Cultural evolution Flashcards
culture
anything that is learnt, eg making tools hunting food prep language etc
cultural evolution
- gradual improvement in tools
- better methods of obtaining food
- increased sophistication of language
or other changes that result in a complex culture
Australopithecines - Oldowan tools
Olduvai valley in Kenya, 2.6-1.7 million years ago
- pebble tools including choppers, scrapers, flakes, chisels
- scrapers: precision grip needed
- no evidence that tools were modified, used pebbles as they were
Australopithecines - significance of Oldowan tools
allowed exploitation of broader range of habitats as they exploit resources in their environment more effectively, explore other continents and colonise them, disperse from africa 2 million ya
Australopithecines - social - shelter
lived in home bases, camp site to which prehistoric hunters brought back food for other members of the group
Homo habilis - Oldowan tools
- sharpened and shaped by striking 1 stone with another
- skinning animals, chopping up meat, breaking open bones, digging up edible plant roots
Homo habilis - tools and diet link
cut marks on bones were made by both teeth and stone tools, shows that they were both scavengers and hunters
scavenging > hunting, increased hunting as homo evolved
Homo habilis - social - collecting food
shared food, worked in groups, males hunt, females gather plant material
grassland hunter gatherers
Homo habilis - social - language
communication important due to sharing food, bulge in speech producing area of brain, but larynx unable to make complex sound
Homo erectus culture significance
modify env to suit their own needs, effect of env as a selective agent diminishing
fire, building shelters, range of sophisticated tools
Homo erectus - Acheulean tools
- St Acheul in Frace, 1.7 million - 200 000 years ago
- hand axes, flaked all around the edges, first in 1 direction and then the other, until they formed 2-faced lumps, teardrop in shape
- tools now developed for a specific purpose
- systematic in the use of tools, increased commitment to routine meat eating
Homo erectus - fire
good example of manipulation of env to suit needs
- warmth and light
- keep predators away
- food safer to eat
- increase range of foods eaten by increased flavour and digestibility
Homo erectus - shelter
Terra Amata, 21 levels of habitation, constructed huts for shelter
Homo erectus - finding food
skillful hunter, employ a variety of techniques to catch prey like group hunting
homo erectus - social
- capable of logical thought, had the ability to communicate and work with others in an organised and efficient manner
- care for young increasingly more important, emphasis on cooperation
- spoken language could have existed, not possible to tell
homo erectus - collective learning
- social learning, communication lead to development of tools
- this resulted in collective learning, ability to retain more info with one generation that is lost by the next
- slow in erectus, but huge part of cultural development for later Homos
Homo neanderthalensis - Mousterian industry
Le moustier, France, 200 000 to 40 000 years ago
- flake tools that were then trimmed to form various cutting, scraping, piercing and gouging tools
- Levallois technique: piece of stone first trimmed into a disc-shaped core, then struck by another piece of stone flakes that were flat on one side and had sharp edges
Homo neanderthalensis - hafting
tool joined onto a handle, spear or arrow through a process called hafting, broadened the use and increased effectiveness of tools
they used tools to make more tools
Homo neanderthalensis - significance of tools
require planning and the ability to forsee possible outcomes, significant development in cognition of species
Homo neanderthalensis - effect of better tools
- collective learning - they used tools to make more tools, systematic in the use of tools and fire
- use flake tools to make clothes in cool climates to keep warm
Homo neanderthalensis - social
- burying dead, belief in the afterlife
- ceremonial burials practiced
- cared for disabled members, highly developed social system of sharing food and other resources
Homo sapiens - Aurignacian tools
Aurignac, France, 43 000, 26 000
- blade tools, flakes of stone with roughly parallel sides
- made by removing long flat rectangles from the core stone, easy to handle, and effective in cutting
- both bone and stone
Homo sapiens - tools in general
finer blades, projectile weapons
better clothing and shelters, survive the cold of europe
Homo sapiens - Solutrean culture
Solutre, France, 22 000 to 19 000 years ago
- blades formed in the shape of willow or laurel leaves
- many hours of intricate skill to produce, probably an ornament or symbol of tool maker’s craft
Homo sapiens - Magdalenian culture
La Madeline, France, 18 000 to 12 000 years ago
- art produced
- bone and antler tools made using a chisel like cutter, a tool used for manufacture of other tools
- bone, antler, ivory cut to make a range of tools, eg fine needles, barbed spear points, spear throwers
Homo sapiens - social
new neurological connections gave them new abilities, maybe fully articulate speech to pass on information effectively
Australopithecines special features
rounded skull at back, no brow ridges
low forehead
short, less mobile thumb, fingers heavily built
afarensis stats
3.9 to 2.8 mya, 105-150cm, east africa
afarensis special features
- low sloping forehead
- 430cm3
- short saggital crest
- diastema present
- long curved fingers and toes
africanus stats
3.2-2 mya, 110-130cm, southern africa
africanus special features
- slightly arched forehead
- 457cm3
- less curved fingers and toes
significance of Laetoli footprints
Afarensis walked over wet volcanic ash
- deep impression at heel, and when big toe pushes forward for next stride
lateral transmission of weight from heel to big toe, well developed longitudinal arch
- gait not side to side, carying angle present, allow him to walk straight
Paranthropus stats
southern africa, 1.8-1.2 mya, 100-120cm
Paranthropus special features
- sagittal crest
- large premolars and molars, small incisors and canines (more veg based diet for grinding and chewing)
- wide dish-shaped face
- large zygomatic arches
- heavy brow ridges
- flatter forehead than Aus
- heavier than graciles
habilis stats
1.5-2.3 mya, 110-130, east and south africa
habilis features
large cranium in comparison to face
slightly curved finger bones, more robust hands, strong power grip
small brow ridge
590cm3
erectus stats
2mya-100 000ya 145-185cm, bit of europe
erectus features
low sloping forehead
more prominent brow ridges
short stocky body with thick bones
large thick jaw
no chin
decreased molar size, less prognathism
1004cm3
neanderthalensis stats
28 000 to 300 000 ya, germany middle east, 156-168cm
neanderthalensis features
long low brain case
1485cm3
sloping forehead
heavy brow ridges
occipital bun
depression at the back of the skull
no chin
flared zygomatic arches
more prognathism
short heavily jointed limbs with powerful muscles
barrel shaped ribcage with thick muscles
wide pelvis
sapiens stats
300 000 years to present, worldwide, 160-175cm
sapiens features
chin
higher in region of the top of the skill and rounder at the back
shorter skulls from front to back
short slender trunks, long limbs
less wide pelvis
