THE EMERGENCE OF THE FIRST HUMAN BEINGS From tree-dwelling primate to genus Homo

Overview of the lecture The dwindling forest habitat The earliest ground dwelling Hominids Evolution of the foot: Bipedal locomotion Evolution of the hand: Tool use Evolving brain: path to language and culture Homo 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.ZhoukoudianBeijing 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 resolution Healing of illness. Disposal of the dead Religion: 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.