Humans have long been evolving physically and mentally in order to survive on earth. They have evolved their physical attributes as well as their intelligence to properly prepare them for the changing environments on earth. Since the Old Stone age, human intelligence has allowed them to continue to adapt to various tasks that were commonly performed by the Old Stone age people. These common behaviors and lifestyles of the prehistoric times would eventually help the human communities to survive in this dangerous world as a successful species. Most of our everyday activities and common behaviors such as living in homes, having a nutritional diet, inventing new innovations, and particularly surviving as a group, are derived from the lifestyles of the Paleolithic people. Although there may be some differences between the aspects of life from the prehistoric and modern times, much of the features of how people lived back then have played a significant role in securing the survival of humanity today.
There are countless differences and similarities between the behaviors of the paleolithic people and the people of the twenty-first century. While the people of the Old Stone age lived in dark caves filled with nothing but cold wind, people today live in houses and apartments built with air conditioning system and readily accompanied furniture. The prehistoric people are able to find comfort by staying in caves that prevent them from the dangers of the wilderness while people of the modern time find comfort by being at home, not exactly because it is safe, but because they can relax to their hearts’ content. Although both places have completely different appearances in terms of a place for shelter, humans that live in these places can stil...
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... different times eating food in totally contrasting environment, group survival has always been applied to modern day people and their way of living.
The history and the existence of the Old Stone Age, or the Paleolithic era, has an undeniably large effect on our society today. Living in the harsh environment of the world without the technological advancements seems hard enough, but surviving without the elements for living prepared for them is even more difficult. With all the common behaviors that were translated to our everyday life, healthy diets that prevent humans from disastrous results, new innovations that remained useful to us today, and surviving skills that were passed down from generation to generation, our whole society owes everything to those of the Paleolithic era. Without them, there would be no “us” today to walk the earth as a prosperous species.
Living in the Paleolithic age must have extremely difficult. I just read the book Maroo of the Winter Caves , by Ann Turnbell. This book tells about Maroo and her family, This book tells a lot about how life was like back then. It's mainly about Maroo and her family having to travel from the winter caves, back to the autumn hunting grounds.While they try to travel back, they get into many obstacles that they have to over come, Mainly trying to overcome time and nature. Our life is extremely different today, then Maroo's life thousands of years ago, Some of these differences are the shelter we inhabit, the clothing we wear,
In Jared Diamond’s excerpt from his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, he puts forward the historical narrative of how human evolution progresses at varying rates for different cultures due solely to the particular geographic region that people assimilate from. Diamond supports this thesis with specific evidence on the importance of food production, emphasizing that food is the main ingredient needed for a population to experience progress and growth, enabling that culture to expand around the world. I agree with Diamond’s dissertation and find it compelling due to his logical evidence and ethos on the topic.
This paper has shown how Homo sapiens had several advantages over the Neanderthals including better diets, better tools and just better luck. The Neanderthals could not survive the harsh climates they were thrust into and eventually died out. In this paper I looked at how Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis had co-existed but the disappearance of the Neanderthal ius due in some part to the appearance of the more culturally advanced and genetically superior Homo sapiens. Although the How and Why of how Neanderthals went extinct, it is clear that Homo sapiens had a part in their demise. In the last one hundred and fifty years that we have been studying humans we have seen them come from savage brutes, to Homo sapiens respectable contemporary. If we had not gotten lucky in the past, Neanderthals could be studying us today.
Thousands of years ago, primitive man walked the earth very similarly to the way he does today. We can discern this from the cultures that remain nearly intact from that time, and by analyzing what remains from those ancient peoples. Technologies change, making life easier for people, and ensuring the survival of the species (things like medicine and modern farming techniques), but the people themselves change very little.
The Neolithic Revolution was the period in time where agriculture was created. Many people question whether the transition from nomads to settlements was a positive or negative impact in human history. The transition brought upon; population increases, lack of crucial vitamins, various diseases and even deforestation. I believe that the Neolithic Revolution was a negative impact on humans because of all the risks that came with it. Before the Revolution people were happily living a nomadic lifestyle. They painted, had dedicated faith, sang, told stories, and had more time to bond with their families. The transition increased health risks, warfare and the laziness of people. It brought on social classes which lead people to only think about
Culture has been a powerful selective force over the course of human evolution. Culture is defined as “a set of learned behaviours transmitted from one generation to the next through learning and not by biological and genetic means” (Lewis, Jurmain,& Kilgore, 2013, p. 433). In a concept known as biocultural evolution, “biology makes culture possible and developing culture further influences the direction of biological evolution” (Lewis et al., 2013, p. 432). Three specific examples of the selective force of culture are the cooperative sharing of essential resources, symbolically based communication, and the use of objects as tools.
Guisepi, Robert A. "The Stone Age." International World History Project. N.p., Jan. 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .
Watkins, Jeffery. Regents Prep: Global History: Change & Turning Points:, "Neolithic Revolution." Last modified 2003. Accessed March 23, 2012. http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/change/neo.cfm
Paleolithic age presents the era when key human adaptations evolved in response to a variety of environmental changes experienced at the time. This period of human evolution coincided with change within the surrounding of man. Such included cooling, drying and unpredictable climatic patterns over the time. This increased amount of variability in environmental conditions raised the level of uncertainty and instability in their respective terms of survival, necessitated the man to adopt new habits to increase adaptability to the new and changing surroundings. The evolved structures and behaviors led to specialization to enable coping with changing and unpredictable conditions.
The members of the Homo genus possess a combination of unique features that distinguish them from other related species. At the time that each respective species was alive, they were able to walk upright on two legs, use their large brains for the benefit of their species, and could thrive in many geographically and climatically diverse areas of the world. One of the most mysterious quandaries in science is how the lineage of the Homo genus became so different from their primate relatives. Bipedalism, brain size, and location diversity all have a common link that may explain this difference – dietary evolution allowed humans to adapt to their surroundings, and in turn, become a more advanced species. The Homo diet evolved in relation to food availability and nutritional necessity. With the ability to maintain a proper diet, the species of the Homo genus were able to flourish and advance toward the development of modern Homo sapiens.
The blessing and curse of the Agricultural Revolution is advocated with its augmentation and dissemination. Taking the stipulative definition of “blessing” and “curse” from the original premise, one can only superimpose the layman’s terms of “negative” and “positive”. Upon examination of the two classifications within the Neolithic Period and ancient Mesopotamian civilization one can confirm the premise. Therefore, the agriculture revolution was a blessing and a curse for humanity. Human society began to emerge in the Neolithic Period or the New Stone Age. This new age began around 9,000 B.C.E. by the development of agriculture in the region surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and what is commonly referred to as “The Fertile Crescent” located in West Asia.1 The very development of agriculture had benefited humans by no longer having to move about in search of wild game and plants. Unencumbered by nomadic life humans found little need to limit family size and possessions and settled in a single location for many years. One negative aspect of this settling is that the population increased so much so that wild food sources were no longer sufficient to support large groups. Forced to survive by any means necessary they discovered using seeds of the most productive plants and clearing weeds enhanced their yield.2 This also lead humans to develop a wider array of tools far superior to the tools previously used in the Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age. The spread of the Agricultural Revolution in the Neolithic Period also cultivated positive aspects by creating connections with other cultures and societies. Through these connections they exchanged knowledge, goods, and ideas on herding and farming.3 Another major positive aspec...
Despite not having an established society or economy, man in the Paleolithic Age had increasing technology. Their weapons and tools were made of wood and stone, and they had manifested the ability to control fire. The Paleolithic Age also berthed language and thus established the first historical backgrounds of modern man. Paleolithic art gives the background for the culture of the time. Depicting a society classed only by sex: Men hunted, made weaponry and tools, and fought other nomadic bands; Women gathered, made clothing, and bore children.
If you lived during the Stone Ages, would you prefer to live in a temporary home or in a permanent home? People who lived in the Paleolithic Era had a very tough life and faced many obstacles compared to those living in the Neolithic Era. There were many disadvantages to living before 10,000 BC, such as living in temporary homes and moving from place to place. Thanks to the Neolithic people, the quality of life improved dramatically for everyone because they invented new technology that is still used today.
From the frozen tundra of the arctic north to the arid deserts of sub-Saharan Africa – humans not only survive, but even thrive in some of the most extreme and remote environments on the planet. This is a testament to the remarkable capacity for adaptation possessed by our species. Each habitat places different stressors on human populations, and they must adapt in order to mitigate them. That is, adaptation is the process by which man and other organisms become better suited to their environments. These adaptations include not only physical changes like the larger lung capacities observed in high altitude natives but also cultural and behavioral adjustments such as traditional Inuit clothing styles, which very effectively retain heat but discourage deadly hyperthermia-inducing sweat in Arctic climates. Indeed, it seems this later mechanism of adaptation is often much more responsible for allowing humans to populate such a wide variety of habitats, spanning all seven continents, rather than biological mechanisms. Of course, not all adaptations are entirely beneficial, and in fact may be maladaptive, particularly behavior adaptations and highly specialized physical adaptations in periods of environmental change. Because people rely heavily on social learning, maladaptaptive behaviors such as sedentarization and over-eating – both contributing to obesity – are easily transmitted from person to person and culture to culture, as seen in the Inuit’s adoption of American cultural elements.
...d to the switch for calorie and protein rich animal products. Soon followed the creation of the revolutionary element; fire which changed the road of human evolution drastically. Homo erectus could now greatly increase the calories gained from food while also keeping warm and protecting from predators of the night. These campfires also led the some of the earliest forms of social interaction among early humans. Besides campfire interactions, Homo erectus also formed a distinct form of hunting and gathering division of labor which is still evident in parts of the world today. Though it is Homo erectus’s great migration out of Africa that may have been responsible for most important role of human evolution. Which would have led to the dispersion of human ancestors around the globe and the formation of the nationalities that we as humans are so proud of today.