How Did Homo Sapiens Before The Agricultural Revolution
Homo sapiens before the Agricultural Revolution
Before I begin, let this serve as a disclaimer. Firstly, this essay does not mean to challenge the religious beliefs of anybody. It merely states the scientific point of view on the origin and development of humans. Secondly, what I will write about is generally accepted among most scholars, however it is based on little evidence because the archeological finds are few, and there was no scripture during the period in which these events take place.
We tend to consider ourselves as special. And in many ways we are. In the last century humanity has set foot on the Moon, landed a probe on an asteroid, discovered nuclear fusion. We have done things that nobody could have imagined just a couple of …show more content…
These humans formed hierarchical communities, used tools and had mating rituals. But so did many other animals. Mankind did not stand out in any particular way. But as time would show, humankind evolved differently. Our brains gradually became bigger and more complex. They gave humans a better understanding of the world, better use of tools, improved communication skills and many other perks. But more sophisticated brains have their drawbacks and these drawbacks are the reason that no other species favored intelligence in its evolution. A bigger brain meant its energy requirement was higher as well. 25% of all the energy of a human at rest is used by the brain, compared to about 8% of energy needed to fuel a chimpanzee's brain at rest. And chimpanzees are one of the most intelligent animals. This huge energy sink is the reason dogs don't have their own society and elephants don't have to struggle with calculus. We are the only ones that took this evolutionary …show more content…
This led to the appearance of new species from the genus Homo as the different environmental conditions led to different evolutionary paths. And this is one of the biggest skeletons in our species' closet. We tend to think of ourselves as the only humans and indeed that's how things have been for the last 10,000 years. But there have been many other species of humans throughout time. Through millennia of random mutations and natural selection the humans that migrated to Europe became Homo neanderthalensis. Another species that populated Eastern Asia is called Homo erectus. Homo floresiensis lived on an island in Indonesia and only reached a maximum height of 3.5ft, because of the lack of resources there. At this point humans were still simple-minded animals acting based on their instincts. Therefore many fights ensued between different human species and even between tribes of the same species. So, what separated Homo sapiens from its brethren and helped the species triumph? The Cognitive Revolution.
The Cognitive Revolution is what jump-started the development of Homo sapiens from slightly smarter animals to what we are today. Not much is known about what caused this revolution. It is commonly accepted that it started with a genetic mutation which changed the way the brains of our ancestors functioned. Whatever it was though, around the time this revolution began, approximately
Before I begin, let this serve as a disclaimer. Firstly, this essay does not mean to challenge the religious beliefs of anybody. It merely states the scientific point of view on the origin and development of humans. Secondly, what I will write about is generally accepted among most scholars, however it is based on little evidence because the archeological finds are few, and there was no scripture during the period in which these events take place.
We tend to consider ourselves as special. And in many ways we are. In the last century humanity has set foot on the Moon, landed a probe on an asteroid, discovered nuclear fusion. We have done things that nobody could have imagined just a couple of …show more content…
These humans formed hierarchical communities, used tools and had mating rituals. But so did many other animals. Mankind did not stand out in any particular way. But as time would show, humankind evolved differently. Our brains gradually became bigger and more complex. They gave humans a better understanding of the world, better use of tools, improved communication skills and many other perks. But more sophisticated brains have their drawbacks and these drawbacks are the reason that no other species favored intelligence in its evolution. A bigger brain meant its energy requirement was higher as well. 25% of all the energy of a human at rest is used by the brain, compared to about 8% of energy needed to fuel a chimpanzee's brain at rest. And chimpanzees are one of the most intelligent animals. This huge energy sink is the reason dogs don't have their own society and elephants don't have to struggle with calculus. We are the only ones that took this evolutionary …show more content…
This led to the appearance of new species from the genus Homo as the different environmental conditions led to different evolutionary paths. And this is one of the biggest skeletons in our species' closet. We tend to think of ourselves as the only humans and indeed that's how things have been for the last 10,000 years. But there have been many other species of humans throughout time. Through millennia of random mutations and natural selection the humans that migrated to Europe became Homo neanderthalensis. Another species that populated Eastern Asia is called Homo erectus. Homo floresiensis lived on an island in Indonesia and only reached a maximum height of 3.5ft, because of the lack of resources there. At this point humans were still simple-minded animals acting based on their instincts. Therefore many fights ensued between different human species and even between tribes of the same species. So, what separated Homo sapiens from its brethren and helped the species triumph? The Cognitive Revolution.
The Cognitive Revolution is what jump-started the development of Homo sapiens from slightly smarter animals to what we are today. Not much is known about what caused this revolution. It is commonly accepted that it started with a genetic mutation which changed the way the brains of our ancestors functioned. Whatever it was though, around the time this revolution began, approximately