THE EMERGENCE OF THE FIRST HUMAN BEINGS

From tree-dwelling primateto genus Homo

Overview of the lecture

The dwindling forest habitatThe earliest ground dwelling HominidsEvolution of the foot: Bipedal locomotionEvolution of the hand: Tool useEvolving brain: path to language and cultureHomo erectus Homo sapiens.

The dwindlng forest habitat

Impact of climate change

Retreat to the tree at night: chimps.

Full-time life on the ground: Australopithecus

Requirements for life on the dangerous ground. Improved tool use. Stronger social organization Group communication

Bipedal locomotion and tool use

Why not return to quadruped movement?

Need to carry tools and food.

Need to see on the grassy savannah.

“Natural selection”: Differential mortality

Key evolutionary process:Evolution of the human brain

Increase in brain / body size.

Restructuring of the brain.

Cross section of the human brain

The localization of cerebral functions

Impact on females and childbirth

The dilemma of painful childbirth.

Prolonged childhood dependence

The antecedents to human family and marriage.

From biological to cultural evolution

From genetically programmed to learned behavior.

The emergence of a cultural mode of survival.

The relation between “culture” and “intelligence”

Biological evolution and racial differences.

Homo erectus and migration to China

African origins of the genus Homo.

Homo erectus: 100% increase in brain size

The Homo erectus tool kit

Homo erectus and long distance migration.

Peking Man北京猿人 Běijīng Yuánrén

Peking man

 Found at Zhoukoudian near Beijing in 1920s. Goes back as far as 770,000 years.Began with a tooth.   Later excavations yielded

skullcaps jawbones, facial and limb bones, the teeth of about 40 individuals

Average cranial capacity: 1,000 cc. Special features: first documented use of fire.The disappearance of the fossils.

The emergence of modern humans

The increased brain: from 800 to 1,250 cc.

From core tools to flake tools

The Neanderthal question.

Cro-Magnons, hunting, and long-distance running.

The Cro-Magnon cave paintings

The evolutionary sequence to Homo sapiens

Altamira cave bison

Cave painting hunting scene

Dancing shaman

The question of language origins

No direct evidence in the fossil record.

Homo erectus and the theory of “proto language”

Cro-magnons almost certainly had language

“Stone age” technologies

Paleolithic big game hunting.

Mesolothic: hunting / gathering

Neolithic: the transition to agriculture

Disappearance of big game hunters

Impact of climate change.

Retreat of the animals.

Migration to the Americas

“Paleolithic overkill”:

Emergence of the “Mesolithic”

From Paleolithic to Mesolithic

Paleolithic economies disappeared millennia ago.Definition of “Paleolithic” and “Mesolithic” Cultural anthropologists have studied groups

using Mesolithic technology: hunting and gathering.

Examples: Inuit (Eskimo) Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert Australian aborigines Pygmies of Central Africa

Ethnographic Strategy: Participant observation

“Holistic” description as the first task.Search for universal components of human cultures.Economic base: making a living.Kinship and marriage.The raising of children.Expressive dimensions of culture: music, art, etc.Power and conflict resolutionHealing of illness.Disposal of the deadReligion: dealing with invisible spirits.

Hunter-gatherer features

Economy: hunting wild animals, gathering vegetation.

Long distance running.Occupational specialization only by age and gender.Monogamous egalitarian gender relations. Domestic economy: Sharing of meat.Social organization: Nomadic bands. Much leisure time. Relgion: zoomorphic spirits.