HUMAN EVOLUTION

AND CULTURE
HERE, WE EXPLORE THE WAYS IN WHICH CULTURAL EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND
ITS APPLICATIONS ENHANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN HISTORY AND
HUMAN BIOLOGY, FOCUSING ON THE LINKS BETWEEN CULTURAL EVOLUTIONARY
THEORY AND POPULATION GENETICS, HUMAN BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY, AND
DEMOGRAPHY.
 BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION:
THE HUMAN CAPACITY FOR CULTURE
• ALL ASPECTS OF HUMAN ADAPTION ,INCLUDING TECHNOLOGY, TRADITIONAL
LANGUAGE, RELIGION, MARRIAGE PATTERNS, SOCIAL ROLES
• CULTURE IS A SET OF LEARNED BEHAVIORS; IT’S TRANSMITTED FROM ONE
GENERATION TO THE NEXT THROUGH LEARNING AND NOT BY BIOLOGICAL OR
GENETIC MEAN
• MATERIAL CULTURE IS A PART OF CULTURAL COMPLEX
OUR THINKING CAPACITY
1. SPEAKING

• WE ALL SPEAK OUR NATIVE

LANGUAGES FLUENTLY,
QUITE NATURALLY. THE
SPEECH FORMATION
HAPPENS
INSTANTANEOUSLY AND WE
DON’T ACTUALLY
DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN A
NUMBER OF SUBSEQUENT
PROCESSES TAKING PLACE
WHEN WE SPEAK
2. GRIPPING

• HAND GRIP STRENGTH HAS

BEEN USED IN A VARIETY OF
STUDIES TO ASSESS
CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH,
MORTALITY RATES, GENERAL
QUALITY OF LIFE, AND
COGNITION. THIS RESEARCH
GROUP USED GRIP STRENGTH
AS A METRIC TO ASSESS
COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE. 
3. WALKING /STANDING

• FIRST AND FOREMOST IN OBSERVING THE BASICS

OF LIVING—BREATHING, STANDING, WALKING AND
SITTING—NOTICE HOW ENGAGEMENT OF THE EGO-
SELF OR RATIONAL MIND AS AN IMAGINARY SENSE
OF SELF IN “RUNNING AFTER LITTLE JOYS” ONLY
CREATES RESISTANCE, NEGATIVITY,
COMPLICATIONS, DYSFUNCTION, SELF-DEFEATING
BEHAVIOR AND CONFUSION. NOTICE HOW WHEN
THE MIND SEEMS TO BE ABSENT, DISENGAGED OR
OFF-LINE GIVEN NON-REACTIVITY, EQUANIMITY,
AND LACK OF ENERGY, ACTIVITY AND INTEREST IN
IT, THIS OPENS UP “ENJOYING THE BIG JOYS” OF A
FLEXIBLE, RELAXING SPACIOUSNESS, A NATURAL
OPENNESS AND WELCOMING OF “WHAT IS” OR
REALITY OF THIS MOMENT.
TIMELINE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
• 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.
 OLDUWAN INDUSTRY

• THE OLDOWAN IS THE OLDEST-KNOWN STONE TOOL INDUSTRY. DATING AS FAR BACK AS 2.5 MILLION YEARS AGO,
THESE TOOLS ARE A MAJOR MILESTONE IN HUMAN EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY: THE EARLIEST EVIDENCE OF
CULTURAL BEHAVIOR. HOMO HABILIS, AN ANCESTOR OF HOMO SAPIENS, MANUFACTURED OLDOWAN TOOLS.
• FIRST DISCOVERED AT OLDUVAI GORGE IN TANZANIA, OLDOWAN ARTIFACTS HAVE BEEN RECOVERED FROM
SEVERAL LOCALITIES IN EASTERN, CENTRAL, AND SOUTHERN AFRICA, THE OLDEST OF WHICH IS A SITE AT GONA,
ETHIOPIA. OLDOWAN TECHNOLOGY IS TYPIFIED BY WHAT ARE KNOWN AS "CHOPPERS." CHOPPERS ARE STONE
CORES WITH FLAKES REMOVED FROM PART OF THE SURFACE, CREATING A SHARPENED EDGE THAT WAS USED FOR
CUTTING, CHOPPING, AND SCRAPING (IMAGE 1985–0235). MICROSCOPIC SURFACE ANALYSIS OF THE FLAKES STRUCK
FROM CORES HAS SHOWN THAT SOME OF THESE FLAKES WERE ALSO USED AS TOOLS FOR CUTTING PLANTS AND
BUTCHERING ANIMALS.
 ACHEULEAN INDUSTRY

• THE ACHEULEAN TRADITION CONSTITUTED A VERITABLE REVOLUTION IN STONE-AGE TECHNOLOGY.

ACHEULEAN STONE TOOLS - NAMED AFTER THE SITE OF ST. ACHEUL ON THE SOMME RIVER IN FRANCE
WHERE ARTIFACTS FROM THIS TRADITION WERE FIRST DISCOVERED IN 1847 - HAVE BEEN FOUND OVER AN
IMMENSE AREA OF THE OLD WORLD. REPORTS OF HANDAXE DISCOVERIES SPAN AN AREA EXTENDING FROM
SOUTHERN AFRICA TO NORTHERN EUROPE AND FROM WESTERN EUROPE TO THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT.
• ACHEULEAN STONE TOOLS ARE THE PRODUCTS OF HOMO ERECTUS, A CLOSER ANCESTOR TO MODERN
HUMANS. NOT ONLY ARE THE ACHEULEAN TOOLS FOUND OVER THE LARGEST AREA, BUT IT IS ALSO THE
LONGEST-RUNNING INDUSTRY, LASTING FOR OVER A MILLION YEARS. THE EARLIEST KNOWN ACHEULEAN
ARTIFACTS FROM AFRICA HAVE BEEN DATED TO 1.6 MILLION YEARS AGO. THE OLDEST ACHEULEAN SITES IN
INDIA ARE ONLY SLIGHTLY YOUNGER THAN THOSE IN AFRICA. IN EUROPE, THE EARLIEST ACHEULEAN TOOLS
APPEAR JUST AFTER 800,000 YEARS AGO, AS H. ERECTUS MOVED NORTH OUT OF AFRICA.
 MOUSTERIAN INDUSTRY

Throughout these progressive changes in tool making technologies, there was a growing sophistication in dealing with the
environment, especially in connection with obtaining food.  By the Middle Paleolithic, not all sites had the same tool kits. 
Specialized local tasks had resulted in tool variations among the Neandertals and their contemporaries.  Much of this
variation was developed within the Mousterian tool making tradition.  This new technology was part of their successful
adaptation to hunting and gathering, especially in subarctic and temperate environments of Europe during the last ice age
which began about 75,000 years ago.
The Mousterian Tradition was marked by the progressive reduction in the use of large core tools, such as hand axes, as
specialized flake tools became more common.  Flakes of more or less standardized shapes and sizes were often made with
the Levallois        prepared core technique.  Blocks or cobbles of flint and other brittle fracturing rock were 
percussion flaked on one side until a convex "tortoise shell" shape was formed.  Then, a heavy percussion blow at one end of
the core removed a large flake that was convex on one side and relatively flat on the other--i.e., a Levallois flake.  This
technique was first used by archaic humans in Africa around 300,000 years ago.  It was perfected in the Mousterian Tradition
by the Neandertals and some of their contemporaries.
 AURIGNACIAN INDUSTRY

• THE ACHEULEAN TRADITION CONSTITUTED A VERITABLE REVOLUTION IN STONE-AGE TECHNOLOGY.

ACHEULEAN STONE TOOLS - NAMED AFTER THE SITE OF ST. ACHEUL ON THE SOMME RIVER IN FRANCE
WHERE ARTIFACTS FROM THIS TRADITION WERE FIRST DISCOVERED IN 1847 - HAVE BEEN FOUND OVER AN
IMMENSE AREA OF THE OLD WORLD. REPORTS OF HANDAXE DISCOVERIES SPAN AN AREA EXTENDING FROM
SOUTHERN AFRICA TO NORTHERN EUROPE AND FROM WESTERN EUROPE TO THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT.
• ACHEULEAN STONE TOOLS ARE THE PRODUCTS OF HOMO ERECTUS, A CLOSER ANCESTOR TO MODERN
HUMANS. NOT ONLY ARE THE ACHEULEAN TOOLS FOUND OVER THE LARGEST AREA, BUT IT IS ALSO THE
LONGEST-RUNNING INDUSTRY, LASTING FOR OVER A MILLION YEARS. THE EARLIEST KNOWN ACHEULEAN
ARTIFACTS FROM AFRICA HAVE BEEN DATED TO 1.6 MILLION YEARS AGO. THE OLDEST ACHEULEAN SITES IN
INDIA ARE ONLY SLIGHTLY YOUNGER THAN THOSE IN AFRICA. IN EUROPE, THE EARLIEST ACHEULEAN TOOLS
APPEAR JUST AFTER 800,000 YEARS AGO, AS H. ERECTUS MOVED NORTH OUT OF AFRICA.
 MAGDELIAN INDUSTRY

• THE MAGDALENIAN, ALSO SPELLED MAGDALÉNIEN, REFERS TO ONE OF THE LATER CULTURES OF THE UPPER PALAEOLITHIC IN WESTERN
EUROPE. IT IS NAMED AFTER THE TYPE SITE OF LA MADELEINE, A ROCK SHELTER LOCATED IN THE VÉZÈRE VALLEY, COMMUNE OF TURSAC,
IN THE DORDOGNE DEPARTEMENT OF FRANCE.
• ORIGINALLY TERMED “L’AGE DU RENNE” (THE AGE OF THE REINDEER) BY LARTET & CHRISTY (1875), THE MAGDALENIAN IS SYNONYMOUS
IN MANY PEOPLE’S MINDS WITH REINDEER HUNTERS, ALTHOUGH MAGDALENIAN SITES ALSO CONTAIN EXTENSIVE EVIDENCE FOR THE
HUNTING OF RED DEER, HORSE AND OTHER LARGE MAMMALS PRESENT IN EUROPE TOWARDS THE END OF THE LAST ICE AGE. THE
CULTURE WAS GEOGRAPHICALLY WIDESPREAD, AND LATER MAGDALENIAN SITES HAVE BEEN FOUND FROM PORTUGAL IN THE WEST TO
POLAND IN THE EAST.
• THE CULTURE SPANS THE PERIOD BETWEEN C. 18,000 AND 10,000 BP, TOWARDS THE END OF THE LAST ICE AGE. THE MAGDALENIEN IS
CHARACTERISED BY REGULAR BLADE INDUSTRIES STRUCK FROM CARINATED CORES. TYPOLOGICALLY THE MAGDALENIAN IS DIVIDED
INTO SIX PHASES WHICH ARE GENERALLY AGREED TO HAVE CHRONOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE. THE EARLIEST PHASES ARE RECOGNISED BY
THE VARYING PROPORTION OF BLADES AND SPECIFIC VARIETIES OF SCRAPERS, THE MIDDLE PHASES MARKED BY THE EMERGENCE OF A
MICROLITHIC COMPONENT (PARTICULARLY THE DISTINCTIVE DENTICULATED MICROLITHS) AND THE LATER PHASES BY THE PRESENCE OF
UNISERIAL (PHASE 5) AND BISERIAL ‘HARPOONS’ (PHASE 6) MADE OF BONE, ANTLER AND IVORY (SONNEVILLE-BORDES & PERROT, 1954-56)
• SUBMITTED BY:JOHNRY P. ICALINA

• SUMITTED TO: ROSE MARIE F. ANOG