ANTHR 1400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Homo Habilis, Acheulean, Upper Paleolithic
19 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
There is no such thing as human nature independent of culture. Foresight--must have come up with the tool before creating it--is future oriented. Look at human plasticity: no human nature independent of culture, plasticity: quality of being easily shaped or molded. Brief survey of human evolution: early hominids, ardipithecus ramidus, australopithecus afarensis (lucy) Fully bipedal hominid; brain size not much different from a chimpanzee: homo habilis (2. 4-1. 4 mya) Very important to allow brain to become as complex as it is: stamina in heat, ability to throw, social life capacities, continuous female sexuality (loss of estrus) Estrus cycles--when they are un/available, ovulating obvious physical signs. This estrus cycle is hidden in humans: care for dependents (long dependency in hominids being born premature) Importance of learned behavior: selection for cognitive/social abilities to survive on savanna, living primates, related, but not our ancestors common ancestor, sociality in primates.
