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Instructor Note: This book presents an Old Earth viewpoint that assumes evolution in the first three chapters. For instructors who wish to avoid or delay this instruction, you may wish to start with Chapter 4.

It took Columbus more than four weeks to sail from Spain to the West Indian Islands. Today, we cross the ocean in hours in an airplane.

Five hundred years ago, three or four years were necessary to copy a book by hand. One hundred years ago, we invented linotype machines and rotary presses and printed a new book in a couple of days. With today's computers and printers, we can print an entire book in minutes.

We understand a great deal about anatomy and chemistry and mineralogy and we are familiar with a thousand different branches of science of which the very name was unknown to the people of the past.

In one respect, however, we are quite as ignorant as the most primitive of men--we do not know where we came from. We do not know how or why or when humanity began its career upon this Earth. With a million facts at our disposal we are still obliged to follow the example of the fairy-stories and begin in the old way: "Once upon a time there was a man."

This man lived millions of years ago.

What did he look like?

We do not know. We never saw his picture. Deep in the clay of an ancient soil, archaeologists have sometimes found a few pieces of his skeleton. They were hidden amidst masses of bones of animals that have long since disappeared from the face of the earth. We have taken these bones, and they allow us to reconstruct the strange creature who happens to be our ancestor.

The great-great-grandfather of humanity was quite small. The heat of the sun and the biting wind of the cold winter had colored his skin a dark brown. His head and most of his body were covered with long hair. He had very thin but strong fingers which made his hands look like those of a monkey. His forehead was low and his jaw was like the jaw of a wild animal which uses its teeth both as fork and knife.

He wore no clothes. He had seen no fire except the flames of the rumbling volcanoes which filled the earth with their smoke and their lava.

He lived in the damp blackness of vast forests.

When he felt the pangs of hunger, he ate raw leaves and the roots of plants or he stole the eggs from the nest of an angry bird.

Once in a while, after a long and patient chase, he managed to catch a sparrow or a small wild dog or perhaps a rabbit. These he would eat raw, for prehistoric man did not know that food could be cooked.

His teeth were large and looked like the teeth of many of our own animals.

During the hours of day this primitive human being went about in search of food for himself and his wife and his young.

At night, frightened by the noise of the beasts, who were in search of prey, he would creep into a hollow tree or he would hide himself behind a few big boulders, covered with moss and great, big spiders.

In summer, he was exposed to the scorching rays of the sun.

During the winter, he froze with cold.

When he hurt himself (and hunting animals are forever breaking their bones or spraining their ankles), he had no one to take care of him.

He had learned how to make certain sounds to warn his fellow-beings whenever danger threatened. In this, he resembled a dog who barks when a stranger approaches. In many other respects, he was far less attractive than a well-bred house pet.

Altogether, early man was a miserable creature who lived in a world of fright and hunger, who was surrounded by a thousand enemies, and who was forever haunted by the vision of friends and relatives who had been eaten up by wolves and bears and the terrible saber-toothed tiger.

Of the earliest history of this man, we know nothing. He had no tools, and he built no homes. He lived and died and left no traces of his existence. We keep track of him through his bones, and they tell us that he lived millions of years ago.

The rest is darkness.

Until we reach the time of the famous Stone Age, when man learned the first rudimentary principles of what we call civilization.

Of this Stone Age, I must tell you in some detail.

Directions

Study the lesson for two weeks.

Over the two weeks:

  • Read the story multiple times.
  • Read the synopsis.
  • Review the vocabulary terms.
  • Complete the enrichment activities.
  • Study the review questions.

Synopsis

The first chapter overviews ancient humans until around two to three million years ago when the first stone tools were used and the Stone Age began. We know little of our earliest ancestors, other than from fossils. The original humans were small, hairy, wore no clothes, slept outdoors in hollow trees or between boulders, didn't write or speak using words, used no fire to cook meat, and were preyed upon by animals such as saber-toothed tigers.

Vocabulary

Prehistoric: Relating to or denoting the period before written records.
Archaeology: The study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains.
Anatomy: The branch of science concerned with the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms, especially as revealed by dissection and the separation of parts.
Chemistry: The branch of science that deals with the identification of the substances of which matter is composed; the investigation of their properties and the ways in which they interact, combine, and change; and the use of these processes to form new substances.
Mineralogy: The scientific study of minerals such as zinc, calcite, topaz, and hematite.
Primitive: A person belonging to a preliterate (unable to read), nonindustrial society or culture.
Fossil: The remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock.
Saber-Toothed Tiger: A large extinct carnivorous mammal of the cat family, with large, curved upper canine teeth.
Stone Age: Age of humanity in which stone tools were created and used. It began around 3.4 million years ago and ended between 8700 BCE and 2000 BCE with the manufacturing of metal.
Before Common Era (BCE): A global standard referring to the time before Common Era (CE). BCE is equivalent to BC (before Christ). 100 BCE is the same as 100 BC.
Common Era (CE): A global standard referring to the Common Era (CE). CE is equivalent to AD (anno Domini - after the birth of the Christian figure of Jesus). 2017 CE is the same as 2017 AD.
Rudimentary: Relating to an immature, undeveloped, or basic form.
Principle: A fundamental truth that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Narrate the Chapter

  • After you listen to the chapter, narrate the chapter aloud using your own words.

Activity 2: Draw Early Humans Before the Stone Age   

  • Click the crayon above. Complete page 3 of 'Second Grade World History Coloring Pages, Copywork, and Writing.'

Use pencils, crayons, pastels, or markers and the following description from the chapter to draw your own pictures of pre-Stone Age people.

  • The great-great-grandfather of humanity was quite small.
  • The heat of the sun and the biting wind of the cold winter had colored his skin a dark brown.
  • His head and most of his body were covered with long hair.
  • He had very thin but strong fingers which made his hands look like those of a monkey.
  • His forehead was low and his jaw was like the jaw of a wild animal which uses its teeth both as fork and knife.

Activity 3: Act Out the Chapter

Gather as many of the following props as you wish to act out the story:

  • Couch - for a hollow log
  • Steps or countertop - for the tree holding the eggs
  • Blocks or balls - for bird's eggs
  • Small stuffed animal - for the animal for you to catch and eat
  • Large stuffed animal - for the saber-toothed tiger trying to catch you

Instructors - read the following to the children and help them act out each line.

  • Imagine you are a primitive human who lived millions of years ago, before the Stone Age began.
  • Communicate using grunts and moans. You do not know how to speak words or write.
  • You must find food and shelter to survive. First, find a hollow tree (couch) to sleep in. Take a nap.
  • Next, wake up and hunt for something to eat. Climb a tree (steps or countertop) to rob a nest of its eggs (blocks or balls). Climb down and catch a small animal (small stuffed animal) to eat.
  • Watch out! A saber-toothed tiger (large stuffed animal) is headed your way. Run and hide in your hollow tree (couch).

Activity 4: Examine the Saber-Toothed Tiger

  • Study the replica of a saber-toothed tiger skeleton.
  • Study the artist's rendition of a saber-toothed tiger. Imagine prehistoric man having to defend himself from the saber-toothed tiger's long fangs without modern tools or weapons.

Activity 5: Play Saber-Toothed Tiger Tag

  • Play a game of tag. The one who is 'it' pretends to be a saber-toothed tiger hunting primitive people.
  • The others pretend to be primitive people running for their lives.
  • When the tiger catches a person, the tiger links arms with the person to simulate eating them up.
  • As additional people are caught, they link arms with the previous person caught, forming a chain.
  • The tiger and his chain of eaten primitive people continue hunt for more primitive people, until they are all eaten up.

Activity 6: Complete Coloring Pages, Copywork, and Writing   

  • Click the crayon above. Complete pages 4-5 of 'Second Grade World History Coloring Pages, Copywork, and Writing.'

Activity 7: Create a Timeline

Create a timeline for the history events studied this chapter.

  • Get a large piece of paper and label it 'Origin of the Earth to the Stone Age' at the top in big letters.
  • Add a dot halfway down and at the far left of the paper and label it, '4.5 Billion Years Ago - Creation of the Earth.' The distance between this mark and the other marks will not be to scale (we'd need a whole lot more paper!).
  • Add two dots halfway down and to the far right of the paper and label the first, '4 to 7 Million Years Ago Humankind Becomes Bipedal.' (Bipedal means walks upright on two feet.)
  • Label the second dot, '3.4 Million Years Ago Humankind Begins to Use Stone Tools.'
  • Connect the dots with a long line that spans the width of the paper.
  • Decorate your timeline with pictures of people, places, and things mentioned in the chapter such as the Earth, ancient people, what ancient people ate (bird's eggs, small animals, raw plants), where ancient people slept (hollow trees, groups of rocks), smoking volcanoes bubbling over with lava, great big spiders, wolves, bears, and saber-toothed tigers.
  • Hang your timeline up on a wall. Make sure there is enough room to the right to expand your timeline with two additional sheets of paper.

Review

Question 1

How do we know about the earliest humans?
1 / 7

Answer 1

We know about the earliest ancient humans from the fossils we've found.
1 / 7

Question 2

What did the earliest humans look like?
2 / 7

Answer 2

The earliest humans were small and hairy, with low foreheads and protruding jaws.
2 / 7

Question 3

What did the earliest humans eat?
3 / 7

Answer 3

The earliest humans ate uncooked meat, bird eggs, and plants.
3 / 7

Question 4

Where did the earliest humans sleep?
4 / 7

Answer 4

The earliest humans slept outdoors in hollow trees or between groups of rocks.
4 / 7

Question 5

Which predators preyed on the earliest humans?
5 / 7

Answer 5

The earliest humans were preyed on by wolves, bears, and saber-toothed tigers.
5 / 7

Question 6

How did the earliest humans communicate?
6 / 7

Answer 6

The earliest humans could not speak or write words. Instead, they communicated using sounds such as grunts.
6 / 7

Question 7

Up until what age did this chapter cover?
7 / 7

Answer 7

This chapter covered the time up until the Stone Age.
7 / 7

  1. How do we know about the earliest humans? We know about the earliest ancient humans from the fossils we've found.
  2. What did the earliest humans look like? The earliest humans were small and hairy, with low foreheads and protruding jaws.
  3. What did the earliest humans eat? The earliest humans ate uncooked meat, bird eggs, and plants.
  4. Where did the earliest humans sleep? The earliest humans slept outdoors in hollow trees or between groups of rocks.
  5. Which predators preyed on the earliest humans? The earliest humans were preyed on by wolves, bears, and saber-toothed tigers.
  6. How did the earliest humans communicate? The earliest humans could not speak or write words. Instead, they communicated using sounds such as grunts.
  7. Up until what age did this chapter cover? This chapter covered the time up until the Stone Age.

References

  1. 'Stone Age.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.
  2. 'Common Era.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

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