CHAPTER 3: LOOKING BACK AT HUMAN BIOCULTURAL AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION

LESSON 1: HUMAN BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION

During the 18th century, many scholars became interested in biological diversity, human origins, and our position within the
classification of plants and animals. At that time, the commonly accepted explanation for the origin of species came from
Genesis, the first book of the Bible: God had created all life during six days of Creation. According to creationism, biological
similarities and differences originated at the Creation. Characteristics of life forms were seen as immutable; they could not
change. Through calculations based on genealogies in the Bible, the biblical scholars James Ussher and John Lightfoot even
claimed to trace the Creation to a very specific time: October 23, 4004 B.C., at 9 A.M. Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) developed
the first comprehensive and still influential classification, or taxonomy, of plants and animals. He grouped life forms on the
basis of similarities and differences in their physical characteristics. He used traits such as the presence of a backbone to
distinguish vertebrates from invertebrates and the presence of mammary glands to distinguish mammals from birds. Linnaeus
viewed the differences between life forms as part of the Creator’s orderly plan. Biological similarities and differences, he
thought, had been established at the time of Creation and had not changed. Fossil discoveries during the 18th and 19th
centuries raised doubts about creationism. Fossils showed that different kinds of life had once existed. If all life had originated
at the same time, why weren’t ancient species still around? Why weren’t contemporary plants and animals found in the fossil
record?
A modified explanation combining creationism with catastrophism arose to replace the original doctrine. In this view, fires,
floods, and other catastrophes, including the biblical flood involving Noah’s ark, had destroyed ancient species. After each
destructive event, God had created again, leading to contemporary species. How did the catastrophists explain certain clear
similarities between fossils and modern animals? They argued that some ancient species had managed to survive in isolated
areas. For example, after the biblical flood, the progeny of the animals saved on Noah’s ark spread throughout the world.
THEORY AND FACTS
The alternative to creationism and catastrophism was transformism, also called evolution. Evolutionists believe that
species arise from others through a long and gradual process of transformation, or descent with modification. Charles Darwin
became the best known of the evolutionists. However, he was influenced by earlier scholars, including his own grandfather. In
a book called Zoonomia published in 1794, Erasmus Darwin had proclaimed the common ancestry of all animal species.
Charles Darwin also was influenced by Sir Charles Lyell, the father of geology. During Darwin’s famous voyage to South
America aboard the Beagle, he read Lyell’s influential book Principles of Geology (1837/1969), which exposed him to Lyell’s
principle of uniformitarianism. Uniformitarianism states that the present is the key to the past. Explanations for past events
should be sought in the long-term action of ordinary forces that still operate today. Thus, natural forces (rainfall, soil deposition,
earthquakes, and volcanic action) gradually have built and modified geological features such as mountain ranges. The earth’s
structure has been transformed gradually through natural forces operating for millions of years (see Weiner 1994).
Uniformitarianism was a necessary building block for evolutionary theory. It cast serious doubt on the belief that the
world was only 6,000 years old. It would take much longer for such ordinary forces as rain and wind to produce major geological
changes. The longer time span also allowed enough time for the biological changes that fossil discoveries were revealing.
Darwin applied the ideas of uniformitarianism and long-term transformation to living things. He argued that all life forms are
ultimately related and that the number of species has increased over time.
Charles Darwin provided a theoretical framework for understanding evolution. He offered natural selection as a
powerful evolutionary mechanism that could explain the origin of species, biological diversity, and similarities among related
life forms. Darwin proposed a theory of evolution in the strict sense. A theory is a set of ideas formulated (by reasoning from
known facts) to explain something. The main value of a theory is to promote new understanding. A theory suggests patterns,
connections, and relationships that may be confirmed by new research. The fact of evolution (that evolution has occurred) was
known earlier, for example, by Erasmus Darwin. The theory of evolution, through natural selection (how evolution occurred),
was Darwin’s major contribution. Actually, natural selection wasn’t Darwin’s unique discovery. Working independently, the
naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace had reached a similar conclusion (Shermer 2002). In a joint paper read to London’s Linnaean
Society in 1858, Darwin and Wallace made their discovery public. Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species (1859/1958) offered
much fuller documentation.
Natural selection is the process by which the life forms most fit to survive and reproduce in a given environment do so
in greater numbers than others in the same population. More than survival of the fittest, natural selection is differential
reproductive success. Natural selection is a natural process that leads to a result. Natural selection operates when there is
competition for strategic resources (those necessary for life) such as food and space between members of the population.
There is also the matter of finding mates. You can win the competition for food and space and have no mate and thus have no
impact on the future of the species. For natural selection to work on a particular population, there must be variety within that
population, as there always is.
 The giraffe’s neck can illustrate how natural selection works on variety within a population. In any group of giraffes,
there is always variation in neck length. When food is adequate, the animals have no problem feeding themselves. But when
there is pressure on strategic resources, so that dietary foliage is not as abundant as usual, giraffes with longer necks have an
advantage. They can feed off the higher branches. If this feeding advantage permits longer-necked giraffes to survive and
reproduce even slightly more effectively than shorternecked ones, giraffes with longer necks will transmit more of their genetic
material to future generations than will giraffes with shorter necks.
An incorrect alternative to this (Darwinian) explanation would be the inheritance of acquired characteristics. That is
the idea that in each generation, individual giraffes strain their necks to reach just a bit higher. This straining somehow modifies
their genetic material. Over generations of strain, the average neck gradually gets longer through the accumulation of small
increments of neck length acquired during the lifetime of each generation of giraffes. This is not how evolution works. If it did
work in this way, weightlifters could expect to produce especially muscular babies. Workouts that promise no gain without the
pain apply to the physical development of individuals, not species. Instead, evolution works as the process of natural selection
takes advantage of the variety that is already present in a population. That’s how giraffes got their necks.

Points to Remember Points to Remember:

Pre-history – the period before writing from
circa 40,000 BC up to the time when writing
was invented
History – circa 3,100 BC when sumerians had
developed phoenician alphabet, the first
known writing system and has kept records
on clay tablets
Anthropologist – search for and examine fossils;
like bones and teeth of prehistoric people
Archeologist – search for and examine artifacts;
like pottery and stone tools.
Paleoanthropologist – study human physical and
cultural development

HUMAN ORIGIN/EVOLUTION
DIFINITION OF TERMS
EVOLUTION – the natural process of biological change occurring in a population across successive generations
HOMININS – the first genus of modern human and the first group that came out africa
BIPEDALISM – —upright two-legged locomotion
CREATIONISM – god created all life during six days of creation.
God had created all life during six days of Creation. According to creationism, biological similarities and differences
originated at the Creation.
EVOLUTION
is a natural process of biological changes occurring in a population across successive generations.
it helps us identify and analyze man’s psychological development which is important in his subsistence.
EVOLUTION OF MAN
Became an important concern in the emergence of different societies, hence, man’s progression and characteristics
are essential in understanding the capability for adaptation.

Tracing human evolution and sociocultural and political transformation

To study and understand the process of becoming human, it is important that we look back to the past. Anthropology offers
two methods of doing this study.
1. Through the close examination of the material remains that early humans had left behind (fossils)
2. Through the study of the genetic codes that were passed on across several generations. (dna testing)
Though these approaches, the story of human evolution can be told.

how does human evolve biologically and culturally?

to understand culture, we need to:
1. know our biological capacity
2. how we fit into the animal kingdom
3. how we came to be what we are
our capacity for culture: our biological roots
1. our language ability
2. OUR ABILITY TO MAKE AND USE TOOLS
3. OUR BIPEDALISM – ABILITY TO STAND AND WALK ON OUR TWO FEET.

Theory
refers to a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence.

Fact
refers to a thing that is known or prove to be true.

Examine the picture, what does it represent? How does it explain man’s development?
It is a common understanding that change is the only permanent things in this world, every living things is dynamic and, as such
undergoes transformation, like wise, man as the most important component of society, goes throuh evolutionary changes that
help him adapt to his environment. Thus his adaptaion started the formation of the society as well as cultuural development
which is essential for survival.

ORIGIN OF MAN
THEORY OF EVOLUTION
1. CREATIONISM ( THE CREATION THEORY)
2. CATASTROPHISM
3. THEORY OF EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION
Creationism - according to the bible, god after having created the earth, created the first man and woman, adam and eve. As
recounted in the genesis, god created adam in “his own image” out of the dust of the ground and breathed upon his nostril
the breath of life and man became a living soul.” Later, when adam waas sleeping, he took one of adam’s ribs and created eve
because it is not good that man should be alone, adam and eve lived as man and wife in the garden of eden
Dr. John lightfoot
stressed that god created the earth in 4004 b.c
Evolution theory of man’s origin
proposed by charles darwin (1809 – 82) in his book origin of species by means of natural selection.
 according to darwin man was not created by god; man was a product of gradual evolution or development through
successive species beginning from the primates or apes. So it appears that the ape was the ancestor of man.
Pursuant to the theory of evolution antrophologist, and archeologist dig up pre historic graveyards and caves in search of the
roots of man. They discovered the remains of prehistoric man, their tools, and other artifacts. According to their findings
man’s ancestor was a tree dwelling apes called “ramapithecus” when the forest of africa receded, the tree dwelling apes left
their tree homes and lived on land. In the course of time they began to work upright. Their lower limbs became feet, their
upper limbs became hands which they used to grasp object and to make or use tools. They became the homonids (man-like
being), for they walk and used tools with their hands like men do.
Out of these homonids rise/evolved the ancestors of modern humans

1. HOMO HABILIS
a term coined by L. S. B. and Mary Leakey to describe the earliest members of the genus Homo. LIVE around 2.4 and 1.4
m.y.a.(MILLIONS YEARS AGO)
SPECIES WITH A BRAINOF BROCA’S AREA WHICH IS ASSOCIATED WITH SPEECH IN MODERN HUMANS AND WAS THE FIRST TO
MAKE STONE TOOLS.
THE SPECIES NAME MEANS “HANDY MAN”
2. HOMO RUDOLFENSIS
Species characterised by a longer face, larger molar and premolar teeth,
And having a larger braincase compared to habilis particularly frontal lobes, area of the brain that processes information. The
species lived about 1.9 to 1.8 million years ago.
3. HOMO ERECTUS
The species name means “ upright man” with body proportion similar to that of modern human

HOMO SPECIES
The genus that includes modern humans and species closely related to them.
HOMINIDS
Refers to members of the human family, hominadae, which consist of all species from the point where human line
splits from apes towards present day humans.
two legged primate

HOMO HABILIS
Recognize to be the first true human.
first appeared around 2.5 million years ago at the beginning of the pleistonic period.
the first to make stone tools.
Characteristic of homo habilis:
A. Handy man/tool user hominid()
B. An ape like body structure (long arms and small body)
C. Bipedalism (capacity to stand with two feet)
HOMO ERECTUS
Upright human being
First to use fire
bipedalism
systematic hunting and “home base camps” for living.
systematic tool making
controlled fire for cooking food and other purposes.
they are the first hunters with improvised tools such as axe and knives and were the first to produce fire.

Homo sapiens
Wise human beings
Made clothes from animal skins
Lives in caves and tents
With large brain
The present human race belongs to this species.
The physical as well as the mental development of early human beings helped them understand and adapt to their existing
environment, thus their adjustment served as the onset of their culture. Culture enables the members of the society to develop
ways of coping with the exigencies of nature as well as ways of harnessing their environment. The changes made by man
through his interaction with the environment establish the different cultural evolution which determines man cultural
evolution.

Man’s cultural evolution

PALEOLITHIC AGE

NEOLITHIC AGE

MAN’S CULTURAL EVOLUTION

CULTURAL PERIOD
Paleolithic age (old stone age)
TIME FRAME
Traditionally concided with the first
evidence of tool construction and use by
homosome 2.5 million years ago
CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
 Use of simple peeble tools
 Learned to live in cages
 Discovered the use of fire
 Developed small sculptures;
monumental painting, incised

Neolithic Age (new stone age)
designs, and reliefs on walls of
cave
 Food collecting culture
 Unpolished stone tools
 Hunting and gathering
 Nomadic way of living
 Polished stone tools/ stone tools
Occurred sometimes about 10,000 BCE were shaped by polishing or
grinding
 Living in permanent
places/villages
 Dependence on domisticated
animals or plants
 Appearance of such crafts as
pottery and weaving
 Food-producing culture

ACTIVITY: Photo Essay

Directions: The teacher will ask the students to find their partners. Each pair will make a photo essay on the significance of
human material remains and artefactual evidence.

HUMAN SOCIETY
1. EARLY CIVILIZATION AND THE RISE OF THE STATE
Why do you think that the first civilization emerged in the river valley?
People may have settled along rivers because rivers were source of food and fresh water both for human and animals. Also as
agriculture developed, the river supplied water for growing crops and Raising livestock.
Travel on water was easier than travelling on foot
2. Government are organized
- The rise of population in cities made government organized
- to judge those who broke laws
3. Government and Religion are closely connected
- Beliefs and rituals help shape the government that developed in the river valleys.
- Rulers were seen as the chosen representatives of the gods.
4. System of writing and record-keeping develop.
- as system of government, religion became more complex and organized, some kind of
record-keeping was necessary.

SOCIOCULTURAL AND POLITICAL EVOLUTION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETIES

FROM HUNTING AND GATHERING TO THE AGRICULTURAL, INDUSTRIAL, AND POST-INDUSTRIAL STAGES

Cultural Evolution
Is the process of development which occurs when human beings adapt themselves with their surroundings and be able
to survive within the environment.

Characteristic of Human Society

1. It is a social system
2. A society is relatively large
3. A society recruits most of its members from with in
4. A society sustains itself across generations
5. A society’s member share a culture
6. A society occupies a territory
Gerhard Lenski (1924-2015), an American sociologist, argued that human society undergoes transformation and evolution and
in the process develops technological advancement. This called sociocultural evolution.

Types of societies depend on their level of development:

Hunting and gathering
Horticultural
Pastoral
Agricultural
Industrial
Post industrial

HUNTING AND GATHERING

The oldest and most basic way of economic subsistence is hunting and gathering. Hunting and gathering societies produce
simple forms of tools used to hunt for animals and gather plants and vegetation for food. In this society, the men are tasked to
hunt large animal game like deer, elk, moose, and other animals available in their areas.
The women, are responsible for the collection of vegetation, berries, and small edible crops. During the time of the early
humans around 3,000,000 years ago, most people were hunters and food gatherers. Since hunting and gathering societies rely
on nature for their food, they frequently move and do not have permanent settlements. Hence, they are nomadic societies.
Hunters and gatherers live in caves and pit or underground houses that are dug and covered with tree branches and leaves.
During the Paleolithic period (2,500,000-10,000 BCE), these societies lived in small group with only 20 to 30 members. If there
were an abundant supply of food increased to 40 to 50. They usually have a shaman or priest who acts as the leader of the
group. And this society believe that spirits live in the world.

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES
developed around 10, 000 years ago and they are described as semi sedentary societies because they do not frequently
move as opposed to hunting and gathering societies.
Subsist in small through small-scale farming.
They produce and use simple forms of hand tools to plant crops.
They use hoes and digging sticks to bore holes in the grounds for seed planting.
There is a surplus of food. Because food supply is more than enough to feed the members of society, some of its
members engage in other forms of subsistence like making crafts and trading. Some members become priest.

Pastoral Societies
– developed around 10,000 years ago. The principal means of subsistence of pastoralist is animal domestication.
Pastoral Societies developed in dry regions of the world where raising crops was not possible.
Classified as animal herders and subsist based on the resources provided by their animals.
They engage in small-scale trading with other groups.
They are described as sedimentary as well because they have settlements but they do not stay in one place
permanently.
Both Horticultural societies and Pastoral Societies are described as having unequal social relations because some members act
as the ruling elite.

Agricultural societies
began in 5,000 years ago during the Neolithic period (8000-4000 BCE)
During this time, the Neolithic period occurred.
Started to cultivate wheat, barley, peas, rice, and millet between 8000 and 3500 BCE.
Human began to farm and domesticate animals. As their form of subsistence.
By 7000 BCE, Neolithic people produced cultivation tools and developed farming skills that can support and sustain a
town with a population of over a thousand people.
This new form of economic subsistence eventually spread in different parts of the world and it became known as the
Neolithic revolution, which transformed societies into agricultural societies.
Animal domestication provided important contributions to the Neolithic people. Sheep, goats, and pigs were the first
animal domesticated in West Asia between 8500 and 700 BCE.
Horned cattle domesticated around 6500 BCE.
Animal skin served as materials for clothes.
Animal horns and bones were also utilized for making needles and other utensils.
Animal manure was used as soil fertilizer.
Agricultural societies developed and their population increased into millions.
They settled permanently and improved the technology for farming.
Money become a form of exchange replacing the barter system.
 The development of agriculture also led to an increase in social inequality because most people in society acted as
serfs and slaves while a few members became elites and acted as owners of lands and other resources.

INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
Industrial societies began when the Industrial Revolution swept through Europe during the late eighteenth century and
the first half of the nineteenth century (from 1780s to 1850s)
During the industrial revolution, new sources were harnessed, advanced forms of technology were applied, and
machineries were invented.
These changes led to industrialization or the transformation of an agricultural society into a production-and
manufacturing based one. This was made by the use of advance sources of energy that operated factory machineries.
Industrialization produced a number of changes in society. It created centralized workplaces, economic
interdependence, formal education, and complex social system.
During this time, people left their farm lands and transferred to the urban areas to work in factories.

POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
With the development of information technology and computers, many societies transformed into post-industrial
societies.
Post-industrial revolution is an important development from the industrial revolution as economic production focused
on the use and application of new technology rather than factories.

Post-industrial society’s characteristics:

Transfer of labor workforce from manufacturing to service
A significant increase in the number of professional and technical employment and a decline in the number of skilled
and semiskilled workers.
Education as the basis of social mobility
Human capital as an essential aspect of understanding the strength of society.
Application of “intellectual technology” which is based on the application of mathematics and linguistics and the use
of algorithms and software programming models.
Focus on communication as source of invention and innovation

POLITICAL EVOLUTION and THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY CIVILIZATION

The development of early civilizations showed the political evolution of society. a civilization develops because of a society’s
highly advanced level of culture social organization political developments, judicial system, arts, and other forms of culture at
a particular time.

THE FOUR MAJOR CIVILIZATIONS IN THE WORLD

which flourished along the rich river plains of river valleys
Sumerian civilization that developed along the Tigris and Euphrates River in West Asia.
The Indus river Valley in India
The Shang civilization of China that developed near the Huang Ho/Huang he river
The Egyptian civilization that started along the river Nile. Considered as the cradles of human civilization because it
was in these river valley systems where Chinese, Indians, Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations developed and flourished.

Characteristics of Civilizations:
Developed and highly advanced cities
Well-defined city centers
Complex and systematic institutions
Organized and centralized system of government
Formalized and complex form of religion
Job specialization
Development of social classes
Implementation of large –scale public works and infrastructure like defense walls, monuments, temples, mausoleums,
government edifices, trading centers and markets
Sophisticated and detailed forms of arts and architecture
Advanced technology
System of writing and recording
Political systems of Civilizations have a highly centralized and well organized form of government whose leaders are powerful
enough to order the building of massive infrastructure and implement new policies for citizens.
The political system of the early civilizations had a clear hierarchy of officials with specific functions and responsibilities.
They also had codified laws and rules that were obeyed and followed by the people.
The early civilizations also developed an organized, stable, and effective government to ensure the safety of the people and
supervise the production and distribution of food supply.

Political leaders of early civilization tasked

Craft laws
Implement laws
Impose justice and punishment
Collect taxes
Sometimes acts as religious leaders as well

Social classes Sumerian Egypt Indus Valley Shang

Political leader Priest and Royalty Pharaoh Brahmin King Priest

and highest
social class

Other social 1. Wealthy 1. Government 1. Kshatriyas Working class

class merchants officials 2. Vaisyas (farmers, craftsmen,
2. Ordinary 2. Soldiers 3. Sudras soldiers)
workers 3. Scribes 4. Pariah
4. Merchants
5. Craftsmen
6. Peasants
7. Slaves

Activity: ESSAY
1. What makes human beings an important component in the development of early society?
2. How do early societies differ from one another? Explain

Activity : TIMELINE
Direction: using magazines, picture make a timeline of the socio cultural evolution of early society.