The archeology is the scientific study of past human culture and behavior, from the origins of humans to the present. The archaeology studies past human behavior through the examination of material remains of previous human societies. These remains include the fossils of humans, food remains, the ruins of buildings, and human artifacts items such as tools, pottery, and jewelry.
The Origin of Species presents us with a theory of natural selection. This theory is his attempt at an explanation on how the world and its species came to be the way that we know them now. Through the effects of man and the effects of nature, species have had a trial and error experiment ongoing. It is through these trials that the natural world has developed beneficial anomalies that at times seem too great to be the work of chance. When an animal gains a genetic edge over its competitors, be they of the same species or of another genus altogether, the animal has increased its chance of either procreation or adaptation. When this animal has this beneficial variance, the advantage becomes his and because of this, the trait is then passed on to the animal’s offspring. The theory of natural selection is not limited to inheritable and beneficial variations of a species. It also relies a great deal on the population growth and death of a species. For a species to continue to exist it must make sure of a few things. It must first produce more offspring than survive. If this is not done then the species is obviously going to die off. It is also important for the species to propagate at such a rate as to allow for variance.
It can be said that a firm grounding in Evolutionary Theory is necessary to any attempt at the study of Human Evolution. While Feder ...
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...only use information from the present to interpret the past. Archaeologists also try to experimentally recreate the pattern they find in their research a technique known as experimental archaeology. Successful recreations can become plausible explanations for how the archaeological record was formed. Three important implications for Paleolithic archaeological research on the origins and evolution. First, the capacity for behavioral variability we think to be uniquely evolved among recent human populations may be evolutionarily primitive. Second, this capacity for behavioral variability may be one shared with now-extinct hominine species. Finally, differences in the capacity for behavioral variability may not explain why these other species are extinct. The case for behavioral variability is a strong one, but few major issues in evolution boil down to single causes.
Over the last few hundred years, more and more has been added to the world’s fossil collection, fossils from all over the world. New theories have been created and old theories have almost been proven about the evolution of man. For example, we have proof that different species of man existed with certain types of DNA sequences and instincts, some we may not have anymore, or some that other species did not have back then. Even though it is subjected to much debate, one of the most widely accepted theories however, is that Homo sapiens interbred with the slightly more primitive species of man, the Neanderthal.
Archaeologists are trying very hard to understand the ethnographers. They do this because they want to understand just what it is that they are digging up, and the best way to find out is to ask the people who use them. Of course they are not perfect, and some archaeologists dig competitively (almost like tomb raiders), but overall, we can learn a lot about ancient people from the work of these two groups of scientists working together with the past and the present.
B.M.de Waal, Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution. Havard University Press: Massachusets, 2001.
As the earliest extinct human relatives to become known to science, the Homo neanderthalensis have snatched a relatively iconic influence in human evolutionary investigations. A significance that has been enormously reinforced by the substantial behavioral and fossil record that has expanded since the original Feldhofer Cave skullcap and partial skeleton were unexpectedly uncovered in 1856, by miners working in Germany’s Neander Valley (Tattersall & Jeffrey 1999: 7117-7119). ‘The Neanderthals’ is the informal classification of a particular group of large-brained hominids whom inhabited Europe and Western Asia between 130,000 to around 35,000 years ago. Complementary human populations lived at the same time in Africa and Asia. The Neanderthals were a highly successful race for a substantial period of time, but this situation chang...
Evolution in general, is a hard concept to grasp. There are multiple factors that effect the outcome a species, for example: genetics, nurture, nature, and the environment all play an important role. It was once said that species do not survive due to the fact that they are the strongest or the most intelligent, but because that species is the most responsive to change.
According to Darwin and his theory on evolution, organisms are presented with nature’s challenge of environmental change. Those that possess the characteristics of adapting to such challenges are successful in leaving their genes behind and ensuring that their lineage will continue. It is natural selection, where nature can perform tiny to mass sporadic experiments on its organisms, and the results can be interesting from extinction to significant changes within a species.
The origin of modern humans is a matter of debate. There are two different theories regarding the origin of modern humans or Homo sapiens. The first and primary theory states modern humans emerged in one place and from a single origin. This theory is known as the Recent African Origin Model. It suggests that modern humans are the product of speciation during the late Pleistocene in Africa. Homo sapiens eventually migrated out of Africa to Eurasia, and replaced all other human populations, without interbreeding. Some of the replaced populations are believe to be the Neanderthals and the Homo erectus. The second theory proposes that modern human evolution happened trough emigration, this is known as the multiregional evolution model. This model assumes that modern humans have an ancient rather than a recent African origin. This theory also talks about how all living humans derive from the species Homo erectus that left Africa nearly two million-years-ago. The multiregional view states that genes from all human populations of the Old World flowed among diverse areas and by coexisting, contributed to how modern humans look like nowadays. In order to understand the rise of modern human, it is important to first learn about the Neanderthals, group who existed and coexisted during the modern human evolution times. The Neanderthals are classified as an extinct subspecies of modern humans known as Homo sapiens Neanderthals, or as a separate human species called the Homo neanderthalensis. Both, the modern human and Neanderthal share some features and differ in others
With the studies that Charles Darwin obtained he published his first work, “The Origin of Species.” In this book he explained how for millions of years animals, and plants have evolved to better help their existence. Darwin reasoned that these living things had gradually changed over time to help themselves. The changes that he found seemed to have been during the process of reproduction. The traits which would help them survive became a dominant trait, while the weaker traits became recessive. A good example of what Darwin was trying to explain is shown in giraffes. Long-necked giraffes could reach the food on the trees, while the short-necked giraffes couldn’t. Since long necks helped the giraffes eat, short-necked giraffes died off from hunger. Because of this long-necks became a dominant trait in giraffes. This is what Charles Darwin would later call natural selection.
Anyone with even a moderate background in science has heard of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. Since the publishing of his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859, Darwin’s ideas have been debated by everyone from scientists to theologians to ordinary lay-people. Today, though there is still severe opposition, evolution is regarded as fact by most of the scientific community and Darwin’s book remains one of the most influential ever written.
Processual Archaeology, was a movement in the archaeological field that began in the 1960‘s and changed the course of archaeology forever. Anthropologists such as Julian Steward were absolutely influential on many archaeologists and anthropologists during the early 1960s with his theories of cultural ecology which established a scientific way of understanding cultures as human adaption to the surrounding environment (Steward, 1955: 36-38). It was approaches such as Stewards that led eventually led to a rejection of culture-historical approaches to the archaeological record and propelled the ideas of cultural evolution and its reaction with the environment. This approach to cultural systems was essentially a rejection of the culture-historical approach of determinism by suggesting that the environment influences culture but is not a deterministic feature and that both culture and the environment were two separate systems that are dependent on each other for change (Steward, 1955: 36).
10.) Archaeology - is the study of the remains of human behaviour in the past. It usually involves excavating sites where such remains including artifacts and ecofacts, can be found.
Charles Darwin in his book, On the Origin of Species, presents us with a theory of natural selection. This theory is his attempt at an explanation on how the world and its' species came to be the way that we know them now. Darwin writes on how through a process of millions of years, through the effects of man and the effects of nature, species have had an ongoing trial and error experiment. It is through these trials that the natural world has developed beneficial anomalies that at times seem too great to be the work of chance.
Throughout history, humans have asked many questions in regards to our own beginnings. Religion and science have examined what makes us who we are, and have tried to answer the enduring question of our own modern origins. Scientifically, theories are still debated as to when, where, and how modern Homo sapiens came to be what they are today. There are two major theories that now dominate the discussions of experts in the field of biological anthropology: the “Out-of-Africa” model and the “Multiregional” model of evolution. Stringer and Andrews argue that genetic and paleontological evidence supports a more recent Out-of-Africa model as opposed to a more drawn out Multiregional method that also incorporates gene flow (1263). In contrast, Wolpoff, Hawks, and Caspari claim that the Multiregional model is misunderstood, and clearing up discrepancies could bolster support for this theory instead (129). Pearson notes that while people like Wolpoff et al defend the Multiregional model, archaeological evidence seems to show that likely no intermixture between modern Homo sapiens and other archaic hominins happened during the spread of early Homo sapiens out of Africa (145). It is easy to see that the debate lingers onwards with an end not clearly in sight. This paper will further examine the arguments asserted by these authors and identify their core arguments, the data they use to support their arguments and determine which paper is the most convincing of the three.
Undoubtedly, the claim that all human behaviour can be explained by evolutionary psychology in some way is an ambitious one, but that is perhaps because evolutionary psychology attempts an ambitious goal: to unify not only psychological disciplines, but also the anthropological, sociological and biological. With this in mind, it is easier to see how the foregoing conclusion might be possible, probable even. At the very least, it is undeniable that evolutionary psychology provides a foundation with which to explore and interpret human behaviour even in spite of those subjects with which it says little about.
Mankind’s origin is from God through creation. The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 1 verse 27; So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him: male and female created He them. The Bible also says in Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.