Tracing Our Roots: Early Human Evolution and Socioeconomic Practices

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Introduction

Evolution of human beings and the evolutionary paths have been a contested topic since the time people shifted their interests into trying to understand where human beings came from. This was due to the need to know the past in order to understand the present and be able to predict the future as an effort to satisfy human curiosity through knowledge

The socioeconomic practices of these people and the intervening factors that influenced them to make the choices they made need an understanding, as well as their similarities and differences in terms of means of subsistence and culture. Natural factors may have affected the way that these people adopted and reacted to the environmental and climatic changes

This paper seeks to find out how the early human communities were organized in terms of their social and economic sectors in Africa, Asia and Europe and their differences from those that preceded them or came after them.

Description of the paper

This paper seeks to explain look at the theories on the place of origin and the subsequent spread of man. Since man has always been on the move to get better chances to exploit the environment, what motivations did the early man have? This is later followed by the review of data on middle stone age but in order to have a clear understanding of the conditions that existed before and after this era, the early Stone Age together with the late Stone Age is examined. The patterns of life are examined to determine the nature of social and economic life they led.

The Neanderthals are examined and their way of life compared to that of the early modern man to establish their similarities and differences so as to understand the theories on their displacement and/or assimilation

Human origins

Human beings origins and their ways of life has been a very popular topic of discussion among the scholars in the early man ways of life. This is because there are no records that can shed light to what was really happening and the conditions that existed that may have influenced these people to act in particular ways. There is extensive use of physical anthropology, which is the study of the past cultures and ways of life together with human origins and evolution to try and understand the early man (Aiello 73).

The historians and the anthropologists have seen evolution as having two theories that are very diverse in the sense that the theories falsify each other. One of the theories sees the modern man as having originated from Africa and later spread to other parts of the world more than 100000 years ago. This sees Africa as the cradle of the mankind and in that it says that there is archeological evidence to prove that the oldest fossils that have a link to the modern man were found in Africa. This theory is countered by the regional evolution theory that says that there was no single noted area of origin in the history of the evolution of man but each region evolved from their ancestors in the specific regions (Aiello 73).

The overview of the middle stone age

The middle Stone Age, also called the Mesolithic, was a period in the pre history or before the recorded or written down historical accounts that spanned between the early and the late Stone Age. This period is said to have started approximately 300000 years ago and continued up to nearly 50000 ago when it is said to have ended. The span of the middle Stone Age is not standard in all areas in that its duration and when it started and ended differ from place to place. This is because the period was an indication that the societies had developed from the stage of the early Stone Age to a higher class and these developments were not happening at the same rates (Childs 28).

The variations in the rates of developments can be attributed to the differences in climates or the sudden climate change such as the last ice age which could have accelerated or hindered the processes of evolution The patterns and rates of development and evolution in the past eras could also explain why some areas got in and out of the Mesolithic stage faster than others. Those that had accelerated rates of development reached the Mesolithic stage earlier than the others and did not stay in this stage for longer than necessary before advancing to the late Stone Age (Hilton-Barber 101).

Conditions that preceded the middle stone age

The Stone Age was divided into three distinct phases. These are the Old Stone Age, the middle stone age or the Mesolithic period and lastly the new Stone Age also called the Neolithic period

The Paleolithic period is the era that encompasses the period when humans were predominant hunters and gatherers. This period started around two million years ago and ended around 10000 years ago. This era is divided into three distinct parts which are the lower, middle and the upper periods. The lower Paleolithic period ended around 200000 years ago. It is in this period that we see the introduction of the stone tools and this stage is the earliest stage of Stone Age.

In this stage the form of lively hood for the people was hunting and gathering. In the small hunters and gatherers communities, a form of lawlessness existed whereby they lived in a free society. However the people in this period formed cooperative groups in which they used to provide for their livelihood.

There was the development of bands that used to cooperate in the gathering of the edible fruits and also in hunting. These bands consisted of about 25 to 100 persons. The cooperation in the hunting excursions can be attributed to the fact that since man had become bipedal, the animals they hunted could see them from afar and this made hunting harder hence the need for cooperation.

The stone tools they manufactured included spears, bows and arrows, fishing harpoons, choppers and scrapers. Their form of lifestyle was mobile whereby they used to move with the variations in amounts of the sources of their subsistent. They lived in caves or huts and this was near the water bodies like the rivers and lakes. This can be explained as a need to be near the source of fish since they had already refined their fishing methods through the advent of the harpoon.

The advent of the bows and arrows can be said to be a response to the diminishing forest cover that made hunting easier so these people had to invent ways to hunt in the open grasslands hence the need for projectiles.

Middle Stone Age

This corresponds with the middle Paleolithic period and it stated at around 300,000 and ended in 30,000 years ago.

The start of the Mesolithic period saw the end of the Pleistocene era. This era was filled with glaciers and snow as a result of the climate changes brought about by the tectonic movements of the earth plates. These changes in temperatures delayed or accelerated the changes to this period. In some areas agriculture was already in practice due to the favorable climatical conditions even when the other areas were covered with ice (Childs 28).

In Europe the Mesolithic started around 16600 years ago and its end was after the farming had been invented. This period is characterized by thee use of the tools made of flints from the microliths. It is in this period that we witness the early man collecting, modifying and using tools and objects that he got from the environment. Man made bows and arrows, boats and baskets. The boats were to aid him in his fishing excursions while the baskets were to help transport the fish and wild fruits that he gathered. Hunting and gathering continued to be the main source of subsistence (Mellars 10).

People in this period lived in caves or huts by the water bodies but their form of social organization was more developed than that of those in the early Stone Age for apart from forming cooperative bands they also formed tribes.

In the middle Stone Age as is evident in the late Paleolithic period, there is emergence of the belief in the spiritual world and the possibility of a life after death. This can be shown by the introduction of burying the dead and the emergence of burial rituals. This showed their respect for the dead and the question of why they would perform the rituals if they did not believe that the dead were not gone forever. There was also the emergence of the ancestor worship and the aspect of religious inclinations is witnessed.

Late Stone Age

This was also called the upper Paleolithic and was characterized by a more advanced technological together with cultural advancement. People used stone tools that through the processes of polishing and/or grinding were shaped and structured in ways that made their use more efficient. Due to the introduction of agriculture as the Mesolithic stage was ending the late Stone Age witnessed domestication of plants together with animals. Agriculture called for a more permanent way of live leading to introduction of villages (UNESCO: International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa 462).

Neanderthal man

These are the people who lived in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa during the late Pleistocene period and used the tools made or used during the Paleolithic period. This people lived in these areas from around 300000 to about 30000 years ago. The Neanderthal man is named after thee place where his remains were first discovered. That was in the Neander valley in Germany in the year 1856 (“Neanderthal” Encyclopedia Britannica Para 1).

They were short in height, stout in stature and powerful people who walked erect. The lived in caves and used fires for cooking food and keeping themselves warm. The tools they used were a combination of stone, bone and wooden tools which they used for hunting and/or fishing. They had some religious inclination whereby they buried their dead showing a new found respect for the dead. The sick in their communities were well taken care of. Neanderthals are said to be the pioneers of burials (“Neanderthal” Encyclopedia Britannica Para 5).

The disappearance of the Neanderthals has led to the research on if they were a stage in human evolution or if they were distinct and separate from the evolutionary path of the modern man. This has led to the rise of two theories in which one argue that they were area specific in their origins and were absorbed into the mainstream modern man groups through the processes of interbreeding while the other group who believe that man originated from one place say that the Neanderthals never interbred with other humans but were displaced by the modern man as his populations expanded (Hovers and Kuhn 5).

There are other conservative thinkers who hold on to the two theories saying that as they interbred, the Neanderthals were displaced by the modern man on competitive basis (Shea Para 5).

The Neanderthals way of life was different from that of the modern man in that the modes of occupation of certain areas seemed to differ. This can be seen from the information got from the remains found at Skhul and Qafez and also those from Tabun level C archeological sites. This information showed that the modern man in the early days shifted habitations on a single season basis whereas information on the Neanderthals from Tabun B or at Kebara showed that they stayed at the same site on different seasons and these characteristics were shown on different areas indica5tikng that they were not as a result of environment but of their behavioral patterns (Shea Para 7).

Hunting strategies of the two groups seemed to differ in that the Neanderthals were used to hunting the big game using the thrusting spears while the early modern man who used wooden spears and hunted a wide range of animals. The thrusting spears used by the Neanderthals had flake armatures which have sometimes been found embedded onto the bones of the animals they used hunt and a collection of such flakes found in their habitats as seen in Levant (Shea Para 8).

The Neanderthals had an aesthetic or symbolic aspect perspective where they used red ochre, pendants made of tooth, bones and stones that were carved in a certain way or even the use of the exotic shells (Rosen 152). There was a change in the in the weapons the Neanderthals use to the incorporation of the projectile weapons that were characterized by their low weights and increased speeds which included the javelins and arrows. This made it possible to maintain a safe distance while hunting (Shea Para 12).

Developments by the archaic human

During the lower Paleolithic period there was the advent of the Oldowan and the Acheulian industries. In the middle Paleolithic the Mousterian tools came to be and the similarity of these tools with the ones used in other parts of the world can be noted especially Africa and Asia. This technology emphasized in the reduction of size of the tools (Fage and Oliver 32).

Fire was discovered by these people also the idea of modern mode of life where a man and a woman lived together for not only reproductive but social purposes. These people also came up with the idea of religion and the burial of the dead which they did consciously or intentionally. Such tasks needed to be learnt and preserved for the future generations therefore implying that they had to have a complex and advanced mode of communication.

The issue of the issue of the family developed whereby there was cooperation in the means of obtaining and preparing subsistence. There was the emergence of a permanent family settlement where man and woman formed a union to take care of the children

Conclusion

Human beings origins and their ways of life has been a very popular topic of discussion among the scholars in the early man ways of life. The origins of man have been explained by historians and the anthropologists who saw evolution as having two theories that are very diverse in the sense that the theories falsify each other. Among these one of them believe that Africa is the cradle for human beings in that they originated from here and spread elsewhere while the other sees evolution as being area specific in that every area has an d had its own evolutionary capabilities.

The middle Stone Age also called the Mesolithic was a period in the pre history or before the recorded or written down historical accounts that spanned between the early and the late Stone Age. Due to the differences I ,the rates of changing, the span of the middle Stone Age is not standard in all areas in that its duration in the scope of how long it ran, and when it started and ended differ from place to place. This is because the period was an indication that the societies had developed from the stage of the early Stone Age to a higher class and these developments were not happening at the same rates. The societies had to be through with one stage in order to enter the other one and the time they took in the stages was not equal so the times for these stages overlapped.

The Neanderthals are the people who lived in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa during the late Pleistocene period and used the tools made or used during the Paleolithic period. This people lived in these areas from around 300000 to about 30000 years ago. They were a diverse from the mainstream early modern man in the way of their behavior and how they reacted to the environment. The extinction of the Neanderthals has come to be an interesting study of study for before they were displaced, they had shown strong survival skills for over a quarter of a generation.

The early human societies made some monumental steps in the innovation and invention in their time. The invention of fire meant that they now had a means to prepare and soften their food before consuming it. It also meant a change from being carnivores that ate fresh meat. The food preparation process meant more duties hence might led to the start of division of labor.

References

Aiello, Leslie C. The Fossil Evidence for Modern Human Origins in Africa: A Revised View, University College London. 1993.

Childs, S. Terry, University of Pennsylvania and Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology. Society, culture, and technology in Africa. Pennsylvania: UPenn Museum of Archaeology. 1994.

Fage, J. D. and Oliver, Roland Anthony. The Cambridge history of Africa, Volume 2 of from CA. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1050. London, Cambridge University Press. 1986.

Hilton-Barber, Brett. Field guide to the Cradle of Humankind: Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai & Environs World Heritage Site. Cape Town: Struik. 2004.

Hovers, Erella and Kuhn, Steven L. Transitions before the Transition: Evolution and Stability in the Middle Stone Age. New York, Springer Science Business Media. 2006.

Mellars, Paul. The Neanderthal legacy: an Archaeological Perspective from Western Europe. London, Princeton University Press. 1996.

“Neanderthal” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2010. Web.

Rosen, Steven A. Lithics after the Stone Age: a handbook of stone tools from the Levant. Walnut Creek, Rowman Altamira. 1997.

Shea, John J. “Modern Human Origins and Neanderthal Extinctions in the Levant.” Athena Review Vol.2, no.4: Neanderthals Meet Modern Humans Anthropology Department. Stony Brock: State University of New York Athena Publications, Inc. 2001. Web.

UNESCO: International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa. General History of Africa: Methodology and African prehistory Volume 1 of General History of Africa. UNESCO: International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa. 1981.

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