Comparing Modern Humans to our Ancient Ancestors

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The Paleolithic era is known as the time when early humans developed tools made out of stone, hence the name “ Old Stone Age”. This dates back to one of the times in prehistory and is regarded as the stage where the human developed. The early people of the Paleolithic era were hunters and gatherers, which meant they survived on either what they could kill or eating berries and nuts. Today, the contemporary human has since evolved to a more dominant species, are more technologically advanced, have written language, and no longer have to rely on killing animals to survive. Although many things have changed over the centuries, I believe that we still have some aspects that are similar to our ancestors. Some aspects that the prehistoric people have in common with the modern humans are tools and architecture, their culture, and their use of spoken language.

The early humans were primarily hunters and gatherers but we manage to find evidence of other activities such as using tools and building structures. Some examples of stone tools that were developed during their time were cleavers, chisels, grinders, hand axes, arrows and spearheads. I believe this is an aspect that we have in common with the early humans because they knew how to develop tools and be innovative like the modern human today. With the prehistoric human’s discovery of making fire through tools, another similar aspect comes into play, and that is in cooking. According to Henry M. Sayre, the early hominids “ cut their meat with flint tools and ate steaks and marrow. (Pg. 4)” This shows that the Paleolithic people did not eat raw food like most carnivores, but instead cooked the meat so it could taste better. As of date, the contemporary humans still put t...

... middle of paper ...

... a more dominant species or if we just learned from our past mistakes.

Works Cited

Bryant, Charles W. "How Did Language Evolve?" HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, 25 Aug. 2010. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Hautala, Keith, and Benjamin Kandt. "UKNOW University of Kentucky News." UK Linguist Reconstructs Sounds of Prehistoric Language. University of Kentucky, 24 Oct. 2013. Web. 09 Feb. 2014.

Sancho-Velazquez, Angeles. "Beginnings of Culture." Cal State Fullerton. Langsdorf Hall, Fullerton, California. 28 Jan. 2014. Lecture.

Sayre, Henry M., and Henry M. Sayre. Discovering the Humanities: Culture, Continuity & Change. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.

Yirka, Bob. "Linguist Study Finds Core Group of Words Has Survived for 15,000 Years." Linguist Study Finds Core Group of Words Has Survived for 15,000 Years. Phys.org, 7 May 2013. Web. 09 Feb. 2014.

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