Aditya singh (2020 batch)

Roll no. 2016130

Q. Discuss the important biological and cultural markers in the evolution of

human kind.

Ans . Humans have inhabited the globe for a very short span of time when we see
it in comparison with when the world came into existence. The world which has
been divided into 3 major era and humans made their appearance only in the
latest era that is the Cenozoic era which began around 65 million years ago. Over
the long span of time humans have evolved biologically and culturally through
mutual interaction with the surrounding environment. The era which have been
further divided into 7 geological epochs namely – Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene,
Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene and the present geological epoch which we live in
the Holocene epoch. Human evolution in biological terms can be seen through
the development of the enhancement of the size of the brain, the emergence of
partial bipedalism, knuckle walking and later complete bipedalism which further
led to the freeing of the upper arms, also important was the change in the
positioning of the thumb which became opposable that gave better precision grip
on objects, shortening of the upper limbs and strengthening of the human body
that helped them to shift from the prey to become the predators. Environment
has played an all important role in the evolution of human being both biologically
and culturally. The forested surrounding helped the humans to evolve in different
aspects when in comparison to a cold and tundra kind of environment. Cultural
markers in human evolution are the ability of the early humans to manipulate
their surrounding environment for their own benefit, tools are an important
marker in the cultural evolution of humans, the changes in the technology used
for making the tools is another important factor and also the formation of
societies either on the basis of work or any other classification is also of great
importance.
All the living animals have emerged from the group primates which mostly
included tree living animals. Primates are further classified into suborder, super
family and so on. The primate group is sub- divided into two groups – Prosimii
that included the lemurs etc., and, the Anthropoidea which belongs to around 40
Mya. The suborder Anthropoidea is further sub divided into 2 orders that are the
new world ape (ceboidea) and the old world ape (Cercopithecoidea). This further
move down to a super family called the Hominoidea which happens to be around
30 Mya. This super family is divided into 2 family one of the gibbons (Hylobatidae)
and the other to which humans belong the hominidae. This is further subdivided
into the Homininae and the Ponginae to which the modern day Orangutans
belong to. The subfamily of Homininae is further divided to Hominini - to which
the humans belong directly and the Gorillas. Hominini has 2 groups one of the
chimps and the bonobos and the other of the genus Australopithecus (the
southern ape) which further scales down to the genus Homo. There are various
families and sub families in this evolution series that don’t move any further and
die out in the middle like the Prosimii, the Hylobatidae which brings us to the
belief that human evolution is not like a ladder that some used to believe but like
a bush with branches going to various directions and some even ending.
It is important to talk about the environment aspect when we talk about the term
human evolution. For most of the geological time the climate has remained
warmer and more vibrant than it is today. The Paleocene and the Eocene epochs
were considerably very stable in terms of global temperature; it was during the
Oligocene epoch some 35 Mya that first sign of global cooling can be found with
the formation of ice belts around Antarctic. World temperatures fell dramatically
between 14 and 11 Ma which lead to the formation of glaciers in high latitude and
then about 3.2Mya the ice sheets trapped the enough water to bring the global
sea level down by 40mtrs. It was in the Pleistocene period that started around 2.6
Mya that world entered its current phase of rapid changes in the global
temperatures and constantly fluctuating climate which continued till 12,000 years.
There were a total of 9 ice ages beginning about 7, 80,000 yrs ago which is why
the Pleistocene is sometimes called as the great ice age. It should be kept in mind
that not all the period from the glaciations was cold there were some interglacial
as well, with warm and healthy climate for the breeding of flora and fauna. During
this period the spread of human population was slow and it also led to the
dispersion of various plant species. There was immense effect of these glaciations
on the deep sea cores of the world.
The evolutionary history of Primates can be traced back to well around 65 million
years ago. In the Oligocene epoch small fruit eating primates including
Aegyptopithecus trooped through the lush green forested regions of Nile valley
which were no bigger than a fox and weighted just a few kgs with small brains and
a well developed sight. The early hominoids have been called dental apes- ape
like teeth with monkey like body form like the Moropithecus that used to travel
from branch to branch. Kenyapithecus practiced a simple form of knuckle walking
and was the first to descend to the ground having heavy jaws that were useful in
grinding the hard seeds. There were other hominin like the Sahelanthropus
tchadensis from Chad that lived around 6 to 7 Mya, estimate brain size of 350CC
and probably a plant eater. One of the important hominin was the Ardipithecus
ramidus which was a small creature with a brain that was just 20% of the modern
human brain, a skull similar to apes; teeth are unspecialized and show that the
creature at soft fruits and food matter. Ardipithecus has too been divided into sub
types but our main story of human evolution starts with the genus
Australopithecus.
The term Australopithecus means southern ape-person coined by Raymond Dart.
Australopithecus anamensis dated 4.2 Mya are the oldest remains of the genus
Australopithecine found at Lake Turkana. The jaw is more ape like and also the
earlobes are small. The lower limb were thick enough to support the weight of
the upper body and the hominin weighted around 47-55 kgs. A. afrensis founded
by Mary Leakey and Johnson is considered to be the possible ancestor of the
genus homo for which we find evidence from Hadar and the remains of “Lucy”
that was founded by Taeib and Johnson and the “Dikika baby”, having a bit of
curved fingers that are a sign of arboreal behavior, the height ranged between
1.05 to 1.50 mtrs and weighing around 29 to 42 kgs, having a cranial capacity of
387-550CC having arches in their feet like the modern humans do. Signs of the
walking of afrensis are found from Laetoli, Tanzania. A. africanus was of modest
body size and highly mobile with a brain size of 428-650CC maybe the diversity in
the skull size was because of sexual differentiation. Australopithecus robustus or
what some call as the Paranthropus lived around 2 Mya and had a heavy build
and a small brain with strong jaws for chewing. Africanus had a larger brain size as
compared to the robustus. Australopithecus garhi(surprise in local language) was
discovered by a joint research of Tim White from USA and Asfaw from Ethiopia
dated 2.5 to 2.3 Mya and found in Ethiopia had a small brain size of 450CC and an
average height of around 1.46mtrs with big teeth and big arms and he probably
was engaged in scavenging as bones have been found near the remains of the
garhi but we do not find any stone tools. Finds of the genus Australopithecus have
come from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kota Toro in Chad and Malapa entirely from
the African continent. Australopithecus Sadiba was discovered by Matthew
Berger from the Malapa cave has been an important find in context of the genus
Australopithecine. It had a smaller molar and premolar and a broader lower chest
that resemble them to the genus homo, they were highly biped as there were
major adaptations in their pelvic area that allowed them to be bipeds which
resembled them to the early humans but also they had a small cranial capacity
and long limbs that resemble the Australopithecine.
There are many ideas about the role of the environment in human evolution.
Some views assume that certain adaptations, such as upright walking or tool-
making, were associated with drier habitat and the spread of grasslands, an idea
often known as the savanna hypothesis. According to this long-held view, many
important human adaptations arose in the African savanna or were influenced by
the environmental pressure of expanding dry grassland.
Around 2.5 Mya an early form of primates that resembled modern day humans
made their appearance on the globe with smaller jaws, bigger brain size,
bipedalism, opposable thumb, larger body size and a somewhat end of the sexual
dimorphisms. The earliest primate of the genus homo is the Homo habilis which
has been nicknamed as the “handy man” because this species was the first to
make stone tools which marked a significant shift in the mental capabilities and a
shift towards new survival strategy. This species was discovered by Louis and
Mary Leaky and also by Philip Tobias and the British scientist John Napier from
the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. The average height of the Habilis ranged around
1.3mtrs and weighed around 40 kgs. It had smaller teeth than the
Australopithecus but still had a strong jaw that would have helped them in
chewing hard food items like roots, seeds etc. there are also effective signs of
butchery of large animals as cut marks have been found on the bones of various
animals. it had a brain size of 600-700 CC that is almost half the size of the
present day humans but it was much larger than the genus Australopithecus.
Bones from Kobi Fora and Olduvai suggest that that Habilis walked upright but
had a curved finger grip like of the chimps that suggest some form of arboreal
dwelling but the coming of the opposable thumb enabled them to get a precision
grip that allowed them to make complex tools. As V. Gordon Child very rightly
said that a tool is a social product-most men learn how to make and use tools
from other members of the human group in which they are born i.e. from society,
any tool is a social product: it is transmitted and preserved as a social tradition,
they can be modified to various conditions and needs. Homo Rudolfensis which
was discovered near lake Rudolf by the Russian scientist V.P. Alexeev was earlier
considered to be Habilis had a brain size of 775CC that is at the upper limit of the
Habilis, had a longer face and a larger molar and pre molar but did not have heavy
and strong jaw that was seen in the Australopithecines which represent a
different dietary practice.

Now we get to the Pleistocene epoch roughly the time span of 2.6Ma to 780,000
yrs ago. This was a time when the globe’s landmass had been uplifted and various
mountain chains of the world like the Alps and Himalaya have been formed and
enhancing greater climatic differences around the globe, the climatic fluctuation
were still very minor around this time. Homo Ergaster that used to inhabit the
world around 1.5 and 1.9 Mya was another species of the genus homo that was
considered to be the working man as the name suggests. Fossil evidence for this
species has been found around Lake Turkana, Lake Victoria, Kobi For and
Nariokotome, Africa. Average height of females was around 160cm and 180cm
was the average height of the male having a rib cage similar to modern humans
and changes in the shoulders and waist that enabled them to run better. The
Ergaster had a brain capacity of 860CC that is larger than the Habilis. Having
smaller teeth that resulted into a smaller face, a massive brow ridge and high
forehead that resembled somewhat like a modern human, having longer legs like
those of modern humans. There were cultural developments that took place like
the use of fire which is an important social marker in human evolution and new
stone tool making techniques being used and more level of physical activity.
Stratified deposed of charred bone and ash have been found which suggests that
groups of people used to assemble around fire frequently to cook there meal that
represents a controlled use of fire. Homo Ergaster operated over much large
ranges and migrated in stops and starts over long distances. Stone tools made by
them were hand axes, cleavers and picks that might have been used for cutting
roots and butchering large animal as we know that in the dry climatic condition
plant tubers was an important source of nutrition for the primate. There are no
signs of burial but the groups used to take care of the sick that might have been
based on family bonding. During the time of the Ergaster the climate in Africa had
turned drier, the development of a smaller gut and a bigger brain required more
nourishing food and this suggests that they may have included more meat in their
diets. Colin Groves and Vratislav along with Alan Walker and Richard Leakey were
the one to discover these fossils. Turkana boy who died when he was 7-15yrs old
is one of the most important find of the Ergaster.
The middle Pleistocene epoch that covered the time span of around 780,000 to
128,000 yrs ago marks the constant and abrupt climatic changes, ice sheets
formed gradually but deglaciation took place rapidly as well. This led to constant
rise in the sea levels which led to flooding in low lying areas. This epoch ended
with another drastic glaciations. The upright man or homo erectus that lived
between 1.89My to 110,000 yrs ago was the first complete bipedal human species
that stood erect and possessed human like body postures like shorter arms and
longer and stronger legs that enabled them to run longer distances with an
enhancement in the brain size that increased up to 1050CC very close to that of
modern day humans, having a sloping forehead and a large jaw but with definite
signs of decrease in the size. The height ranged very close to the modern humans
between 1.45-1.85mtrs and weighing between 40 to 68 kgs. Erectus was the first
human species that migrated out of Africa to the continents of Asia and Europe.
In 1891 Dubois, a Dutch surgeon discovered the first erectus individual in
Indonesia which has been called the “java man”. There have been many finds like
at the Chinese site of Zhoukoudian which was discovered in 1929 where a young
individual’s skull was found that had a brain size of 915 CC which has been termed
as the peaking man. There have been other finds in the Asian subcontinent like
Sangiran in Indonesia, Solo man from Ngandong etc. the oldest stone tools used
by erectus have been found in china that were basically simple chopper, cleavers
and flake tools and there was a gradual reduction well as adaptation in the size
and functionality of the tools that might have helped the species survive in the
hard times. During this period there were around 3 glaciations that had cold and
harsh climatic conditions that with rapid dry and wet spells that led to the
formation of grasslands that helped the erectus to hunt grazing animals. Remains
of meals of erectus have been found in china that show that they ate a large
amount of meat supplements along with plant food and had a diet similar to
modern day humans. Signs of cooking in hearths have been found from many
sites in china and Indonesia. Homo heidelbergensis was another group of humans
that shared land along with the erectus around 700,000 to 200,000 yrs ago and
are considered to be the European branch of the homo Ergaster. The specie had a
brain size of 1250CC that is very close to that of present day humans, double
arched brow ridge and a short sloping forehead above the eye, shorter jaw and
teeth size and long lower limbs. The first discovery took place in 1908 in Germany.
The average height of a male was 1.75mtrs and weight in around 62kgs while the
average height of female was 1.57mtrs with an average weight of 51kgs.other
discoveries took place in Steinheim, Germany and Swanscombe, England. This
specie was the first hunter of game animals like wild deer, horses, elephants,
hippos and rhinos have been found from there bone remains and cut marks on
bones that suggests that these people were working in co-operative groups. The
population used bifacial tools like cleavers and hand axes for hunting along with
tools made of bones, antlers and wood, also a 400,000 yrs old wooden sphere has
been found in Germany. Archeologists have found evidence of 30 individuals
deliberately thrown in a pit along with a symmetrical hand axe, weather this was
kind of a burial practice we don’t know. The climate of this region was relatively
colder than the African continent and there are signs of animal hide clothing used
by the humans as a measure to protect against the cold and harsh climate of the
ice age. We now are able to find definite signs of cultural changes in the early
humans.
Homo Neanderthalensis inhabited the globe around the same time as the
Heidelbergensis and the modern day Homo sapiens dating around 400,000 to
40,000 years ago inhabiting the European and the central Asian region having a
bit shorter but more muscular body than the present day humans- a sign of
extensive physical work to manipulate the surrounding environment. They had a
brain capacity of approx. 1500CC that is almost similar to the present day humans.
They had a larger jaw and teeth than the Homo sapiens. The skull was bun shaped
sometimes with heavy brow ridge. This specie showed complex signs of social
behavior as they had started burying their dead with grave goods and also
marking the graves with various offerings, a behavior that no other primate had
shown till now evidence of which has been found from Israel. The first discovery
took place in 1856 in Germany and Geologist William King named it as Homo
Neanderthalensis as the remains were found in the Neander valley in Germany.
Due to reduced availability of plant food, Neanderthalensis had to switch to other
source of food specifically meat as they had a heavy body that required high
protein diet. There are evidence that Neanderthals were specialized seasonal
hunters eating animals that were available at that time like- red deer and reindeer,
and depending on sea animals like seals, fish and dolphins in the coastal region.
The tools used by this species belong to the Mousterian group with grade 3 tools
that were probably used even by the Homo sapiens, tools used being spears,
scrappers and owls. There are evidences of sewing needles used to sew animal
hides together to make clothing to protect in the harsh winters. There are
evidences of small amount of art like the pendant that was discovered in France
and also some amount of cave art from sites such as Anton rock shelter and
Aviones cave- both in Spain. Hyoid bones that are similar to that of present day
humans was present in the Neanderthals according to which some scientists
believed that they could have had a modern speech but it can’t be justified as
some believe that they had some control over their vocal tract and tongue but did
not have a speech as modern humans. As a whole there was lack of social
symbolic behavior and the rate of survival was also low that might have led to the
extinction of the specie.
We now come to the direct ancestors of the modern day humans the Homo
sapiens- wise man that appeared 300,000 yrs ago in an environment that was
constantly changing. All the humans living today belong to this specie. The early
Homo sapiens that a brain size larger than 1500CC that mark a very small shift
from the Neanderthalensis, the latter having an approx brain size of 1450CC. the
back of the skull is rounder and shows reduction in neck muscles also the
placement of the skull at the broadest top, the brow ridge is limited and the eye
socket are square rather than rounded. It had a shorter, light jaw and small teeth
that leads to a complete vertical face. The leg size is relatively long and the limbs
are less strong and less muscular than the earlier specie, finger and toe bones are
straight. The sapiens used a complex technology of tool making which included
planning before the creation of tool and then selecting the technique that had to
be used to make the tools. Wider materials were used to make tools like antler,
bone and ivory along with stones. Microlith tools are also an important
development in the tool technique that allowed the sapiens to use the small tools
for hunts which enhanced the kill percentage as they were able to attack higher
no. of times like the arrows, barbed spears and bone harpoons. The complex
brains of modern humans enabled them to interact with each other and with
their surrounding in new and different ways. Humans learned the sophisticated
control of fire including pits, hearths and kilns allowed them to survive in the cold
climatic conditions and also cook and store their food in ceramics that find their
way into the human culture around this time. Sapiens made the transition to
producing food and settling down and breeding certain plants and animals which
eventually led to the change in the earth’s natural landscape, the places where
they settled became villages that later turned into towns and towns into cities.
With the coming of settled settlement and abundance of food the human
population increased dramatically that put more pressure on the natural
resource- something that had not happened before. There were major
developments in clothing technique- in the colder regions fur bearing animals like
the arctic foxes and wolves and other small animals like beavers were trapped for
their fur. Direct evidence of clothing comes from around 30,000 yrs ago where we
find buttons and various sorts of beads; fibers of flax plant along with animal
hides were used to make clothes and also baskets. There is evidence of personal
adornments from this period as well- ornaments made of ivory, pierced shells,
ostrich egg beads and pendants made of ivory and other materials. Cave art has
been found at various sites in France and various other countries of Europe. The
Chauvet cave of France contained around 1,000 paintings of various animals like
lions, bison etc; there are evidences of cave painting from Romania, Brazil,
Australia and many other countries of the world, representing scene of hunt of
various sorts of animals any may also be associated with some sort of religious
practices. As we know that there are various similarities in the cave painting
pattern throughout the world and the technique and skills used in making those
arts suggest that the art was some sort of a religious practice itself. There are
clear signs of formation of hunter- gatherer societies – because hunting is such a
complex task that it tough to accomplish alone and even in a group there is a
need of elaborate and clear division of work for each and every member on the
hunt otherwise there would be chances of losing the game. Flutes and musical
instruments have also been found- representing a keen interest of modern
humans towards music that could have been a way for a society to come closer to
each other. The diet of the sapiens contained domesticated plant and animal food
but for a long span of time wild food sources remained an important part of the
diet. The practice of burial was very elaborate with the dead buried with various
sorts of good graves- they enable us to differentiate between the graves of a
female and a male, as males were buried with tools of all sorts and the females
were buried with ornaments like rings, beads but this not always the case as they
cannot be completely relied. Signs of shelter have been found in various places
including star Carr in England that shows a hut time shelter, probably animal
hides could have been used to cover the tent like structures, humans lived in
open shelters and also in caves.
The Holocene epoch is the present day epoch that began after 10,000 B.C saw
intense increase in the world temperature and also intense cold spells. it is during
this period that the human population began settling down in a more systematic
manner and living a sedentary life with more land available for farming and
grazing of animals as the ice sheets from all of Europe and the northern America
had retreated.
There is a debated about the modern human origin theory with 2 different
viewpoints. The out of Africa model .This model visualizes the complete
replacement everywhere of all older forms of humans with modern humans. In
support of this view is the evidence of the genetic and anatomical homogeneity of
modern humans. Those who suggest this argue that the enormous similarity
amongst modern humans is due to their descent from a population that
originated in a single region, which is Africa. The evidence of the earliest fossils of
modern humans (from Omo in Ethiopia) also supports the replacement model.
Scholars who hold this view suggest that the physical differences observed today
among modern humans are the result of adaptation (over a span of thousands of
years) by populations who migrated to the particular regions where they finally
settled down. The other theory is the multi regional model –this hypothesizes
that human population throughout the old world evolved independently, first to
archaic Homo sapiens and then fully to modern humans. This model argues for
multiple origins of Homo sapiens. Continuous gene flow within the group meant
that highly adaptive, novel anatomical Features spread rapidly, thereby keeping
all human populations on the same fundamental Evolutionary path toward
anatomically modern people, even if some evolved into fully modern Humans
before others.

The present form in which we the modern day humans are a result of varied
biological and cultural evolution that has taken place over the last 65 million years
in mutual interaction with the natural environment.