The Beginning Of Civilization Essays
By Michael Oddo
1.Why was the discovery of fire so important?
During the Pre-Historical period, the discovery of fire was a crucial turning point. This discovery was so important because it enabled some of the early humans to be able to complete certain important tasks more easily and greatly improve the quality of their lives. They could now have warmth in cold weather, light in the dark, cook food, use it to communicate with others and protect themselves from animals. This innovation completely changed how early humans lived, including their daily routine, diet, and even communication. This advancement helped change and evolve the daily lives of humans and increase their chance of survival.
2. Why won’t specific details about the physical appearance and customs of the earliest people ever be fully known?
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The most detailed replications of the early human are totally based off of skulls and other bone configurations, along with drawings and paintings off of cave walls. Additionally, the customs of these prehistoric people are inferred by the few physical remains that do exist, which do not tell too much about the the personalities and daily habits of pre-historic humans. For an exact, or close to exact, an accurate replication of the physical appearance and customs of the earliest people, would have to be created by studying an intact body along with clothing and other cultural evidence. Therefore, specific details about the physical appearance and customs of some of the earliest humans will never be fully known.
3.How do current archeological findings keep revising our knowledge of the prehistoric
‘Lucy’ was exposed by Donald Johanson, an anthropologist, with his team, went to survey Hadar in Ethiopia during the late 1970s for signs in understanding Human origins. On November 24, 1974 by the Awash River, Donald’s’ plan for the day was to update his notes but decided otherwise when one of his students, Tom Gray, joined him to find fossil bones. Both of them were on the hot waterless plains examining the sandy terrain when a fossil was spotted; it turned out to be an arm bone fragments on a slope. As they looked closer, more and more bones were found, including a jaw, arm bone, a thighbone, ribs, and vertebrae. Donald and Tom had cautiously examined the limited skeleton and calculated that a remarkable 40% of a hominid skeleton was salvaged,
2. Using the evidence left from early human burial grounds and stone tools, anthropologists were able to infer that early human societies were egalitarian, hunter-gatherers, nomadic, easily adaptable, and developed sophisticated technologies.
In the Article “Redrawing Humanity’s Family Tree” by John Noble Wilford, describes how two different skulls challenge the theories of human origins and migrations. The Central African skull, that dates back to nearly 7 million years ago, was assigned to a whole new genus and species because of its apelike and evolved hominid species. The 1.75-million-year-old Georgian skull shows evidence that the first hominids may have been intercontinental travelers who set motion the migrations that occupied the whole planet. Finally a third skull was found that is the same age and shares a resemblance but, the size of the skull suggests that the brain was smaller than expected for H. erectus.
Lastly, we come to Homo erectus which date back from 1.8 million years to about 200,000 years ago. Homo erectus has been found in Africa and Asia which makes it the first wide ranging species of its kind (Human Evolution). Despite the look of Homo erectus’s skull it was very similar body structure to that of a humans. Homo erectus is also thought to be the first hominid to use fire and have a true sence of culture (Human Evolution). Though it was probably dramatically different than what we see
The author of A World Lit Only by Fire is William Manchester. This book was written in three chapters. In the first chapter he starts to talk about the dark ages between A. D. 400 and A.D. 1000. He begins to write about this time period were there are no survivors left to be offended. This author attempted to write this book to defend an unpopular view among historians that the medieval world was backward in the terms of culture, religion, and technology. This world was destroyed by the blossoming of confidence in reason and the progress of art, literacy, astronomy, geography, and theology. In the first chapter the book is speaking about Manchester’s conception of the medieval mindset.
Discoveries relating to the human lineage are extremely exciting and often baffling. This is the case with the recent discovery of what seems to be the oldest member of the human family. A skull found in northern Chad in 2001, has been deemed the earliest relative to the human ever found. Nicknamed Toumai, and discovered by Michel Brunet and his paleontology team, this new category of human has been given the scientific name, Sahelanthropus tchaensis. What makes this skull so definitive is the fact that it dates back approximately 6-7 million years in the earth’s history (Whitfield 2002). Since the discovery there have been anthropologists and paleontologists that have
Currently, there is a dichotomy among archaeologists concerning the origin of modern humans. One main argument places emphasis on multi regional expansion of humans in which anatomically modern humans arose in multiple regions around the world. Another proposes that modern humans originated strictly from Africa before migrating to the rest of the world. While both theories have merit, archaeological evidence is in support of the Out of Africa model.
With the kind of setting in the story it caused many bad things to happen such as freezing in water. Through out the story the man is always aware of the dangers he has to face. The dog also knew what she had to do in order to stay alive. And With that said what do you think you would do in a situation like the mans where he needed to build a
“How old is the oldest human fossil?,” If you had said about 700,000 years, you would probably have been right until just recently that is, “The September 1998 issue of Discover magazine”, reports that Ernesto Abbate, a geology professor from Florence, Italy, has just discovered the fossilized skull and teeth of a humanlike creature who might have lived, as far back as, one million years ago. Calling this creature Buia Man after the city in northeastern Africa where the remains were found. Prof. Abbate thinks he has discovered the earliest fossil that displays physical features associated with Homo sapiens, the species to which modern humans belong. Moreover, Buia Man says, Prof. Abbate also shows physical
The appearance of art, burials, clothing and the use of fire in our early ancestors to control their environment and evolve culturally. These are all learned behaviours that were taught to each other. Just like the chimpanzee mother teaches her children things, early hominids learned the same way. Through cave paintings and bodies tucked together in burial, we can study how early hominids were creating their own culture norms and had thoughts and feelings like modern humans
Ralph, the main character who was nominated the leader said “We must make a fire. A fire! Make a fire" (Page 52). At the start of the novel the boys knew that creating a fire was a necessity. This survival feature was able to provide light, to cook their meals, and keep them warm.
The Article Ancestors was published in August 2001 it was published by Archaeological Institute of America and was intended for anthropologists. This article informs readers that two new fossils where found in Kenya, which gives us evidence that we did not evolve from a single ancestor. This gives us new insight not only on how species evolve but more importantly where we came from. The author put pictures in the article to show the fossils and a map to show where they were found. The pictures give readers visual evidence on how the species are related to us and that we evolved from more than one species. The author also goes into detail about the skull and skeleton parts that where found. Stating where they were found, how old they are, and
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.
Genetic evidence sheds considerable light on the origins of the hominid lineage. An increasing body of fossil data helps us to understand where and when hominids came into existence. The first signs of hominid evolution are the morphological changes associated with bipedality, a locomotor pattern that offered fitness, advantages in a new environment. However, other behaviors remained similar to those of nonhuman primates. Dramatic progress came with the evolution of Homo erectus, who exhibited more "human" morphology and life ways. Thus, behavioral, fossil and artifact data couple to give us a glimpse into our evolutionary past.
While both fire and wheel had huge impacts on the advancement of civilization, fire was a necessity of mankind; a primitive society would have barely survived without it during the Ice Age. Although the invention of fire contributed immensely to the human race in a way that provided warmth, the beneficial attributes of the wheel helped propel the human race. Pottery keyed into the result of a profound invention affecting the modern world, the wheel. According to researchers, the earliest depiction of the wheel was a potter’s lathe in Mesopotamian, now known as modern-day Iraq war zone around 3000 BC. Before using wheels on chariots to commute from one destination to another, they may have been used as practical applications.