BEFORE WE RULED THE EARTH VIDEO Page 1 of 1

1. They had something that set them apart from other animals. A growing intelligence and the ability to use tools.
2. 1,700,000 years ago the world was filled with extreme danger. Just to stay alive was the ultimate challenge.
3. But to be successful scavengers these hominoids needed it cutting tool as razor-sharp as the Sabre tooth’s canine
teeth
4. These hominids were able to scavenge only 1 bone and a few shreds of meat.
5. This young hominid has created a sharper more versatile tool – the hand axe; one that will rival the saber tooth
tiger’s sharp teeth.
6. They would soon discover a more powerful tool that would change everything; it to more powerful than the hand
ax. A tool more powerful with so many uses that all animals cower before it. A tool they must master for their
own survival.
7. They used fire to keep warm and cook their meat which made it more digestible. The discovered fire’s most
powerful use yet – in the hunt.
8. now extinct the Irish elk stood 9 ft. tall with antlers 11 ft. wide
9. Language as we know it is still nearly a quarter of a million years in the future. But these early humans have
basic communication skills.
10. The hunters have become the hunted.
11. Findings in Spain tell us that few Homo erectus lived beyond their teens.
12. Over thousands of years Homo erectus wrestled with the challenge of keeping flames burning.
13. This gooey substance is pine resin. It can prevent infection and it is also the source of turpentine a natural fuel.
14. it keeps them warm; cooks their food; scares away the predator’s -- and with this one discovery nothing would
ever be the same
15. Problem-solving, cooperation, and sharing knowledge will be essential to human survival
16. The herd of Irish elk has come face-to-face with a formidable weapon; not only just fire but fire plus the human
brain.
17. Skeletons tell us that Neanderthal was short and stocky (squat).
18. Their stone tipped spears were the most lethal weapons yet.
19. They became successful at hunting and surviving..
20. The Cave would become the center of their world.
21. Even for a people well adapted to the ice age cold this is more than they can bear. The hunters have to travel
farther and farther because the beast (animal) they hunt are leaving for their own quest (search) is for food.
22. For the entire band to attempt a winter migration is sure death. Only the strongest hunters will go. By the time of
the Neanderthals humans were capable of at least some basic speech.
23. Neanderthals evolve large noses to warm their breath. And they’re squat bodies retain heat the cold climate.
24. They wake up knowing that this is the day they must find the beast and kill it.
25. We know more about Neanderthal than any previous human beings because they buried their dead.
26. The bison has been felled. The Neanderthals have been beaten to the kill; but by whom? They are face-to-face
with 2 strangers or thin and have round heads. These are not people like the Neanderthals. They are swift and
have light spears that they can throw.