Questions About the Earliest Humans

Today we learned that fossils show us that humans (homo sapiens) have existed for approximately 200,000 years.

Early humans developed one of the greatest technologies of all time: spoken languages. Once they were able to communicate and cooperate in a more complex way, humans gained an advantage over other kinds of animals -- even fierce competitors like wooly mammoths!

These early people had not yet invented written languages, so it can be a challenge to study their lives. Instead of studying written records, we rely on the artifacts that they left behind.

Studying artifacts is the specialty of archaeologists; here is an explanation from tonight's homework reading:

An important field that contributes much information about the past is archaeology. It is the study of the past based on what people left behind. 

Archaeologists, or people who practice archaeology, explore places where people once lived, worked or fought. The things that people left in these places may include jewelry, dishes or weapons. They range from stone tools to huge buildings. 

Archaeologists examine the objects they find to learn what they can tell about the past. In many cases, the objects that people left behind are the only clues we have to how they lived.

Also during today's class, the students practiced the skill of asking questions. Here are some of the impressive results:

Kemper: Did Stone Age people like how they lived? Did they want to live another way?

        Mr. Richmond: This is a great question because it causes us to think about the world from a completely new perspective. In other words, Kemper asks us to "get inside" a Stone Age person's head and consider things from his or her point of view.


Berra: When the "cavemen" were grunting and barking, were the thoughts in their head also grunts and barks, or were they an actual language?

        Mr. Richmond: Wow! This is a question that is debated by linguists -- people who study language as their career. 

        Berra is asking us to consider the connection between the words human use and the thoughts that happen inside our brain. This is a super deep question ... awesome stuff, Berra!!


Henry: What weapons did the early humans use?

        Mr. Richmond: Thanks so much for asking about weaponry, Henry. I am going to share a video with the class next week that will teach us about the weapons used during the Stone Age. 

       Here's a preview of what we'll learn: humans started by using sticks for most of their weapons, but they eventually changed materials. Why might sticks have been ineffective as weapons?

Hannah: Were there any big wars during the Stone Age?

       Mr. Richmond: One of the topics that we will study this year is the reasons that humans have fought with each other throughout history. 

       By asking whether people fought during the Stone Age, Hannah has introduced the tragic (but important) topic of war.

       Compared to modern humans, Stone Age people were surprisingly peaceful: they did not have any big wars. They sometimes fought in small "skirmishes" against other groups, but they did not fight large wars with hundreds or thousands of soldiers. Can you think of some reasons why?

       These are fantastic questions by Kemper, Berra, Henry and Hannah! It's clear that they are thinking deeply about history.