HUMAN

EVOLUTION AND
CULTURE
Presented by
DIEGO C. POMARCA JR.
SHS Teacher
CULTURE DEFINED

■ A complex whole which encompasses beliefs, practices, values,

attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge and
everything that a person learns and shares as a member of a
society (Tylor, 2010)
■ By-product of the attempt of humans to survive their
environment and to compensate for their biological
characteristics and and limitations.
■ The sum of symbols, ideas, forms of expressions and material
products associated with a social system – Allan G. Johnson
CULTURE DEFINED

■ Derived from the Latin word “cultus” which means “care” – a

care and attention provided to a human person as he grows
into a mature person.
■ An organized body of conventional understandings manifest in
art and artifacts, which persisting through tradition – Robert
Redfield
■ A powerful force that affects the lives of the members of a
society.
■ It shapes and guide people’s perception of reality, determines
the food they eat, clothing they wear, music they listen to, or
the games they play.
 Kinds of Culture
1. Material Culture – the concrete and
tangible things that man creates and
uses. This includes dwelling units, tools,
weapons, clothing, books, machines,
artefact relics, fossils etc – things that
man creates by altering the natural
environment. This is the area of
anthropological study.
 Kinds of Culture
2. Non-material Culture – the intangible
objects which the person uses, follows,
professes or strives to conform. It
includes knowledge, laws, lifestyles,
techniques, ideas, customs behaviors,
among others. The area of sociological
study.
 In order to understand CULTURE,
we need to know the following:
A. BIOLOGICAL CAPACITY FOR CULTURE –
understanding the biological makeup of
mankind.
1. Our Thinking Capacity – the developed brain is
necessary in facilitating pertinent skills such as
speaking, touching, feeling, seeing and
smelling.
Brain – the primary biological component of
humans that allowed culture.
 The Human Brain
1. Frontal Lobe and the
Motor Cortex – function
for cognition and motor
abilities.
2. Parietal lobe – allows
for touch and taste
abilities.
3. Temporal Lobe – allows
for hearing skills.
4. Occipital Lobe – allows
for visual skills.
 Compared with other primates, humans have a larger
brain weighing 1.4 Kg, Chimpanzees have a brain weighing
420 g only, and those of gorillas weigh 500 g. Due to the
size of their brain and the complexity of its parts, humans
were able to create survival skills that helped them adapt
to their environment and outlive their less adaptive
biological relatives.
 Hyoid Bone – crucial
for speaking as it
supports the root of
the tongue
(Hogenboom, 2013).

2. Our Speaking Capacity – while the brain is the

primary source of human 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.
 DAN DEDIU from the Max Planck Institute for
Psycholinguistics in Netherlands argued that the
origin of language may be rooted as far as 500 000
years ago based on the discovered bone fragment
from an ancestor known as Homo heidelbergensis.
A group of Homo
heidelbergensis depicted
butchering a rhino
(Stephanorhinus
hunsheimensis).
Hyaenas (Crocuta
crocuta) scavenge what
they can.

Inspired by the Archaeology

and fauna from the Middle
Pleistocene site of
Boxgrove.
3. Our Gripping Capacity – the capacity to directly
oppose a thumb with the other fingers. It is an
exclusive trait of humans. It allowed us to have a finer
grip. Thus, we have the capability to create materials
with precision.
■ The hand of a human has digits
(fingers) that are straight, as compared
with the curved ones of the other
primates.
■ The thumb of a human is
proportionately longer than those of
the other primates. These
characteristics of human hand allowed
for 2 types of grip:

Power Grip – enabled human

to wrap the thumb and fingers
on an object.
Precision Grip – enabled
humans to hold and pick
objects steadily using their
fingers.
4. Our Walking or Standing Capacity – an important trait
that gave humans more productivity with their hands.
Through this, humans gained more efficient form of
locomotion suitable for hunting and foraging. Primates have
two forms of locomotion:
a. Bipedalism – the capacity to walk and stand on two feet.
b. Quadropedalism – uses all four limbs (both two hands and two
feet).
What have I learned so far?

1. What are the four capacities that

enabled humans to have culture?

2. What is the significance of

studying human biology in
understanding cultural capacity?
 It is believed that the crudest methods of tool making may
have been practiced by the earlier Australopithecines (A. afarensis
and A. africanus). These methods may have involved the use of
wood as digging sticks or even crude spears.
HUMAN ORIGINS AND THE
CAPACITY FOR CULTURE
 The Oldowan Industry
■ Stone tool industry characterized by the use of “hard water-
worn creek cobbles made out of volcanic rock” (O’Neil,
2012).
■ Evidence found by Mary and Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge,
Tanzania in Africa (around 2.6 million years ago) supports
this industry.
■ Industry known to have been used by Homo habilis.
Percussion Flaking – process involving the systematic collision
of a hammer stone with a core stone. The impact of the collision
produces a core tool (used for general purposes) and a flake
tool (used as a knife).
 The Oldowan Industry
■ Form of technology used in this industry allowed for the
species to butcher large animals and it improved food
gathering skills using the ‘hammering, digging, and
chopping implements’ (O’Neil, 2012).
■ From Africa, this industry spread out to Europe and Asia
during the migration of Homo erectus, who acquired it from
homo habilis within 1.9-1.8 million years ago. By 1.8-1.6
million years ago, the Oldowan industry has already reached
Java, Indonesia and Northern China.
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The Oldowan tools

23
Scavenging
-was a way of
finding food
during times
of shortage.
Following other scavengers made it
easy to find carcasses. Using stone
tools made it easy to break open
bones for marrow. 24
The Acheulian Industry
■ A more complex industry developed by the Homo
erectus from what they inherited from Homo habilis.
■ Using the same process of percussion flaking, Homo
erectus created hand axes that were bifacial, shaped in
both sides, and with straighter and sharper edges.
■ Homo erectus made other tools such as, “choppers,
cleavers and hammers as well as flakes used as knives
and scrapers”.
HAND AXES – stone implements used in multiple
activities such as light chopping of wood, digging up roots
and bulbs, butchering animals, and cracking nuts and
small bones.
The Acheulian Industry
■ This industry was named after Saint Acheul, a
patron saint in southwest France, as these
artifacts were discovered in the area
■ Believed to have originated in East Africa.
■ Scholars argue that its extensive use may have
been out of Africa as Homo erectus invented
this industry and brought it to Europe 500 000 –
900 000 years ago and to China 800 000 years
ago.
Acheulean
tools

Note how they are

worked all over
with many small
chips removed
27
H. erectus
learned how
to use and
control fire.

28
Fire was useful for preserving
food, making it taste better and
killing parasites.
Also useful as a deterrent against
predators, enabled activity at
night and reinforced social
bonding.
 The 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, where
evidence was uncovered in 1860.
■ Tools from this industry were a combination of Acheulian
techniques with the Levalloisian technique, which involved
the use of premade core tool that has sharpened edges
MOUSTERIAN TOOL – efficient stone tool as all the sides of
the flake are sharpened and are more handy due to the
reduction in size.
The Mousterian Tools made from flint.

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 The Mousterian
Industry
■ Evidence of this industry dating back 100 000 years was
also found in Northern Africa and West Asia, where
modern humans such as that of Qafze migrated.
■ Most archaeologists hypothesize that this industry could
be an evidence of acculturation of modern humans with
their Neanderthal relatives.
■ By the end of the Paleolithic period, early humans have
been engaged in proto-culture type of industries wherein
they did not just create tools but also started creating art
and other symbolic materials.
The Aurignacian
Industry
■ Present in Europe and Southwest Asia from 45 000 to 35 000 years ago.
■ The term Aurignacian was derived from Aurignac, an area in France where
the evidence of this industry was found.
■ Users of this industry used raw materials such as flint, animal bones and
antlers.
■ The method employed in creating tools such as fine blades was similar to
the one used in the Mousterian industry.
■ A more advanced tool making industry that made it a cultural milestone
for modern humans in Europe due to the development of self-awareness.
■ This development was projected through cave paintings and the
fabrication of accessories such as figurines, bracelets and beads.
The Aurignacian
Industry
■ The cave paintings found in the El Castillo Cave in Cantabaria,
Spain provide us with a glimpse of the environment that the
early humans lived in. Most of the paintings are that of the
animals that existed at that time.
Venus of Schelklingen (Venus of Hohle Fels) – figurine sculpted
from a woolly mammoth tusk. Emphasis was made on several
parts of the body such as the breasts and the hips. Scholars
theorize that this emphasis may be due to the importance of these
parts in childbearing or child rearing.
Bone flute in Hohle Fels, Germany – earliest evidence of music
appreciation.
•People lived in caves and
shelters, made clothes, painted
on cave walls and made statues
from bone and clay.

35
The Magdalenian
Industry
■ Saw the end of the Paleolithic period as it transformed to the
Neolithic period.
■ Named after the La Madeleine site in Dordogne, France.
■ Also a proto-culture used by the early humans and was 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.
■ A defining method used in tool making was through the
application of heat on the material prior to the flaking process. This
was done by casting the raw material on fire, which allowed for a
more precise cut upon flaking.
■ Cro-Magnon man made Upper
Palaeolithic tools including fish
hooks, harpoons and needles.

37
2 left = Middle 3 right = Upper
Palaeolithic Palaeolithic
 The Magdalenian
Industry
■ 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.
■ Use of temporary man-made shelters such as tents made of animal
skin are evident.
■ Use of rock shelters and caves were still predominant during this
period. The creation of tents allowed early humans to be more mobile.
■ Humans have more leisure time as evidenced by their preoccupation
with decorative materials.
■ By 10 000 BCE, this industry has spread to parts of Europe including
contemporary territories such as Great Britain, Germany, Spain and
Poland.
Characteristics of Paleolithic and
Neolithic Societies
Characteristics Paleolithic Neolithic
Tools Small and handy Included a wider
for mobile array of small
lifestyle and bigger tools
due to sedentary
lifestyle
Personal Limited to Included
Properties personal structures (e.g.,
accessories and house),
small tools that decorative
could easily be ornaments, large
carried around containers
Characteristics of Paleolithic and
Neolithic Societies
Characteristics Paleolithic Neolithic
Art Small and limited Included the
to personal creation of
ornaments, artworks that
bigger artworks required a longer
were done but length of time
not within a long and a greater
time frame (e.g. number of
cave paintings) people (e.g.,
Stonehenge)
Subsistence Foraging Agriculture
Characteristics of Paleolithic and
Neolithic Societies
Characteristics Paleolithic Neolithic
Leadership Not rigid; basedSemirigid; based
on age and on legitimacy
knowledge (religious beliefs,
social status)
Social Divisions None; communal Elite vs. working
lifestyle class
Population size Small Large (in
(30-50 people) thousands)
GROUP Work
■ Collaborate with 10 of your classmates and set up a
museum-like exhibit for Paleolithic tools. Your exhibit
must contain sample tools and information about
them. Your may recreate Paleolithic tools using papier-
máchể , clay, paper and ink, card board and any other
form of raw materials.
■ You need to decorate your exhibit appropriately.
■ Your role in this activity will be that of a curator who will
plan and implement the creation of the exhibit.
■ Your teacher will rate your output based on quality of
the materials created, organization, accuracy of
information and appropriateness of exhibit design.