HUMAN BIO-CULTURAL

SOCIAL EVOLUTION
 HUMAN BI0-CULTURAL SOCIAL EVOLUTION

• The evolution of human beings

has remained a contested issue
in various academic quarters for
several decades.
MACROEVOLUTION AND THE
FORMATION OF NEW SPECIES
• .

Macroevolution focuses on the

formation of new species
(speciation) and on the
evolutionary relationship
between group of species.
•Species - defined as a
population capable of
interbreeding - of
producing viable, fertile
offspring.
• Speciation is a process, it can
occurs at various rate.
Speciation through the process
of adaptive change to the
environment as proposed in
Darwin’s origin of species
(1859).
• In this model speciation happens as
organisms become more adapted to their
environment.
• Speciation can also take place quite
rapidly. Ex. Genetic mutation involving
key regulatory gene can lead to the
formation of a new body plan. Genes that
regulate the growth and development of
an organism may have a major effect
on its adult form.
• Scientists have discovered
a certain type of gene
called homeobox – that is
responsible for the large –
scale effects on the growth
and development of
organism.
• Evidence from ancient
skeletons indicates that the
first mammals appeared over
200 million years ago as small
nocturnal creatures.
THE HUMAN EVOLUTIONARY PATH
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SKULL
• Earth has changed considerably
since the first mammal appeared.
During the past 200 million years,
the position of the continents has
shifted through continental drift. This
process resulted to the re-
arrangement of adjacent land masses
as implied by the theory of plate
tectonics.
• According to the theory, the continents
moved as edges of underlying plates are
created or destroyed. Plate movements are
also responsible for geological phenomena,
such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, and
mountain formation. Continental drift is
important for understanding the distribution
of fossil primate groups as well as climatic
changes in the environment that affected the
evolution of primates and other living things.
240 MILLIONS YEARS AGO
65 MILLIONS YEARS AGO
40 MILLIONS YEARS
EVOLUTION
40 MILLIONS YEAR AGO
GEOLOGICAL EPOCH KNOWN AS THE MIOCENE
APES APPEARED 23 MILLIONS YEARS
APPEARS IN ASIA, AFRICA AND EUROPE
• Miocene or Hominoids are broad-
shouldered tailless primates that include
all living and extinct apes and humans.
The word hominoid comes from the latin
root word homo and homi (human
being) and the suffix oxides (resembling).
So there is resemblance to humans.
Some of these ancient primates were
relatively small, some, however, were
larger than present - day gorilla.
• During the Miocene period, the
African and Eurasian land masses
made direct contact. The set climatic
changes into motion during the
Miocene epoch may have played a
role in the success of the human line
once it originated. Miocene period as
the “golden age of the hominoids.”
 EARLY HUMAN
• Humans and their ancestors are distinct
among hominoids for bipedalism, a
special form of locomotion on two feet.
Larger brains and bipedal locomotion
constitute the most striking differences
between contemporary people and our
closest primates relatives.
• Tracing the roots of human evolution
is done by determining whether a
fossilized homonoids bipedal (walks on
two feet). Several ways to determined
bipedalism such as looking at the
curves of the spine, shape of the
pelvis, and shape of the foot bones,
among others (Haviland, Prins,
Walrath and Mc.Bride 2008).
2-3 MILLIONS YEARS AGO
AUSTRALOPITHECINES
• As far as research can tell the
ancestor of human hailed from
the AUSTRALOPITHECINES
which bipedals but had small
brain - size in proportion to
their bodies.
HOMO HABILIS EVOLVED
• Homo habilis had a smaller teeth
larger brain and exercised higher
abilities to learn and were better at
processing information than
australopithecines. The dates of the
projected time of existence of the Homo
habilis are close to the dates of the
early stone tools were discovered
(Haviland, Prins, Walrath, Mc.Bride
2008).
HOMO ERECTUS
• Homo erectus had larger
brain and more able to
adapt to the environment
and provided solutions to the
problems of survival. The
culture is mostly percieved
through the tools they made.
•PALEOLITHIC
PERIOD
Divided into three divisions
with a distinct tradition of
tool- making.( Kottak 2000).
Used by Homo Erectus
THE HOMO SAPIENS
• Lived during the Middle
Paleolithic Period made more
effiicient tools, allowing them to
do anatomical labor much easier
such as prying, lifting, holding
and pulling
.
HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS
• Lived during Upper Paleolithic
Period. The blade , longer
than a flake of rock, was the
most distinct tool developed
during this period.
CULTURAL AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION
EARLY CIVILIZATION REFERS TO URBAN
COMMUNITY. THIS HAPPENED BETWEEN
4500 – 6000 YEARS AGO. FIRST IN
MESOPOTAMIA (MODERN DAY IRAQ).
 RISE OF CITIES
• The four basic changes mark the
transition from Neolithic village life to life
in the urban centers: Agricultural
innovation, diversification of labor,
social stratification, and central
government.
• STORY BEGAN 13.5 BILLION YEARS AGO -
PHYSICS

BING BANG THEORY

• 300,000 YEARS AFTER -
CHEMISTRY (ATOMS)
HOMINID IS ANY MEMBER OF THE BIOLOGICAL FAMILY HOMINIDAE.
THESE ARE THE "GREAT APES", LIVING AND EXTINCT. AT PRESENT
THERE ARE HUMANS, CHIMPANZEES, GORILLAS AND ORANGUTANS.
THE WORD "HOMINID" HAS BEEN USED IN VARIOUS WAYS. THE
CLASSIFICATION OF THE GREAT APES HAS BEEN REVISED SEVERAL
TIMES IN THE LAST FEW DECADES.

2.5 MILLION YEARS AGO

OUR ANCESTORS
WHAT MAKE US DIFFERENT FROM THEM?
LATOEILI FOOTPRINTS