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Big History

Unit 6

Early Humans

To fully understand our success as a species, we need to look closely at our ancestors. Learn how early humans survived and evolved, and about our uniquely human ability to learn collectively.

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Unit Vocab Download
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Threshold 6 Card Download
Course Glossary

Unit 6 Driving Question

What makes humans different from other species?

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6.0 How Our Ancestors Evolved

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Activity

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Vocab – Word Wall

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Vocab – Word Wall

Class word walls continue with Unit 6 vocab. This should be routine, by now!

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Video

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Unit 6 Overview: Early Humans

The evolution of humans was a huge jump in complexity, but what do we know about early humans? And how do we know that they were capable of collective learning?

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Activity

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Early Ancestors

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Early Ancestors

Consider how humans have evolved from their early ancestors by sorting a set of images.

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Timeline: Early Humans

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Timeline: Early Humans

Big history has covered a lot of ground and a lot of time so far, but humans are just arriving on the scene. Use this timeline to see just how recently we came to be on Earth.

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Video

MP4 / 2:42

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Threshold 6: Humans and Collective Learning

About 200,000 years ago, man evolved to become the most important force for change on the Earth’s surface. What makes us so different from other living things? How did we, together, make something entirely new?

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Video

MP4 / 15:41

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Crash Course: Human Evolution

What connects you to other species? DNA, for one thing. Hank and John Greene will tell you about a whole lot more.

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Activity

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Evolution Comic

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Evolution Comic

Create the story of evolution in a comic strip!

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Article

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Lucy and the Leakeys

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Lucy and the Leakeys

Fossil discoveries in Africa produce new evidence of human origins.

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Article

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Jane Goodall

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Jane Goodall

The study of chimpanzees in Africa helps define humanity.

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6.1 Ways of Knowing: Early Humans

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Activity

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Vocab Tracking

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Vocab Tracking

An individualzed tracker for new words encountered in Unit 6. Add to it as the unit progresses.

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Activity

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DQ Notebook

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DQ Notebook

Here's your new unit driving question. Respond to this based on what you currently know…don't worry if it's not much—you're about to learn a lot more!

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Video

MP4 / 5:45

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Intro to Anthropology

Kathy Schick defines the role of the anthropologist in understanding our past and present.

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Video

MP4 / 5:00

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Intro to Archaeology

Nicholas Toth explains the tools, methods, and focus of an archaeologist.

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Activity

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Disciplines – What Do You Know? What Do You Ask?

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Disciplines – What Do You Know? What Do You Ask?

Something big has just happened. You have been tasked to assemble a panel of experts to look into it. Who do you call, and why?

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Activity

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Historos Cave

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Historos Cave

Discover how scientists from different disciplines can come together and contribute to collectively discover how early humans lived.

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Closer

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Little Big History Kickoff

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Little Big History Kickoff

You know all those H2 videos you've been watching? Well, it's your turn to research and make your own "Little Big History" of your chosen thing.

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6.2 Collective Learning

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Activity

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Collective Learning Snap Judgment

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Collective Learning Snap Judgment

You think you know collective learning? Prove it by evaluating these snap judgments.

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Article

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"Collective Learning" (Part 1)

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"Collective Learning" (Part 1)

Collective learning sets humans apart from all other species, and language magnifies the impact of that learning.

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Video

MP4 / 11:29

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Crash Course Big History: Why Human Evolution Matters

Human brains are pretty enormous compared to other species, but please don’t get big head about it.

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Video

MP4 / 3:36

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Common Man - H2

You dominate the earth. Learn why in this video.

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Video

MP4 / 2:42

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MP4 / 2:42

Early Evidence of Collective Learning

Stone tools, changes in the human skull, and mutant genes: John Shea discusses some of the early evidence we have for collective learning.

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Activity

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Culture and Collective Learning Debate

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Culture and Collective Learning Debate

Does culture count as collective learning? Debate this topic with your classmates and decide if cultural changes occur as a direct result of our ability to learn collectively.

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Closer

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Causation – Autopsy of Alphonse the Camel

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Causation – Autopsy of Alphonse the Camel

Causation can be a complicated skill to master. In order to help students further develop this skill, they’ll categorize the causes that led to Alphonse’s death.

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6.3 How Did the First Humans Live?

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Opener

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DQ Notebook

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DQ Notebook

Here's your new unit driving question. Respond to this based on what you currently know…don't worry if it's not much—you're about to learn a lot more!

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Video

MP4 / 10:52

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MP4 / 10:52

How Did the First Humans Live?

The evidence left behind by early humans gives us a vivid picture of their lives.

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Article

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Foraging

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Foraging

For most of our time on Earth, we humans have survived by hunting and gathering food from our natural environment.

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Activity

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Claim Testing – Early Humans

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Claim Testing – Early Humans

Time to test some claims—this time about early humans!

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Video

MP4 / 4:11

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From Foraging to Food Shopping

What was it like for hunter-gathers? What were their favorite foods that they would go the extra mile to get their hands on? How are decisions like that different from the decisions we make today?

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Activity

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Hunter Gatherer Menu

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Hunter Gatherer Menu

Glimpse into the life of a hunter-gather. Do some research to put together a menu of the finest foraged foods.

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Video

MP4 / 10:26

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Crash Course Big History: Why Human Ancestry Matters

Humans around the world seem all too aware of our differences. But our ancestry shows we all started in the same place and, at least genetically, we’re remarkably alike.

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Activity

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Human Migration Patterns

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Human Migration Patterns

Where did early humans start and where did they end up? Explore the migration patterns of humans throughout the world.

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Article

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Ales Hrdlicka – Graphic Biography

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Ales Hrdlicka – Graphic Biography

An illustrated biography of Aleš Hrdlicka, an anthropologist who both promoted a deeper understanding of human history and impeded collective learning.

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Article

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George McJunkin – Graphic Biography

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George McJunkin – Graphic Biography

George McJunkin was born into slavery, but he became a cowboy and a self-taught naturalist who made a revolutionary archeological discovery.

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Activity

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Little Big History – Choosing Your Focus

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Little Big History – Choosing Your Focus

Time to settle on a topic for your Little Big History. If you make sure it's something you're interested in, this will be one fun project!

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Activity

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Revising Investigation Writing – Applying BHP Concepts

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Revising Investigation Writing – Applying BHP Concepts

Just because you’ve gotten good at something doesn’t mean you can’t get better. This revision exercise will again help you apply to your Investigation writing the new concepts you have learned.

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Closer

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Investigation 6

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Investigation 6

In this investigation, you'll look at how language makes us different from other species. Do other animals communicate? How does human communication differ?

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Activity

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Investigation 6 Writing Samples

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Investigation 6 Writing Samples

These Investigation writing samples provide example essays to help support writing instruction in different ways—use as you see fit in your classroom!

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Activity

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Claim Testing – Collective Learning

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Claim Testing – Collective Learning

Language, emotion, ability to learn? What makes us different? Test these claims to see if they have the answer!

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Video

MP4 / 2:50

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The Brain: A Brief Big History - H2

When early humans first began to eat meat, they sparked an energy revolution that transformed our physical form.

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Video

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Writing: A Brief Big History - H2

The ability to write and pass down collective knowledge sets us apart from other species. Symbolic language is the ultimate secret code developed by humans.

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Video

MP4 / 10:00

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How Did Our Ancestors Evolve?

All life on earth shares a common ancestor. After the dinosaurs became extinct, biodiversity flourished.

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Video

MP4 / 4:53

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What Makes Humans Different?

Learn why humans, more than any other species, have made such a profound impression on the biosphere.

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Video

MP4 / 6:42

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MP4 / 6:42

Migrations and Technological Creativity

Journey with Craig Benjamin through 250,000 years of technological creativity and human migration. Explore how our species has had to adapt, change, and migrate to survive.

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Video

MP4 / 7:48

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MP4 / 7:48

Making Stone Tools

Nicholas Toth shows how early humans made stone tools that were simple but effective.

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Video

MP4 / 4:53

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MP4 / 4:53

Genealogy and Human Ancestry

In this video, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., explains how three types of genetic tests helped him understand his own family history, and then goes on to explain how these same tests can help scholars reconstruct the past 60,000 years of human migration.

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Article

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Mannahatta Old Collect

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Mannahatta Old Collect

What was Manhattan like before Europeans arrived? Find out in this story about The Old Collect.

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Activity

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Why Do We Live Here?

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Why Do We Live Here?

In this activity, students are asked to think about their community and how it came to be.

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Article

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Where Would We Be Without Bugs?

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Where Would We Be Without Bugs?

Tiny insects have had a big impact on history. What will they do next?

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Early Humans

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Student Resources

Student Resources

Unit 6 Driving Question

6.0 How Our Ancestors Evolved

6.1 Ways of Knowing: Early Humans

6.2 Collective Learning

6.3 How Did the First Humans Live?

Other Materials