The Biological

and Cultural
Evolution of
Human beings
 Culture in Evolutionary Perspective
To understand culture, we need to:
(1) Know our biological capacity for culture
(2) How we fit into the animal kingdom
(3) How we came to be what we are
 Our Capacity For Culture: Our Biological Roots

(1) Our language ability

(2) Our ability to make and use tools
(3) Our bipedalismability to stand and walk on two feet
If the science of humankind is to be taken seriously
We need to know our own anatomy
 The Biological and Cultural Evolution of Human Beings

The interconnection between human beings and other living things had already
been noticed in earlier history. The early Greek philosophers, Aristotle and Plato,
already believed that human beings form a connection with the cosmos or
universe.

The Roman philosopher Lucretius believed that early human beings were cave-
dwellers. But after the collapse of Roman empire, the philosophical explanation for
the origin of the human beings was replaced by the Biblical account.

The book of Genesis was believed to be the literal account of human creation. The
first parents were Adam and Eve. They were given by God the power of language
to name all the species in the Garden of Eden.
The Religious-theological view about the origin of the human
beings began to be challenged in the beginning of the modern
period with the rise of science.
The Englishman Francis Bacon, the pioneer in the use of
scientific method, advocated the use of induction to arrive at
the truth in his True Suggestions for the Interpretation of
Nature, published in 1620.
In the field of anatomy, Vesalius pioneered the careful study
of human anatomy in 1543. This opened up the exploration of
intricate system of the human body.
 GEOLOGY

Another field of science that contributed to the ascendancy of

modern account of human origin with the birth of Industrial
Revolution (1760-1840), many early geologist and engineers
discovered a lots of earths surface formation. Charles Lyell
published The Principle of geology in 1830 which explained the
changes in the earths surface such as flooding and erosion. The
study discoveries showed that there is no need to use the Biblical
accounts to explain the origin of the earth.
 First Things First: Taxonomy
The rise of taxonomy or the classification of living things pioneered by the Swedish
naturalist Carolus Linnaeus in 1759 also contributed to the modern explanation of
the origin of human beings.
Taxonomic classification of living things provided the basis for establishing
similarities and differences among species.
Taxonomy: Binomial Nomenclature
Every species has at least two names:
Genus: Homo
Species: sapiens
Stylistic Convention:
Italicize or underline all names
Capitalize the genus
Lowercase the species and variety
Example: Homo (sapiens) sapiens
 Taxonomy: The General Taxa
Kingdom: Animalia (ingests food, moves)
Phylum: Chordata (has spinal cord)
Subphylum: Vertebrata (has segmented protective bone or cartilage
Class: Mammalia (warm blooded, female secretes milk, has hair)
Order: Primata: (larger brain, stereoscopic [depth] vision, flexible digits, complex
sociality
Suborder: Anthropoidea (monkey, apes, humans)

Hominid Taxonomy
Overview: The Human Skull
Human Skeleton

High forehead
Rounded skull
No brow ridge
Chin is present
Teeth are small
The bones are
named after the
lobes of the brain
they cover
Today with the genome project, several modern humans and a
few chimpanzees are more closely related to each other than
either is to the gorilla. But this startling finding was already
noticed by CHARLES DARWIN(1809-1882). Darwin, the pioneer
of modern theory of evolution, suggested in 1871 that to find
early human fossils, scientist should look for them in Africa.

Skull Morphology: Chimp and Human

Larger brow ridge (supraorbital torus) of chimp than

humans
Sloping forehead of chimp compared to human
More prognathous jaw of chimp compared to human
Larger canine and gap (diastema) of chimp than
human
Human and Chimp Skulls Compared: Brain Structure

Chimps brain is much smaller (400cc

vs 1400cc)
It has reduced frontal lobe
It has no Brocas or Wernickes area
It does have Brodmanns area 10,
where calls may originatebut no
speech
It does have planum temporale, where
calls are receivedbut not processed
as language
 What This All Means?

Human brains are larger than the chimps

We have a well-developed frontal lobe
We have well developed language areas:
Brocas and Wernickes area
The motor strip is more well developed
among humans than among chimps
 Chimp and Human Jaws

Dental Arcade: Humans are arclike; apes, parallel back

teeth
Canines and Diastema (gap): Apes have larger canines and
gaps in opposite jaw to fit them; humans do not.
 Ape and Human Hands

Hands of orangutan, chimpanzee, gorilla and human

Note the following:

Our thumbs are longer than the others
We can make a finer grip than the others
can
Less visible: apes digits are curved, ours
are straight
Chimp and Human Locomotion

Humans are the

only mammals
that can stand
and walk on two
feet

CHIMP HUMAN
Vertebral Column and Pelvis

Human vertebral column is S-

Shaped
Chimp verebral column is bow-
shaped
Human pelvis, with ilium, is
bowl-shaped
Chimp pelvis is long, with flat
ilium
 Pelvis and Femur

Longer ilium of chimp

Shorter, more curved ilium of human
Straight vertical orientation of chimp
femur
Inward angle of human femur
 Foot Structure
Large toe of chimp foot (right) is
opposable to other digits
Large toe of human foot (left) is aligned
with other digits
Ankle bones (tarsals) of human food are
larger and more rigid than the chimps

Foot Arch: Longitudinal and Transverse

Longitudinal arch reflected from
First metatarsal to
Calcaneus (heel bone)
Transverse arch can be inferred from
Lower placement of outside foot.
Principles of evolution: Natural selection and
genetics

Taxonomy

The behavior of our primate cousins

Our ancestry from Australopithecus to Homo

Tools as evidence of culture evolution

Capacity for languageand thereby capacity for

culture
Trends in Human Evolution: Australopithecus
to Homo
Australopithecus afarensis to A. africanus: Gracile
Australopithecines
Paranthropus robustus and boisei: Robust
AustralopithecinesDead end?
A. africanus to Homo habilis: Rise of tool manufacture?
H. habilis to H. erectus: Migration throughout Old World;
more kinds of tools
H. erectus to H. sapiens: Tool specialization and
population explosion to New World
Fossil Hominins: Skull, Arms, Hands
Fossil Hominins: Bipedalism
Large bulbous cranium
Short face compared to ape
Vertical carriage of head
Shortened forelimb
Hands (manipulation, not locomotion)
Enlarged thumb
Straight fingers, not curved
Enhanced finger sensitivity
S-shaped vertebrae (backbone)
Short, wide, bowl-shaped pelvis
Femoral head (ball of femur at
pelvis) angled and strengthened
Lengthened hindlimb
Angle of knee: femur slopes
to pelvis
Platform (arched) structure of
foot
Nonopposable big toe; toes not
curved
Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis)
and Us (Homo sapiens)

Shorter (36)
Longer arms
Curved fingers
Shorter lower legs
Greater prognathism
Sloped forehead
Smaller cranial capacity

What are the Similarities?

Hint: its all related to bipedalism
Gracile and Robust Australopithecines

For A. africanus (top), note:

Somewhat rounder skull
No Sagittal crest
Prognathous jaw
For Paranthropus boisei, note:
Sagittal crest (ate a lot of veggies)
Massive lower jaw (mandible)
Flatter face
Massive cheek bones (zygomatic
arch)
Homo habilis: The First Known Toolmaker

Face is much flatter

Reduced brow ridge (supraorbital
torus)
Larger cranial capacity (680 cc.)
Toolmaking Technique
Hammerstone used to strike
A core (lump of stone) to knap
A Flake (stone chip)
Note: Stone has to be crystalline (so it
will fracture predictably)
Homo erectus: Cranial Structure

Cranial capacity: 1,000 cc

Occipital bun
Reduced brow ridge
Reduced sloping forehead
Reduced prognathism
Artists conception of H. erectus
Homo heidelbergensis (Archaic
Homo sapiens)

Brow ridges much reduced

Forehead is higher, though sloping
Reduced prognathiam
Cranial capancity 1200 cc.
Artists conception shows closer
similarities to ourselves
FOSSILS are the preserve remains or traces of animals, plants,
and other organism buried in the earths surface.

ARCHEOLOGISTS- The scientist who study the past excavating

the remains buried underneath the earths surface. Archeologist
attempt to reconstruct human life in the past by studying the
artifacts recovered in excavation.

PALEONTHROPOLOGISTS, on the other hand, combine the

discipline of paleontology and physical anthropology to study the
evolution of human beings. Paleontology is the scientific study of
history, starting with the Holocene Epoch roughly 11,700 years
before present. The Holocene Period is the geological epoch
which began at the end of the Pleistocene(from about 2,588,000
11,700 years ago)
If human species evolve, so does their culture. The concept of Cultural
Rvolution- the idea that culture evolves and that useful parallels can be
drawn between biological and cultural change has had long and often
controversial history in the social sciences. Cultural development closely
followed the physical evolution of human beings. The use of tools
facilitated the adaptation of human hominids to the environment. The
early hominids used stones, woods, and bones to make their own tools.
Through the development of the brain, and language, human beings begun
to produce an elaborate system of communication. The development of
language and gradual development of the human brain contributed in the
development of human arts.

Some anthropologists developed the hypothesis that prehistoric art was

also hunting magic that is, a way of ensuring fruitful hunts and
propitiating the victims.
Hence, it can be concluded that the development of human culture and
civilization is a long process of gradual development. The cultural
development of human beings followed the development of human
biological evolution.