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Unit #2 Reflection

1.) Describe how you prepared/studied for the unit test. 
         I studied for the unit test with the "cheat sheet" we created in class.  First, I read through all the titles and all of the subtitles to introduce myself to them, and then I made acronyms for each topic.  I made "TDAD" for the big ideas - Tools, Developing culture, Adapting to the environment, and Development of humans.  After that, I made "Laura Believes Art is Social" for Developing culture to remember Language, Beliefs, Art/ornaments, and Social/emotional.  I made similar ones for each of the other main topics.  I had my dad repeat the acronyms after me so I could use as many senses as possible to study (see, hear, touch, smell, taste).  Of course, I could only hear and see my notes, but two senses is better than one.  After that, I practiced writing down the cheat sheet on separate pieces of paper using my acronyms until I got them perfectly.  Over the next day, I popped mini quizzes on myself where I had to write down everything that I'd studied on a piece of paper to keep the facts in my head.  Then, the night before the test (Sunday night), I decided to study some dates to try to make my test answers just a little better.  I took my Humanities notebook before I went to bed, and I looked at the chart with all the different hominids and their times on there.  I memorized the dates right before I went to bed so my brain had time to mull over them while I slept.  After that, I woke up, went to school, and did the test.

a.) Do you think your studying strategies were effective - why/not?
         I think that my studying strategies were effective, because I was able to stick facts in my head easily. I didn't mess up when I was practicing drawing my cheat sheet too many times after I understood the basics.  I also was able to remember some of the dates (time periods when certain hominid species were alive) to put on the test.

b.) How will you prepare next time?
          I think that next time, I will prepare the same way, because I was really able to use the information I studied on the test, but I might look through my notes a little bit more than I did this time.  That way I can be more prepared for the multiple choice questions, where they ask you to answer very specific things. 

2.) What was the most surprising thing you learned about during this unit?
          I thought that learning that Turkana Boy was 5 foot 3 at eight years old was very surprising.  I don't think that I know any eight-year olds that are taller than me, and that was mind-boggling.  After I learned that Turkana Boy had the growing rate of a chimpanzee, it made more sense, but it was still super hard to imagine. 

3.) If we had more time to spend on Prehistory + Early Humans - what would you want to learn more about?
          I think that it would have been nice to learn more about Homo floresiensis (the hobbits), because of the fact that they were so small, and no one knows for sure why.  We did take notes on them, but we didn't actually do any activities or go into deeper depth about them.  In our unit, they were pretty minor hominids.

Who Were the Hobbits?

         The hobbits were a species of primitive human officially dubbed, "Homo floresiensis" and nicknamed, "the hobbits" or "Flores Man".  They were early people of the Homo genus that lived alongside the Cro-Magnons.  Ancient fossils found date back to 38,000 - 18,000 years old, but Homo floresiensis may have survived up to 12,000 years ago.
         Flores Man was among the smallest species of human at about 3.5 feet tall.  Scientists debate about why this was.  There are a few different theories that try to explain the size of the hobbits - island dwarfing and microlepsy.  Island dwarfing isn't very rare.  When mammals that are part of another species live on an island, they adapt into smaller sizes.  This is because there is a limited amount of resources on the island and smaller predator populations.  The second theory, microlepsy, suggests that Homo floresiensis were originally a part of the Homo erectus species - just that the fossils found had developed a physical disorder that made their skulls and brains abnormally small.  Other scientists contradict this theory because Homo erectus had a very modern body, not only in skull size and brain capacity, but in arm length and foot development.  For the hobbit to be a Homo erectus with microlepsy, they would also have to undergo evolution backwards.
          More scientists believe that there is not enough evidence to draw any conclusions about the hobbits.  They say that what we have found could be compared to archaeologists in the future finding the tall bones of a basketball player, or the smaller bones of a horse jockey, and think that the entire human species is that tall or that short.  They think that we need to find more remains to be sure about anything.
          The most complete skeleton of Homo floresiensis was a 30 year old woman.  She had a primitive face with a protruding brow and cheek with no chin.  Her wrists were arranged like a chimpanzee's, which might have restricted the hand motions needed to make tools or use tools, to a lower level.  This ancient woman's shoulders shrugged forward, and her feet were long and flat which tells us that Flores Man was definitely not as developed as we are now - unless our lady had some strange condition that she had, but no one else did.
          Many researchers argue against the fact that Homo floresiensis was a tool maker, but some evidence has been found to contradict that statement.  Inside the cave where hobbit fossils were found, many tools for different purposes such as digging, butchering, and hunting were discovered.  There were small stone points that may have been used to place at the ends of wooden spears, and some scientists say that Flores Man's chimp-like arms may have been up to 4 times stronger than Homo sapiens.  That strength could have helped make and use tools.
          All in all, scientists haven't really decided exactly who the hobbits were, but they do have some pretty good guesses.

Developing a Culture

          Making tools and creating language were both important parts of developing a culture for the early hominids. Making tools helped ancient humans to build houses, create irrigation, and make all the necessary factors needed to stay put in one place.  Not being on the move all the time helped them to create art, invent things, begin a religion, and build relationships. Tools helped early hominids to create a culture.  The better we wanted our tools to be, the more we had to communicate.  The more we had to communicate, the better our language became.  The better our language was, the more we could tell stories and talk about more abstract things. 
          Language was an important part of building a civilization, because it was basically the way that ancient humans communicated.  When they were able to discuss and talk, and cooperate about things, such as how well a tool works, or how successful the hunt was, then they could improve them.  They could tell each other about what they believed in, and start building a religion, and they could make up stories about natural phenomena and how to complete survival needs.  Without tools or language, life as we know it would most definitely be VERY different from what it is now.

Bipedal Hominid Evolution

          There are many different theories that attempt to explain why early humans became bipedal.  No one knows for sure. Some think it was an adaptation, and others believe that we grew this ability after our brain developed, because we realized that it's easier to walk on two feet than on all fours.  There are endless possibilities.
          Some people believe that we evolved bipedalism in order to free our arms.  Back then, we needed to carry food and make tools, and when walking on four feet instead of two, it was much more difficult to carry food to a mate, or lug stone or wood to build crude dwellings.  With both hands free, you could transport the maximum amount of materials you could hold without worrying about dragging them in the dirt or dropping them.
          Others think that we grew into bipeds because of thinning African forests.  We originally lived in trees, but if the flora in one forest died out and we didn't have enough food or space, we would have to migrate over the tall grass of the African savannah.  The grass in Africa was/is at least 5 feet tall, and walking on all fours would have kept you too short to see over the long grass.  This restricted your ability to watch for predators or keep a straight path, and just know where you were headed.  You could get attacked by ancient predators, or you could just get lost - both big problems.
          Another theory that attempts to answer the mystery of why we are bipeds is the thought that standing on two feet was a better way to for male hominids to engage mates (female hominids).  We could dance, wave our arms, do little mating dances, and use our height to dominate over other males if we could stand up.  Maybe, once a female was pregnant, the male had to collect food for her and the kids, and it would be much easier for him to do that if he had the use of hands.
           One last reason that explains why humans can walk on two feet for an extended period of time is the theory that we had to reach up into trees to grab fruit.  Scientists believe that we were able to walk part-time in trees, and if we had to hold on to branches and tree limbs all the time, we wouldn't be able to grab nuts and fruits.  If we could stand up on tree limbs, we would be able to reach high branches with nice edible fruit. 
         Nobody knows for sure why we evolved bipedalism, but one thing is for certain - it has made all the difference in the lives of all the humans on the planet.

The Use of Fire - Early Hominids

       Fire helped early humans to adapt to the rough living conditions they had been given in many ways.  They were able to keep the cold away, stay up after the sun went down, cook food, and they could ward off predators. 
       It was important to keep warm in ancient times, because early hominids had rather crude clothing that probably wasn't half as thick as the warm winter coats we own today.  During the harsh winter season, many ancient people probably died due to cold.  Winter might have killed off all the elderly, the sick, and the young - the next generation.  Without children, the tribe or clan wouldn't be able to survive, which would make that species of early human endangered or extinct.  Fire helped prevent that part of survival.
       It was important to ancient hominids to stay up after dark, because it gave them extra time to socialize.  Most of the daytime was probably focused on gathering food, making clothing, and constructing crude shelters.  They needed the sun to do that.  When fire came, people were able to stay up later, and although there might not have been enough light to work, it was adequate to see others' faces.  Having social time between family, friends, and clans helped develop early cultures.  People could talk about fears, challenges, hopes, dreams, tell stories, develop rules for the tribe, create a religion, and everything else that is vital to a healthy culture.
       Learning how to cook food was an important step in human history, because it was easy to digest, tasty, killed parasites, and eliminated most poisons/toxins from the food.  Back then, many people probably died of food poisoning, because they didn't have the technology to protect themselves against it.  When the food was cooked, it prevented poisons, toxins, and parasites from invading the body, so people were much healthier.  It probably saved a lot of lives too.
        Keeping predators away was also very important to ancient hominids.  Wild animals could attach the weak, young, and old, and the population of ancient humans was probably kept low by that.  If the predators attacked all the ancient human children, then the people would die out.  Fire might have saved whole tribes of ancient people.
       All in all, fire was a very important step in human evolution.  It showed that early hominids could observe natural phenomenon, try to understand it, and attempt to put it to good use.  It definitely helped keep many humans alive.  Without fire, we would still be cavemen.

Humanities First Quarter Reflection

1.) What did you learn?

This quarter, I learned so much about archaeology, people of of the past, and many other things.  I now know how to excavate a site - I never knew that there were so many different steps and rules that you have to keep in mind, and that you have to keep track of everything so carefully.  I learned about cultural and scientific dating, and all the ways to date artifacts, I learned a little bit about how people a long time ago lived, and how fossils are created.

2.) What did you find most interesting?
I thought that the Otzi presentations we did at the beginning of the year were the most interesting.  They gave me a greater insight as to what kind of lifestyle people in the Copper Age might have followed, and it was just interesting to listen to other people's views about what might have happened to Otzi.  It also showed me about the decisions, interpretations, and difficulties that archaeologists and historians must face in order to make decisions about the past.

3.) What learning skills were you able to practice and have?
I was able to practice my note-taking skills A LOT!  Looking back, I guess my notes were semi-organized, but that I could have done better.  I definitely used sub-titles, but I never used colors, which could probably have been pretty helpful. 
I think that I was also able to practice my studying skills, which are pretty useful skills to have.  I tried not to put off studying, so I studied my notes one day, a sheet the next, a different sheet later on...I'm glad that I studied, because if I hadn't, I probably would have gotten a 3 on our test.

4.) What did you learn about yourself? 
I learned about what kind of studier I am.  I can't study for about fifteen minutes, go do something else, and then study again, like some people do.  I have to study for a long time without stopping or I can't concentrate.  Later, I can review, but I can't just study, stop, study, stop. 

All in all, I thought that this quarter was a good start to my Humanities year.