Who Were the First Humans on Earth? 

Introduction

     Wowie! Have you ever wondered who were the first people on Earth? What were they named?  Where did they come from? 

     Well, read on and you will learn about prehistoric people.  

Before People Existed 

    Most of the animals on Earth have been around a lot longer than humans. The Earth has existed for about 4,500,000,000 years. But humans have only lived on Earth for a tiny fraction of that time, especially compared to other animals.

    Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for about 165 million years, but they went extinct about 65 million years before humans showed up.

    Some other animal species that still exist today have been around a LOT longer than humans. For example, did you know that jellyfish have lived on Earth for about 600 million years?

Ancestors of Humans

     Very early humans evolved and shared DNA with modern day apes such as chimpanzees. Very early ancestors similar to humans lived more than 2 million years ago.

     All types of people belong to a scientific group from the tribe called "Homo". 

     The best known ancestors related to humans on Earth is Australopithecus, who lived in an area in eastern Africa about 2 to 5 million years ago. They lived on the Earth way way longer than us modern humans have been around.

     While apes, chimpanzees, and Australopithecus have some similarities to humans, they are NOT human.

The Bones of First Humans

    Archaeologists have found bones from humans who lived on Earth about 200,000 years ago. The scientific name for humans is Homo Sapiens.

     While other animals similar to humans existed, it is still a science mystery exactly how animals that were not human changed into humans. 

Homo Sapiens 

     The science name of all early humans begins with the word ¨Homo,¨ which means man.

     The scientific word for humans is Homo Sapiens, which actually means wise people. Homo Sapiens first appeared on Earth about 200,000 years ago. 

     There were other species such as Homo Erectus, Homo Australopithecus, and Homo Neanderthales that were similar to humans. But Homo Erectus, Homo Australopithecus and Homo Neanderthales went extinct, while Homo Sapiens survived.

Where the First Humans Lived

     The bones of the first humans on Earth have been dug up by archaeologists in areas including Morocco, Northern Africa, and Kenya. All of the scientific evidence shows that the first humans came from the continent of Africa about 200,000 years ago.

Survival for Prehistoric Humans

    Scientists use the word prehistoric man to talk about the very early people who lived before written history even began.  

     Early humans did not have strong or sharp nails to help them fight enemies. They had big trouble out-running sabertoothed tigers and cave lions in the wild. So there was a constant fight for survival.

Crafting to Survive

     Since very early humans had weaker and slower bodies than other predators, they needed to adapt in other ways in order to survive.

     The big difference that helped humans survive was their brains.  They used their brains to start inventing protection and ways to hunt and grow food. Eventually they developed tools and weapons and ways of communicating which helped them become the top species on Earth.

Conclusion

     I got inspired to do this project because I have always wondered about what humans were like way back in time.

     The reason that Homo Sapiens survived and were able to spread all around the Earth is because of their smart brain. Humans were smart then and they have kept growing smarter to build new tools and technology.

     I hope you learned a lot from my website. Thanks for reading! Bye!