UKS2 Topic: Dinosaurs and Fossils Block D: Fossil Humans Session 3

UKS2 Topic: Dinosaurs and Fossils Block D: Fossil humans Session 3

Research questions: Lucy

Decide which pair in your team is going to research each question.

1. What species was 'Lucy'?
(clue: sometimes the first word in the species name is shortened e.g. Homo sapiens could be shortened to H. sapiens.)
2. How long ago was she alive?
3. Could she walk upright? How do we know?
4. How do we know she was a woman and not a man?
5. What kind of environments did Lucy live in?
(clue: there's evidence in how she was buried and the shape of her arms and legs. Watch the intro.)

UKS2 Topic: Dinosaurs and Fossils Block D: Fossil humans Session 3

Research answers: Lucy

1. What species was 'Lucy'?
Australopithecus afarensis
(clue: sometimes the first word in the species name is shortened e.g. Homo sapiens could be shortened to H. sapiens.)
2. How long ago was she alive?
3.2 million years ago
3. Could she walk upright? How do we know?
Yes, the shape of her pelvis (hips) shows she walked upright, but her arm bones were long and still used for climbing. Toe and heel bones of another fossil human of the same species also show that they walked upright. Finally, fossilised footprints at Laetoli, probably made by the same species, show upright walking.
4. How do we know she was a woman and not a man?
The shape of her pelvis (hips) shows she was a woman, and her skull was much smaller in comparison to a male skull of the same species.
5. What kind of environments did Lucy live in?
This is a stretching question, and chn will have to make deductions based on the bones. Because Lucy walked upright it's likely that there were grassy plains. She could also climb, though, which suggests she also went into the forest. The intro says she died on the edge of a lake.

Research questions: Olorgesailie

Decide which pair in your team is going to research each question

1. How did early humans survive here?
2. What animals and plants did early humans see?
3. Where did early humans live and die?
4. In what kinds of environments did early humans live?
5. What kind of evidence did humans leave behind in Olorgesailie?
(clue: look back at the bits of the website you have already looked at.)

Research answers: Olorgesailie

1. How did early humans survive here?
By using stone tools to help them eat meat and plants. They helped each other, kept in the shade and avoided animals that might eat them.
2. What animals and plants did early humans see?
Zebras, hippos, hyenas, giant wild pigs and giant monkeys, grass.
3. Where did early humans live and die?
They lived on the mountains, in the grassland, by streams and lakes. They died and left their bones along the pathway to the mountains.
4. What was the environment like where early humans live?
There was a large lake, a river, wetlands and streams. There were also dry grasslands. The mountain was actually a volcano that shot out lots of ash.
5. What kind of evidence did humans leave behind in Olorgesailie?
This is a stretching question, asking chn to look back at all the different parts of the website they have looked at and working out what evidence the humans left behind. This should include stone tools, butchered animal bones, their own bones.

Research questions: Oase

Decide which pair in your team is going to research each question

1. Where was the Oase skull found?
2. How old is it?
3. How do we know that it's definitely a modern human i.e. Homo sapiens?
4. How is the skull different from ours?
5. What colour skin would the person have had and why?

Research answers: Oase

1. Where was the Oase skull found?
Pestera Cu Oase cave, (the Cave of Bones) in Romania
2. How old is it?
40,000 years old
3. How do we know that it's definitely a modern human i.e. Homo sapiens?
From the shape of their skull, the face is quite flat with a high forehead and the back of the skull is very big and rounded.
4. How is the skull different from ours?
It has much bigger teeth and jaws.
5. What colour skin would the person have had and why?
Dark skin because they had just moved to Europe from more tropical places where darker skin is more useful.

Research questions: The Hobbit

Decide which pair in your team is going to research each question

1. How tall was the “Hobbit”?
2. How long ago did the woman live?
3. How do we know she is not a modern human?
4. What different types of evidence are there for human activity on Flores?
5. What don't we know about the “Hobbit”?
(clue: where did she come from?)

Research answers: The Hobbit

1. How tall was the “Hobbit”?
Just over 3 feet tall
2. How long ago did the woman live?
18,000 years ago
3. How do we know she is not a modern human?
She is much shorter, has short legs like earlier types of humans. The bones in the wrist don't look like modern human bones.
4. What different types of evidence are there for human activity on Flores?
Just the Hobbit and some stone tools that are much older, 800,000 years ago.
5. What don't we know about the “Hobbit”?
This is a stretching question so that chn will have to listen carefully to what the researcher on the video says. What we don't know her family tree and how she came to be there from earlier human journeys from Africa.