Old Stone Age · 300,000-15,000 years ago

Out of Africa: how humans spread across the world

Our species began in Africa. Students follow small bands of hunter-gatherers along coasts and across seas to every inhabited continent, and use the Ice Age Seas layer to see the world they walked through.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 20000 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Our species began in Africa. Students follow small bands of hunter-gatherers along coasts and across seas to every inhabited continent, and use the Ice Age Seas layer to see the world they walked through.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain that modern humans first evolved in Africa and name one find that shows it.
  • Trace on the map the main routes people took to Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas.
  • Describe how lower Ice Age sea levels changed coastlines and opened land bridges.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

20000 BC

Where it began

Open the map in 20,000 BC, the earliest year it shows. Look at Africa: our species lived here for well over 200,000 years before some groups left. Find the two ways out to Asia: the Sinai and the narrow mouth of the Red Sea.

Open this view on the map
b

20000 BC

The southern gate

Turn on Ice Age Seas in the Data layers panel. Zoom in on the strait between Africa and Arabia (Bab-el-Mandeb). With the sea far lower than today, is there a dry path, or still a channel of water to cross?

Open this view on the map
c

20000 BC

Across the sea to Sahul

Keep Ice Age Seas on and move to Southeast Asia. Find the labels Sundaland and Sahul. Is there a dry road from Asia to Australia, or did the first Australians need boats?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The oldest known fossils of our species, about 300,000 years old, come from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. Why do finds like this matter so much?
  2. Why might a band of hunter-gatherers move on from a place where their families had lived for generations?
  3. People reached Australia at least 50,000 years ago, and the sea was never dry all the way. What skills did that journey need?
  4. People in Africa today show more genetic variety than people on any other continent. What does that suggest about where humans started?
  5. New finds keep changing the dates of this story. Is that a weakness or a strength of science? Explain.
4

Game round

10 min

Rule History has no Stone Age rulers: its earliest ruler, Hatshepsut, lived about 3,500 years ago. Play one round as Hatshepsut, then discuss: the first travelers in this lesson had no kings and no written laws. How do you think a small band decided where to go next?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.