Download Unit 3 Human Migrations

Unit 3
Human Migrations
Introduction to Unit
This unit explores both the history of human migration and the means by which scholars have begun to unravel
the clues of this ancient story. The story of human migration began when the first humans picked up bundles,
weapons, and children, and moved to a different location. They moved because they had to, whether their reasons were population pressure, decreasing access to food and shelter, or environmental degradation. They
moved, in other words, when the risks of staying in one place exceeded the perceived dangers of venturing to a
new area. In doing so, they hoped to better
their chances of surviving, thriving, and
reproducing. Eventually, humans moved
across nearly all of the Earth’s landscapes,
including rainforests, deserts, tundra, ice,
oceans, and mountains. Scholars speculate
that early humans’ upright postures and
large brains assisted them in developing the
means and strategies to move over long distances. These same features enabled
humans to overcome environmental and
physical barriers in a variety of landscapes,
and to adapt successfully to the social, political, and ecological realities of their new
homes. The result has been the expansion of
the species from a mere ten to twenty thouItem #6814. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World History, MAP OF
sand individuals at the beginning of human
EARLY HUMAN MIGRATIONS (2004). Courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting.
migration to more than six billion individuals
today.
Learning Objectives
· Trace how and why early humans migrated out of Africa and across the Earth’s varied landscapes.
· Discuss the kinds of evidence scholars use to trace the paths of early human migrations—including oral
histories, creation myths, historical linguistic evidence, archaeological evidence, and contemporary spoken
language.
· Analyze the importance of rock art as an early human cultural expression.
Preparing for This Session
Read Unit 3 in the Bridging World History online text. You may also want to refer to some of the Suggested
Readings and Materials. If you feel you need more background knowledge, refer to a college-level world history
textbook on this subject (look under the index for Pacific Islands, Bantu, Africa [ancient], Languages).
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Unit 3
Unit Activities
Before You Begin—25 minutes
Examine this map of the earliest worldwide
migrations of humans, and discuss the following
questions.
· Where does the map show the starting
point of the migrations? Compare this map
to one in your textbook. Do both maps
show the earliest humans beginning in the
Kalahari Desert?
· Summarize in a short paragraph the paths
of human migrations.
· Where is there no evidence of early migrations? What might have been the climate
conditions that prevented human migration to the most northern or southern
areas of the Earth?
Item #6685. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World History, ICEFREE CORRIDOR FROM YUKON TO MONTANA, WITH LINES TRACING EARLY
HUMAN MIGRATION (2004). Courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting.
· The video will show that historians use
tools, burials, fossil remains, ancient varnish on rock and cave art, and the tracing of genetic lineages as evidence to explain the paths of early
human migrations. They also use radio carbon dating that examines the carbon isotopes in any objects
found at an archaeological site. How reliable do you think these kinds of evidence are for dating human
migrations to different regions in the world?
Watch the Video for “Unit 3: Human Migrations”—
30 minutes
Activity 1: Early Migrations Out of Africa—35 minutes
In small groups, use the information provided to discuss the questions that follow.
Archaeologist Mary Leakey writes,
It is plausible to interpret the tracks as being made by a male
whose foot had broad, splayed toes, closely followed by a
female, with one or the other leading a juvenile. It is a most
important find and demonstrates that 3.5 million years ago, the
fully bipedal, striding gait had been completely developed.
(Mary Leakey, Disclosing the Past [Garden City, New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1984].)
What methods did Dr. Leakey and her team use to determine when
hominids lived in East Africa?
(cont’d., next page)
Unit 3
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Item #3280. Bob Campbell, MARY LEAKEY EXCAVATING THE HOMINID FOOTPRINTS OF LAETOLI,
KENYA (1974). Courtesy of Bob Campbell.
Bridging World History
Unit Activities, cont’d.
Archaeologist E. Kofi Agorsah says,
Standing upright enabled early humans to develop stereoscopic vision and the ability to move faster, and also
to carry their food and babies to new locations. Standing upright also freed their hands, and so they were able
to make tools. The making of tools marked the beginning of culture. (E. Kofi Agorsah, interview with Oregon
Public Broadcasting, Bridging World History, Unit 3: Human Migrations [Oregon Public Broadcasting, January
2004].)
The historian David Christian has called the use of tools and transferring the knowledge of tools to the next generation “collective learning.” Do you think that the invention of language made the great migrations possible, or
was it the human migrations that made language necessary for survival?
Activity 2: Creation Myths and Linguistic Evidence of
Migrations—25 minutes
Use the information below to discuss the kinds of evidence scholars use to trace the paths of early human migrations: creation myths and linguistic evidence.
Discuss the issues historians must consider when they use creation myths as evidence of the migrations of
humans.
Legends of the aboriginal Kakadu people describe the “Dreamtime,” the era when their world was created. The
Kakadu creation story begins with the Great Earth Mother Imberombera arriving in Australia by canoe, her womb
swelling with human children. Coming ashore, she creates a world of hills and creeks, plants and animals for her
children to inhabit.
In each place she stops on her wanderings, Imberombera, the great mother, bears children and instructs them
in language and culture. Meanwhile, her giant consort Wuraka, although equally fertile, seems fatigued by his
potency and longs only to rest and join the sun in the east. Wuraka came from the west, walking through the
sea. His feet were on the bottom, but he was so tall that his head was well above the surface of the water. He
landed at a place called Allukaladi, between what are now known as Mts. Bidwell and Roe, both of which he
made. His first sleeping place, after coming out on to land, was at Woralia. He then continued to Umurunguk
and so to Adjerakuk and Aruwurkwain, at each of which he slept one night. Imberombera also walked through
the sea. She landed at a place now known as Malay Bay, the native name being Wungaran. She met Kuraka at
Arakwurkwain. Imberombera said to him,‘Where are you going?’He said,‘I am going straight through the bush
to the rising sun.’ The first language they spoke was Iwaidja, that is, the language of the people of Port
Essington. Wuraka carried his penis, or par/a, over his shoulder. He said to Imberombera, ngainma par/a
nungeroboama, my penis is too heavy; ngainma wi/a/u jirongadda, my camp is close by; ngeinyimma ngoro
breiku/, you go a long way. (Barbara Sproul, Primal Myths [Harper and Row, 1979]: 323–25.)
Discuss how historians might use linguistic evidence to trace the paths of humans in preliterate eras.
For tens of thousands of years, while other languages around the world emerged, evolved, and disappeared, aboriginal languages developed in relative isolation from the rest of humanity. These languages no longer have any
clear relationship to modern languages in Africa or Asia—suggesting their antiquity in the global story of human
languages. At the end of the first millennium CE, the Austronesian language family, which includes Polynesian languages, was the most widespread in the world. During a span of at least three millennia, these languages had
been spread across a vast geographic area: from Indonesia to the Philippines, from Madagascar to Easter Island.
Speakers of these languages could have migrated across the Pacific in only one way: by boat. The boat-making
and navigation skills required for these journeys demonstrated the sophistication of these early mariners.
Historians use the linguists’ analysis to trace the spread of the speakers of the Austronesian language family.
Bridging World History
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Unit 3
Unit Activities, cont’d.
Item #6813. Hot Pepper Studios, created for
Bridging World History, MAP OF EARLY OCEANIA
MIGRATIONS (2004). Courtesy of Oregon Public
Broadcasting.
How do you think that historians determined approximately when Malays
migrated to Madagascar? Would you
find linguistic evidence more reliable
than folk tales about the migration
across the Indian Ocean? Explain why to
a partner.
Activity 3: Rock Art and Cultural Expression—35 minutes
Language and storytelling are not the only forms of early cultural expression. Human populations settling in
Australia created works of art, captured in carvings and paintings across the continent. These early symbolic
expressions were not limited to Australia, however, but appear in many parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia. The rock
art created around the world tens of thousands of years ago bears witness to the creative spirit active at the dawn
of humanity’s cultural evolution. In creating art, individuals and groups passed on their experiences to others, and
in turn, learned from others as well. (This form of cultural exchange is another example of David Christian’s collective learning). Painted caves discovered in southern Europe and the Sahara seem to show symbolic expression.
Compare the paintings from Australia, the Sahara, and southern Europe. What similarities point to common early
human experiences? What similarities show collective learning? What differences are due to variations in climate
and landscape? Work with a partner to examine the examples of rock art below and on the next page.
Item #1993. Klebba, CAVE PAINTINGS AT ZUUR
VLAKTE (1962). Courtesy of University of
Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, Africa Focus.
Item #2009. Jeanne Tabachnick, SAHARAN ROCK ART FROM THE
SAHARA DESERT AT TASSILI, ALGERIA (1980). Courtesy of Jeanne
Tabachnick.
Unit 3
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Bridging World History
Unit Activities, cont’d.
Item #2442. Jim Mann Taylor, SAHARAN
ROCK ART AT TASSILI N’ AJJER PLATEAU
NEAR TAMRIT AND SEFAR (n.d.). Courtesy of Jim Mann Taylor.
Item #2438. Jim Mann Taylor, SAHARAN
ROCK ART (n.d.). Courtesy of Jim Mann Taylor.
Item #5006. Anonymous, Panel of the panther, Chauvet Cave
(n.d.). Courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, Regional Direction for Cultural Affairs - Rhone-Alpes,
Regional Department of Archaeology.
Item #2443. Jim Mann Taylor, SAHARAN ROCK ART AT TASSILI N’
AJJER PLATEAU NEAR TAMRIT AND SEFAR (n.d.). Courtesy of Jim
Mann Taylor.
(see Discussion Questions, next page)
Item #5008. Anonymous, PANEL OF THE HAND
STENCILS, CHAUVET CAVE (n.d.). Courtesy of the
French Ministry of Culture and Communication,
Regional Direction for Cultural Affairs - RhoneAlpes, Regional Department of Archaeology.
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Unit 3
Unit Activities, cont’d.
Discussion Questions
· What are the differences between drawn pictures and spoken language? In what ways are these means of
communicating similar? Can drawn pictures be called “language”? Why or why not?
· Select two of the photographs of the cave and rock art. Work with a partner to act out a scene where the
artist orally explains his/her art. Now take that oral explanation and turn it into writing. What differences do
you notice between the oral and the written explanations?
· How can historians use the cave and rock art as evidence in their attempts to explain the past?
Activity 4: Bantu Migrations—30 minutes
Causes of Migrations
Causes of Migrations
Generic Examples of Causes of Migrations
Generic Global Effects of Migrations
Environmental
Changes
Shift in climate, depletion of natural
resources, drought, earthquake
Redistribution of world’s population,
blending of cultures
Economic
Pressures
Increasing population, famine,
unemployment
Shifts in population
Political and Religious
Persecution
Slave trade, war, ethnic cleansing, repression
Dislocation and oppression of peoples,
spread of ideas and religions
Technological
Development
Tools, agriculture, iron smelting,
Development of civilizations and empires
communications and transportation networks
· Early humans moved across the Earth’s landscapes in response to the challenges and opportunities posed
by the environment. Global migration continues today. Look at the above chart and discuss the reasons for
changes and continuities in human migrations over time.
· According to the maps on the next page, what directions did Bantu speakers move? What might have been
the environmental and social reasons for the migrations? Do the migrations seem to fit the same patterns
as the original “out of Africa” movements?
· As Bantu speakers moved into new regions, they learned important skills and new words from the peoples
they encountered. They adopted words from Nilotic- and Cuschitic-speaking peoples, including those
words related to livestock herding, irrigation, and dry grain agriculture. Today, ninety million people speak
one or more of the hundreds of distinct Bantu languages. Does linguistic analysis seem more reliable than
creation myths?
· There are some common cultural elements in the many types of music and religious expressions of Bantuspeaking people. How do cultural similarities add additional proof to the explanation of the Bantu
migrations?
Unit 3
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Bridging World History
Unit Activities, cont’d.
Bantu Migrations from 4000 BCE to 1000 CE
Item #6680. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World
History, SITE OF RICH FOSSIL EVIDENCE OF HOMO ERECTUS IN
KENYA/BANTU EXPANSION MAP 1 (2004). Courtesy of Oregon
Public Broadcasting.
Item #6682. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World History, BANTU EXPANSION MAP 2 (2004). Courtesy of Hot Pepper
Studios.
Item #6681. Hot Pepper Studios, created for Bridging World History, LAND INHABITED BY BANTU SPEAKERS AFTER EXPANSION
INTO SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA, C. 3000 TO 2000 B.C.E.
(2004). Courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting.
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Unit 3
Homework
Read Unit 3 in the online text, Section 3, Reading 2: David Christian, “The Case for ‘Big History,’” Journal of World
History 2, no. 2 (Fall 1991): 223–38 and answer the following questions.
Reading Questions
· At what scale does Christian suggest that world history be seen?
· How does ‘big history’ encourage historians to “ask questions about our place in the universe”?
· In what ways do ‘big history’ and traditional creation myths put forth the same kinds of questions?
· Why does Christian see humanity’s growth as an aberration, or breakdown in the “ancient equilibrium
between a large mammal species and the environment it inhabits”?
Optional: Visit the Web Site
Explore this topic further on the Bridging World History Web site. Browse the Archive, look up terms in the Audio
Glossary, review related units, or use the World History Traveler to examine different thematic perspectives.
Unit 3
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Bridging World History