(Ucsp) Human Bio-Cultural Social Evolution

HUMAN BIO-CULTURAL
SOCIAL EVOLUTION
LESSON 1: MACROEVOLUTION AND
THE FORMATION OF NEW SPACES
Macroevolution focuses on the formation
of new species (speciation) and on the
evolutionary relationship between groups
of species.
For example, frogs in a farmer’s pond
are the same species as those in the
neighboring pond, even though the
two population may never interbreed.
CHARLES DARWIN’S ORIGIN OF
SPECIES (1859)
Is generally considered to occur at a slow
rate. In this model, speciation happens as
organisms become more adapted to their
environment. However, speciation can
also take place quite rapidly. For instance,
a genetic mutation involving a key
regulatory gene can lead to the formation
of a new body plan.
EVOLUTION OF THE SKILL
2 and 3 million 750,000 years ago 100,000 and 400,000 40,000 years ago to
years ago years ago the present
Genes that regulate the growth and
development of an organism may have a
major effect on its adult form. Scientists
have discovered a certain type of gene
called homeobox that is responsible for
the large-scale effects on the growth and
development of organisms.
HAVILAND, PRINS, WALRATH, AND
MCBRIDE, 2010:72
Natural selection is a process through
which certain environmentally adapted
biological features are perpetuated at the
expense of less adaptive features. Hence,
the long evolutionary paths of humans-
similar to mammals and primates have set
the stage for the cultural beings that we
are today.
 According to the theory, the continents moved
as edges of underlying plates are created or
destroyed.
 Plate movements- are also responsible for
geological phenomena, such as earthquakes,
volcanic activity, and mountain formation.
 Continental drift- is important for understanding
the distribution of fossil primate groups as well
as climatic changes in the environment that
affected the evolution of primates and other
livings things.
 Miocene- the first fossil apes or hominoids
began to appear in Asia, Africa, and
Europe.
 The word hominoid comes from the Latin

root words “homo and bomi” which
means human being and the suffix oxides
(resembling).
 Hominoids- are broad shouldered tailless

primates that include all living and extinct
apes and humans.
During the Miocene period, the African and
Eurasian land masses made direct contact.
The climatic changes set into motion during
the Miocene epoch may have played a role in
the success of the human line once it
originated.
Example: Grassland that allows animals
such as:
HORSE HIPPOPOTAMUS
RHINOCEROSES
EARLY HUMANS
Humans and their ancestors are distinct
among the hominoids for bipedalism, a
special form of locomotion on two feet.
Larger brain and bipedal locomotion
constitute the most striking differences
between contemporary people and our
closest primate relatives.
HAVILAND, PRINS, WALRATH, AND
MCBRIDE, 2008
There are several ways to determine
bipedalism such as looking at the curves of
the spine, shape of the pelvis, and shape of
the foot bones, among others.
SHAPE OF THE PELVIS
CURVES OF THE SPINE
SHAPE OF THE FOOT BONES

The earliest ancestors of humans hailed
from the australopithecines which were
bipedals but had smalls brain-size in
proportion to their bodies.
The theorized that from one species of
Australopithecus, the Homo-habilis
evolved.
Compared to the australopithecines, the
Homo-habilis had smaller teeth and larger
brain.
Homo-habilis in the line of human
evolution was the Homo-erectus.
PALEOLITHIC PERIOD
The Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age is
divided into three divisions,each with a
distinct tradition of tool-making (Kottak,
2000)
1. The Lower Paleolithic Period- marked
the existence of the Homo-Erectus.
Example:Narmada Valley- also known as
"Life Line of Gujarat and Madhya
Pradesh" for its huge contribution to the state
of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in many ways.
2. The Homo-sapiens lived during the Middle
Paleolithic Period. The Homo-sapiens made
more efficient tools, allowing them to do
anatomical labor much easier, such as prying,
lifting, holding, and pulling.
Example: Tungabhadra River Valley- is a
river in India that starts and flows through
the state of Karnataka during most of its
course, before flowing along the border
between Telangana.
3. Upper Paleolithic Period- The blade
longer than a flake of rock, was the most
distinct tool developed during this period.
LESSON 2: CULTURAL AND
SOCIOPOLITICAL EVOLUTION
 Neolithic Period- literally means the “New
Stone Age Revolution” because of the
techniques that produced such tools emerged
during this period.
 Example: Stonehenge- the most important
development in human history.
Gradually,they became less dependent on wild
food sources as domesticated plants and
animals have increased in number and
improved in quality.
The efficiency in food production allowed

more time to develop arts and sciences through
specialized activities geared towards the
advancement of civilization.
Moreover, as people learned the basics of
food production and abandoned foraging, the
domestication of animals and crop production
became a common practice in communities.
Man’s harmony with nature now needs to be

established. With agriculture in full scale,
humans began changing the ecosystem
drastically and wantonly.
LESSON 3: EARLY CIVILIZATION AND
THE RISE OF THE STATE
The word civilization comes from the
latin word “civis, which refers to a
person who lives in a city; and civets,
which refers to the urban community in
which one dwells.
As neolithic villages grew into towns, the
world’s first cities developed. This happened
between 4,500 and 6,00 years ago, first in
Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq), then in
Egypt’s Nile Valley, and Indus Valley (today’s
Pakistan and India).
In china, civilization started 5,000 years
ago. Independents of these developments in
Eurasia and Africa, the first American and
Indian cities appeared in Peru approximately
4,000 years ago and in Mesoamerica about
2,000 years ago.
Ancient people incorporated their spiritual
beliefs and social order into the cities they
built.
For example, the layout of the great
mesoamerican city, teotihuacan, founded
2,200 years ago, translated the solar calendar
into a united spatial pattern.
The Street of the Dead- a grand north-south
axis running from the Pyramid of the Moon
and bordered by the Pyramid of the Sun and
the royal palace compound- was deliberately
oriented to an astronomical marker, east of
true north.
RISE OF CITIES
1. AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION
Changes in farming methods distinguished
early civilization from Neolithic villages. For
example, the ancient Sumerians built an
extensive system like dikes, canals, and
reservoirs to irrigate their farmlands.
2. DIVERSIFICATION OF LABOR
Diversification of labor was also
characteristic of early civilizations. For
example, an early Mesopatamian document
from the old Babylonian city of Lagash
(modern day Tell al Hiba-, Iraq) listed
artisans, craftsmen.
3. SOCIAL STRATIFACATION
The rise of large, economically diversified
populations presided over by centralized
governing authorities brought with it the
fourth cultural characteristics of civilization.
For example, symbols of special status and
privilege appeared in the ancient cities of
Mesopatamia.
4. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
The challenges of new cities faced because of
their size and complexity required a strong
central authority.
For example, the farmers or craft specialists
provided their respective services and did not
infringe on one another.
EARLIEST FORMS OF
GOVERNMENTS
A king and his advisors typically
headed the earliest city governments. Of
the many ancient kings in the world, it
was Hammurabi (the Babylonian king
who lived in Mesopatamia between
3,700 and 3,950 years ago).
Out Caste or Untouchables
(Street sweepers, Latrine cleaners)
Brahmin
(Priests)
Kshatriya
(Warriors)
Vaisya
(Merchants, Landowners)
Sudra
(Commoners, Peasants, Servants)
Democratization is the building of political
institutions, common interests, and new forms
of legitimation.
Friedman, 1994- democratization emerges

from the political process of clash and
compromise and consensus building.
LESSON 4: DEMOCRATIZATION
Democratization is a complex, multi-liner
process, operating under certain contexts and
structure unique to each country albeit
delimited by dominant global structures.
Authorization is characterized by a
significant concentration of economic and
political power. The land belongs to a few
big landowners whilst the poor farmers
who cultivated it, called Hecteremorio,
were obliged to pay as rent one sixth of
their produce.
THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE
(ECCLESIA)
In which all citizens participated
irrespective of income, acquired the right
to elect the leaders (archons) and the
deputies (we are not dealing here with the
disputed historical fact.
Solon- founded the Council of 400
Deputies Vouli, as mentioned by Aristotle).
Council of Elders (Areios Pagos)- the
right to scrutinize the archons.
However, the higher offices of the city
remained in the hands of the elite since it
is doubtful whether more than one
fifteenth of the citizens belonged to the
pentakosiomedimmoi (five hundred
bushel producers), since it belonged to
those who were enlisted in some family
group (genos).
ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
 Ittook another 20 or 30 years before election by
lot was first introduced for the archons in 487
B.C.
 After Battle of Plataia, in 479 B.C, the property
criterion, which excluded the lower strata from
higher offices to be abolished.
 Council of the Five Hundred, and the jury courts
in 461 B.C, to be deprived of its privileges
which were transferred to the Assembly of the
People.
ACCORDING TO THE HISTORIAN
THUCYDIDES. THESE THREE
CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Greek political democracy reached its climax
when the polis or city state became autonomous
(it sets its own laws).
2. Self-judging (jury courts decide on every
dispute)
3. Independent (the Assembly of the People makes
all important decisions.
20TH CENTURY
The rebels who forced restraint on the
King of England through the Magna
Carta saw the need as an entirely local
one.
(Sen, 1999), the two sides of the North
Atlantic, and founded on the special
economic, social, and political history
of the region.
THANK YOU 

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HUMAN BIO-CULTURAL

 The word hominoid comes from the Latin

 Hominoids- are broad shouldered tailless

CURVES OF THE SPINE

SHAPE OF THE FOOT BONES

The efficiency in food production allowed

Man’s harmony with nature now needs to be

Friedman, 1994- democratization emerges

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