucy walked on two legs, just like us!
🚶♂️ Hominids and Early Humans
Long ago, humans looked very different. Scientists call them hominids — early human-like creatures.
The earliest hominids walked on two feet 🚶♂️
Later, they learned to use tools and fire 🔥
The species Homo sapiens (that’s us!) appeared about 200,000 years ago
🌍 They slowly moved from Africa to Asia, Europe, and the Americas, following animals and better weather.
🧊 Ice Age Travel: During the Ice Age, the oceans were lower. People walked across a land bridge from Asia to North America! That land is now under the Bering Sea.
🪨 Stone Age Tools
The Stone Age is called this because early people made tools out of stone.
🔹 Early tools were simple: sharp rocks for cutting
🔹 Later, they made spears, arrows, and axes
🔹 They used animal bones and wood too
🎯 Story: Imagine a hunter 10,000 years ago throwing a sharp stone-tipped spear at a mammoth 🐘. One good throw could feed the whole group for weeks!
Fire was another great tool. Early humans learned how to make fire for warmth, cooking, and protection from wild animals.
🔥 Fun Fact: They made fire by rubbing sticks or striking rocks together!
🏕️ Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Before farms, people lived in small groups called hunter-gatherers.
👨🌾 The men hunted animals like deer or mammoths.
👩🌾 The women and children gathered fruits, nuts, and roots.
They moved from place to place — they were nomads
They built tents or huts from animal skins and branches
They painted animals on cave walls 🖼️ — maybe to share stories or for spiritual reasons
🎨 Story: In France, deep in the Lascaux Cave, people painted amazing pictures of horses and bulls on the walls over 17,000 years ago — and you can still see them today!
🌟 Why This Matters
Even without phones or cars, early humans were smart and creative. They:
Learned to survive in the wild 🏞️
Used tools and fire 🔥
Worked together to find food 🍎
Started the long story of human history 📖