Looking back at Human

Biocultural and Social

Evolution
Lesson 3
 Human Origins
and the Capacity
for Culture
Objectives:

1. Trace the biological and cultural

evolution of early to modern humans.
•Where do you believe human
race came from?
 Game

• Groups will be given jumbled letters and they are going to

form the magic word. Each magic word have a corresponding
meaning from the teacher. Once, you unlocked the magic
word, the group members will elaborate its meaning.
• The fastest group to unlock the magic word will get a 10points
for performance, 2nd will get 9points, 3rd will have 8points and
so on.
• You will be given maximum of 3minutes to form a word and
5mins to elaborate and deliver its meaning. +5pts
BIOCULTURAL EVOLUTION

• “ the mutual interactive evolution of human

biology and culture”

• Biology makes culture possible and that

developing culture further influence the
direction of biological evolution
Biological and Cultural Evolution:
A Comparison
The Homonids

• Is one of the earliest members of the

primate family homonidae, containing
humans, their immediate ancestors, and
close extinct relatives.
Name it?

“LUCY”
• is a collection of fossilised bones
that once made up the skeleton
of a hominid from
the Australopithecus afarensis
species. She lived in Ethiopia 3.2
million years ago.
• Discovered in 1974,Eastern Africa
AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFRICANUS

• They were known for their slender build. They

were bipeds with curved fingers for tree
climbing. They had slightly longer arms than
legs.
HOMO HABILIS

• Homo Habilis was nicknamed “handyman”

because of their ability to carve tools. They
used rocks to cut and animal bones to dig into
the soil.
HOMO ERECTUS

• Homo Erectus “Upright man” stood about 5 and

a half feet in height. They were good at waking
and running, used fire and built shelters to
protect from elements.
HOMO NEANDER-THALENSIS

• The short term for Homo Neander-thalensis is

“Neanderthals”. They were first found in
Germany but they also lived in Africa, Asia and
Europe. For over 10,000 years, neanderthals
lived with modern humans.
HOMO SAPIENS

• Homo sapiens were known for artistic talents in cave

paintings and clay work. They made hooks and spears to
catch fish and invented the spear thrower. Thus made
them better hunters because they could hunt from a
distance.
• the “doubly wise man”
Early Civilizations and the
Rise of the State
Objective No.2

2. Explore the significance of human material

remains and artefactual evidence in
interpreting cultural and social, including
political and economic processes.
ACTIVITY 1: Photo Essay

Directions: The teacher will ask the students

to divide their group into two. Each subgroup
will be given pictures that they need to
explain through essay.
RUBRICS

Criteria Points
Content/Substance 5
Teamwork 2
Appropriation to the 3
subject
Total 10
The Neolithic Revolution
-also known as the “Agricultural Revolution”
-it describes the origin and impact of food
production-plant cultivation and animal
domestication.
- “Neolithic” means “new stone age”, refer to
techniques of grinding and polishing stone tools.
- Began when humans first settled down and began
farming, they continued to make tools and
weapons
Early Civilizations and the Rise of the State

Egalitarian- earliest Neolithic societies, people

did not differ much in wealth, prestige, or power.

First societies evolved in 3,500 BC in greater

Mesopotamia, the area shared by Southern Iraq
The Cradles of Civilization

• Is a term that refers to civilization that emerged

independently. All of these civilizations developed
around rivers.
• Rivers provide enough water for large-scale
agriculture, enabling people to abandon a hunter-
gatherer lifestyle and to grow and store surplus food.
• It permits the development of a hierarchical society
with a division of labor, and led to the growth of
cities.
EARLY CIVILIZATIONS

1. Tigris-Euphrates River Civilizations of Mesopotamia.

-a region lies primarily in modern Iraq. Greek word
for “between the rivers”, sometimes called Fertile
Crescent because of its shape.
2. The Nile Valley Civilizations of Egypt.
- was known as the “Gift of the Nile” because of
annual flooding made possible the agriculture on which
Egypt civilizations was based.
3. The Yellow River Civilizations of China.
- 3000 BC, the Yellow River Valley was settled by
farmers.
Xia dynasty arose and flourished during the prehistoric
period. However, the documented Chinese dynasty, the
Shang, arose somewhere around 1500-1700 BC.
-the Shang governed a hierarchical society in which
many arts and sciences flourished.
4. Indus Valley Civilization of India.
-located in modern Pakistan, unique
because it rose and then fell, leaving only
mysterious ruins to testify to its existence.
Discovered only in 1920’s, reveal that it was
probably the largest of the four ancient
civilizations.
RISE OF THE CIVILIZATION AND STATE

1. The Sumerian Civilizations.

They planned canals and organized workers to build
and repair them,Drew up rules to prevent one farmer
from depriving others of water
Center of life is religion
Self-governing and independent of other city-state
CUNIEFORM- writings on clay-tablet by carving wedge
shaped symbols.
2. Egyptian Civilizations
they were united into a large kingdom
 encouraged trade and prosperity
Center of life is art and literature dealt largely with
religious themes
They saw death as a continuation of life
PHAROAH- the ruler of Egypt, looked on both as a king
and God
3. The Greece City-States
 discovered a new way thinking about nature, society, and the
purpose of life
Value the individual human being to trust in the power of the
human mind
Lived in a small city-state that citizens become close to the
government
SPARTA- conquered nearby regions and made some of the
inhabitants into state slaves. Spartans purpose in life was to
produce and train strong bodied.
4. Roman Republic
 small town near the coast of central Italy
Adopted writing, military techniques, and styles of
literature, art and architecture.
Learned practical skills is sanitation, road building,
architecture and ceramics.
PATRICIANS- land owners
PLEBIANS- common people
SENATE- advisory council
DEMOCRATIZATION

• Came from the Greek word that means RULE BY

THE PEOPLE
• It is a process by which democracy expands,
within a state or across the world
• Arise from ancient Greece and Rome in the 1700s
• Is also a process in which various social groups
have made claims on the state through protests,
riots, strikes, and lobbies.
ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS OF DEMOCRACY

1. Popular Support of Government

2. Political Competition
3. Alternation in power
4. Popular Representation
5. Majority Rule
Major Performance Task

• Create a Scrapbook of Bio-Cultural Evolution

• You can cut pictures from magazines, newspapers, charts,
downloaded pics.
• Date of Submission: January 6,2020
• Rubrics
Creativity: 50 %
Content: 40%
Over-all presentation: 10%
Objective No.3

3. Recognize national, local, and specialized museums and

archaeological and historical sites as venues to appreciate and
reflect on the complexities of biocultural and social evolution as
part of being and becoming human.
What can you say about the picture?
ACTIVITY 1: Tableau
• Class will be divide into groups.
• Each group will be given an assign hominids to portrait the culture of
people in each generations.
• In presenting, the first group will stay in front until the last group
finished.