This document provides an overview of Module 2 which discusses early hominin origins in southern Africa including 3.6 million year old Laetoli footprints and the 3.2 million year old Lucy skeleton. It also examines the line between art and non-art through examples like the 3 million year old Makapansgat cobble, 77,000 year old incised ochre from Blombos Cave, and plastered human skulls from Jericho dating to 7000 BCE and Beisamun dating to 4000 BCE. Key questions around human origins like anatomy, behaviors, and defining humans versus non-humans are actively researched and answers constantly change with new evidence.

1. ART 299 VISUAL CULTURE GLOBAL CONTEXT
MODULE2

2. Overview Module 2
 hominin origins in southern Africa
 Laetoli footprints (not in text), 3.6 mya
 “Lucy” skeleton (not in text), 3.2 mya
 the line between art and non-art
 Makapansgat cobble (1-2), 3 mya
 incised ochre from Blombos cave (not in text), c. 77,000 BCE
 plastered human skull, Jericho (1-14), c. 7000 BCE
 plastered human skull, Beisamun (not in text), c. 4000 BCE

3. Our picture of humanity’s
roots is constantly
 There is an active community of research
changing.
around the question of our earliest human
ancestors.
 Who were they?
 Where did they live?
 What is unique about their anatomy and
physiology?
 What behaviors did they engage in?
 How do we draw the line between human and
non-human?

4. These all seem like simple enough
questions, but the answers keep
changing fairly dramatically as we find
new evidence from month to month.

5. The past isn’t static, but
dynamic.
Therefore, please be aware as you work
through this module that some of the specific
information you are reading here may
change. The point of the module is not to
memorize specific facts of human prehistory,
but to become aware of how ongoing
discovery keeps revising our sense of the
past, and to begin interpreting the
significance of what we know at this point.

6. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/1/l_0
71_03.html
THE LAETOLI FOOTPRINTS

7. The Laetoli footprints, 3.6
million years ago
These are not the only
hominin footprints that
have been found in
Africa, but they remain
the most famous
physical evidence that
our hominin ancestors
(in this case,
Australopithecus
afarensis) walked
upright. This
evolutionary change
came before larger
cranial size, according
to current state of
research.
Cast of the Laetoli footprints displayed in Tanzania

8. http://leakeyfoundation.org/about-us/leakey-
family/mary-leakey/
PROFILE OF MARY LEAKEY

9. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/humanori
gins/history/humans3.php
LAETOLI FOOTPRINTS

10. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/humanori
gins/history/humans4.php
AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFARENSIS

11. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/humanori
gins/history/humans5.php
LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS

12. “Makapansgat cobble,” South Africa, naturally eroded pebble with a
surprising resemblance to a face, around 3 million years old

13. http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/portable/web/manupor
t.html
WHAT IS THE “MAKAPANGSAT COBBLE” AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

14. http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Blombos.html
BLOMBOS CAVE, SOUTH AFRICA

15. incised ochre, Blombos Cave,
c. 77,000 BCE

16. plastered skulls
c. 7000 BCE, Jericho c. 4000 BCE, Beisamun

17.  TERMS
 hominin: this has a more technical definition, but
for our purposes, think of it as an early human or
proto-human.
 manuport: something you pick up and carry
around.
 ochre: reddish pigment used for body decoration
and cave painting