MODULE 2:

HUMAN EVOLUTION
AND
CULTURE
Prepared by:
MR. LOUBERT JOHN P. GO, LPT
“CULTURAL BEGINNINGS”
 BELIEFS

PRACTICES VALUES

SYMBOLS CULTURE ATTITUDES

ARTIFACTS LAWS

NORMS
 CULTURE
• a by-product of the attempt of humans to survive their
environment and to compensate for their biological
characteristics and limitations
To understand culture, you need to know the following:
• Biological capacity of humans for culture
• Place of humans in the animal kingdom
• How humans came to develop early forms of culture
“BIOLOGICAL CAPACITY
FOR
CULTURE”
• Physical and cultural anthropologists argue that we could
trace how culture became possible by understanding our
biological makeup.
 OUR THINKHING CAPACITY
• developed brain – primary biological component of humans
that allowed for culture (has the necessary parts for
facilitating pertinent skills such as speaking, touching,
feeling, seeing and smelling)
• fontal lobe and motor complex – cognition and motor
abilities
• parietal lobe – touch and taste abilities
• temporal lobe – hearing skills
• occipital lobe – visual skills
 OUR SPEAKING CAPACITY
• As the brain is the primary source of humans’ capacity to
comprehend sound and provide meaning to it, the vocal
tract acts as the mechanism by which sounds are
produced and reproduced to transmit ideas and values.
• A longer vocal tract means that there is a longer vibration
surface, allowing humans to produce a wider array of
sounds than chimpanzees.
• The tongue of humans is also more flexible than that of a
chimpanzee, allowing for more control in making sounds.
 OUR GRIPPING CAPACITY
• Humans have the capacity to craft materials with precision.
• The hands of humans have digits (fingers) that are straight,
as compared with the curved ones of the other primates.
• Thumb of human is proportionately longer than those of the
other primates.
• These characteristics of human hand allowed for two types
of grip: power and precision.
 POWER GRIP
• enabled humans to wrap the thumb and fingers on an
object
• it became the cornerstone of our capacity to hold tools
firmly for hunting and other activities
 PRECISION GRIP
• enabled humans to hold and pick objects steadily using their
fingers
• this capacity was crucial for tool making activities
 “Human origins
And the
Capacity for culture”
• As our ancestors evolved biologically in response to their environment,
they have also developed cultural technologies that aided them to
efficiently obtain food and deter predators.
• Archaeologists refer to these early tradition as stone tool industry
instead of culture.
• It is believed that the crudest methods of toolmaking may have been
practiced by the earlier Australopithecines (A. afarensis and A.
africanus).
• There methods may have been involved the use of wood as digging
sticks or even crude spears.
• Although there is no archaeological evidence to prove this claim, it is
being assumed that the earlier homos had at least this capacity, which
is observed among present-day chimpanzees.
 OLDOWAN INDUSTRY
• characterized by the use of “hard water-worn creek cobbles
made out of volcanic rock” (O’Neil, 2012)
• these raw materials were then made into tools through
percussion flaking, a process involving the systematic collision
of hammer stone with a core stone
• produces a core tool (used for general purposes) and flake tool
(used as a knife)
 OLDOWAN INDUSTRY
• supported by the evidences found by Mary and Louis Leakey at
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania dated at 2.6 million years ago
• known to have been used by the homo habilis
• function: butcher large animals
• evidence: cut marks that still are visible on bones
• contribution: improved their food gathering skills using the
hammering, digging and chopping implements
 ACHEULIAN INDUSTRY
• Homo Erectus developed a more complex industry
• using the same process of percussion flaking, they created
hand axes with bifacial, shaped in both sides, and with
straighter and sharper edges
• used in multiple activities such as light chopping of wood,
digging of roots and bulbs butchering animals, and cracking
nuts and small bones
 ACHEULIAN INDUSTRY
• named after St. Acheul, a patron saint of southwest France, as
these artifacts were discovered in the area
• date to 1.5 million years ago
• believed to have originated in East Africa and brought it to
Europe 500 000 – 900 000 years ago and to China 800 000
years ago
 MOUSTERIAN INDUSTRY
• developed by Homo Neanderthalensis (Neanderthals) in
Europe and West Asia between 300 000 and 30 000 years ago
• named after a site in France called Le Moustier in 1860
• combined Acheulian industry techniques with the Levalloisian
technique involved the use of a premade core tool and the
extraction of a flake tool that has sharpened edges
 MOUSTERIAN INDUSTRY
• was also found in Northern Africa and West Asia
• these differences are primary due to the shifting needs of the
users who were adapting to their environment as they
addressed their need for food and security
• by the end of Paleolithic period, they started creating art and
other symbolic materials
 AURIGNACIAN INDUSTRY
• was mainly present in Europe and Southwest Asia from 45 000 to 35
000 years ago
• named after Aurignac, an area in France where the evidence for this
industry was found
• users of this industry used a raw materials such as flint, animal
bones, and antlers
• what made this industry a cultural milestone for the modern
humans in Europe is their development of self-awareness
• projected through cave paintings and the fabrication of accessories
such as figurines, bracelets and beads
 AURIGNACIAN INDUSTRY
• what made this industry a cultural milestone for the modern
humans in Europe is their development of self-awareness
• projected through cave paintings and the fabrication of
accessories such as figurines, bracelets and beads
• sculpted from a woolly mammoth tusk
• gives emphasis on the hips and breasts
• theorized the emphasis may be due to the importance of these
parts in childbearing and childrearing
cave painting of a bison in El Castillo Cave
The Venus of Hohle Fels
The Hohle Fels bone flute
 MAGDALENIAN INDUSTRY
• named after the La Madeleine site in Dordogne, France
• defined by several revolutionary advancements in technology
such as the creation of microliths from flint, bone, antler and
ivory
• humans during this period were engrossed in creating figurines,
personal adornments and other forms of mobiliary art
 MAGDALENIAN INDUSTRY
• a defining method used in toolmaking during this period was
the application of heat on the a material prior to the flaking
process
• done by casting the raw material on fire, which allowed for a
more precise cut upon flaking
• the creation of specialized weapons such as barbed harpoons is
evidence of the growing sophistication of the hunting skills and
technology of the early humans
Barbed Harpoons
 MAGDALENIAN INDUSTRY
• another cultural milestone for the users of this industry was the
use of temporary man-made shelters such as tents made of
animal skin
• the creation of tents allowed the early humans to be more
mobile
• the technological development in this industry has allowed the
early humans to have more leisure time, as evidenced by their
preoccupation with decorative materials
NEOLITHIC EVOLUTION
• this period characterized by a major shift in economic
subsistence of the early humans from foraging to agriculture
• it affected their lifestyle, as foraging made them nomads and
agriculture encouraged permanent settlement
• this shift in itself changed the entire array of behaviors,
attitudes, beliefs, and corresponding material inventions
 Two perspectives on the impact of the Neolithic Revolution
on human populations:
1. it is being argued that with the development of agriculture
and technology, humans were able to develop socio-
politically, as the existence of systematic food reproduction
has provided food surplus that enabled members of the
population to indulge in self-actualizing activities such as the
arts and politics (traditional)
2. same phenomenon of surplus production has had negative
impacts on human populations such as social divisions, high
population density and gender inequality
EARLY CIVILIZATION AND THE
RISE OF THE STATE
• earliest civilizations rose by the end of the Neolithic period as
the complexities brought about by the shift in food production
demanded a more rigid social structure that would manage the
opposing perspectives of various sectors
• as conflicts between groups developed and intensified, the
need to create a more cohesive society became definite
• early civilizations were characterized by the presence of city-
states, a system of writing, and a ceremonial centre
• not all societies during this period could be considered as
civilizations as not all possessed a political system that could be
equated to a state
 STATE
• political entity that has four requisite elements:
 TERRITORY;
 SOVEREIGNTY;
 PEOPLE; and
 GOVERNMENT
FOUR PRIMARY THEORIES
OF HOW STATES RISE
• DIVINE RIGHT THEORY
rulers ascended to power convinced that their right to rule is based on their filial
relationship with supernatural forces and entities
• FORCE THEORY
a group forces members of another group to subject themselves to their rules
• PATERNALISTIC THEORY
 the father essentially is the leader of the first political unit, which grew as the
number of the members of his family grew
• SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY
 the creation of state is a mutual agreement between the ruler and the ruled to
ensure order and security from the outside threats
• NATURAL THEORY
humans have an innate need to be part of a community
DEMOCRATIZATION OF EARLY
CIVILIZATIONS
• the early states were governed by a limited few who ascended to power
through wealth, birth right, or religious dogma
• this alienated the masses from the daily administrations in their society
• as a result, the social cleavage in early civilizations widened and resulted in
social classes
• it is believed that an Athenian statesman named Cleisthenes proposed
demokratia as a political ideology that aimed at change power from the
monopoly of the elites to the masses
• this allowed for the closing in of social gaps between diverging social
groups
• upon its introduction, democracy in Greece was primarily about the
inclusion of marginalized sectors of the society in day-to-day operations of
the government