HUMAN

EVOLUTION AND
CULTURE
PICTURE ANALYSIS
CULTURE DEFINED

■ A complex whole which encompasses beliefs,

practices, values, attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts,
symbols, knowledge and everything that a person
learns and shares as a member of a society (Tylor,
2010)
■ By-product of the attempt of humans to survive
their environment and to compensate for their
biological characteristics and and limitations.
■ The sum of symbols, ideas, forms of expressions
and material products associated with a social
system – Allan G. Johnson
CULTURE DEFINED

■ Derived from the Latin word “cultus” which means

“care” – a care and attention provided to a human
person as he grows into a mature person.
■ An organized body of conventional understandings
manifest in art and artifacts, which persisting
through tradition – Robert Redfield
■ A powerful force that affects the lives of the
members of a society.
■ It shapes and guide people’s perception of reality,
determines the food they eat, clothing they wear,
music they listen to, or the games they play.
 Kinds of Culture
1. Material Culture – the concrete
and tangible things that man
creates and uses. This includes
dwelling units, tools, weapons,
clothing, books, machines, artefact
relics, fossils etc – things that man
creates by altering the natural
environment. This is the area of
anthropological study.
 Kinds of Culture
2. Non-material Culture – the
intangible objects which the
person uses, follows, professes
or strives to conform. It includes
knowledge, laws, lifestyles,
techniques, ideas, customs
behaviors, among others. The
area of sociological study.
What is
primates ?
 Diverse order of mammals that
includes humans, monkeys, apes,
and lemurs. They are characterized
by a number if shared features.
Key characteristics:
 Five-fingered hands and five-toed feet
 Opposable thumbs
 Large relative brain size
 Forward-facing eyes
 Social behavior
 Generalized dentition
 Pentadactyl limbs
 In order to understand
CULTURE, we need to know the
A.following:
BIOLOGICAL CAPACITY FOR
CULTURE – understanding the
biological makeup of mankind.
1. Our Thinking Capacity – the developed
brain is necessary in facilitating
pertinent skills such as speaking,
touching, feeling, seeing and smelling.
Brain – the primary biological
component of humans that allowed
culture.
 The Human Brain
1. Frontal Lobe and
the Motor Cortex
– function for
cognition and motor
abilities.
2. Parietal lobe –
allows for touch and
taste abilities.
3. Temporal Lobe –
allows for hearing
skills.
4. Occipital Lobe –
 Compared with other primates, humans have
a larger brain weighing 1.4 Kg, Chimpanzees have
a brain weighing 420 g only, and those of gorillas
weigh 500 g. Due to the size of their brain and the
complexity of its parts, humans were able to create
survival skills that helped them adapt to their
environment and outlive their less adaptive
biological relatives.
 Hyoid Bone –
crucial for
speaking as it
supports the root
of the tongue
(Hogenboom,
2013).
2. Our Speaking Capacity – while the
brain is the primary source of human
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.
A longer vocal tract means that there is a
longer vibration surface, allowing humans to
 DAN DEDIU from the Max Planck Institute
for Psycholinguistics in Netherlands argued that
the origin of language may be rooted as far as
500 000 years ago based on the discovered
bone fragment from an ancestor known as Homo
heidelbergensis.
A group of Homo
heidelbergensis depicted
butchering a rhino
(Stephanorhinus
hunsheimensis).
Hyaenas (Crocuta
crocuta) scavenge what
they can.

Inspired by the Archaeology

and fauna from the Middle
Pleistocene site of
Boxgrove.
3. Our Gripping Capacity – the capacity
to directly oppose a thumb with the other
fingers. It is an exclusive trait of humans. It
allowed us to have a finer grip. Thus, we
have the capability to create materials with
precision.
■ The hand of a human has digits
(fingers) that are straight, as
compared with the curved ones
of the other primates.
■ The thumb of a human is
proportionately longer than
those of the other primates.
These characteristics of human
hand allowed for 2 types of grip:

Power Grip – enabled

human to wrap the
thumb and fingers on an
object.
Precision Grip –
enabled humans to hold
and pick objects steadily
using their fingers.
4. Our Walking or Standing Capacity – an
important trait that gave humans more productivity
with their hands. Through this, humans gained more
efficient form of locomotion suitable for hunting and
foraging. Primates have two forms of locomotion:
a. Bipedalism – the capacity to walk and stand on two feet.
b. Quadropedalism – uses all four limbs (both two hands
and two feet).
What have I learned so
far?
1. What are the four capacities that
enabled humans to have
culture?

2. What is the significance of

studying human biology in
understanding cultural capacity?
 It is believed that the crudest methods of tool making
may have been practiced by the earlier Australopithecines
(A. afarensis and A. africanus). These methods may have
involved the use of wood as digging sticks or even crude
spears.
HUMAN ORIGINS AND
THE CAPACITY FOR
CULTURE
 The Oldowan Industry
■ Stone tool industry characterized by the use of
“hard water-worn creek cobbles made out of
volcanic rock” (O’Neil, 2012).
■ Evidence found by Mary and Louis Leakey at
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania in Africa (around 2.6
million years ago) supports this industry.
■ Industry known to have been used by Homo habilis.
Percussion Flaking – process involving the
systematic collision of a hammer stone with a core
stone. The impact of the collision produces a core
tool (used for general purposes) and a flake tool
(used as a knife).
 The Oldowan Industry
■ Form of technology used in this industry allowed
for the species to butcher large animals and it
improved food gathering skills using the
‘hammering, digging, and chopping implements’
(O’Neil, 2012).
■ From Africa, this industry spread out to Europe
and Asia during the migration of Homo erectus,
who acquired it from homo habilis within 1.9-1.8
million years ago. By 1.8-1.6 million years ago,
the Oldowan industry has already reached Java,
Indonesia and Northern China.
24
The Oldowan tools

25
Scavengi
ng a way of
-was
finding food
during times
of shortage.
Following other scavengers made
it easy to find carcasses. Using
stone tools made it easy to
break open bones for marrow.
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The Acheulian Industry
■ A more complex industry developed by the
Homo erectus from what they inherited from
Homo habilis.
■ Using the same process of percussion
flaking, Homo erectus created hand axes
that were bifacial, shaped in both sides, and
with straighter and sharper edges.
■ Homo erectus made other tools such as,
“choppers, cleavers and hammers as well as
flakes used as knives and scrapers”.
HAND AXES – stone implements used in
multiple activities such as light chopping of
wood, digging up roots and bulbs, butchering
animals, and cracking nuts and small bones.
The Acheulian Industry
■ This industry was named after Saint
Acheul, a patron saint in southwest
France, as these artifacts were
discovered in the area
■ Believed to have originated in East
Africa.
■ Scholars argue that its extensive use
may have been out of Africa as Homo
erectus invented this industry and
brought it to Europe 500 000 – 900
000 years ago and to China 800 000
years ago.
Acheulean
tools

Note how they are

worked all over
with many small
chips removed
29
H. erectus
learned how
to use and
control fire.

30
Fire was useful for preserving
food, making it taste better
and killing parasites.
Also useful as a deterrent
against predators, enabled
activity at night and
reinforced social bonding.
 The Mousterian Industry

■ Developed by Homo neanderthalensis

(Neanderthals) in Europe and West Asia between
300 000 and 30 000 years ago.
■ Named after a site in France called Le Moustier,
where evidence was uncovered in 1860.
■ Tools from this industry were a combination of
Acheulian techniques with the Levalloisian
technique, which involved the use of premade
core tool that has sharpened edges
MOUSTERIAN TOOL – efficient stone tool as all
the sides of the flake are sharpened and are more
handy due to the reduction in size.
The Mousterian Tools made from flint.

33
 The Mousterian Industry

■ Evidence of this industry dating back 100 000

years was also found in Northern Africa and
West Asia, where modern humans such as that
of Qafze migrated.
■ Most archaeologists hypothesize that this
industry could be an evidence of acculturation
of modern humans with their Neanderthal
relatives.
■ By the end of the Paleolithic period, early
humans have been engaged in proto-culture
type of industries wherein they did not just
create tools but also started creating art and
The Aurignacian
Industry
■ Present in Europe and Southwest Asia from 45 000 to 35
000 years ago.
■ The term Aurignacian was derived from Aurignac, an area in
France where the evidence of this industry was found.
■ Users of this industry used raw materials such as flint,
animal bones and antlers.
■ The method employed in creating tools such as fine blades
was similar to the one used in the Mousterian industry.
■ A more advanced tool making industry that made it a
cultural milestone for modern humans in Europe due to the
development of self-awareness.
■ This development was projected through cave paintings and
the fabrication of accessories such as figurines, bracelets
and beads.
The Aurignacian
Industry
■ The cave paintings found in the El Castillo Cave in
Cantabaria, Spain provide us with a glimpse of the
environment that the early humans lived in. Most
of the paintings are that of the animals that existed
at that time.
Venus of Schelklingen (Venus of Hohle Fels) –
figurine sculpted from a woolly mammoth tusk.
Emphasis was made on several parts of the body such
as the breasts and the hips. Scholars theorize that this
emphasis may be due to the importance of these
parts in childbearing or child rearing.
Bone flute in Hohle Fels, Germany – earliest
evidence of music appreciation.
•People lived in caves and
shelters, made clothes, painted
on cave walls and made statues
from bone and clay.

37
The Magdalenian
Industry
■ Saw the end of the Paleolithic period as it transformed to the
Neolithic period.
■ Named after the La Madeleine site in Dordogne, France.
■ Also a proto-culture used by the early humans and was defined
by several revolutionary advancements in technology such as
the creation of microliths from flint, bone, antler and ivory.
■ Humans during this period were engrossed in creating
figurines, personal adornments and other forms of mobiliary
art.
■ A defining method used in tool making was through the
application of heat on the material prior to the flaking process.
This was done by casting the raw material on fire, which
allowed for a more precise cut upon flaking.
■Cro-Magnon man made Upper
Palaeolithic tools including fish
hooks, harpoons and needles.

39
2 left = Middle 3 right = Upper
Palaeolithic Palaeolithic
 The Magdalenian Industry

■ The creation of specialized weapons such as barbed

harpoons is evidence of the growing sophistication of the
hunting skills and technology of the early humans.
■ Use of temporary man-made shelters such as tents made
of animal skin are evident.
■ Use of rock shelters and caves were still predominant
during this period. The creation of tents allowed early
humans to be more mobile.
■ Humans have more leisure time as evidenced by their
preoccupation with decorative materials.
■ By 10 000 BCE, this industry has spread to parts of
Europe including contemporary territories such as Great
Britain, Germany, Spain and Poland.
Characteristics of Paleolithic
and Neolithic Societies
Characterist Paleolithic Neolithic
ics
Tools Small and Included a
handy for wider array of
mobile small and
lifestyle bigger tools
due to
sedentary
lifestyle
Personal Limited to Included
Properties personal structures
accessories (e.g., house),
and small decorative
Characteristics of Paleolithic
and Neolithic Societies
Characterist Paleolithic Neolithic
ics
Art Small and Included the
limited to creation of
personal artworks that
ornaments, required a
bigger longer length
artworks were of time and a
done but not greater
within a long number of
time frame people (e.g.,
(e.g. cave Stonehenge)
paintings)
Characteristics of Paleolithic
and Neolithic Societies

Characterist Paleolithic Neolithic

ics
Leadership Not rigid; Semirigid;
based on age based on
and legitimacy
knowledge (religious
beliefs, social
status)
Social None; Elite vs.
Divisions communal working class
lifestyle
Population Small Large (in
GROUP Work
■ Collaborate with 10 of your classmates and
set up a museum-like exhibit for Paleolithic
tools. Your exhibit must contain sample tools
and information about them. Your may
recreate Paleolithic tools using papier-mách,
clay, paper and ink, card board and any
other form of raw materials.
■ You need to decorate your exhibit
appropriately.
■ Your role in this activity will be that of a
curator who will plan and implement the
creation of the exhibit.
■ Your teacher will rate your output based on
quality of the materials created,