History and Citizenship

TOPIC AREA 3: HISTORY OF AFRICA Sub-Topic Area 

1: History of Ancient Africa 

Unit 6: Evolution of mankind

Origin of mankind 

Activity 6.1

Read the following story. 

In the beginning, the grandmother of Rwandans lived in heaven. She lived with Nkuba (thunder). Nkuba could create a living thing. He, Nkuba, one day decided to create a baby boy. He created him out of clay then smeared him with his saliva. He then put him in a gourd filled with milk. In the milk was the heart of a bull that had been slaughtered.

The gourd was always refilled with fresh milk every morning and evening. After nine months, the clay baby became alive. It was named Sabizeze. The baby grew to become a very handsome man. 

Sabizeze came to know the truth about his origin. He became angry and decided to leave heaven. He came to earth and settled in Rwanda. 

1. Compare the story above story with the story you have heard about the origin of mankind. 2. Find out more about the story of Sabizeze from elders.

Just like other societies, Rwandan society too has its belief about the origin of human beings. The story of Sabizeze proves this. 

The origin of humankind is said to have undergone five distinctive stages that include the following: 

• Australopithecus 

• Homo habilis 

• Homo erectus 

• Homo sapiens 

• Homo sapiens sapiens

Australopithecus lived between 3.9 and 3.0 million years ago. He retained the ape like face with a sloping forehead. He had a ridge over the eyes. He had a flat nose and a chinless lower jaw. His height was between 3’6” and 5’. He was fully bipedal. The thickness of his bones showed that he was quite strong. His body was similar to that of a human being. The head and face were proportionately much larger. The remains of Australopithecus were found in Kenya.

 Homo habilis was also called The Handy Man because tools were found with his fossil remains. He existed between 2.4 and 1.5 million years ago. The brain size was bigger than that of Australopithecus. His jaw was also lighter than that of his predecessor. As social animals, there was need to communicate and understand one another. Simple language may have evolved at this point. The brain shape shows evidence that some speech had developed. He was 5’ tall. 

Homo erectus lived between 1.8 million and 300 000 years ago. Towards the end, his brain size was like that of modern human beings. He definitely could speak. Homo erectus developed tools, weapons and fire. He also learned to cook his own food. He travelled out of Africa into China and the southeast Asia. He developed clothing for northern climates. He turned to hunting for his food. Only his head and face differed from those of modern human beings.  

Homo sapiens lived in Europe and in the Middle East between 150 000 and 35 000 years ago. His brain size averaged larger than modern human being. His head was shaped differently, longer and lower. His nose was large and extremely different from that of modern human beings in structure. He was a massive man, about 5’ 6” tall. He had a heavy skeleton that showed attachments for massive muscles. He was far stronger than modern human beings. His jaw was massive with a receding forehead like that of Homo erectus. 

Homo sapiens appear to have been replaced by a new species called Homo sapiens sapiens (or modern man), who evolved in Africa and migrated widely in the world. This species is estimated to have come into existence about 200,000 years ago. Fossils of this species have been found in Omo River Valley, north of Lake Turkana, Singa in Sudan and Ngaloba in Tanzania. The brain of Homo sapiens sapiens resembled that of modern man. He was more advanced in speech and technology.

A number of sites excavated by popular archaeologists of the 20th Century points to this. Dr Leakey worked in the 1960s and 1970s at a site called Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

Archaeological evidence tells the fact that people in this era lived on scavenged meat. They also ate wild plants. In short, they practised hunting and gathering. 

Dr Leakey’s works discovered other sites around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. The discoveries were largely similar to that of Olduvai Gorge. 

Donald Johansson worked separately from Dr Leakey, a decade later in northern Ethiopia. He found fossils that confirmed great human presence in the region several thousand years before. 

The life and survival of early man

The evolution and culture of early man is often studied according to stones ages. These were periods when tools were almost completely made from stone. This grouping applies to Africa, south of the Sahara. In North Africa, the Nile Valley, Europe and Asia, the applicable term is Paleolithic, a Greek word meaning Old Stone. Production of tools marked significant stages in mankind’s progress. The brain-hand-eye coordination and control resulted in tools whose refinement has never ended. Various species of early man manufactured them for different purposes.

Over time, man spread beyond the few identified spots of originality. He spread to other places on the continent and beyond to other continents. This was influenced by climatic conditions as well as his search for food. Also, man spread while escaping from dangerous animals that could eat him. 

It also happened as a result of purposeless wandering. Man kept on moving in any direction without any specific point to return to. This is because man was wild, without any element of domestication.

Fig. 6.1: Illustration showing scientific theory of evolution

 Activity 6.2

Look at Fig 6.1. Write the differences between the first and last members of the picture.

Evolution of man

The evolution of man refers to the stages human beings went through in order to become the present day human beings. There are two theories that explain the evolution of man. These are:

 • The creation theory (Biblical theory) 

• The scientific theory

The creation theory/Biblical theory

Activity 6.3

Read the following chapters. 

“Then the LORD God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; He breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.” (Genesis 2:7) 

“Then the LORD God made the man fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, He took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the flesh. He formed a woman out of the rib and brought her to him.” (Genesis 2:21-22) 

“So God created human beings, making them to be like Himself. He created them male and female, blessed them, and said, ‘have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control.’” (Genesis 1:27-28)

Give the order of events to explain how man came to be according to above chapters.

This theory explains that humankind was created by God, according to Genesis 1 and 2. God moulded man from soil and later a woman from man’s rib ( Adam and Eve). The two were given responsibility to reproduce and fill the earth.

The scientific theory

Activity 6.4

Describe the process above.

The modern theory concerning the evolution of humankind has a different view. It proposes that humans and apes derived from an ape-like ancestor. The ape-like ancestor lived on earth a few million years ago. 

The theory states that humankind emerged through a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Humankind emerged as a species to produce the variety of ethnicities seen today. It further states that modern apes evolved on a separate evolutionary pathway. 

Perhaps the most famous proponent of evolution theory was Charles Darwin (1809-82). He authored on The Origin of Species (1859) to describe his theory of evolution. Since then, humankind’s origin has generally been explained from an evolutionary perspective. 

Moreover, the theory of man’s evolution has been and continues to be modified. New findings are discovered and revisions to the theory are adopted. Earlier concepts that have proven incorrect are discarded.

Stone age period

Activity 6.5

1. Write down the tools that people in your local area use in agriculture. 

2. Explain the use of each tool.

                                                      Did you know?

Stones were used to carry out the activities you have mentioned above.

Stone Age is a period that precedes History. It was the period when human beings did not know how to read and write. 

Pre-history is made up of three periods: 

• Early Stone Age (1,500,000-750,000 BC) 

• Middle Stone Age (750,000-300,000 BC)

 • Late Stone Age (300,000-50,000 BC)

Archaeologists and historians have referred to this period as Stone Age Period. This is because major tools used at that time were made out of stones. 

Discoveries made in Stone Age period 

Early Stone Age period (Palaeolithic) 

• During this period, man’s activities were hunting and gathering food from forests. 

• Man was living a wandering life and lived on trees. 

• Man was shaping stones into double edged hand axe that was used in hunting.

Fig. 6.2: Middle Stone Age

Fig. 6.3: Stone tools

The Middle Stone Age period (Mesolithic) 

• During this period, there was improved method of making shaped flakes from bigger stones. The flakes became tools for cutting meat, scraping skins and sharpening of weapons. 

• Man learnt to bind together stones into wooden handles which was called hafting. They were able to make improved tools such as ropes and poisoned arrows for hunting. 

• Man invented fire and used it for roasting meat, warming himself and scaring away wild animals. 

• Man continued with food gathering, that is, collecting fruits, leaves, stems and roots.

 • Man started keeping domestic animals such as dogs, cats and goats. 

• Man started living in caves and forming small families.

 • Man invented fishhooks and canoes.

Fig. 6.4: Some domestic animals

Remember! 

We need to preserve and conserve ‘the country of a thousand hills’ because it is our heritage.

Late Stone Age/Neolithic period

This is the period when human beings started making great changes.  They improved their ways of life. It is characterised by the following: 

• They started constructing small huts using grass, trees and skins. 

• They settled in a permanent place and stopped wandering. 

• They started putting on skins and woven clothes. 

• They began farming in order to produce their own food. This constitutes a revolution known as a Neolithic revolution. 

• They used fertilisers and storage facilities. 

• They started living in villages and forming communities. 

• They increased domestication of several domestic animals such as horses, cows, sheep and pigs.

 • They started iron working and began using iron tools such as machetes, hoes and knives. They used less stone tools. 

• They started using better tools for hunting such as spears, arrows and bows. 

• They made rules and regulations to have law and order in the societies. 

• They began to bury the dead in graves instead of leaving them to rot on the ground. 

• They started exchanging items with other communities (trade).

Fig. 6.5: Shelter used by early man

Characteristics of hunter gatherer societies 

(i) People lived by wandering from place to place. They moved from one place to another. 

(ii) People lived in groups or communities based on their lineages and clans. 

(iii) The major economic activities were hunting wild animals and gathering wild fruits for food. 

(iv) Informal education was administered from parents to children. 

(v) Stone tools were mainly used for cutting meat and for protection. 

(vi) The societies had no laws to govern them because they lived a semipermanent life. 

(vii) In these societies, land was owned communally, not individually. Everyone had a right to settle where they wanted. 

(viii) Herbal medicine was used to treat wounds, coughs and diseases such as malaria. 

(ix) Intermarriages were common among people, but on consent of parents from both parties. 

(x) The societies had no hierarchical social structure of administration.

Revision questions

1. Explain the origin of humankind. 

2. Discuss humankind’s major discoveries in the Neolithic period. 

3. Explain why Africa is called the cradle land of man.  

4. Describe some developments of man during the middle stone age. 

5. Explain the importance of fire to early man. 

6. Differentiate between modern human beings and apes.