Cultural Complexity And Its Impact On Modern Humans

These findings insist on the idea that our ancestors evolved to be scavengers and gatherers because it was the only way to find nutrients. Early humans were required to search for food. Conditions required them to evolve in a way that the body stores energy, so when resources became scarce, they stayed healthy and could contribute to their community efficiently. Obtaining the ability to store energy in order for humans stay healthy was an extremely important factor. After our ancestors migrated out of East Africa, they evolved to wonder and scavenge for food. Now, humans are able to live comfortably in a single location. Compared to our ancestors constantly moving looking for food and shelter. (Jurmain et al. 350-351).

Human societies have also evolved from simple structures of early hunting-and-gathering communities to the more complex cosmopolitan cities of today. The hunting-and-gathering communities were fairly simple societies demanding the minimum of resources. Complexity grew with farming communities and more energy was necessary to sustain the larger populations and the demands of a stable, non-nomadic life. Early civilizations saw an increase in complexity with the introduction of specialization and trade. Which, again, required more energy to sustain even larger communities. Cultural evolution has evolved so much that cities today are only possible because of humans’ ability to control energy by the movement of food across large distances to easily accessible locations (McNeill 2003, 320-321).

Describe the major developments of early human and social evolution. Throughout, discuss tool manufacturing, language development, agriculture, social behavior, and population growth.

From the early prehistoric society until now, we often heard the word “adaptation”, which means the process of changing something or changing our behavior to deal with new situations. The ways people adjust their natural environment varies according to time, place, and tribe. Foraging is common way of adaptation that people uses for most of human history; however because of the population pressure, some people adopt agriculture to fulfill their need. This essay, will discuss the positive and negative aspects of life in hunting and gathering societies compared to the agricultural societies based on Martin Harris’ article “Murders in Eden” and Jared Diamond’s article “The Worst Mistake in the History of Human Race.”

Despite the evolutionary many benefits and gradient expenses with human intelligence, increased brain size did not occur because it was able to expand by itself. Environmental factors are what led to the evolutionary changes. A fundamental principle of evolutionary theory is that evolution is the balanced outcome between costs and benefits. Since the price of maintaining a large brain is greater, it is inherently improbably that expansion of the brain will evolve without a selection factor being adequate to overcome the high expenses. (Dunbar, 2007) There has been a strong correlation between increased temperatures in the global climate and increased endocranial volume. Over the past three million years, the average global temperature has been steadily increasing, as well as the braincase of human ancestors. Strong evidence of this is seen between the period approximately 200,000 to 800,000 years ago where the Earth’s climate experienced the greatest temperature fluctuations which

This was the beginning of agriculture and cities. Humans then began to become exceedingly reliant upon one another for survival and less reliant on their own skills and intelligence. When this came about, natural selection took its toll allowing generations to adjust to this change. Not long after this, Mutations were generated as far as stupidity. For example, Dr. Gerald Crabtree and his colleagues wrote "A hunter-gatherer who did not correctly conceive a solution to providing food or shelter probably died, along with his/her progeny, whereas a modern Wall Street executive that made a similar conceptual mistake would receive a substantial bonus and be a more attractive mate.

That meant that there were more calories available for larger brains, which of course was an evolutionary advantage. It also took much much less time to eat, leaving time to hunt, socialize and form tribes and communities, and procreate.

These humans used complex hunting tools and techniques to stalk and kill the targeted pray. The precise planning that went into hunting large game consisted of technological advances in the production of tools used to kill, and the cooperation of a group to obtain the game. The adoption of hunting strategies presented humans with daily reliable access to essential proteins and other micronutrients. The animals also proved to be easier to digest and contained more calories, which gave humans more energy to continue hunting these large

       In the article, "Neanderthal Brain Size at Birth Provides Insights into the Evolution of Human Life History" by Marcia S. Ponce de Leon discussed human life history is characterized by an extended period of developmental immaturity. This pattern of ontogeny is thought to be necessary for higher cognitive capabilities (Ponce de Leon 37). However, recent studies suggest the differences between the human brain growth and the chimpanzees are less evident (Ponce de Leon 37). Humans reach their large adult brains by means of higher growth rates early during ontogeny (Ponce de Leon 37). With that being said, large adult brains are connected with slow life histories (Ponce de Leon 37). Even so, the

As we look back in time, ages ago, humans had organized ways of living. Scientist have found that it is easiest to classify their body into seven categories. These categories consist of urban focus, new political and military structures, new social structure based on economic power, the development of more complexity in a material sense, a distinct religious structure, the development of writing, and new and significant artistic and intellectual activity. Each of these categories played a key role in the effectiveness in which their societies were ran. We have been able to find evidence from as far back as 250,000 years ago.

Humans are the most unique species on Earth. We have gained the ability to things never accomplished before on Earth. We can control our environment, domesticate other species, and more importantly, form complex connections and societies with one another. However, it is widely debated about how we evolved from simple ape-like foragers to the meat-eating, community-building species we are today. In this paper, we will be looking at three authors: Richard Wrangham, Pat Shipman, and Frans de Wall. Each of which approach this question from different directions.

The latter phases of the Paleolithic Era brought about a multitude of changes in social interaction as well as technology. These advancements allowed early Homo sapiens to adapt to new continent’s environments at a rapid rate.

Understanding human evolutions is important for identifying the stages of humanity and for understanding how our societies have developed. When most of us think about human

This article explores the hypothesis which explains how human can adapt and change to the environment around them. The hominin fossil record documents a history of evolution events which defined what it means to be a human, which includes the origins of bipedalism; the emergences of our genes, Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The geological record suggests that some of the evolutionary events coincides with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the intriguing possibility that human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected or controlled by the environmental characteristics of the areas

Complexity in nature acts as a limiting factor on not only the human species, but also all the species of earth. Ecosystems residing between the tropics possess immense biodiversity that creates barriers to human expansion, often in the form of disease. As early humans migrated from tropical ecosystems to less elaborate, temperate ecosystems, a “niche-shift” took place (McNeill 55). Homo sapiens found themselves in a less-resilient habitat, inhibiting new survival tactics. Agriculture arose as means to make survival simpler. Rather than expending energy gathering edible plant species, humans began growing those species on plots of land. Inherently a “desire to liberate food from nature” arose amongst groups of humans, which came to be the early workings of human civilization, known as settlements (Pollan 117). Cultivation of plants as means of simplification allowed