Lecture 1:
Human-Like Ancestors to the Dawn of Civilization

4,500,000 B.C. to 8,500 B.C.

Creationism

A. Creationism

1. Until very recently, humans explained the creation of the universe, the Earth, and themselves through stories called creation myths.

B. Creation Myths - Commonalities

1. A god sees a void in the world and fills it with land, water, important plants, and people.
2. Explains how things began, as well as the divine plan (Why did god create us and what does he plan for us?). This promotes cultural unity - people feel closer together when they understand why they are here.

C. All people from every culture have a religious explanation of Creation

1. Most familiar to western society is the Judeo-Christian story of Genesis. In it, God created the Earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th day. He created the first man, Adam, out of clay, and the first woman, Eve, from the rib of Adam. He allowed them to live in paradise - the Garden of Eden.

The Theory of Evolution

A. Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

1. After many years of research, studying various animals, he published his book called On the Origin of Species in 1859

B. Biological Evolution - Darwin?s primary theme

1. Concept that one species of plant or animal can (and did) change into another over a very, very, very long period of time. He argued human beings evolved from ape-like ancestors.

C. Survival of the Fittest - Darwin?s chief idea in Evolution

1. Idea that plants and animals with traits that aid in their survival will live long enough to pass these traits to their offspring (through genes), who will, in turn, survive. In contrast, plants and animals with bad survival traits will die out and become extinct.

Controversy

A. Creationists vs. Evolutionists

1. By 1900 virtually all scientists accepted evolution as the explanation of human existence. Humans were seen simply as animals, though very special ones, shaped by nature over a long period of time.
2. Although most scientists accepted this, many people did not. In fact, there was a time when teaching evolution was illegal in some places in the United States.
3. The Scopes-Monkey trial (in the early 20th century) centered on the trial of Mr. Scopes, a teacher who had taught his class the theory of evolution. He was found guilty of the charges, but was not severely punished.
4. It?s important to stress that no matter what you believe, one explanation is not more correct than another. The individual must decide what he/she will believe.

The Search

A. The Missing Link

1. Since the acceptance of Darwin?s theory of evolution, scientists have been searching for the ?missing link.?
2. The ?missing link? is supposed to be the human-like ape from which modern humans have evolved. Scientists are still looking, but in 1924, Raymond Dart, a biologist, discovered the remains of a human-like ape in the sub-Saharan desert of Africa. This creature lived over 3 million years ago. Dart named this creature Australopithecus.
3. Australopithecus was human-like, but later determined not to be the ?missing link.? Scientists, however, believe that the ?missing link? came from an evolutionary offshoot of Australopithecus. No evidence has yet been found to prove this.

B. The evolutionary chain is not really a chain. It has several branches made up of transitional humans that sometimes lived for a great while, but they eventually died out.

So, what is the story scientists tell about human evolution?

Perspectives in Time

A. Around 70 million years ago, the first primates appeared. This was just before the extinction of the dinosaurs.

1. They were small, rodent-like creatures
2. Around 25 million years ago, monkey-like primates appeared, and primates resembling apes appeared 18 million years ago.
3. Human beings are members of the primate order.

B. Around 4.5 million years ago, anthropoid-like primates appeared.

1. An anthropoid is an ape with human-like physical features, i.e. walking upright.

C. Among these anthropoids appeared the hominids, of which modern humans are included. This doesn?t mean hominids were human, but shared features similar to modern humans.

1. Whether an anthropoid is considered to be a hominid or not, depends on its anatomy, particularly its dental anatomy.
2. Hominids are divided into 2 major groups - Australopithecus and Homo (means ?man?)
3. Just before 2 million years ago the Homo line split from the hominids to eventually (after an extremely long time) become modern humans. Australopithecus? line went on to produce several forms, but eventually became extinct.

Australopithecus

A. Features

1. Walked upright
2. Human-like body with an ape-like face (a true anthropoid)
3. Most were small in stature, and had smaller brains than Homo
4. Probably dark-skinned with a hairy body
5. Late Gracile Australopithecus may have used stone tools to break bone. Bone marrow and brain matter may have been a food source.

Homo

A. Homo habilis (means ?handy man?) Appeared 2 million years ago

B. Homo erectus (means ?upright man?) Appeared 1.5 million years ago

Homo sapiens (means ?wise man?) Appeared 100,000 years ago

A. Features of Homo sapiens

B. Sub-species of Homo sapiens

The Dawn of Civilization

A. Hunters - Gatherers

B. Paleolithic and Neolithic (old and new stone) Ages

Agriculture and the Forming of City-States

A. At certain places around the world, usually around rivers or lakes, people made the cultural jump from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

B. Specialization of Labor

City-States and Civilization

A. City-States

B. Civilization

But, that?s another story, soon to be told.

1. Looked closely like the other Homo, but had a larger brain
2. First in line toward evolving into human beings
3. Probably had no language
4. Used rocks as simple tools -evidence of technology
   1. Evolved out of Homo habilis, but probably coexisted for a short time
   2. Larger brain, larger body
   3. Not quite human looking, but not totally different
   4. Used more sophisticated tools. They had the brain capacity to allow for spoken language, but no one knows for sure if Homo erectus communicated through speech or in other ways.
   5. Lived in groups, worked together, hunted large game
   6. Migrated from Africa to throughout Europe and Asia
   7. Used fire for cooking and protection
   8. Homo heildelbergensis may have been a mid offshoot
   1. Larger body and brain than Homo erectus
   2. Had language and culture
   3. Buried their dead and therefore had religion
   4. Possessed abstract thinking - expressed themselves through art, i.e. cave paintings or statuettes.
   1. Most famous are the Neanderthals
   2. Modern humans are Homo sapiens (Homo is the genus, the 1st sapiens is the species, and the last sapiens is the sub-species.)
   1. For about 90,000 years humans were hunter-gatherers.
   2. Hunter-gatherers lived in small clans (family groups), and moved with the migrating animals they hunted. They built simple hut-like dwellings that could be disassembled and moved quickly. Often caves were converted to provide temporary shelter. They had no permanent place where they lived. Men hunted large game and women gathered fruits and nuts.
   1. All ?ages? in history refer to the predominant technology used. In the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages, stone tools were used. Paleolithic tools were more primitive than Neolithic tools.
   2. Paleolithic Age lasted from roughly 400,000 to 10,000 B.C.
   3. Neolithic Age lasted roughly from 10,000 to 5,000 B.C. - give or take a few hundred years.
   4. At the end of the Neolithic Age people began to form urban societies.
   5. These urban societies centered on small towns and villages populated originally by clans. Urban society only became possible out of the development of agriculture.
   6. Agriculture is the systematic, organized growing of food
   .
   1. Toward the end of the Neolithic Age, societies began growing their own food. Soon, so much food was produced that these towns and villages found they had a surplus of food.
   2. No longer did everyone have to hunt or grow their own food, because there was extra food to be had that was produced by others (farmers).
   3. This led to the specialization of labor.
   1. This means that some people started specializing in making products other than growing food.
   2. Artisans specialized in making pottery, forming metals, and making things other people needed. Farmers and artisans would exchange what they needed - Farmers needed tools and artisans needed food. This led to an economy and eventually money (although this would take awhile)
   3. Trade developed out these growing economies. Trade is the exchange of goods between people for other goods or for money. Trade is necessary for civilizations and empires.
   1. A surplus of food also meant bigger populations. With bigger populations, towns and villages grew into city-states.
   2. City-states are cities not controlled by another government.
   3. City-states became complex, and needed people to run the economy and protect it from invaders. A ruling class (kings) developed - originally from a strong clansman, who proved to be a good fighter and leader.
   4. Since farmers (and everyone else) depended on agriculture, city-states needed religious figures to negotiate with the gods to ensure a good harvest. A religious class (priests) developed out of this. Often the ruler of a city-state was also its religious head. Later, this would become so specialized that these priest-kings were seen as gods themselves, i.e. the pharaohs of Egypt.
   1. A civilization is a large, urban society with complex institutions. In other words, to have a civilization a people must live in a society with agriculture and a surplus of food, specialization of labor, a large economy, trade, a large government, and religious centers with a priestly class.
   2. The first civilization began in 3,500 B.C. in Sumer, Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates River in modern day Iraq.