Summary and Reaction Paper on

Walking with Cavemen Part 3

Hairless, specialized nose, perspiration, and big brain were the features of the Homo
ergaster (or, as far as I know, what is more widely known as Homo erectus) that helped
pave the way to the evolution of early humans to being you and me.
These species of Homo were originally from southern Africa, where it was
usually hot. This is why being hairless, having specialized noses, and having the ability to
sweat were important characteristics. Being hairless means the body could easily
dissipate heat from inside through sweating, thus making the body cooler. Having
specialized noses, on the other hand, enables them to breath cool, moist air. Being
nomads, these attributes promoted their capability to travel and look for places where
food, water, and other resources were abundant. They were even able to journey to
regions as far as Asia.
Although being able to populate the rest of the world, this was just on of the
remarkable improvements in the lives of H. erectus. Their relatively bigger brain also
boosted their tool-making capacity. They were able to learn from each other how to make
tools for hunting. Another result of a larger brain was the knowledge to analyze different
things around their environment. They were, then, able to tell the weather if it was going
to be rainy or sunny just by looking at the clouds. They also scrutinized hoof marks on
the ground and judge if a prey or a predator made the hoof marks.
Another exciting breakthrough for them is the discovery of fire. Fire was and still
used mainly safety, warmth and tool. But, I think the time between the discovery of fire
and invention of tools was a bit exaggerated. As far as I could remember, Mr. Winston
said that it took these humans millions of years just to have another progress in the way
they were living.
To add to these breakthroughs, it is amazing how a simple piece of meat was
treated before. This piece of meat was the currency to buy a mate. It also served as a
tool to tie family together.
Let me raise several insights regarding my observations above.
First, this issue of traveling from Africa to other parts of the world is still a debate
among anthropologists and archaeologists. Some believe this Out-of-Africa theory, which
suggests that evolution only happened in Africa and early humans moved around the
Earth. While others believe the Multi-regionalism theory, which proposes that human
evolution was not limited to Africa, but occurred all over the world.
Given minimal information and evidence about this argument, I support the
former theory. Most of the bones of the genera Australopithecus and Homo were found
and dug in Africa, and only few were found elsewhere.

Next, it is quite impressive that, on this stage of human evolution, they were
already had the skill to learn from each other and understand one another. Proficiency in
communication, I believe, is one of the most important qualities of modern humans. Also,
it is interesting to see how these H. erectus us their senses to figure out things that they
had observed in their surroundings.
Lastly, I was surprised that, even before, there was the concept of sharing food.
For me, it looked like they were celebrating Christmas or Thanksgiving every time there
was a fresh kill. The simple piece of meat binds families and friends together.
Even though they were not civilized as we are, their technological advancement,
biological development, and cultural practices led to what we are now.