help with assgn due in 3 days
combs
WCIChapter1BecomingHumanPpt.pptxBecoming Human
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart 5E
Chapter 1
Question of the Week
What are the potential reasons for the development of settled agriculture, and how did it lead to innovation?
Origins of Humans
Common African heritage
Oldest recorded bones of Homo sapiens: 160,000 years ago
Modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens)
Humans share a common genetic heritage; differences are mostly cultural
“Race” is largely an invented concept
Human Evolution
Evolutionary findings, research methods, and chronology
Universe: 15 billion years old
Earth: 4.5 billion years old
African apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, and hominins): 23 million years ago
Evolution occurs in bursts due to environmental factors
Climate Change
Geological Change
Changes in the Earth’s rotation around the sun
Australopithicus Africanus
Discovered in South Africa
Not humans, but humanlike
Six distinct species
Adaptable
“Lucy” discovered in northern Africa
Ape-sized brain
Jaw and teeth are humanlike
Walked upright (bipedalism)
Skilled tree climber
Many early hominins died out, and there is no direct genetic line to modern humans
Hominin Adaptations
Larger brains, increased cognitive skills
Lived in social groups
Hunted and gathered food
Early communication
Cultural codes
Advanced problem-solving skills
Bipedalism
Required greater cognitive skills
Toolmaking
Opposable thumbs
Less massive jaw and elongated forehead looked more “modern”
Early Hominins
Archaeological evidence for the earliest instances of hominins point to human origins in Africa.
Homo habilis: The First Humans
“Skillful Man”
First true human
Large brains
Passed on lessons to offspring
Systematic and large scale too use
Cutting and scooping tools
Intact skull of “Dear Boy”
Louis and Mary Leaky
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Homo Erectus
“Standing Man”
Only hominin survivor
Extended periods of caring for young
Gave infant brain time to grow
Training by adults
Allomothering
Advanced Bipedalism
Tools
Fire
Early Migrations of Homo Erectus
Between 1 and 2 million years ago
Ice ages created land bridges between landmasses
Evidence of Homo Erectus Migration
Java Man (1891)
Peking Man (1900s)
Several species of humans exist simultaneously
Homo Erectus not a direct ancestor of Homo Sapiens
Migrations of Homo Sapiens
Moved out of Africa between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago.
Climate change
Eruption of Mount Toba in Sumatra produced a global volcanic winter lasting six years
Expansions of glaciers in Europe and North America
Less water led to dryer climates
Deserts expanded
Rain forests shrank
Extinction of plant and animal species
Homo Sapiens rebounded more rapidly
Smarter, greater dexterity, and mobility
Followed large mammal herds into eastern Asia
Crossed ice bridge to Japan
Early Migrations Out of Africa
Hominin species began migrating out of Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago, but only Homo sapiens went to all major inhabitable regions.
Climate Change and Hemispheric Migration
60,000 years ago, a warming cycle led to population growth
Homo Sapien migrations
Crossed Beringia to North America 15,000 years ago
Migrations by boat to North America 8,000 year ago.
After the land bridge melted, the Americas were isolated from the rest of the world
Cro-Magnons Replace Neanderthals
Neanderthals
Early hominin in Afro-Eurasia
Not genetically related to Homo Sapiens
Named after where the first skull was found in the Neander Valley in 1856
Had bigger brains but not as intelligent as modern humans
Neanderthals failed to adapt to climate changes and died out.
Cro-Magnons rose to prominence
The Life of Early Homo Sapiens
Hunting and gathering culture for 12,000 years
Enough food in 3 hours
Time for relaxation
Remarkably amount of equality between sexes
Higher status for women
Persists as late as 1500 CE in Australia, North America, South America, and North Asia
Paintings and Drawings
Drawings in the Chauvet Cave in France
Helped to understand the environment
Vivid and realistic in depicting large animals
Few humans
Handprints and abstract symbols
Bonds with kin groups
Mythology
Meaning of drawings
Not decoration
Ritual uses
Sculpture
Shaped from bone and stone tools
Mostly animals and female figures
Animals symbolic of male or female
Likely ritual uses
Language
Allowed for the transmission of knowledge
Phonemes
Sequences of words
Humans: 50+ phonemes
Primates: 12 phonemes
Complex language occurred 80,000 years ago.
!Kung of southern Africa offer nearest approximations of proto-languages
Original Language Family Groups
The use of complex language developed 80,000 years ago among Homo sapiens in Africa. As humans dispersed throughout the globe, numerous language families evolved from which all natural languages originate.
Agriculture - Plants
Gradual change from hunting and gathering because of warmer temperatures and wetter climates
First settlements were the valleys and mountains of Southwest Asia
Plant domestication
Southwest Asia – wheat and barley
Africa – sorghum and yams
East Asia – rice and millet
Larger communities supported with more food
Risk-taking and agricultural innovation
Agriculture - Animals
Dogs domesticated first
Wild sheep in the mountains of Iraq were second
Pigs and cattle also domesticated
Pastoralism is where herds are moved away from settlements to nearby lands to graze
Also called transhumance
Horses
Travel
Measure of wealth and prestige
Opened up new avenues of warfare
Agricultural Revolution
Occurred in the Fertile Crescent
Place of rich soils and regular rainfall
Land between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers remained settled by small communities
In Southeast Asia, agriculture began near the Yellow and Yangzi River
In the Americas, agriculture came a bit slower
Few animals used for food
Africans used techniques from other peoples to settle and farm the Sahel region
In Europe, ideas were imported via land and sea
Finding the right crops and animals for the environment
Greece and the Balkans region were the first to convert to agriculture.
Africa and the Sahara Desert
The expansion of the Sahara Desert due to global warming and drying. Inhabitants migrated further south to find inland water supplies.
Impact of Agriculture
Large-scale farming and herding has a warming effect on climate
Burning of forests, cultivation of grain, and large herds of animals cause methane and carbon dioxide (greenhouse gases) to rise and become trapped in earth’s atmosphere
Consequences in this early phase are not severe
Social Changes
Gender roles more pronounced with food-producing revolution
Gender equality eroded as communities abandoned hunting and gathering
Women’s knowledge of plants contributed to the move to settled agriculture, but women did not benefit from that move
Larger tools further separated genders
Men took over yoking animals to plows
Women left with repetitive tasks of planting, weeding, harvesting, and grinding
Stratification of genders affected power relations within households and community
Conclusion
African hominins evolved from other primates into Homo erectus hominins
Climate change and adaptation led to the spread of successive generations of hominins out of Africa
Homo sapiens with larger brains moved out of Africa about 100,000 years ago
As they adapted over time, they formed communities of hunters and gatherers
Changes in climate in some places in the world led to embrace of settled agriculture
Homo sapiens with larger brains moved out of Africa about 100,000 years ago. Language and complex thinking helped them adapt during further climate change.
Settled farm communities varied in what they grew and which animals were domesticated. Some people continued to hunt and gather or move with migrating fish or mammals. Most people remained exclusively rural, developed largely horizontal social structures, and depended on the natural world.
26
