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Anth 140: Research Paper 2

11/21/18

Human Evolution

The story of human origins and its evolution is a complex business which doesn’t start

from a chimpanzee to a modern human but each bone and fossil record decodes the genome

providing us with a new piece of information giving us a picture yet not that clear. However,

it is believed that physical, behavioral and cultural aspects played a vital role making us fully

human or in other words from hominid species to homo sapiens or modern humans.

The lengthy process of human evolution through scientific evidence shows us we all

originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of six million years. It further

shows that physical and behavioral traits existed in our apelike ancestors and with them

further evolved. One of those earliest physical human traits is bipedalism which allowed

hominids to walk on two legs. Along with that other characteristics developed more recently

during the past 100,000 years such as large complex brain, ability to make tools , language ,

symbolic expression, art and cultural diversity. (Smithsonian National Musuem of Natural

History, 2018)
Genetic and physical similarities between humans and the great apes of Africa like

chimpanzees and gorillas because we share a common ancestor almost 8 and 6 million years

ago. The early humans who lived between 6 and 2 millions years ago fossils tells us that first

humans evolved in Africa and they primarily had human evolution in Africa tying strong ties

of our origin to Africa

If we compare early human by 6 million year ago such as Australopithecus afarensis,

"Lucy", it tells us the changes to physical changes 6 million years till date. They had long

arms with shorts legs and size. It also suggests that those species had a large digestive tract

due to their plant based diet. As human species evolved the guts became short and the bodies

got tall as they adapted to hot climates making their bodies narrow helping to make them stay

cool. Long legs assisted early humans to walk longer distances but this is when they started a

different diet which included meat and other foods with a short gut making more energy for

large brains and tall bodies. Again the climate change and environment impacted the humans

to adapt to colder climates again changing the body shapes and evolution here makes their

bodies compact. Around 1.6 million years Homo erectus who lived in East Africa shared a lot

of its ecology with modern humans and is often referred as the first hominin lineage. (Castro,

2015) .Early humans experienced different environment and climates which also made them

change their diet that led to body shape and physical aspects.

Bipedalism was a major adaptation of our early humans or we can also say first step

towards making us modern humans. Around 2.5 million years ago Australopithecus africanus
started to walk upright similar to modern humans with a curved spine which helps to absorb

the shock in the lower back while walking but before that the early humans mostly climbed

trees. The bodies evolved then with hip support that helped the bones of Homo erectus who

were similar to modern humans but by 1. (Plavcan, 2012)9 million years ago early humans

became fully bipedal since African environment widely fluctuated between dry and open

grassland and this physical trait helped them to walk long distances.

Although early humans started out with smaller brains but with new environment

challenges and bigger bodies their brains also evolved to process and store information and it

happened at a very rapid pace. The brain size has tripled over the course of human evolution

and our modern human brain is believed to be most complex and largest of any living

primate. (Emma Schachner, 2018)

Cultural aspects defines the human cultural evolution which was also practiced by

some apelike ancestors but with human bodies evolving and adapting to new environment it

also changed the culture with changes in stone tools. Around 2.6 million years ago in Africa,

first known manufacture of stone tools started not just with fist sized hunks but also sharp

flakes created by knapping to strike a hard stone against other hard rocks. These tools were

used to cut, crush and butcher large animals. (Choi, 2009). Beginning 1.7 million years ago

toolmakers made huge flakes off stone cores making a multipurpose tool to dominate early

human with this new technology as it turned to be hand axes. They further improved the tools

but around 790,000 years came the new tool with several uses to control fire including

cooking that led to major change in early human diet. Early humans then made wooden spears

to kill large animals on a regular basis with long spears around 400,000 years ago. The tools
became more specialized and more polished making them more sharp around the edges.

(Australian Musuem, 2018).

Social behaviors evolved over time as brains became larger and more complex. The

survival of our early ancestors depended on social bonds which helped them grow. They

expanded social networks eventually made the social lives of modern humans. It started with

sharing resources 2 million years ago by collecting tools and food from different places and

resting at favored spots. Vital resources were sharing with other members of the group which

made strong socials bonds and that’s how the survival rate went up. (Plavcan, 2012) As

humans evolved with time , they gave more attention and parental care to the kids and that’s

how why modern humans now devote so much time raising children.

Anthropologists have found black and red rocks such as manganese and ocher at

Middle Stone Age sites as an evidence that the rocks were processed for use as coloring

material which tells us that the pigments show early signs of symbolic representation. Maybe

it was used for painting their bodies , clothes or any rock art. It is amazing and very shocking

that early humans thought of around 320,000 years ago which is pretty similar to modern

human ideas. (Today, 2018). It was a form of communication with color which our ancestors

possibly used at that time but as the evolved more things added such as people were often

buried with beads and other symbolic objects heightening the memory of the deceased. Such

rituals maybe have been a symbol and belief that the dead identity exists even after their

death. Early humans used jewelry to reflect their identity representing membership in a group

of their sex, age and social status. Another aspect have been found by researchers that almost
77,000 years ago objects had marks on it which maybe been used to store or count enormous

information. (History, 2018).

We are classified as Homo Sapiens or modern humans living today but most

researchers agree that our ancestors originated from Africa and spread around the globe. We

have the changed the world just within the past 12,000 years with the transition to producing

food and changing surroundings. Since we have successfully progressed and unlike early

humans , some of whom went extinct, we managed not only survive but with better

technological advancements becoming a dominant and extremely successful species. It is

important to ponder upon the fact how and why we became human and in my opinion our

high survival rate with technological advancement, better and smarter brain with adaptation to

new environment made us fully human. Modern humans are the only living members of

human lineage, the genus Homo which arose in Africa more than 2 million years ago but our

cultural, physical and behavioral traits made us survive. (Choi, Live Science, 2014)

Most scientists agree that humans originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over

time. However, there is a debate over a gap in between which can answer a lot of questions about

human lineage as with new research coming out to identify and classify particular species of

early humans and what factors played a role to extinction. (History, 2018). We make tools and

that’s what made us unique was article written by anthropologist Kenneth Oakley but Jane

Goodall and other researchers since then found that chimps also make tools with shaping sticks

to fish for insects etc. (Strauss, 2015). It again reconfirms the research that we had apelike
ancestor but they separated into two different lineages. Although, many scientists claim about

that link between apes and us but there is still a missing link that scientists haven’t still found

because there is simply not one. Chimpanzees or other apes did not evolve into humans but it is

believed that the descended from a common ancestor but the question arises here about that

common ancestor that we still haven’t found. (Drake, 2015).

There are several researchers who investigate the matter of human evolution and with the

new information coming out , it adds and updates us. Genetics and fossil evidence shows that

human evolution happened in Africa but it is debatable if it happened in southern or eastern

Africa. It also adds up new information about cousin or relative species Neanderthals who were

found in Europe and Denisovans a mysterious population in Asia interbred with modern humans

after migration but while modern humans or Homo sapiens survived, other two went extinct but

nobody can still find the exact reason. (Drake, 2015)

The origin of human evolution with genetic and fossil scientific evidence tells us the

story of our early humans but we still have some missing gaps that need to found to give us a

clearer picture. However, whatever we know so far tells us that early humans evolved with

adaptation to their physical , behavioral and cultural aspects adjusting well to new environments

that made their survival rate high. Environmental and climate change pushes the fit to survive

and that’s how our early hominids kept adapting which eventually led to modern humans or

Homo sapiens. The larger more complex brains , social lives and technological breakthroughs

made us the most successful to live in this human world compared to other human species.
References
Australian Musuem. (2018). Retrieved from https://australianmuseum.net.au/human-evolution-
tools
Castro, J. (2015, June 22). LiveScience. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/41048-
facts-about-homo-erectus.html: https://www.livescience.com/41048-facts-about-homo-
erectus.html
Choi, C. Q. (2009). Live Science. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/7968-human-
evolution-origin-tool.html
Choi, C. Q. (2014). Live Science. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/46662-early-
humans-evolving-traits-revealed.html
Drake, N. (2015). National Geographic . Retrieved from
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/human-evolution-101/
Emma Schachner. (2018). How Has the Human Brain Evolved?-Scientific American. Retrieved
from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-has-human-brain-evolved/:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-has-human-brain-evolved/
History, S. N. (2018). Retrieved from http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-
characteristics/language-symbols
Plavcan, J. M. (2012). Social Behavior of Early Hominins. International Journal of Primatology,
1247-1250.
Smithosonian National Musuem of Natural History. (2018, September 14). Retrieved from What
does it mean to be human?: http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/bodies
Smithsonian National Musuem of Natural History. (2018, September 14). Retrieved from Human
Origins: http://humanorigins.si.edu/education/introduction-human-evolution
Strauss, M. (2015). National Geographic. Retrieved from
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150911-how-we-became-human-theories-
evolution-science/
Today, U. (2018). Scientists Discover Evidence of Early Human Innovation, Pushing Back
Evolutionary Timeline. Retrieved from https://today.uconn.edu/2018/03/scientists-
discover-evidence-early-human-innovation-pushing-back-evolutionary-timeline/#

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