BIOLOGICAL & CULTURAL EVOLUTION

BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION

Human life on Earth has undergone evolution, the gradual and progressive
development or change.
TYPES OF DATING METHODS:
1. The Relative Dating is a dating method that is not precise. Where the sight, an
artifact or human remains that cannot be determined is measured in comparison
with the date of others determined already.
2. The Absolute Dating is when the dating is more precise considering that it can
be narrowed to a bracket of within a few years.
A. RADIOCARBON DATING METHOD by nuclear physicist Willard F. Libby is
based on measuring the radioactive carbon or Carbon 14 that all living beings
absorb daily from the environment and the atmosphere.
B. THE POTASSIUM ARGON K–AR DATING the difference from the Carbon 14 is
that this method only dates inorganic materials like rocks and minerals.
C. URANIUM-SERIES DATING is the most accurate & reliable procedure at
present. It is done through a Radiogenic Isotope facility.
GEOLOGY
Geology is the science that comprises the study of solid Earth, its rock composition,
and the processes of changes. The final era, the Cenezoic, is when the primates
have evolved. It is divided in seven epochs, the Paleocene, the Eocene, the
Oligocene, the Miocene, the Pliocene, the Pleistocene and the Recent.
PALEONTOLOGY: THE EVIDENCES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
Paleontology is the scientific study of life in the past Geologic periods. It deals with
life forms known from fossils. DARWIN’S EVOLUTION THEORY OF NATURAL
SELECTION
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) refused to accept that all species that emerged have
been created independently. In the Origin of Species (1859), Darwin established
that all life are linked, and demonstrated how natural selection operates on the
inherited variations of species that resulted to the adaptive modification of life
forms, which then had led to a radiating evolution. The better adaptive species are
the greater the chance they will increase qualitatively (becoming stronger and
better in many ways), while the ill-adapted will grow weak and may get eliminated
and become extinct. The ability to adapt determines the survival of the fittest.
THE EVOLUTION OF MAN FROM THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION
Anthropology looks at human beings at both biological and cultural perspectives.
Man, as an animal underwent through the process of biological evolution and has
shared some characteristics with other animals in the past, particularly what we call
the “hominids”. Adaptation to environment is a must to biological beings in
order to survive. Man, who has adapted well to the changes in the environment,
was able to develop a brain that is capable of a RATIONAL characteristic from
where he was able to develop a culture that resulted to the changes in his behavior.
THE EMERGENCE OF MAN
The Oligocene epoch paved the way to the emergence of the monkeys and some
of the early apes like the Oligocene Catarrhines and the Aegyptopithecus.
The Oligocene catarrhines composed of two jaw fragments and other bones create
two fossil genera, the Parapithecus and the Propliopithecus. The Parapithecus
is a possible ancestor to the New and Old World monkeys, while the Propliopithecus
is considered as a generalized hominoid.
MIOCENE HOMINOIDS
The Miocene was a period of environmental conditions highly favorable to the
arboreal primates, with a mild climate, moist and wetter than at present.
DRYOPITHECUS
Dryopithecus is the first of the fossils of the great apes to be discovered. It had a
large brain and could stand like a chimpanzee. First found in France, then Europe,
China and India.
PLIOPITHECUS
It was a very early proto-ape and had the look and features similar of a gibbon. Its
skeleton & teeth suggest that they are ancient relatives of the gibbons and also of
the siamangs.

PROCONSUL
They are viewed as ancestors of the chimpanzees and gorillas.
GIGANTOPITHECUS
The wear on the teeth suggest that it lived in an open woodland and grassland
environment. The Gigantopithecus is the largest known primate.
OREOPITHECUS
The Oreopithecus bambolii was directly related to Dryopithecus. However, it was
bipedal but not in the likes of the Australopithecus who were bipeds also.
SILVAPTHECUS (RAMAPITHECUS)
It is a genus of extinct primates with fossil remains as old 8.5 to 12.5 million years
and lived in the Miocene. However, this is no longer acceptable.
THE PLIOCENE HOMINIDS
The hominids close relatives of humans.
AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFARENSIS: LUCY
It is viewed that it is more closely related to the genus Homo (including the modern
human Homo sapiens), whether as a direct ancestor or a close relative of an
unknown ancestor. The fossil “Lucy” found by Donald Johanson is the most
complete and oldest hominid dated 3.2 m years old.
AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFRICANUS
It was the South African counterpart of the A. afarensis and was given the name,
“the south ape of Africa”.

AUSTRALOPITHECUS ROBUSTUS (PARANTHROPUS ROBUSTUS)

First discovered in 1938 and was called Paranthropus. It is bigger, bulkier, more
muscular and had larger molar teeth than the Africanus.
TAUSTRALOPITHECUS BOISEI
It is also called as the “Nutcracker Man” because its face and cheek are so massive.
Boisei is the “dead end” branch of the hominid line. Even though it is the final stage
of the Hominid line, it is considered to be the first hominid to use stone tools.
THE RISE OF THE HOMO
Man alone is a RATIONAL animal. He alone has ART or the aesthetic appreciation.
Man has LANGUAGE. While other animals may communicate, language is unique to
man. He can bring ideas that make, create and invent tools or things he needs that
result to CULTURE. Man has HISTORY, recording his past so that he may learn from
it as guide to his future. Man is SELF-CONSCIOUS, even though some other species
have self-awareness, the self-conscious state of man is unique.
THE HOMO-HABILIS
Homo-habilis is believed to be the first of the "great Ape" type creatures to have
evolved into "Homo" (Man). He existed about 2 million to 1.5 million years ago. He
was given the name Homo-habilis, meaning 'handy man', because he made tools.
THE HOMO- ERECTUS
Homo erectus or 'upright man’ is believed to be the first creature to stand fully
upright. He was believed to be the first to use fire. We think that Homo-erectus built
campfires and may have made simple ovens with hot stones.
THE HOMO-SAPIENS
Homo-sapiens have well-defined characteristics and habits such as bipedal stance
and gait, brain capacity averaging about 82 inches, high forehead, small teeth and
jaw, defined chin, construction and use of tools, and the ability to make use of
symbols such as used in language and writing.
Early Homo-sapiens used simple technology. Their tools were in the form of chipped
stones, which points were sharpened to be used as simple "knives" for butchering
and cutting. Their garments were made from animal hides. Their shelters were
make-shift shelters if natural caves were not available.
THE CREATION STORY
Contrary to Darwin’s Evolution Theory is the age-old belief in the Creation Story.
According to Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, God created the Earth, the
firmament and everything therein. Under the Judeo-Christian faith and traditions, it
asserted that God literally created man on the sixth day. And on the seventh day
God rested. There are skeptics, however, who believed that the creation story was
symbolic. Whichever side one believes is a matter of religious belief and orientation.