Human Capacity for Culture Man” specie could walk straight with archaeologist Louis

Culture is defined as “that complex whole which almost the same brain with Lartet in the Cro Magnon
encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, modern man. He made refined Cave in Southern France.
laws, norms, artifacts, symbols, knowledge, and stone stools for hunting and It was believed to live in
everything that a person learns and shares as a weapons for protection of the Europe, Asia and Africa.
member of a society” (Taylor, 2010). enemies. As a prehistoric man,
The following are the major they were the first to
Evolution is a natural process of biological discovered fossils: produce art in cave
changes occurring in a population across a. Pithecanthropus Erectus paintings and crafting
successive generations (Banaag, 2012 p.31). It “Java Man” –Discovered decorated tools and
helps us identify and analyze man’s by Eugene Dubois at accessories.
physiological development and eventually the Trinil, Java, Indonesia in
emergence of different society. Moreover, man’s 1891.
progression and characteristics are essential in b. Sinanthropus Pekinensis
understanding the capability for adaptation. “Peking Man” – Four Biological Capacity of Human to Develop
Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to Discovered at
Culture
20 different species of early humans. Choukoutien village,
Beijing, China in 1929. 1. Our The primary biological
Homo It was believed that this was the Thinking component of humans that
Sapiens direct descendant of modern capacity allowed for culture is the
Human Biocultural Evolution
“The man who lived about 250,000 developed brain. It has the
Species Characteristics
Thinking years ago. They had similar necessary parts for
Hominids The development of the different
Man” physical descriptions with facilitating pertinent skills
“Manlike species of primates which were
modern man. They originated as such as speaking, touching,
Primates able to evolve in 40 million years
the primitive men whose feeling, seeing, and smelling.
” ago. There have been various
activities were largely dependent 
relics of hominids which could be
on hunting, fishing and Compared with other
described as manlike primates.
agriculture. They buried their primates, humans have a
They are Ramapithecus, Lucy and
dead, used had tools and had larger brain, weighing 1.4 kg.
Australopithecus.
religion. The following are Homo Due to the size of brain and
Homo The apelike men who first to
Sapiens subspecies: the complexity of its parts,
Habilis used stone tools as weapons and
a. Neanderthal Man – humans were able to create
“Handy protection of their enemies. They
Discovered in survival skills that helped
Man” are recognized as the first true
Neanderthal valley near them adapt to their
human. Lived about 2.4 to 1.4
Dusseldorf, Germany in environment and outlive
million years ago.
1856 who lived in cave their less adaptive biological
Homo It was believed to be the first and dependent in relatives.
Erectus man like creature that lived hunting and fishing. 2. Our Look at your hands. Notice
“The about 500,000 years ago in Asia, b. Cro-Magnon Man – gripping how your thumb relates
Upright Africa and Europe. This manlike Discovered by a French
capacity with your other fingers. This
capacity to directly oppose
your thumb with your other
fingers is an exclusive trait of
humans. It allowed us to
have a finger grip.
The hand of human has
digits (fingers) that are
straights, as compared with
the curved ones of the other
primates. Notice that the
thumb of the human is
proportionately longer than
those of other primates.
These characteristics of the
human hand allowed for
two types of grip” power
and precision.
a) Power grip enabled
humans to wrap the
thumb and fingers on
an object; it became
the cornerstone of our
capacity to hold tool
firmly for hunting and
other activities.
b) Precision grip enabled
humans to hold and
pick objects steadily
using fingers. This
capacity was crucial for
toolmaking activities
3. Our As the brain is the capacity
speaking 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.
Humans have longer vocal
tract compared with
chimpanzee. A longer vocal
tract means that there is a
longer vibration surface,
allowing human to produce
a wider array of sounds than
chimpanzees.
The tongue of human is also
more flexible than of a
chimpanzee, allowing for
more control in making
sounds.
4. Our Primates have two forms of
walking/ locomotion: bipedalism and
standing quadropedalism. Bipedalism
capacity is the capacity to walk and
stand on two feet, whereas
quadropedalism uses all four
limbs. Although apes are
semi-bipedal, humans are
the only fully bipedal
primates.
Being bipedal, humans
gained more capacity to
move while carrying objects
with their free hands. It gave
humans more capacity or
productivity with their
hands like hunting and
foraging.