Julian C. Knight
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199227693
- eISBN:
- 9780191711015
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199227693.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology
This book describes the remarkable progress which has been made in defining the extent and nature of human genetic variation, and its many consequences for us as individuals and in understanding ...
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This book describes the remarkable progress which has been made in defining the extent and nature of human genetic variation, and its many consequences for us as individuals and in understanding human origins. A mix of cutting-edge and landmark studies are reviewed to provide an overview of the field combined with in-depth analysis of specific informative examples to show how progress has been achieved and likely future directions. The major classes of genetic variation are described, ranging from chromosomal level variation, to submicroscopic structural variation, to fine scale sequence level variation. The substantial progress achieved in defining the genetic basis of diseases is described for both diseases showing Mendelian inheritance and common multifactorial diseases. Efforts to catalogue human genetic variation, insights into genomic disorders, the role of copy number variation, segmental duplications and tandem repeats are highlighted together with progress which has lead to recent success with genome-wide association studies. Other chapters highlight the genetics of gene expression, evidence of selection and susceptibility to diseases such as malaria and HIV infection. Human genetic variation has implications across a broad range of disciplines and this text aims to consolidate work in diverse fields to highlight common themes and principles. To facilitate this the basic principles of human molecular genetics are described throughout the text, which is extensively illustrated.Less
This book describes the remarkable progress which has been made in defining the extent and nature of human genetic variation, and its many consequences for us as individuals and in understanding human origins. A mix of cutting-edge and landmark studies are reviewed to provide an overview of the field combined with in-depth analysis of specific informative examples to show how progress has been achieved and likely future directions. The major classes of genetic variation are described, ranging from chromosomal level variation, to submicroscopic structural variation, to fine scale sequence level variation. The substantial progress achieved in defining the genetic basis of diseases is described for both diseases showing Mendelian inheritance and common multifactorial diseases. Efforts to catalogue human genetic variation, insights into genomic disorders, the role of copy number variation, segmental duplications and tandem repeats are highlighted together with progress which has lead to recent success with genome-wide association studies. Other chapters highlight the genetics of gene expression, evidence of selection and susceptibility to diseases such as malaria and HIV infection. Human genetic variation has implications across a broad range of disciplines and this text aims to consolidate work in diverse fields to highlight common themes and principles. To facilitate this the basic principles of human molecular genetics are described throughout the text, which is extensively illustrated.
COLIN RENFREW
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263945
- eISBN:
- 9780191734038
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263945.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter discusses the attempts of pinpointing the origins of humans, i.e. Homo sapiens sapiens. Due to the recent advances in archaeology, specifically in archaeogenetics, it has been determined ...
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This chapter discusses the attempts of pinpointing the origins of humans, i.e. Homo sapiens sapiens. Due to the recent advances in archaeology, specifically in archaeogenetics, it has been determined that the Homo sapiens sapiens originated in Africa 200,000 years ago, and that the speciation phase of human development occurred before that time. The chapter shows that cognitive archaeology would need to analyse more carefully the nature of mind, as well as seek further insight into the processes that underlie the achievements that characterise those different trajectories of development and change.Less
This chapter discusses the attempts of pinpointing the origins of humans, i.e. Homo sapiens sapiens. Due to the recent advances in archaeology, specifically in archaeogenetics, it has been determined that the Homo sapiens sapiens originated in Africa 200,000 years ago, and that the speciation phase of human development occurred before that time. The chapter shows that cognitive archaeology would need to analyse more carefully the nature of mind, as well as seek further insight into the processes that underlie the achievements that characterise those different trajectories of development and change.
Erika Lorraine Milam
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691181882
- eISBN:
- 9780691185095
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691181882.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter considers the research of women anthropologists during this period. It shows how many anthropologists had fought to refute the picture of universal male authority implied by common ...
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This chapter considers the research of women anthropologists during this period. It shows how many anthropologists had fought to refute the picture of universal male authority implied by common narratives of human evolution were women, often at the very beginning of what turned out to be long, notable careers. Their research gave fuller form to a rhetorically powerful alternative to Man the Hunter in reconstructions of human origins—Woman the Gatherer. Like her partner, Woman the Gatherer found intellectual support in research on long-extinct human ancestors, studies of human cultures today, and animal behavior, with a new emphasis on field research among primates.Less
This chapter considers the research of women anthropologists during this period. It shows how many anthropologists had fought to refute the picture of universal male authority implied by common narratives of human evolution were women, often at the very beginning of what turned out to be long, notable careers. Their research gave fuller form to a rhetorically powerful alternative to Man the Hunter in reconstructions of human origins—Woman the Gatherer. Like her partner, Woman the Gatherer found intellectual support in research on long-extinct human ancestors, studies of human cultures today, and animal behavior, with a new emphasis on field research among primates.
Keith Ward
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269618
- eISBN:
- 9780191683718
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269618.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, World Religions
This chapter examines the Christian doctrine of original sin. It suggests that the contrast between the biblical narrative of human genesis and the evolutionary account of human origin is no longer ...
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This chapter examines the Christian doctrine of original sin. It suggests that the contrast between the biblical narrative of human genesis and the evolutionary account of human origin is no longer as great as it used to be. This is because recent theology has interpreted the Genesis narrative as primarily symbolic of the human situation rather than as literally descriptive. It explains that under this symbolism Adam simply means a person and Eden the ideal intended state of human existence.Less
This chapter examines the Christian doctrine of original sin. It suggests that the contrast between the biblical narrative of human genesis and the evolutionary account of human origin is no longer as great as it used to be. This is because recent theology has interpreted the Genesis narrative as primarily symbolic of the human situation rather than as literally descriptive. It explains that under this symbolism Adam simply means a person and Eden the ideal intended state of human existence.
Justin E. H. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153643
- eISBN:
- 9781400866311
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153643.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter turns to the history of the race concept. It considers the early development of thinking about human diversity and human origins in the context of the Renaissance. In important respects, ...
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This chapter turns to the history of the race concept. It considers the early development of thinking about human diversity and human origins in the context of the Renaissance. In important respects, later reflections in European philosophy echo debates that played out a century earlier within the Ibero-American world, largely as a result of the fact that the Iberians were the earliest Europeans to have significant encounters with non-European peoples in the modern era. The chapter focuses on those sixteenth-century engagements with the novissima americana, the latest news from the Americas, that dealt with the question of the origins and nature of biological kinds in the New World, and particularly with the origins and nature of New World peoples.Less
This chapter turns to the history of the race concept. It considers the early development of thinking about human diversity and human origins in the context of the Renaissance. In important respects, later reflections in European philosophy echo debates that played out a century earlier within the Ibero-American world, largely as a result of the fact that the Iberians were the earliest Europeans to have significant encounters with non-European peoples in the modern era. The chapter focuses on those sixteenth-century engagements with the novissima americana, the latest news from the Americas, that dealt with the question of the origins and nature of biological kinds in the New World, and particularly with the origins and nature of New World peoples.
Merlin Donald
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262195805
- eISBN:
- 9780262272353
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262195805.003.0009
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Decision making is a very private thing, individualized and personal. Yet it has a cultural dimension. The human brain does not acquire language, symbolic skills, or any form of symbolic cognition ...
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Decision making is a very private thing, individualized and personal. Yet it has a cultural dimension. The human brain does not acquire language, symbolic skills, or any form of symbolic cognition without the pedagogical guidance of culture and, as a result, most decisions made in modern society engage learned algorithms of thought that are imported from culture. Mathematical thought is a good example of this: it is cultural in origin, and highly dependent on notations and habits invented over many generations. Its algorithms were created culturally, by means of a slow, deliberate process of creation and refinement. Thus, the algorithms that determine many mathematically based decisions reside, over the long run, in culture. The brains of the individuals making the decisions are, in most particular instances, temporary “carriers” of cultural algorithms, vehicles for applying them in a particular time and place. In principle, this conclusion applies to many examples, such as chess-playing, social judgment, business decisions, the composition of poetry, and so on. Culturally transmitted algorithms can be learned and made so automatic that they can be executed by the brain without much conscious supervision. Unconscious or “intuitive” decisions are often the best, and many successful decisions occur in an automatized manner, in highly over-practiced situations. This does not diminish the larger role of consciousness in cognition, because, when necessary, decision makers retain the option of intervening consciously and deliberately to modify or fix their specific performances. Conscious supervision is thus the ultimate tribunal in cognition, a cutting-edge adaptation that is particularly important in the creative role of generating and changing the existing algorithms of culture that underlie most decisions.Less
Decision making is a very private thing, individualized and personal. Yet it has a cultural dimension. The human brain does not acquire language, symbolic skills, or any form of symbolic cognition without the pedagogical guidance of culture and, as a result, most decisions made in modern society engage learned algorithms of thought that are imported from culture. Mathematical thought is a good example of this: it is cultural in origin, and highly dependent on notations and habits invented over many generations. Its algorithms were created culturally, by means of a slow, deliberate process of creation and refinement. Thus, the algorithms that determine many mathematically based decisions reside, over the long run, in culture. The brains of the individuals making the decisions are, in most particular instances, temporary “carriers” of cultural algorithms, vehicles for applying them in a particular time and place. In principle, this conclusion applies to many examples, such as chess-playing, social judgment, business decisions, the composition of poetry, and so on. Culturally transmitted algorithms can be learned and made so automatic that they can be executed by the brain without much conscious supervision. Unconscious or “intuitive” decisions are often the best, and many successful decisions occur in an automatized manner, in highly over-practiced situations. This does not diminish the larger role of consciousness in cognition, because, when necessary, decision makers retain the option of intervening consciously and deliberately to modify or fix their specific performances. Conscious supervision is thus the ultimate tribunal in cognition, a cutting-edge adaptation that is particularly important in the creative role of generating and changing the existing algorithms of culture that underlie most decisions.
Sigrid Schmalzer
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226738598
- eISBN:
- 9780226738611
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226738611.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter, which examines the significance of Chinese discourse on human origins as a whole, including but not limited to issues of ethnic nationalism, asks: Is ethnic nationalism a sufficient ...
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This chapter, which examines the significance of Chinese discourse on human origins as a whole, including but not limited to issues of ethnic nationalism, asks: Is ethnic nationalism a sufficient explanation of Chinese preferences for theories that place human evolution on a Chinese stage? The answer is no. First, nationalism alone does not account for the ongoing debates in China and elsewhere. Second, where nationalism does play a role, it is not only or even primarily an issue of race or ethnicity. Third, while the Chinese state does frequently mine theories of human origins to construct a concept of the Chinese nation rooted in a biological concept of race, this construction is simultaneously destabilized by other meanings produced by scientists, laypeople, and the state itself. There is also the question of how people on the receiving end of science dissemination view fossils. The chapter suggests that many people have embraced Peking Man, Yuánmóu Man, and other human fossils not simply as early representatives of their nation or race, but in much more personal ways.Less
This chapter, which examines the significance of Chinese discourse on human origins as a whole, including but not limited to issues of ethnic nationalism, asks: Is ethnic nationalism a sufficient explanation of Chinese preferences for theories that place human evolution on a Chinese stage? The answer is no. First, nationalism alone does not account for the ongoing debates in China and elsewhere. Second, where nationalism does play a role, it is not only or even primarily an issue of race or ethnicity. Third, while the Chinese state does frequently mine theories of human origins to construct a concept of the Chinese nation rooted in a biological concept of race, this construction is simultaneously destabilized by other meanings produced by scientists, laypeople, and the state itself. There is also the question of how people on the receiving end of science dissemination view fossils. The chapter suggests that many people have embraced Peking Man, Yuánmóu Man, and other human fossils not simply as early representatives of their nation or race, but in much more personal ways.
Cynthia Eller
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520248595
- eISBN:
- 9780520948556
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520248595.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This book traces the nineteenth-century genesis and development of an important contemporary myth about human origins: that of an original prehistoric matriarchy. It explores the intellectual history ...
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This book traces the nineteenth-century genesis and development of an important contemporary myth about human origins: that of an original prehistoric matriarchy. It explores the intellectual history of the myth, which arose from male scholars who mostly wanted to vindicate the patriarchal family model as a higher stage of human development. The book tells the stories these men told, analyzes the gendered assumptions they made, and provides the necessary context for understanding how feminists of the 1970s and 1980s embraced as historical “fact” a discredited nineteenth-century idea.Less
This book traces the nineteenth-century genesis and development of an important contemporary myth about human origins: that of an original prehistoric matriarchy. It explores the intellectual history of the myth, which arose from male scholars who mostly wanted to vindicate the patriarchal family model as a higher stage of human development. The book tells the stories these men told, analyzes the gendered assumptions they made, and provides the necessary context for understanding how feminists of the 1970s and 1980s embraced as historical “fact” a discredited nineteenth-century idea.
Michael S. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520285071
- eISBN:
- 9780520960664
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520285071.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter looks at debates over human origins and stem cell research, in which conflict is claimed to occur. While few would say that religion and science are always in conflict, there is general ...
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This chapter looks at debates over human origins and stem cell research, in which conflict is claimed to occur. While few would say that religion and science are always in conflict, there is general agreement that on some issues, substantive conflict occurs between some versions of religion and science. The human origins debate is often cited as an example of epistemological conflict in which exclusive knowledge claims from some religious and scientific sources compete for support. Meanwhile, stem cell research debate is often cited as an example of moral conflict in which contested definitions of life, death, and personhood are incompatible with some religious beliefs. Whether epistemological or moral, such conflict is an especially likely candidate for preventing deliberative debate.Less
This chapter looks at debates over human origins and stem cell research, in which conflict is claimed to occur. While few would say that religion and science are always in conflict, there is general agreement that on some issues, substantive conflict occurs between some versions of religion and science. The human origins debate is often cited as an example of epistemological conflict in which exclusive knowledge claims from some religious and scientific sources compete for support. Meanwhile, stem cell research debate is often cited as an example of moral conflict in which contested definitions of life, death, and personhood are incompatible with some religious beliefs. Whether epistemological or moral, such conflict is an especially likely candidate for preventing deliberative debate.
Eller Cynthia
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520248595
- eISBN:
- 9780520948556
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520248595.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter takes a look at the matriarchal myth, which considers the possibility that male dominance can end, first examining Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, a novel which imagines a sex-positive, ...
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This chapter takes a look at the matriarchal myth, which considers the possibility that male dominance can end, first examining Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, a novel which imagines a sex-positive, harmonious ancient world that is balanced between the genders. It then examines the narrative of matriarchal human origins and ends with an analysis of the meaning of the term myth.Less
This chapter takes a look at the matriarchal myth, which considers the possibility that male dominance can end, first examining Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, a novel which imagines a sex-positive, harmonious ancient world that is balanced between the genders. It then examines the narrative of matriarchal human origins and ends with an analysis of the meaning of the term myth.
John Chambers and Jacqueline Mitton
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691175706
- eISBN:
- 9781400885565
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691175706.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. This book tells the remarkable story of how the celestial ...
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The birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. This book tells the remarkable story of how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery down through the centuries, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system's layout, its age, and the most likely way it formed. Drawing on the history of astronomy and the latest findings in astrophysics and the planetary sciences, the book offers the most up-to-date and authoritative treatment of the subject available. It examines how the evolving universe set the stage for the appearance of our Sun, and how the nebulous cloud of gas and dust that accompanied the young Sun eventually became the planets, comets, moons, and asteroids that exist today. It explores how each of the planets acquired its unique characteristics, why some are rocky and others gaseous, and why one planet in particular—our Earth—provided an almost perfect haven for the emergence of life. The book takes readers to the very frontiers of modern research, engaging with the latest controversies and debates. It reveals how ongoing discoveries of far-distant extrasolar planets and planetary systems are transforming our understanding of our own solar system's astonishing history and its possible fate.Less
The birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. This book tells the remarkable story of how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery down through the centuries, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system's layout, its age, and the most likely way it formed. Drawing on the history of astronomy and the latest findings in astrophysics and the planetary sciences, the book offers the most up-to-date and authoritative treatment of the subject available. It examines how the evolving universe set the stage for the appearance of our Sun, and how the nebulous cloud of gas and dust that accompanied the young Sun eventually became the planets, comets, moons, and asteroids that exist today. It explores how each of the planets acquired its unique characteristics, why some are rocky and others gaseous, and why one planet in particular—our Earth—provided an almost perfect haven for the emergence of life. The book takes readers to the very frontiers of modern research, engaging with the latest controversies and debates. It reveals how ongoing discoveries of far-distant extrasolar planets and planetary systems are transforming our understanding of our own solar system's astonishing history and its possible fate.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804758611
- eISBN:
- 9780804763141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804758611.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter begins by looking at the intelligent design movement in the context of earlier attacks on Darwin and the fate of those attacks in the courts. It then shows why intelligent design has had ...
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This chapter begins by looking at the intelligent design movement in the context of earlier attacks on Darwin and the fate of those attacks in the courts. It then shows why intelligent design has had problems in litigation, and why it is so destructive of actual religious faith. Next it attempts to understand the remarkable durability of the disputes over Darwin's work by looking at evolution's ties to the question of human origins and to the unhappy history of social Darwinism and eugenics. The discussion then turns to the original argument from design, a much more serious and enduring notion than so-called intelligent design. The argument from design is a religious argument that continues to inspire millions. Many modern scientists, from Einstein to superstring theorists, profess a sense of faith and wonder in the order of the universe that is notably absent from the disfigured teachings that result when religion is forced into the public school curriculum. The faith of scientists does not belong in a public school biology class any more than Genesis does, but it is beautifully expressed in other settings, a lesson from which many religious leaders could learn.Less
This chapter begins by looking at the intelligent design movement in the context of earlier attacks on Darwin and the fate of those attacks in the courts. It then shows why intelligent design has had problems in litigation, and why it is so destructive of actual religious faith. Next it attempts to understand the remarkable durability of the disputes over Darwin's work by looking at evolution's ties to the question of human origins and to the unhappy history of social Darwinism and eugenics. The discussion then turns to the original argument from design, a much more serious and enduring notion than so-called intelligent design. The argument from design is a religious argument that continues to inspire millions. Many modern scientists, from Einstein to superstring theorists, profess a sense of faith and wonder in the order of the universe that is notably absent from the disfigured teachings that result when religion is forced into the public school curriculum. The faith of scientists does not belong in a public school biology class any more than Genesis does, but it is beautifully expressed in other settings, a lesson from which many religious leaders could learn.
Jonathan Marks
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520285811
- eISBN:
- 9780520961197
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520285811.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
This book is about the irreducibility of human evolution to purely biological properties and processes, for human evolution has incorporated the emergence of social relations and cultural histories ...
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This book is about the irreducibility of human evolution to purely biological properties and processes, for human evolution has incorporated the emergence of social relations and cultural histories that are unprecedented in the apes. Human evolution over the last few million years has involved the transformation from biological evolution into biocultural evolution. For several million years, human intelligence, dexterity, and technology all coevolved with one another, although the first two are organic properties and the last is inorganic. Over the last few tens of thousands of years, however, the development of new social roles—notably, spouse, father, in-laws, and grandparents—have been combined with new technologies and symbolic meanings to produce the familiar human species. This leads to a fundamental evolutionary understanding of humans as biocultural ex-apes; reducible neither to an imaginary cultureless biological core nor to our ancestry as apes. Consequently, there can be no “natural history” of the human condition or the human organism that is not a “natural/cultural history.”Less
This book is about the irreducibility of human evolution to purely biological properties and processes, for human evolution has incorporated the emergence of social relations and cultural histories that are unprecedented in the apes. Human evolution over the last few million years has involved the transformation from biological evolution into biocultural evolution. For several million years, human intelligence, dexterity, and technology all coevolved with one another, although the first two are organic properties and the last is inorganic. Over the last few tens of thousands of years, however, the development of new social roles—notably, spouse, father, in-laws, and grandparents—have been combined with new technologies and symbolic meanings to produce the familiar human species. This leads to a fundamental evolutionary understanding of humans as biocultural ex-apes; reducible neither to an imaginary cultureless biological core nor to our ancestry as apes. Consequently, there can be no “natural history” of the human condition or the human organism that is not a “natural/cultural history.”
Robert N. Proctor
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226136806
- eISBN:
- 9780226136820
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226136820.003.0019
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter explores some of the lines of evidence leading to the idea that humanness in the cultural sense is a relatively recent phenomenon—no more than 100,000 years old, and perhaps even more ...
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This chapter explores some of the lines of evidence leading to the idea that humanness in the cultural sense is a relatively recent phenomenon—no more than 100,000 years old, and perhaps even more recent than this, since that is when you get the first clear signs of representational art, kindled fire, deliberate ritual, compound tools, and other things perceived as signs of human intelligence. Reporting on current research on human origins, it detects the lingering influence of the 1952 UNESCO Statement on Race in the reluctance of paleoanthropologists to admit the existence of multiple coexisting species of humans. On this view, the unity of human nature, tragically shattered by a now discredited racism, must be preserved at all costs—although the definition of humanness flits from criterion to criterion: upright posture, language, tool use. Each quiddity of the human becomes a standard to uphold, not only with respect to other species, but also within our own: that which is essentially human becomes the trait to promote, be it crafty intelligence or a handy thumb.Less
This chapter explores some of the lines of evidence leading to the idea that humanness in the cultural sense is a relatively recent phenomenon—no more than 100,000 years old, and perhaps even more recent than this, since that is when you get the first clear signs of representational art, kindled fire, deliberate ritual, compound tools, and other things perceived as signs of human intelligence. Reporting on current research on human origins, it detects the lingering influence of the 1952 UNESCO Statement on Race in the reluctance of paleoanthropologists to admit the existence of multiple coexisting species of humans. On this view, the unity of human nature, tragically shattered by a now discredited racism, must be preserved at all costs—although the definition of humanness flits from criterion to criterion: upright posture, language, tool use. Each quiddity of the human becomes a standard to uphold, not only with respect to other species, but also within our own: that which is essentially human becomes the trait to promote, be it crafty intelligence or a handy thumb.
Curtis W. Marean, Hayley C. Cawthra, Richard M. Cowling, Karen J. Esler, Erich Fisher, Antoni Milewski, Alastair J. Potts, Elzanne Singels, and Jan De Vynck
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199679584
- eISBN:
- 9780191791949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199679584.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
The human origins story (palaeoanthropology) is often set in the African Palaeotropics,
yet the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) plays an internationally prominent role
that surpasses its small ...
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The human origins story (palaeoanthropology) is often set in the African Palaeotropics,
yet the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) plays an internationally prominent role
that surpasses its small size. Some of the earliest evidence for the complex behaviours
associated with fully modern humans is found here, with prehistoric stone age
hunter-gatherers adapting to a unique and changing environment from about 1 million
years ago to near-present. The GCFR has an astonishing variety of vegetation types, an
unparalleled diversity and abundance of geophytic plants, and a resource-rich coastline.
These features had a dominating influence on the adaptations and demography of past
hunter-gatherer societies. The GCFR had a relatively stable palaeoclimate through the
Pleistocene, but the landscape changed dramatically as the now-submerged Palaeo-Agulhas
Plain expanded and contracted. The palaeontology of the region shows it provided
grasslands supporting the large ungulates that dominate the Pleistocene faunal
assemblages, and a habitat to hunter-gatherers that is absent through the Holocene. Late
in the Pleistocene early modern humans figured out how to exploit coastal resources, and
shortly after this there is a florescence in complexity in material culture. But the
rapidly changing sea levels of the Pleistocene may have held in check the tendency of
coastal hunter-gatherer economies to rise in population and complexity. With the
Holocene, world climate enters a peculiar phase of stability, and like many areas of the
world, populations rise and coastal adaptations ratchet up in complexity, only to be
overcome by a militarily superior pastoral economy around 1,800 years ago.Less
The human origins story (palaeoanthropology) is often set in the African Palaeotropics,
yet the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) plays an internationally prominent role
that surpasses its small size. Some of the earliest evidence for the complex behaviours
associated with fully modern humans is found here, with prehistoric stone age
hunter-gatherers adapting to a unique and changing environment from about 1 million
years ago to near-present. The GCFR has an astonishing variety of vegetation types, an
unparalleled diversity and abundance of geophytic plants, and a resource-rich coastline.
These features had a dominating influence on the adaptations and demography of past
hunter-gatherer societies. The GCFR had a relatively stable palaeoclimate through the
Pleistocene, but the landscape changed dramatically as the now-submerged Palaeo-Agulhas
Plain expanded and contracted. The palaeontology of the region shows it provided
grasslands supporting the large ungulates that dominate the Pleistocene faunal
assemblages, and a habitat to hunter-gatherers that is absent through the Holocene. Late
in the Pleistocene early modern humans figured out how to exploit coastal resources, and
shortly after this there is a florescence in complexity in material culture. But the
rapidly changing sea levels of the Pleistocene may have held in check the tendency of
coastal hunter-gatherer economies to rise in population and complexity. With the
Holocene, world climate enters a peculiar phase of stability, and like many areas of the
world, populations rise and coastal adaptations ratchet up in complexity, only to be
overcome by a militarily superior pastoral economy around 1,800 years ago.
Ignacio de la Torre
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199608966
- eISBN:
- 9780191804656
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199608966.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
The search for the earliest stone tools is a topic that has received much attention in studies on the archaeology of human origins. New evidence could position the oldest traces of stone tool-use ...
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The search for the earliest stone tools is a topic that has received much attention in studies on the archaeology of human origins. New evidence could position the oldest traces of stone tool-use before 3.39 Myr, substantially earlier than previously documented. Nonetheless, the first unmistakable evidence of tool-making dates to 2.6 Ma, the period in which Oldowan assemblages first appear in the East African record. However, this is not an unchangeable time boundary, and considerations about the tempo and modo of tool-making emergence have varied through time. This chapter summarizes the history of research on the origins of stone knapping in Africa and places the current evidence in a historical perspective.Less
The search for the earliest stone tools is a topic that has received much attention in studies on the archaeology of human origins. New evidence could position the oldest traces of stone tool-use before 3.39 Myr, substantially earlier than previously documented. Nonetheless, the first unmistakable evidence of tool-making dates to 2.6 Ma, the period in which Oldowan assemblages first appear in the East African record. However, this is not an unchangeable time boundary, and considerations about the tempo and modo of tool-making emergence have varied through time. This chapter summarizes the history of research on the origins of stone knapping in Africa and places the current evidence in a historical perspective.
John Hawks
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190231217
- eISBN:
- 9780190609061
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190231217.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
The problem of Neanderthal intentional markings is considered. This is a rich area of inquiry in archaeology, with more and more evidence of Neandertal “symbolic” behavior emerging every year. Some ...
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The problem of Neanderthal intentional markings is considered. This is a rich area of inquiry in archaeology, with more and more evidence of Neandertal “symbolic” behavior emerging every year. Some past efforts to explain such markings cannot be distinguished from fiction. Yet, if the subjective lives of ancient people must remain forever unknown to us, then surely our attempts to interpret the lives of our contemporaries must be equally fictional. Consilience, as a general attitude about the ability of scientific knowledge to cross into humanistic realms, holds out the promise that we might study and come to an understanding of the humanity of ancient people, not only as social primates, but also as subjects of experience.Less
The problem of Neanderthal intentional markings is considered. This is a rich area of inquiry in archaeology, with more and more evidence of Neandertal “symbolic” behavior emerging every year. Some past efforts to explain such markings cannot be distinguished from fiction. Yet, if the subjective lives of ancient people must remain forever unknown to us, then surely our attempts to interpret the lives of our contemporaries must be equally fictional. Consilience, as a general attitude about the ability of scientific knowledge to cross into humanistic realms, holds out the promise that we might study and come to an understanding of the humanity of ancient people, not only as social primates, but also as subjects of experience.
Elizabeth V. Spelman
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190239350
- eISBN:
- 9780190239381
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190239350.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics, Moral Philosophy
The brief Epilogue notes that the promised portrait of people’s intimate connections with the world of rejectamenta turns out to be more like a sestych or six-panel installation. Or, to shift ...
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The brief Epilogue notes that the promised portrait of people’s intimate connections with the world of rejectamenta turns out to be more like a sestych or six-panel installation. Or, to shift metaphors, trash and waste here take a curtain call, having had starring roles in projects near and dear to the hearts of human beings: to gain power or advantage over others by being in possession of knowledge about them; to establish superior social and economic rank; to raise doubts about people’s character and thereby marginalize them or exclude them from full citizenship; to come up with authoritative accounts of humanity’s origins; to warn of the perils associated with that insistent and hard-to-resist element in people’s makeup known as dissatisfaction; and to distinguish the brighter from the dimmer bulbs burning in the hall of human judgment.Less
The brief Epilogue notes that the promised portrait of people’s intimate connections with the world of rejectamenta turns out to be more like a sestych or six-panel installation. Or, to shift metaphors, trash and waste here take a curtain call, having had starring roles in projects near and dear to the hearts of human beings: to gain power or advantage over others by being in possession of knowledge about them; to establish superior social and economic rank; to raise doubts about people’s character and thereby marginalize them or exclude them from full citizenship; to come up with authoritative accounts of humanity’s origins; to warn of the perils associated with that insistent and hard-to-resist element in people’s makeup known as dissatisfaction; and to distinguish the brighter from the dimmer bulbs burning in the hall of human judgment.
Roger Wagner and Andrew Briggs
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198747956
- eISBN:
- 9780191810909
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198747956.003.0004
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
This chapter considers when, where, and how the ‘Garden of Eden moment’ occurred, i.e., human beings’ creation of symbolic representations of others through various forms of image-making such as cave ...
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This chapter considers when, where, and how the ‘Garden of Eden moment’ occurred, i.e., human beings’ creation of symbolic representations of others through various forms of image-making such as cave paintings and rock art. It first considers evidence indicating that anatomically modern humans originated in Africa. It then describes two reports from Indonesia, published in 2014, that strengthen the growing impression that symbolic activity goes back deep into the past of Homo sapiens (and even beyond it). These reports suggest that we can expect future discoveries of depictions of human hands, figurative art, and other forms of image-making dating to the earliest period of the global dispersion of our species.Less
This chapter considers when, where, and how the ‘Garden of Eden moment’ occurred, i.e., human beings’ creation of symbolic representations of others through various forms of image-making such as cave paintings and rock art. It first considers evidence indicating that anatomically modern humans originated in Africa. It then describes two reports from Indonesia, published in 2014, that strengthen the growing impression that symbolic activity goes back deep into the past of Homo sapiens (and even beyond it). These reports suggest that we can expect future discoveries of depictions of human hands, figurative art, and other forms of image-making dating to the earliest period of the global dispersion of our species.
