Homo Erectus, Term Paper Example

A Day in the Life of Ashanti, the Homo Erectus

Ashanti huddled near the bank of the creek with several other members of his group. If he had owned a calendar, he could have marked the date “1,000,000 B.C.”  For Ashanti, however, calendars were a long way off, and even if he did have one he would not have know what to do with it. What he did know how to do was to use tools, and he was busy chipping away at a small stone hand axe with another piece of rock. He scraped away pieces of the axe’s edge, making it sharp and deadly. If he and some of the other young males in the group were lucky they would find something to kill today. He was very hungry, and he hoped that he would have a successful hunt. Then again, he was almost always hungry, and he spent most of his time trying to find food. When there was nothing to catch and kill he would scavenge for scraps left behind by bigger, larger predators. He was one of the group’s best hunters, and today he and several of the other males were setting out to bring some food back to the rest of the group. One of the older males was sick, and the females were staying behind to care for him while the males went hunting.

Ashanti finished his work and rinsed the axe off in the muddy water. He turned and stood up to look out over the grasslands of what is now Northern Africa. Like the other members of the hunting party, Ashanti was big, standing nearly five feet tall and weighing just over one hundred pounds. Unlike his smaller cousins in the forest, Ashanti and his group were built for walking, with shorter arms and longer legs then the tree-dwellers. Ashanti could run quickly when he needed to catch a small animal or run away from a larger one, but mostly he spent his time walking, eating, and sleeping. He and his group were always on the move, looking for food, shelter, and water. The creek had once been a mighty river, but in recent seasons it had dried up, and many of the plants and animals it sustained were now gone. Some members of Ashanti’s large extended family had left many seasons ago when the river still ran, heading north into what is now called Asia. Ashanti could not know it, but someday their ancestors would populate the entire world.

Suddenly the wind shifted, and Ashanti smelled the storm coming. He knew this would bring the water from the sky, and he and the others grew very excited, hooting and clapping their hands together. Though they could not speak, their messages were clear: they had to hurry to get some food. They headed towards the tree line and quickly scared up a small furry creature. They tried to circle it but it broke free and dashed into the forest. As they chares it into the dense growth of trees, Ashanti suddenly realized they were not alone. He looked up to see the shadows of some other small creatures racing through the forest canopy, moving more quickly between the branches than he could run on the ground. They were also chasing the small animal, though they did not have the same skills with tools that Ashanti and his group had. As he ran he glanced up at the closest ones, and saw creatures that looked something like him, but with smaller heads, longer arms, and hands that were too busy grasping braches to hold any tools. The largest male in Ashanti’s group suddenly howled with delight. He had caught the animal and managed to snap its neck without having to cut it with his axe and waste any blood.

Just as they started back for the rest of the group a bolt of fire shot from the sky, cracking a nearby tree in two and setting it ablaze. Ashanti’s tree-dwelling cousins shrieked with fear and lurched away into the dark shadows of the forest. For Ashanti and his group, however, this was a gift from the sky. The large male scooped up several branches and dipped them into the flames while Ashanti grabbed several more for the journey home.  As one branch burned down, they set another one against it to move the flame, carrying the fire from branch to branch all the way back. When they returned they were greeted with great enthusiasm. Some members of the group gathered up more sticks so they could keep the fire alive, while others began to strip the meat from the animal and set it on sticks to roast in the fire. The elder male who had been ill was feeling better now that he had something to eat, and the males and females all crowded together to share their food. Soon the rains would come and they would need to seek shelter, so they hurried to finish off their meal. Ashanti knew that tomorrow he would wake up hungry again, but for now, it had been a good day.