Uncover the Answers to This Quiz on Early Humans

In 1914, a Paleolithic man and woman dating back about 14,000 years were found buried with a dog in Oberkassel, Germany. Recent research has revealed the dog must have been a pet, and was well cared for. He was a 28-week-old puppy when he died, and had previously been seriously ill with canine distemper, — suggesting that the couple had nursed the pup back to health. Many archaeologists see this as the earliest confirmed example of the domestication of dogs.

The Venus of Hohle Fels — an ivory figurine of a human female discovered in a cave in the Swabian Jura mountains of Germany — is the oldest known artwork depicting a human. Dating back around 40,000 years, the figure was discovered in 2008. This earliest human depiction altered previous views of Paleolithic art, as the form showcased a new level of artistic ability for the time period.

In 1991, tourists stumbled on a prehistoric body, later dubbed “Ötzi the Iceman,” as he was found frozen in the Ötztal Alps on the border of Austria and Italy. A total of 61 tattoos were found on the body, applied by puncturing the top layer of the skin and rubbing in charcoal. The markings take the form of parallel lines, and are believed to have served a medical purpose, since they cluster around joints where Ötzi was suffering degeneration.

Axes have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, with early stone examples appearing around 700,000 years ago. The first piece of clothing was sewn around 170,000 years ago. About 100,000 years later, Neanderthals invented the flute. Finally, around 3500 BCE, the Mesopotamians created the first known wheel for pottery, about 300 years before it was used in transportation.

The development of weapons such as spears meant that hunter-gatherers could begin to hunt larger prey. An extinct species of early humans, Homo heidelbergensis, were the first to develop wooden spears. Later, early Homo sapiens made more specialized hunting equipment, such as fishhooks and bows and arrows. This allowed them to improve their diet and make better use of the animals they caught to make clothing and shelter.

The Venus of Willendorf is a small stone figure (just over 4 inches tall) discovered in 1908 in Willendorf, Austria. Created between 28,000 and 25,000 BCE, it depicts the body of a woman, with no feet, and facial features hidden by a cap or hair. There are various theories as to what the statuette represents, including a fertility figure, the image of a goddess, a good luck charm, an aphrodisiac, or a self-portrait of a prehistoric woman.

Humans began practicing trepanation, the process of drilling a hole in the skull, during the Neolithic Age, which began around 10,000 BCE. It’s believed the operation was used to treat epilepsy, migraines, mental problems, and intracranial disorders by relieving pressure — and with some success. Based on prehistoric bones, archaeologists have found the surgery had a decent rate of survival.

Almost all European languages (except a few, such as Finnish and Hungarian) and some non-European languages (such as Hindi and Persian) evolved slowly from one ancient tongue that historians call Proto-Indo-European. It’s believed to have originated around modern-day Ukraine around 4500 BCE and eventually evolved into Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and many other languages.

Most bronze is made of about 88% copper and 12% tin. Archaeological evidence shows the first smelting of copper to make tools and weapons around 6000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent, based on copper artifacts and evidence of smelting found at Yarim Tepe in modern-day Iraq. Bronze was smelted around 3,000 years later in ancient Sumer. Bronze is stronger than copper and easier to melt for casting, making it more useful for tools. The Bronze Age ended with the discovery of an even stronger metal, ushering in the Iron Age.

In general, Neanderthals were shorter and stockier than humans are today. Males had an average height of 5' 5", and females were about 5' 1”. Though they're often thought of as not bright, their brains were actually slightly larger than the Homo sapiens of today and were highly intelligent. They also had 32 teeth and were omnivores, just like us.

Evidence shows that long before humans started hunting, they smashed the bones of animals that had been left behind by predators, and ate the marrow. Bone marrow contains not only protein but fat, which is needed for brain development and not found sufficiently in meat alone. Our prehistoric ancestors also stored bones and broke them open to eat the marrow later, in an early form of food preservation.

Prehistory, meaning “before history,” is generally defined as the period before recorded history. Of course, people started recording their histories as soon as they had writing to do it with. That means the prehistoric period ended at different times in different places as various societies developed written language. Mesopotamians got there first in about 3400 BCE when they developed the cuneiform script, and hieroglyphics appeared in Egypt around 3200 BCE.

According to the fossil record, Homo sapiens first appeared between 315,000 and 400,000 years ago, but the Koobi Fora site in Kenya, where lake and river sediments have preserved ancient human fossils, shows oxidized earth several centimeters deep, believed to be evidence of the controlled use of fire about 1.4 to 5 million years ago. So it was actually our earlier ancestors, Homo erectus, who first learned to harness fire.

About 10,000 years ago, the last Glyptodonts walked the Earth. The creatures were essentially giant armadillos, with hard layers of armor protecting them. They could grow to nearly 450 pounds, but were relatively slow and easy for humans to kill. Eventually, glyptodonts were hunted to extinction, though archaeologists continue to find their remains today.

Homo sapien, which means "wise man" in Latin, refers to the species that modern humans belong to. The genus “Homo” consists of a few other species, including homo erectus and homo habilis, archaic iterations of human beings that are now extinct. The term "homo sapien" was coined by biologist Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. The fossil record traces homo sapiens back over 315,000 years to Africa.

Around 70,000 BCE, a catastrophic explosion of Indonesia’s Toba volcano sent so much ash into the atmosphere that scientists estimate it dimmed the sun for more than six years, caused plants and animals to die off, choked off rivers and streams, and drastically cooled temperatures. As a result, the human population plummeted to roughly 1,000 human adults, or as low as 40 breeding pairs.

The ancient city of Sumer was first settled by humans around 4500 BCE. in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. They ran the region for nearly 2,000 years until the Babylonians took over, but not before the Sumerians made huge advancements in language, governance, architecture, and human society.

Homo sapiens first evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago. They hunted and gathered, like many other people of the genus Homo, but they were able to survive the longest. After spreading to Europe and Asia, they crossed the land bridge Beringia into North America, becoming the first true global species of humans.

The world's oldest paintings are found in caves all around the world. Indonesia is home to the absolute oldest known examples, where stenciled handprints and depictions of local animals, like the babirusa, were painted nearly 40,000 years ago. There are also famous examples in Spain and France from slightly later.

For most of early humanity's history, we lived in the Stone Age. Hunting and building were done with basic stone tools from about 2.5 million years ago to about 10,000 BCE. We then entered the Bronze Age with the invention of metallurgy. After that came the Iron Age around 1,000 BCE., when humans were able to build better houses and other structures — leading to the creation of today’s cities and civilizations.