Human Biocultural And
Social Evolution
(From Homo Habilis To Homo Sapiens)
Biological Evolution
It is the physical transformation of modern humans from
hominids into thinking modern humans or homo sapiens.
Biological evolution is the change in inherited traits over
successive generations in populations of organisms.
Adaptation is a key evolutionary process in which variation in
the fitness of traits and species are adjusted by natural
selection to become better suited for survival in specific
ecological habitats. The environment acts to promote
evolution through changes in development. Therefore,
determining how developmental changes are mediated is
critical for understanding the mechanisms of evolution.
Cultural Evolution
It refers to the changes or development in cultures
from a simple form to a more complex form of
human culture.
Sociocultural evolution happens as a result of human
adaptation to the different factors like changes in
climates or in their environment and population
increase.
Homo Habilis
Homo Habilis
is a proposed archaic species of Homo, which lived between roughly 2.1
and 1.5 million years ago, during the Gelasian and early Calabrian stages
of the Pleistocene geological epoch.
The type specimen is OH 7, discovered in 1960 at Olduvai Gorge in
Tanzania, associated with the Oldowan lithic industry; the fossils were
identified as a separate species of Homo with the proposed binomial name
of H. habilis ("handy man") in 1964.[2] In its appearance and
morphology, H. habilis is intermediate between Australopithecus and the
somewhat younger Homo erectus and its classification in the genus Homo
has been the subject of controversial debate since its original proposal.[3]
A main argument for its classification as the first Homo ("human")
species was its use of flaked stone tools. However, evidence for earlier tool
use (3.39 million years ago) by undisputed members of Australopithecus
has been found in the 1990s.[4][5]
Homo erectus
Homo erectus
(meaning 'upright man') is a species of archaic humans that lived throughout most of the
Pleistocene geological epoch. Its earliest fossil evidence dates to 1.8 million years ago (discovered
1991 in Dmanisi, Georgia)
When Lived: Between about 1.89 million and 143,000 years ago
Where Lived: Northern, Eastern, and Southern Africa; Western Asia (Dmanisi, Republic of
Georgia); East Asia (China and Indonesia)
History of Discovery:
Eugène Dubois, a Dutch surgeon, found the first Homo erectus individual (Trinil 2) in Indonesia in
1891. In 1894, Dubois named the species Pithecanthropus erectus, or ‘erect ape-man.’ At that time,
Pithecanthropus (later changed to Homo) erectus was the most primitive and smallest-brained of
all known early human species; no early human fossils had even been discovered in Africa yet.
Height: Ranges from 4 ft 9 in - 6 ft 1 in (145 - 185 cm)Weight: Ranges from 88 - 150 lbs (40 - 68 kg)
Homo Sapiens
Where Lived: Evolved in Africa, now worldwide
When Lived: About 300,000 years ago to present
History of Discovery:
The species that you and all other living human beings on this planet belong to is Homo sapiens. During a time of dramatic climate change
300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa. Like other early humans that were living at this time, they gathered and hunted food,
and evolved behaviors that helped them respond to the challenges of survival in unstable environments.
Anatomically, modern humans can generally be characterized by the lighter build of their skeletons compared to earlier humans. Modern
humans have very large brains, which vary in size from population to population and between males and females, but the average size is
approximately 1300 cubic centimeters. Housing this big brain involved the reorganization of the skull into what is thought of as "modern" --
a thin-walled, high vaulted skull with a flat and near vertical forehead. Modern human faces also show much less (if any) of the heavy brow
ridges and prognathism of other early humans. Our jaws are also less heavily developed, with smaller teeth.
Scientists sometimes use the term “anatomically modern Homo sapiens” to refer to members of our own species who lived during
prehistoric times.
Unlike every other human species, Homo sapiens does not have a true type specimen. In other words, there is not a particular Homo sapiens
individual that researchers recognize as being the specimen that gave Homo sapiens its name. Even though Linnaeus first described our
species in 1758, it was not customary at that time to designate type specimens. It is rumored that in 1994 paleontologist Robert Bakker
formally declared the skull of Edward Drinker Cope as the “lectotype”, a specimen essentially serving as the type specimen. When Cope,
himself a great paleontologist, died in 1897, he willed his remains to science, and they are held by the University of Pennsylvania. But a
type specimen must be one examined by the original author who names a species, so Cope’s remains do not qualify.
How They Survived:
Prehistoric Homo sapiens not only made and used stone tools, they also specialized them and made a variety of smaller, more complex,
refined and specialized tools including composite stone tools, fishhooks and harpoons, bows and arrows, spear throwers and sewing needles.
For millions of years all humans, early and modern alike, had to find their own food. They spent a large part of each day gathering plants
and hunting or scavenging animals. By 164,000 years ago modern humans were collecting and cooking shellfish and by 90,000 years ago
modern humans had begun making special fishing tools. Then, within just the past 12,000 years, our species, Homo sapiens, made the
transition to producing food and changing our surroundings. Humans found they could control the growth and breeding of certain plants and
animals. This discovery led to farming and herding animals, activities that transformed Earth’s natural landscapes—first locally, then
globally. As humans invested more time in producing food, they settled down. Villages became towns, and towns became cities. With more
food available, the human population began to increase dramatically. Our species had been so successful that it has inadvertently created a
turning point in the history of life on Earth.
Modern humans evolved a unique combination of physical and behavioral characteristics, many of which other early human species also
possessed, though not to the same degree. The complex brains of modern humans enabled them to interact with each other and with their
surroundings in new and different ways. As the environment became more unpredictable, bigger brains helped our ancestors survive. They
made specialized tools, and use tools to make other tools, as described above; they ate a variety of animal and plant foods; they had
control over fire; they lived in shelters; they built broad social networks, sometimes including people they have never even met; they
exchanged resources over wide areas; and they created art, music, personal adornment, rituals, and a complex symbolic world. Modern
humans have spread to every continent and vastly expanded their numbers. They have altered the world in ways that benefit them greatly.
But this transformation has unintended consequences for other species as well as for ourselves, creating new survival challenges
