E F F EFROM

C T I VTHE
E WAYS
O F S T U DOF
BEGINNING YIN G
TIME
BEFORE EXAMS

DISCOVERIES OF HUMAN
FOSSILS, STONE TOOLS
AND CAVE PAINTINGS
HELP US TO UNDERSTAND
EARLY HUMAN HISTORY.

FOSSILS CAN BE DATED

EITHER THROUGH DIRECT
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OR
INDIRECTLY BY DATING
THE SEDIMENTS IN WHICH
THEY ARE BURIED. ONCE
FOSSILS ARE DATED, A
SEQUENCE OF HUMAN
EVOLUTION CAN BE
WORKED OUT.

IN AUGUST 1856, WORKMEN

WHO WERE QUARRYING
FOR LIMESTONE IN THE
NEANDER VALLEY, A
GORGE NEAR THE GERMAN
CITY OF DUSSELDORF,
FOUND A SKULL AND SOME
SKELETAL FRAGMENTS.

THESE WERE HANDED

OVER TO CARL FUHLROTT,
A LOCAL SCHOOLMASTER
AND NATURAL HISTORIAN,
WHO REALISED THAT THEY
DID NOT BELONG TO A
MODERN HUMAN.

24 NOVEMBER 1859, WHEN

CHARLES DARWIN’S ON
THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
WAS PUBLISHED, MARKED
A LANDMARK IN THE
STUDY OF EVOLUTION.
ALL 1,250 COPIES OF THE
FIRST PRINT WERE SOLD
OUT THE SAME DAY.
DARWIN ARGUED THAT
HUMANS HAD EVOLVED
FROM ANIMALS A LONG
TIME AGO.
 THE STORY OF
HUMAN
EVOLUTION
(a) The Precursors of Modern
Human Beings

1- Ape Skull, 2- Australopithecus Skull, 3- Homo Erectus Skull 4-

Homo Sapien Skull.
The differences that you notice in the skulls shown in the illustration
are some of the changes that came about as a result of human
evolution.

It is possible to trace these developments back to between 36 and 24

mya. ! That was when primates, a category of mammals, emerged in
Asia and Africa. Subsequently, by about 24 mya, there emerged a
subgroup amongst primates, called hominoids. This included apes.
And, much later, about 5.6 mya, we find evidence of the first
hominids.

While hominids have evolved from hominoids and share certain

common features, there are major differences as well. Hominoids
have a smaller brain than hominids. They are quadrupeds, walking
on all fours, but with flexible forelimbs. Hominids, by contrast, have
an upright posture and bipedal locomotion (walking on two feet).
There are also marked differences in the hand, which enables the
making and use of tools.
(a) The Precursors of
Modern Human
Beings
Two lines of evidence suggest an African origin for hominids.
First, it is the group of African apes that are most closely
related to hominids. Second, the earliest hominid fossils,
which belong to the genus Australopithecus, have been
found in East Africa and date back to about 5.6 mya. In
contrast, fossils found outside Africa are no older than 1.8
million years.

Hominids belong to a family known as Hominidae, which

includes all forms of human beings. The distinctive
characteristics of hominids include a large brain size,
upright posture, bipedal locomotion and specialisation of
the hand.

Hominids are further subdivided into branches, known as

genus, of which Australopithecus and Homo are important.
Each of these in turn includes several species. The major
differences between Australopithecus and Homo relate to
brain size, jaws and teeth. The former has a smaller brain
size, heavier jaws and larger teeth than the latter.
(a) The
Precursors of
Modern
Human Beings
Virtually all the names given by scientists to species
are derived from Latin and Greek words. For
instance, the name Australopithecus comes from a
Latin word, ‘austral’, meaning ‘southern’ and a
Greek word, ‘pithekos’, meaning ‘ape.’ The name
was given because this earliest form of humans still
retained many features of an ape, such as a
relatively small brain size in comparison to Homo,
large back teeth and limited dexterity of the hands.
Upright walking was also restricted, as they still
spent a lot of time on trees.

The remains of early humans have been classified

into different species. These are often distinguished
from one another on the basis of differences in bone
structure. For instance, species of early humans are
differentiated in terms of their skull size and
distinctive jaws. These characteristics may have
evolved due to what has been called the positive
feedback mechanism. For example, bipedalism
enabled hands to be freed for carrying infants or
objects. In turn, as hands were used more and more,
upright walking gradually became more efficient.
(A) THE PRECURSORS OF

MODERN HUMAN BEINGS

AROUND 2.5 MYA, WITH THE ONSET OF A PHASE OF GLACIATION (OR AN ICE AGE),

WHEN LARGE PARTS OF THE EARTH WERE COVERED WITH SNOW, THERE WERE

MAJOR CHANGES IN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. DUE TO THE REDUCTION IN

TEMPERATURES AS WELL AS RAINFALL, GRASSLAND AREAS EXPANDED AT THE

EXPENSE OF FORESTS, LEADING TO THE GRADUAL EXTINCTION OF THE EARLY

FORMS OF AUSTRALOPITHECUS (THAT WERE ADAPTED TO FORESTS) AND THE

REPLACEMENT BY SPECIES THAT WERE BETTER ADAPTED TO THE DRIER

CONDITIONS. AMONG THESE WERE THE EARLIEST REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GENUS

HOMO.

HOMO IS A LATIN WORD, MEANING ‘MAN’. SCIENTISTS DISTINGUISH AMONGST

SEVERAL TYPES OF HOMO. THE NAMES ASSIGNED TO THESE SPECIES ARE DERIVED

FROM WHAT ARE REGARDED AS THEIR TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS. SO FOSSILS ARE

CLASSIFIED AS HOMO HABILIS (THE TOOL MAKER), HOMO ERECTUS (THE UPRIGHT

MAN), AND HOMO SAPIENS (THE WISE OR THINKING MAN).

IN SOME INSTANCES, THE NAMES FOR FOSSILS ARE DERIVED FROM THE PLACES

WHERE THE FIRST FOSSILS OF A PARTICULAR TYPE WERE FOUND. SO FOSSILS

FOUND IN HEIDELBERG (1), A CITY IN GERMANY, WERE CALLED HOMO

HEIDELBERGENSIS, WHILE THOSE FOUND IN THE NEANDER VALLEY (2) WERE

CATEGORISED AS HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS

IN GENERAL, COMPARED WITH AUSTRALOPITHECUS, HOMO HAVE A LARGER BRAIN,

JAWS WITH A REDUCED OUTWARD PROTRUSION AND SMALLER TEETH. AN INCREASE

IN BRAIN SIZE IS ASSOCIATED WITH MORE INTELLIGENCE AND A BETTER MEMORY.

THE CHANGES IN THE JAWS AND TEETH WERE PROBABLY RELATED TO DIFFERENCES

IN DIETARY HABITS.
 THE STORY OF
HUMAN
EVOLUTION
(b) Modern Human Beings

The issue of the place of origin

of modern humans has been
much debated. Two totally
divergent views have been
expounded, one advocating the
regional continuity model (with
multiple regions of origin), the
other the replacement model
(with a single origin in Africa).

The replacement model According to the regional

visualises the complete continuity model, the archaic
replacement everywhere of all Homo sapiens in different
older forms of humans with regions gradually evolved at
modern humans. In support of different rates into modern
this view is the evidence of the humans, and hence the variation
genetic and anatomical in the first appearance of
homogeneity of modern modern humans in different
humans. parts of the world.
 Early Human

Beings: Ways of

Obtaining Food

Early humans would have obtained food

through a number of ways, such as gathering,
hunting, scavenging and fishing. Gathering
would involve collecting plant foods such as
seeds, nuts, berries, fruits and tubers.

While we get a fair amount of fossil bones,

fossilised plant remains are relatively rare.
The only other way of getting information
about plant intake would be if plant remains
were accidentally burnt. This process results in
carbonisation. In this form, organic matter is
preserved for a long span of time.

In recent years, the term hunting has been

under discussion by scholars. Increasingly, it is
being suggested that the early hominids
scavenged or foraged* for meat and marrow
from the carcasses of animals that had died
naturally or had been killed by other
predators. It is equally possible that small
mammals such as rodents, birds (and their
eggs), reptiles and even insects (such as
termites) were eaten by early hominids.

From about 35,000 years ago, there is evidence

of planned hunting from some European sites.
Some sites, such as Dolni Vestonice, which was
near a river, seem to have been deliberately
chosen by early people. Herds of migratory
animals such as reindeer and horse probably
crossed the river during their autumn and
spring migrations and were killed on a large
scale.
 EARLY
HUMAN:
FROM TREES, TO CAVES
AND OPEN-AIR SITES
We are on surer ground when we try to reconstruct
the evidence for patterns of residence. One way of
doing this is by plotting the distribution of artefacts.
For example, thousands of flake tools and hand axes
have been excavated at Kilombe and Olorgesailie
(Kenya). These finds are dated between 700,000
and 500,000 years ago.

It is possible that some places, where food resources

were abundant, were visited repeatedly. In such
areas, people would tend to leave behind traces of
their activities and presence, including artefacts. The
deposited artefacts would appear as patches on the
landscape. The places that were less frequently
visited would have fewer artefacts, which may have
been scattered over the surface.

It is also important to remember that the same

locations could have been shared by hominids, other
primates and carnivores. Between 400,000 and
125,000 years ago, caves and openair sites began
to be used. Evidence for this comes from sites in
Europe. In the Lazaret cave in southern France, a
12x4 metre shelter was built against the cave wall.
 EARLY HUMANS
FROM TREES TO CAVES TO OPEN AIR
SITES

Inside it were two At another site, Terra

hearths and evidence of Amata on the coast of
different food sources: southern France, flimsy
fruits, vegetables, seeds, shelters with roofs of
nuts, bird eggs and wood and grasses were
freshwater fish (trout, built for short-term,
perch and carp). seasonal visits.

Pieces of baked clay Hearths, on the other

and burnt bone along hand, are indications of
with stone tools, dated the controlled use of
between 1.4 and 1 mya, fire. This had several
have been found at advantages – fire
Chesowanja, Kenya and provided warmth and
Swartkrans, South light inside caves, and
Africa. could be used for
The use of heat also cooking. Besides, fire
facilitated the flaking of was used to harden
tools. As important, fire wood, as for instance
could be used to scare the tip of the spear.
away dangerous
animals.
 Early Humans:
Making Tools

To start with, it is useful to The earliest evidence for the

----------------------------------------------
remember that the use of making and use of stone tools
tools and tool making are not comes from sites in Ethiopia
confined to humans. Birds are and Kenya. It is likely that the
known to make objects to earliest stone tool makers
assist them with feeding, were the Australopithecus.
hygiene and social encounters;
and while foraging for food
some chimpanzees use tools
that they have made.

As in the case of other About 35,000 years ago,

activities, we do not know improvements in the
whether tool making was techniques for killing animals
done by men or women or are evident from the
both. It is possible that stone appearance of new kinds of
tool makers were both tools such as spear-throwers
women and men. Women in and the bow and arrow. The
particular may have made meat thus obtained was
and used tools to obtain food probably processed by
for themselves as well as to removing thebones, followed
sustain their children after by drying, smoking and
weaning. storage. Thus, food could be
stored for
later consumption
Modes of
Communication:
Language and Art
Among living beings, it is humans alone that have a
language. There are several views on language
development: (1) that hominid language involved
gestures or hand movements; (2) that spoken language
was preceded by vocal but non-verbal communication
such as singing or humming; (3) that human speech
probably began with calls like the ones that have been
observed among primates.

Humans may have possessed a small number of speech

sounds in the initial stage. Gradually, these may have
developed into language.

It has been suggested that the brain of Homo habilis had

certain features which would have made it possible for
them to speak. Thus, language may have developed as
early as 2 mya. The evolution of the vocal tract was
equally important. This occurred around 200,000 years
ago. It is more specifically associated with modern
humans.

A third suggestion is that language developed around the

same time as art, that is, around 40,000-35,000 years ago.
The development of spoken language has been seen a
closely connected with art, since both are media for
communication.
 Language
and Art
Hundreds of paintings of animals (done between
30,000 and 12,000 years ago) have been
discovered in the caves of Lascaux and Chauvet,
both in France, and Altamira, in Spain. These
include depictions of bison, horses, ibex, deer,
mammoths, rhinos, lions, bears, panthers,
hyenas and owls.

One is that because of the importance of hunting,

the paintings of animals were associated with
ritual and magic. The act of painting could have
been a ritual to ensure a successful hunt. Another
explanation offered is that these caves were
possibly meeting places for small groups of people
or locations for group activities. These groups could
share hunting techniques and knowledge, while
paintings and engravings served as the media for
passing information from one generation to the
next.
 Early
Encounters with
Hunter-
Gatherers
in Africa
The Hadza
‘The Hadza are a small group of hunters and gatherers, living in
the vicinity of Lake Eyasi, a salt, rift-valley lake...The country of
the eastern Hadza, dry, rocky savanna, dominated by thorn
scrub and acacia trees...is rich in wild foods. Animals are
exceptionally numerous and were certainly commoner at the
beginning of the century.
All of these animals, apart from the elephant, are hunted and
eaten by the Hadza. The amount of meat that could be
regularly eaten without endangering the future of the game is
probably greater than anywhere else in the world where
hunters and gatherers live or have lived in the recent past.

Vegetable food – roots, berries, the fruit of the baobab tree, etc.
– though not often obvious to the casual observer, is always
abundant even at the height of the dry season in a year of
drought. The type of vegetable food available is different in the
six-month wet season from the dry season but there is no
period of shortage. The honey and grubs of seven species of
wild bee are eaten; supplies of these vary from season to
season and from year to year.
Part of the country consists of open grass plains but the Hadza
never build camps there. Camps are invariably sited among
trees or rocks and, by preference, among both. The eastern
Hadza assert no rights over land and its resources. Any
individual may live wherever he likes and may hunt animals,
collect roots, berries, and honey and draw water anywhere in
Hadza country without any sort of restriction.
HUNTER-GATHERER
SOCIETIES
FROM THE PRESENT
TO THE PAST
A question that began to be posed was whether
the information about living hunters and
gatherers could be used to understand past
societies. Currently, there are two opposing
views on this issue.
On one side are scholars who have directly
applied specific data from present-day hunter-
gatherer societies to interpret the
archaeological remains of the past. For
example, some archaeologists have suggested
that the hominid sites, dated to 2 mya, along
the margins of Lake Turkana could have been
dry season camps of early humans, because
such a practice has been observed among the
Hadza and the Kung San.

On the other side are scholars who feel that

ethnographic data cannot be used for
understanding past societies as the two are
totally different. Present-day hunter-gatherer
societies pursue several other economic
activities along with hunting and gathering.
These include engaging in exchange and trade
in minor forest produce, or working as paid
labourers in the fields of neighbouring farmers.
Moreover, these societies are totally
marginalised in all senses – geographically,
politically and socially. The conditions in which
they live are very different from those of early
humans.