Bipedalism

Walking upright distinguishes humans from other primates, and this distinction is expressed
anatomically in many of the unique skeletal and other features of the human form. Bipedalism formed the
backdrop for our divergence form the rest of the apes.

Changes in the locomotion (movement) of primate species had already led to a more upright
posture (illustrated above). Primates also developed the tendency to sit upright. While only humans are
habitually bipedal, apes and monkeys will even stand on two legs under certain circumstances. For instance,
some monkeys will stand to look over tall grass in order to spot potential food sources, predators and other
monkeys. Many primates stand when fighting or displaying dominance, they do this because standing
makes them appear larger. Some monkeys and apes will even stand up for short periods of time in order
to carry things of throw something. This tendency toward a more upright posture was the foundation that
allowed for the fully upright, bipedal ape to emerge. However, it was an environmental change that finally
triggered the divergence of the Hominin lineage (our direct ‘human’ ancestors)
The relatively rapid divergence of new species such as the Hominin branch is known as
an adaptive radiation. This often occurs when there is a significant environmental change and new
species rapidly evolve to take advantage of an unoccupied niche.

Selection for Bipedalism

It's believed the earliest Hominins emerged in Eastern Africa. Most of the earliest fossil finds come
form the rift valley, highlighted green in the map (left). This story begins approximately 5-6 million years
ago when this region of Africa experienced considerable environmental changes. Africa became much dryer
and the forest, which was home to the apes, became a wooded savannah (grassland). This massive shift
forced some of the apes / early Hominins out of the trees in search of alternate food sources. It also meant
that movement throughout a continuous tree canopy was no longer possible.

As climate and habitats changed, bipedalism had considerable advantages. First and foremost
bipedalism was more energy efficient. Even a small reduction in the energy used for movement would be
a huge selective advantage. This energy could be invested into rearing young / increases the chances of
survival. Bipedalism also made it easier to regulate body temperature (thermoregulation). Being able to
see over tall grass or simply see further over the horizon may have helped early Hominins to locate food
or avoid predation. Early Hominins would have been scavengers, being able to collect food and carry it to
a home base is a selective advantage especially since it reduces the threat from competing scavengers.
Freeing up of the hands allowed the further development of tools and weapons. Whilst tools are a definite
selective advantage, they are probably a consequence of bipedalism rather than a cause. Specialization of
tasks done with the hands would have contributed to the social interaction and cultural evolution of early
Hominins.

Advantages of Bipedalism:

 Seeing over the grass may have helped to spot predators or locate
carcasses at a distance.
 Holding tools and weapons (probably a consequence of bipedalism, rather
than a cause).
 Carrying food to a ‘home-base’ / position of safety.
 Thermoregulation: Smaller surface area presented to the sun at midday
(60% less)& greater air flow across the body when lifted higher off the
ground.
 Efficient Locomotion: Energy efficient method that favors low speed, long
distance movement – walking.

Why did Bipedalism Evolve so Rapidly

In a sense bipedalism is an extension of a tendency shown by most primates towards a more
upright posture. Monkeys sit semi-upright, apes brachiate with the body suspended vertically, and nearly
all primates suckle their young sitting upright. However humans are the only primates that habitually walk
on two legs. In evolutionary terms bipedalism actually developed very rapidly (over approx 2.2 million
years). We have already looked at some of the advantages of a bipedal lifestyle, however, these may not
fully explain the speed at which bipedalism developed.
 As Africa became warmer and drier, walking up-right also meant that less of the body was exposed
to direct sun-light from above, aiding thermoregulation. Standing upright also increased air-flow across the
body, making it easier to cool down (thermoregulation). This also explains why selection favoured the
reduction in body hair and an increase in the number of sweat glands. However, infant chimps and gorillas
hang onto their mothers’ long hair using not only their hands, but prehensile (grasping) feet. Human babies
do not have prehensile feet, and moreover their hands have no hairy maternal body to cling to. Thus they
have to be carried by their mother. This may have resulted in self-accelerating push towards bipedalism.
Partially bipedal hominins, with a big toe tending to face slightly forward, would have less prehensile feet.
As infants they would therefore be less able to grasp the mother, who would have to use her arms to carry
them. Since her arms would be less available for walking, she would depend more on her legs, thus
increasing the advantage of having a forward facing big toe. This may have resulting in a ‘positive feedback’
cycle.
A greater dependency on the mother to carry the infant may also have influenced the social
behaviour of our early ancestors. Most primates do not share food (except with relatives). However, if
females were forced to carry their young their hands may not have been free to forage for food. Thus
males may have played a greater role in gathering food and carrying it back to a home base to be shared.
Later the freeing up of the hands would also allow for the development of tools, which would in turn result
in a better diet that would in turn allow for the development of a larger brain. This would in turn result in
better tools, a better diet… and so forth. Another positive feedback cycle that led to the rapid expansion of
the brain.

TROGLODYTE
 (especially in prehistoric times) a person who lived in a cave.
 A hermit.
 A person who is regarded as being deliberately ignorant or old-fashioned.

AFRICA
Africa, the second largest continent (after Asia), covering about one-fifth of the total land surface
of Earth. The continent is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Mediterranean
Sea, on the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the mingling waters of the
Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike
ancestors. Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated
from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years.
One of the earliest defining human traits, bipedalism -- the ability to walk on two legs -- evolved
over 4 million years ago. Other important human characteristics -- such as a large and complex brain, the
ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language -- developed more recently. Many advanced
traits -- including complex symbolic expression, art, and elaborate cultural diversity -- emerged mainly
during the past 100,000 years.
Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern
human species, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes.
Humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa -- chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy
chimpanzees”) and gorillas -- share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago.
Humans first evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. The fossils of
early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely from Africa.
Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to 20 different species of early humans. Scientists do
not all agree, however, about how these species are related or which ones simply died out. Many early
human species -- certainly the majority of them – left no living descendants. Scientists also debate over
how to identify and classify particular species of early humans, and about what factors influenced the
evolution and extinction of each species.
Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2 million and 1.8 million years
ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, between 1.5 million and 1 million years. Species of modern
humans populated many parts of the world much later. For instance, people first came to Australia probably
within the past 60,000 years and to the Americas within the past 30,000 years or so. The beginnings of
agriculture and the rise of the first civilizations occurred within the past 12,000 years.

Great Rift Valley

The Great Rift Valley is a geographical and geological feature running north to south for around
4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers), from northern Syria to central Mozambique in East Africa. Astronauts say
it is the most significant physical detail on the planet that is visible from space. In Africa, the terrain
ranges from salt flats more than 500 feet (152 meters) below sea level to towering, snow-capped
mountains. The Rift is known for its spectacular scenery and abundant, sometimes unique, wildlife. A
series of some thirty lakes lies along its length; the three largest in Africa are known as the Great Lakes
and include Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest lake in the world, and Lake Victoria, the second-largest
freshwater lake by surface area in the world. Some of the oldest remains of ancestral humans have been
found in in the African segment of the valley.
The Rift Valley has been a rich source of fossils that allow study of human evolution. Richard
Leakey has speculated that the diversity of environments resulting from the creation of the Rift Valley
provided "an ideal setting for evolutionary change." The presence of multiple lakes in the region would
have drawn animals, including hominids. Furthermore, the rise and fall of lake levels and seasonal
flooding of rivers aided in burying and preserving bones. The numerous active volcanoes in the region
provided volcanic ash that would later allow dating of the fossils that were found.
There is no reason to conclude that early hominids were confined to East Africa, but because the
rapidly eroding highlands filled the valley with sediments, a favorable environment for the preservation of
remains was created. The bones of several hominid ancestors of modern humans have been found there,
including those of "Lucy," a nearly complete Australopithecus skeleton that was discovered
by anthropologist Donald Johanson. The husband and wife team of Richard and Mary Leakey has also
done significant work in this region.
It has been suggested by scientists that the Rift's trough may have been an important route for
human dispersal.

Sahara Desert
At the end of the last Ice Age, the Sahara Desert was just as dry and uninviting as it is today. But
sandwiched between two periods of extreme dryness were a few millennia of plentiful rainfall and lush
vegetation.
During these few thousand years, prehistoric humans left the congested Nile Valley and established
settlements around rain pools, green valleys, and rivers.

When the rains came

Some 12,000 years ago, the only place to live along the eastern Sahara Desert was the Nile Valley. Being
so crowded, prime real estate in the Nile Valley was difficult to come by. Disputes over land were often
settled with the fist, as evidenced by the cemetery of Jebel Sahaba where many of the buried individuals
had died a violent death.

But around 10,500 years ago, a sudden burst of monsoon rains over the vast desert transformed the region
into habitable land.

This opened the door for humans to move into the area, as evidenced by the researcher's 500 new
radiocarbon dates of human and animal remains from more than 150 excavation sites.

"The climate change at [10,500 years ago] which turned most of the [3.8 million square mile] large Sahara
into a savannah-type environment happened within a few hundred years only, certainly within less than
500 years," said study team member Stefan Kroepelin of the University of Cologne in Germany.

Frolicking in pools
In the Egyptian Sahara, semi-arid conditions allowed for grasses and shrubs to grow, with some trees
sprouting in valleys and near groundwater sources. The vegetation and small, episodic rain pools enticed
animals well adapted to dry conditions, such as giraffes, to enter the area as well.

Humans also frolicked in the rain pools, as depicted in rock art from Southwest Egypt.

In the more southern Sudanese Sahara, lush vegetation, hearty trees, and permanent freshwater lakes
persisted over millennia. There were even large rivers, such as the Wadi Howar, once the largest tributary
to the Nile from the Sahara.

"Wildlife included very demanding species such as elephants, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, and more than 30
species of fish up to 2 meters (6 feet) big," Kroepelin told LiveScience.

A timeline of Sahara occupation [See Map]:

22,000 to 10,500 years ago: The Sahara was devoid of any human occupation outside the Nile Valley and
extended 250 miles further south than it does today.

10,500 to 9,000 years ago: Monsoon rains begin sweeping into the Sahara, transforming the region into a
habitable area swiftly settled by Nile Valley dwellers.

9,000 to 7,300 years ago: Continued rains, vegetation growth, and animal migrations lead to well
established human settlements, including the introduction of domesticated livestock such as sheep and
goats.

7,300 to 5,500 years ago: Retreating monsoonal rains initiate desiccation in the Egyptian Sahara, prompting
humans to move to remaining habitable niches in Sudanese Sahara. The end of the rains and return of
desert conditions throughout the Sahara after 5,500 coincides with population return to the Nile Valley and
the beginning of pharaonic society.

Mesopotamia
 TIGRIS/EUPHRATES RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATION

ates rivers. Mesopotamia means the land between two rivers. Mesopotamia began as urban societies in

two rivers that became the basis upon

supple of water in Mesopotamia but the soil was so enriched over the years by
the Tigris and the Euphrates River was known as
Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf called the Fertile Crescent had rich so
amia consists of current day
s in Southern Mesopotamia were Eridu, Ur, and Urak, these cities had a political and economic over the

an city-states was based o

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timber were imported goods exchanged for dried
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 three major social groups
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worked for palace and temple domain, they also worked
percent of the people in Mesopotamia were
buildings and also belonged to the palace officials

and important building in the Sumerian city was the temple ded
was called a ziggurat and was built
were built by
ere made by stone or wood

to weave cloth
 Weapons Technolo
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Daggers Calenda
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 religion to answer their questions about life and death, g
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uments by using a triangular-tipped stylus to make
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as Akkadians (Semitic) spoke a Semitic language