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How the first people lived

Toolmaking. Anthropologists believe that H. habilis, H. rudolfensis, and H. erectus made and used stone tools. The earliest tools were sharp-edged stones used for cutting, scraping, and chopping. Prehistoric people made them by striking one stone with another, chipping pieces away to produce a cutting edge. The first tools were crude, but over time early human beings began to craft tools of a finer quality. Later toolmakers used mallets of wood or bone to tap away small chips of stone, producing a straight, sharp cutting edge.

Scientists believe the early human beings ate meat in addition to fruits, insects, and plants. Archaeologists have found animal bones buried with stone tools from the time of the first people. Some of the bones show scratch marks that were probably made by the cutting action of stone tools. These marks indicate that the early butchers used tools to cut up game and to scrape meat off bones. But scientists do not know whether these early people killed large animals themselves or merely ate the meat after the animals had been killed by predators.

During the time of Homo erectus, tools became more skillfully made, and new types of tools appeared. For example, H. erectus created double-edged cutting tools of stone called hand axes. Workers probably held these axes in their hands and used them without a handle for many tasks, such as shaping wood or bone and cutting up meat. H. erectus may have hunted large animals.

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The use of fire. Homo erectus was probably the first human being to master the use of fire. These people may also have been the first to wear clothing. Scientists believe that as H. erectus moved into northern areas and faced cold winters, fire and clothing became necessary. Archaeologists have not found any traces of early clothing, but it was probably made from animal hides. The oldest evidence of the use of fire was found in a cave that H. erectus occupied between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago near what is now Beijing, in northern China. Stone tools and the remains of more than 40 H. erectus individuals were found in the cave, along with burnt animal bones.

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Migration from Africa. Homo erectus was the first hominid species to migrate out of Africa. Anthropologists think these early people first migrated out of Africa sometime after 1,800,000 years ago. Archaeologists believe a site called Ubeidiya «oo buh DY uh» lies along what may have been a main migration route from Africa. An archaeological site is any place where remains of past human activity are found. The site, near the bank of the Jordan River in what is now Israel, is about 1,600,000 years old. Stone tools discovered at the site resemble stone tools from Africa.

Archaeologists also found the fossilized bones of many African mammals at Ubeidiya. They interpret the fossils as evidence that the migration of early human beings from Africa was part of a larger migration by many species. Scientists are not certain why hominids left Africa at this time. Some believe that stone tools enabled early human beings to obtain a greater variety of foods, so they could successfully move into new lands.

Early human beings quickly migrated to Asia once they had left Africa. Anthropologists have found hominid fossils along with stone tools at a site called Dmanisi «duh mah NYEE see» in what is now the Republic of Georgia. The site was formed about 1,800,000 years ago. Fossils of Homo erectus have been found on the island of Java in present-day Indonesia. Anthropologists think the fossil remains of early human beings in Java are about 1,800,000 years old (see Java fossils).

Some anthropologists think that what has been called Homo erectus was actually two species. They point to differences in the appearance of the fossil bones of Homo erectus from Africa and those from Asia. According to this idea, the earliest fossils, from Africa, should be called Homo ergaster «HOH moh UR gas tuhr». The term ergaster comes from a Greek term that means workman. The name refers to the stone tools found in association with the fossils. These fossils have thinner skull bones and browridges compared to the Asian fossils. Once Homo ergaster migrated out of Africa, another species, Homo erectus, evolved in Asia from Homo ergaster ancestors. According to this theory, Homo erectus is a species found only in Asia and is not related to modern human beings. Other anthropologists, however, think that all the fossils represent one species, Homo erectus, which is a distant ancestor to human beings.

In 2004, scientists announced the discovery of a possible new species of human beings whose adults were little more than 3 feet (91 centimeters) tall and had a brain about one-third as big as modern human brains. The new species, named Homo floresiensis «flaw REHS ee ehn sihs» (Flores man), lived on Flores Island in Indonesia as recently as about 17,000 years ago. Researchers suspect that H. floresiensis descended from a group of early human beings that migrated from Africa and became isolated on the remote island. The scientists believe the group gradually evolved a smaller body size. However, scientists will require further study to determine how this new species is related to other hominids.

Massive glaciers repeatedly covered much of Europe during the ice ages of the Pleistocene Epoch, which lasted from about 2.6 million to 11,500 years ago. Scientists believe that the glaciers prevented people from migrating to the region. Anthropologists have found the oldest fossil remains of early human beings in Europe at the Atapuerca «ah tah PWEHR kuh» Mountains in northern Spain. The site is about 1.2 million years old. The presence of early human beings in ice age Europe was closely tied to the advance and retreat of the glaciers. People could not have survived in most areas of Europe during times of maximum glacial coverage.

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