Europe Before Civilization:

8 Million Years of Hominids

Hominid

• Humans (and all human ancestors after human/chimpanzee split approx. 4-6 million years ago)– Range due to initial division followed by gradual divergence accompanied by continued

interbreeding

– Includes astralopithecines

• Chimpanzees + bonobos

• Gorillas

• orangutan

Family Tree

Hominid Skeletons(Side view)

Australopithecines(4-2 MYA)

Taung Child – 2.4 MYA

Homo habilis and tools2.4-1.4 MYA

Homo erectus1.8 million – 70,000 KYA

Homo heidelbergensis600K-400KYA?

Homo neanderthalensis300K-30KYA

Gigantopithecusblacki1 million – 300KYA

Homo floresiensis

Homo Plasticus?

The “Missing Link”

• How does one species emerge from another? – If species X evolves into species Y, then there must be a point at which a child belongs to

the new species Y but his or her parents still at species X.

– Members of different species (generally) by definition cannot interbreed, yet obviously a child of species X should be able to breed with other members of species X

– So what’s going on?

• The “teapot theory” OR at what point does cold water become hot?

• Reality is a continuum– You can think of this like a bell curve OR a flip book

– There IS no disruption point Things smoothly and continuously link from one to the next. Change is gradual and cumulative

– Intermediate forms die out

– Can only be understood BACKWARDS, but is lived FORWARDS

Continuous Flow

Hominid Skulls(Homo sapiens on far right)

Rift Valley

Skull Distribution

The Third Chimpanzee

Bonobo

What Makes Us Human? War?

Agriculture?

Farming?

Sociality?

Tool Use?

Culture?

Intelligence and the EncephalizationQuotient

So, what makes us unique?

• Reductio ad absurdum

• On one level, perhaps nothing. Remember the continuum!

• But keep these four things in mind:– Manipulator organ (for humans, hands + esp. opposable thumb)

– Disproportionate brain size (7.4X expected norm adjusted for body mass)• Bottlenose dolphins are next, at 5.4X

– Communication (language)

– History

Thomas Hobbes

Life, pre-civilization:“Nasty, brutish, and short”

— The Leviathan

Centers of Agrarian Revolution

Chronology

• Hunter-Gatherer: 100 KYA – 20 KYA

• Pastoral: 20 KYA- 11 KYA

• Neolithic Revolution: 11 KYA– “Hilly Flanks”

Fertile Crescent &Hilly Flanks

Domestication

Pestle, for grain preparation

Beer

Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland

Neolithic Farmhouse

CatalHuyuk, Turkey

CatalHuyuk

Jericho, West Bank, Israel

Tell of Jericho

Jericho, Wall Cross-Section

Neandertal

Neandertal (Side View)

Range