Last Humans Standing

"Last Human Standing." Becoming Human. PBS NOVA. 31 Aug. 2011. Television.

You might be asking,"Why are we the only humans left what about Homo erectus, Neanderthals, or Homo hidelberg?". Well this question has many different answers, all of them might not be correct because, we cannot just go back into the past and see why they died out, we have to make inferences on what evidence we have. As far as we know, two major factors that helps us survive are; our changed diet and climate change. During an ice age Homo Sapiens moved to the water. That helped them improve intelligence. That is because, they got food from the ocean. To do that they had to know when the tide would be low so it was safe for them to catch food. For that they studied the pattern of the moon, so we started to get more intelligent. The way that diet changed us was that; when we moved to the water we started eat sea food because that was the food there. We had to start making new tools to survive, and they were for fishing and other ways of getting food. This also increased their intelligence into what we are now. Why we are the only human that survived, there are so many ideas we might never know why....

From Grunts to Grammar

Miller, Jeanne. "From Grunts to Grammar: The Evolution of Language." Odyssey: Adventures in Science

Oct. 2009: 34-36. Print.

Language, how, and why? Well, around 2.5 million years ago language was just getting started it was not like how we communicate now. We might have started to speak as steps to making tools got more complex and they needed a wider explanation to make it. Also it is easier to warn if something is coming. 35 to 40 years ago we started to communicate with a complex language which is part of the reason we are thriving now. We started to speak because our larynes started to go down our throat a bit so we could talk.

Taming Fire: The First Scientist

Cox, Mary Beth. "'Taming Fire: The First Scientist?'" Odyssey: Adventures in Science Oct. 2009:

29-30. Print.

Fire, fire, fire... Why! It is so dangerous and in some ways scary. Why did we start to make them? A long time ago they hated fires, fires destroyed their lives. It destroyed what they lived in and what they had to eat. We started to make fires around 250,000 years ago. The first use of fire was about one million years ago. The evidence of use of fire are; hearths which are basic fireplaces and burnt rocks and bones. It is believed that fire is what brought us all together. We used to gather around the camp fire. One of the reasons that we believe we started to make fires was to cook food, also fires kept them warm when it got cold.

On Our Own Two feet

Whitt, Stephen. "On Our Own Two Feet." Odyssey: Adventures in Science Oct. 2009: 26-28. Print. 

Walking is a strange and rare way of moving between animals. It is weird how we can even balance our big skulls. Walking on two feet started millions of years before brains got this large. Also this might be a surprise to you but really we are not related to chimpanzees. Sure we had a common ancestor but then we went our separate ways, so we are not related to them. Another interesting fact that I learned is that between humans and chimps the was a species called Afarensis, it was more chimp like than to humans. A scientist named Lovejoy made a famous theory about why we walk. That is so, we could free up our hands to carry things, work, and to bring food to their mate while they raised their child. Of coarse there are other theories such as, so we could get across a hot savanna to get to a forset, and to get across streams by swimming. Why we really started to walk, we might never know.

This is a skull of the Afarensis

As the author says,"A.Afarensis lived around three million years ago, about halfway between modern humans and chimps and our last common ancestor." The interesting part of this passage is that all of these things that have happened are pretty recent. We cannot say for sure what will happen next.

Who's Who Among Early Hominins

Susman, Randall. "'Who's Who Among the Early Hominins?'" Odyssey: Adventures in Science Oct. 2009: 22-25. Print.

I read an article named "Who's Who Among Early Hominins?" it was quite interesting. It told me about twelve different species of early Hominins. Early Hominins means early men. All of these species of animals are part human and part ape. Also some are tree dwellers bipeds, and knuckle walkers. An example of one of these species is Homo Floresiensis. They used tools and they are not that old, they are only 94,000 years old, also they have larger brains. Another type is Paranthropus, they are close to men. They are around 2.5 million years old. The species that we are in is Homo. Homo erectus are about 1.8 million years old and they have bigger brains. So as you can see, human origins are a very long topic with some very long names such as, Orrorin Tugononsis, Ardipthecus, Kenyapithecus Platyops, and Homo Georgicus

As the author says, "To name the various groups of Hominins scientists traditionally use Latin, Greek, and Arabic origin from the language spoke where a fossil is found" I found that interesting because I was always curious why the names were so long.

Why We Study Human Origins

Why We Study Human Origins
by Randall Susman
Calliope: Exploring World History

There has been years of arguments about this topic. It is "What is human origin". Well, this topic can stir up many arguments. That is because for many people they think that god created humans and, they don't want to be related to apes. Before I tell you why we study human origins I have to tell you what it is. First of all, the study of human origins is a long term for evolution. It is how you go from one living thing that adapts to it's surroundings and changes to another living thing. An example of this is, going from apes to humans. Here is a picture of it that sums it up quite well.

 

Now I will tell you why we study it. This might be confusing to you because scientists know that this strikes up many different arguments but they still learn about it. This topic can also offend people by being related to apes. However we study it because we want to know what really happened. Also we want to know how and why we adapted to our surroundings. Another reason is that, we want to know if we will change again and not stay humans, and if we do is it for the better or for the worse.

According to the author of a textbook, "Huxley believed that anatomically  African apes and humans were similar, more similar in fact than apes were to monkeys.". What is interesting about this is that on the inside we are more like apes than monkeys are, but on the outside monkeys do look more similar. 

Stonhenge Mystery

Who built Stonehenge and why? That is a question that has been tossed around for so many years...
No one really knows how they moved those really heavy stones, or why they put it there, and for what purpose.There are so many theories on this, but because I don't want to bore you I will only tell you three.

The first theory that I will explain to you is that the archeologists think it is an ancient burial ground. However they think it is not just for everyone because, it would be to many bodies. Another supporting detail to their topic is that the archeologists  were only thinking about it in one way, but then another archeologist brought an archeologist there not knowing he would make a break through. The man was from somewhere else, and in his culture stones were a sign of the dead.

Another theory is how they moved the megaliths. They think that it is with little stone balls. They think that the people laid out long rectangular wooden pieces with a rectangular gap going all the way through it. After every little bit of the gap in the would the archaeologist would put in a small stone ball.  On top they would make a wooden platform to put the stone on. To get the stone up on it they think the people used levers. Once the stone is on the platform you push and pull it. It moves because the balls were acting as many little wheels.

A third theory there is, is that Stonehenge was an observatory. It followed the line of the sun on the longest day of the year and the shortest. Stonehenge might have been a place to celebrate on both of those days. Both of the days are very special.

What is Stonehenge? We might never know.

Human Ancestor May Put Twist in Origin Story

There was a discovery of two million years old bones, and maybe skin. Archeologists think they found fossilized skin , but they can not be sure. What makes these bones more special is that they are Australopithecus Sediba. That is a type of humans before us. They have smaller brains than us, but bigger ones than chimpanzees. These people are a mix between humans and apes. They probably had a better grip than us because they had a longer thumb. The Sediba's were able to use and make tools. They were around four feet tall which surprised me, I thought they would be smaller and not so close to our size. These discoveries were history changing.

This is one of they things that they found.

 

I found this picture and passage from National Geographic 

Gladiator School Found Buried in Austria

I read an article about an ancient gladiator school that was in ancient Rome. What might of surprised me the most was that it was around twice the size of the average Walmart. The gladiator school they found was the first one. This school looks quite modern, to me it looks like a school that you could almost use nowadays. Here is a picture of it

Even though this did not make a massive change in our view of the past, it does give them evidence about gladiators. The school now is like a cemetery because it has some of the people's remains. They could tell that it was a gladiator school because they saw the chariots.

I got the information and picture from National Geographic

How do historians learn about the past

You might be wondering how historians study the past, if so you found the write blog. Historians use something called the Historical Method, there are five steps to it. The steps are; To gather, categorize, evaluate, interpret, and share. The first one which is gather, they have find many secondary and primary sources. A primary source is a source that is made during or right after an event, a secondary source is made by someone  who studied that event. After that they categorize written and non-written sources, written sources are sources that are written, and non-written sources are not written, there are only five types of them. Next they have to evaluate their sources, a good way to do that is to use the five W's, who, what, where, when, and why. Following that, they interpret their information that they have found. Lastly, they share their theories with others. That is how historians learn about the past.

In The Past , where did Humans tend to settle and Why?

In the past the people tended to go to similar places. That is so when they were there they were comfertable, or have all of the things that we need. For example, people of the past did not normally live in the mountains. The reason for that it the weather is really cold and it might not have as much grass as you need if they were herders. Herders would probably want to live somewhere where it is not really hot or cold, also they would want it to be flat with a lot of grass for their animals. People also would not want to live in a desert because they would get heat exhaustion, they would not have anough food or water, and it would be hard to make a house in because the material for it is not easy to find. Normal people of the past would usually settle in places where it is a bit cooler, but not too much, close to fresh water, and by people to buy goods from.

Here is the population of China. As you can see, there are not as many people close to the mountains.

What is History and why do we study it

History is so many things to so many people. However to me it a few things. First of all, I think it is what happened five seconds ago, or five hours. Also, history is old artifacts,or events such as, reading this sentence. .I think all of this is history because, who can tell you it isn't. Why we study history, well that is another story..... A lot of people say that they need to learn about the past so they do not make the same mistakes, but they do. I think we learn about the past to learn about the Earth, civilizations, and cultures. Also, it can help predict the future. So as you can see, we need to study the past to help the future.

As James Joyce say  "'History,' Stephen said, 'is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.'"

To me this quote means that with all the wars fights and blood you wish you have never discovered it.

Country Project

In my humanities class I did a project about two countries I have a connection too. The two questions that I chose were America and Germany. My personal connection to America was that I was born in Colorado, all of my family lives in  Ohio, and I have an American passport. Also America is a place I could go back and live in.

My personal connection to my second country which was Germany, was that I lived there for about a year and a half, and I would absolutely love to go back because it was so beautiful.