LOOKING BACK AT

HUMAN BIOCULTURAL
AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION
OBJECTIVES:

1. trace the biological and cultural evolution of early to modern humans

2. explore the significance of human material remains and artefactual evidence in interpreting cultural
and social, including political and economic, processes
3. recognize national, local, and specialized museums, and archaeological and historical sites as venues to
appreciate and reflect on the complexities of biocultural and social evolution as part of being and
becoming human
 TRIAD LEARNING: THINK-GROUP-SHARE
PICTURE/CHART ANALYSIS– TRACE THE BIOLOGICAL AND
CULTURAL EVOLUTION OF MAN. (15 MINUTES) (ONLINE SOURCES
MAY BE USED
TRIAD 2: CULTURAL
•TRIAD 1 – Biological Evolution EVOLUTION
• What way of life and achievements • What way of life and achievements occurred
occurred in ff. stages of human evolution in the ff:
a. Hominid a. Hunting and Gathering Society
b. Homo Habilis b. Neolithic Age – Horticultural and Pastoral
c. Homo Erectus Society

d. Homo Sapiens c. Neolithic Revolution- Agrarian/Agricultural

Society
d. Early civilization and Rise of States
e. Democratization
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
HUMAN BIOCULTURAL AND SOCIAL
EVOLUTION

HUMAN EVOLUTION
- the evolutionary process leading to the appearance of modern
day humans.
- characterized by a number of morphological, developmental,
physiological, and behavioral changes that have taken place since
the split between the last common ancestor of humans and apes.
 HUMAN BIOCULTURAL AND SOCIAL
EVOLUTION
“Homo”
- used to determine the species of human beings
- According to anthropologists, the direct ancestors of the Homo
species are the hominids.
- According to Ember (2011), the first definite hominids are the
Australopithecus. They were fully bipedal which means that they could
walk using their two legs.
- The Australopithecus is divided into two groups, the gracile
australopithecines and the robust australopithecines.
Early Homo Species
 Gracile Australopithecines

• Australopithecus anamensis
- earliest australopithecine
species; found in northern Kenya;
small in built with teeth similar to
later A. afarensis.
Gracile Australopithecines
• Australopithecus afarensis
- discovered in Tanzania and
Ethiopia; small hominid; teeth
were somewhat large compared
to its body size; has small brain,
about 400 cubic cm; its arms and
legs were about the same length.
 Gracile Australopithecines
• Australopithecus africanus
- coined by Prof. Raymond Dart which means “southern ape of
Africa”; it has a small built; adult were three and half to four and a half
feet tall; lived between 3 million and 2 million years ago.
 Robust Australopithecines
• Australopithecus aethiopicus
- earliest and somewhat the least
known of the robust australopithecines;
its fossils were found in northern Kenya
and Ethiopia dating between 2.3 million
and 2.7 million years ago; have large
dentition and huge cheek bones.
 Robust Australopithecines
• Australopithecus robustus
- discovered by Robert Broom;
has larger teeth, a massive jaw,
and a flatter face than A.
africanus; died out million years
ago; not ancestral to human genus,
Homo.
Robust Australopithecines
• Australopithecus boisei
- discovered by paleoanthropologist
named Louis Leakey in western
Tanzania; named after Charles Boise;
has enormous molar teeth and expanded
premolars; a thick and deep jaw, and a
thick cheek bones; lived between about
2.3 and 1.3 million years ago; not
ancestral to human genus or Homo
 Homo Species
• Hominids have a brain larger compared to the Australopithecus
species which appeared about 2.3 million years ago.
• It is classified to our genus, Homo. It is divided into two species, the
Homo habilis and the Homo rudolfensis. These two species were
found in parts of Kenya and Tanzania.
 HOMO HABILIS
• They appeared around 2.3 million years ago.
• It has a larger brain and reduced size of molars
and premolars compared to the
Australopithecus.
• It has the presence of long arms just like the
Australopithecus.
 HOMO ERECTUS
• First hominid species that was distributed in the
“Old World”
• Seen in parts of Africa and Asia
• Discovered by Eugene Dubois and called it
Pithecanthropus erectus which means erect ape man.
• The brain averages 895 to 1040 cc in size larger than
the fossils found of Australopithecines.
• They have the capacity to control fire.
• Lower Paleolithic tools and other artifacts were
probably produced by Homo erectus.
 HOMO SAPIENS
• Found in many parts of the Old World
• They have lived earlier than the
Neanderthals.
• They lived 100,000 years ago.
 HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS

• Appeared 50,000 years ago. It was

characterized as the modern human.
• They have a domed skull, chin, small
eyebrows, and a rather puny skeleton.
Important physical changes in early hominids that
led to the evolution of our genus, Homo
• expansion of the brain
• modification of the female pelvis to allow bigger-
brained babies to be born
• reduction of the face, teeth and jaws
CULTURAL EVOLUTION
Use of patterned or nearly
standardized stone tools
– sign of the emergence
of culture
- assumed to be made by the
members of early Homo species
Oldowan – early stone
tools
LOWER PALEOLITHIC CULTURES
Stone tool traditions or entire
culture of Homo Erectus
- traditionally called
Lower Paleolithic
- dating from 1.5 million
years to about 200,000
years ago
Acheulian – the stone
toolmaking tradition of
this period
- includes both small flake tools
and large tools
Hand axe – a teardrop-
shaped, bifacially
flaked tool with a
thinned sharp tip
Big Game Eating
Control of Fire
Fire drives - one way in which
H. erectus is thought to have
hunted
- A major step in
increasing the energy
under human control
- For cooking
- Kept predators away
Campsites
- usually located close to water
sources, lush vegetation, and
large stocks of herbivorous
animals
- display a wide variety of
tools
- center of many group
functions
Middle Paleolithic
• The term used in Europe
for the period of cultural
history associated with the
Neandertals
• Mousterian – referred to in
Europe as the assemblages
of flake tools from this
period
Middle Paleolithic
• For Africa, the term Middle
Stone Age is used.
• Post-Acheulian – term
used in Africa for the flake
tools during this period
 UPPER PALEOLITHIC
• The term used in Europe, the
Near East and Asia for the
period of cultural history
which dates from about
40,000 years ago to about
14,000 to 10,000 years ago.
• Later Stone Age
– term used in Africa
 UPPER PALEOLITHIC

• Characterized by preponderance of blades

• Bones and antler tools
• People were mainly hunters, gatherers and fishers
• Highly mobile bands
• Made camps out in the open, and in caves and rock shelters
 UPPER PALEOLITHIC

• Emergence of art
• Population growth
• New inventions such as
the bow and arrow, spear
thrower and the harpoon
• 10,000 BCE
• Humans began to cultivate
crops and domesticate certain
animals.
• Permanent settlements were
established.
• Sometimes called as the
agricultural revolution.
• 10,000 BCE
• Neolithic Revolution begins in
Southwest Asia
• Climate change – longer dry
seasons and the end of an ice
age.
• Abundance of wild grains
• Domestication of dogs begins.
• 9500 BCE
• The “founder crops” of agriculture appear: wheat,
barley, peas, etc.
• 8000 – 6000 BCE
• Nomadic hunter-gatherers begin to
grow food and domesticate animals:
Rice in China - 7500 BCE
Squash in Mexico - 7000 BCE
Wheat in Mesopotamia - 8500 BCE
• 8000 – 6000 BCE
• Cattle in SW Asia and India -
7000 BCE
• Domestication of sheep,
goats and pigs begins in SW
Asia
• Irrigation systems introduced.
• 7000 – 6000 BCE
• Domestication of cattle begins in Southwest Asia,
Pakistan and India
• 6000 – 3000 BCE
• A wooden plow, the ard, used in
Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• Permanent villages established in
the Fertile Crescent.
• Farming established on the banks
of the Nile River.
• 5000 – 3000 BCE
• Domestication begins of
horses in Ukraine,
donkeys in Egypt, and
water buffalo in China.
• Corn (maize) production
in Mexico
• 3000 BCE
• Irrigation systems and dams
built on the Nile River.
• Crop production increases trade
and spread of agriculture.
• Potatoes domesticated in Peru.
• 2000 BCE
• Iron plow developed in China.
• 1000 BCE
• Manure used as fertilizer.
• Iron plows widely used in
China and Southwest Asia.
• 500 BCE
• Mouldboard plow with a V-
shaped iron cutting edge
developed in China.
DISCUSSION:

Why is human material remains

and artefactual evidence
important?
 REFERENCES

1. Ember, Carol R. et. al. Human Evolution and Culture:

Highlights of Anthropology Seventh Edition. Pearson
Education, Inc. U.S.A. 2012.
2. Arcinas, Myla M. (2016) Understanding Culture, Society
and Politics. The Padayon Series. Quezon City: Phoenix
Publishing House, Inc.
3. www.google.com.ph