Human+Evolution-6A

Hi! My name is icy52097 and I go to the [|Amigos School]. I am doing this WIKI to inform the world on how interesting Human Evolution can be and to encourage all Homo sapiens to find out more about their ancestors. My topic (obviously) is Human Evolution! It relates to my classes field trip to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, because while we were there we took a lab on Human Evolution.

We got to the [|Harvard Museum of Natural History] by walking, which was a success because it didn’t rain (even though it was a relief to be inside when we got there). At the museum, one of the things we learned about was the tools that the hominids used. Classmates found that the tools became more advanced after each hominid. For example, the “Common Ancestor” and Australopithecus aferensis just found tools such as small stones or a twig, and then the Homo habilis started making disposable tools such as the hand axe. Tools kept on improving as the years past and we are still improving today’s technology. The best part was when we got to use the tools (they weren’t actually from 6 million years ago) to smash nuts and to learn how to throw the spear!

But, tools weren’t all we learned about in the lab for Human Evolution. We learned even more about hominids and the way they walked, communicated, what they ate (whether they were herbivores, omnivores, carnivores or scavengers), and the tools that they used. Students found that the first hominids evolved about 6mya (6 million years ago) and that they are from what is called the “common ancestor”. Next came Australopithecus afarensis, then Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis and finally, Homo erectus.

Even though we had learned so much, there was still way more information to uncover on Human Evolution. First, we learned about the way Hominids walked, we figured that if you looked at the location of the foramen magnum (which connects to the spine) you would see whether they walked on 2 or 4 feet. In the end everyone agreed that the “Common Ancestor” walked on 4 feet, that the Australopithecus aferensis stood on 2 feet, but at the same time was bent over and that all the other hominids walked on 2 feet. Second, we learned about their diet, what they ate. The “Common Ancestor” was rarely a hunter and ate mostly plants, Australopithecus aferensis did the same, Homo habilis was the first real meat eater, because they ate plants and meat. Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis were both hunters and ate plants too. Next, we learned about their tooth size and jaw strength, we did this based off of what they ate. The “Common ancestor” and the Australopithecus aferensis had big teeth and very strong jaws, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis had small teeth and week jaws, us Homo sapiens have tiny teeth and very wimpy jaws. After we had packed all of that information into our heads it was time to leave the lab, but if you want to look at all of the information in this WIKI, or to find out more, you can look at my web on human evolution and my family tree!