Effect of Environmental Conditions on Human Behavior and Development in the Past
Timothy Kent
ANTH 111 16
Title: Effect of Environmental Conditions on Human Behavior and Development in the Past.
Abstract: This paper will discuss and outline behavioral and developmental changes in human existence and the reasoning behind the formation of these new distinctions. Several changes in the human past that will be discussed are the change from walking on all four limbs to bipedalism, the greatly increased brain size in humans as compared to earlier humans and the creation of language and communication among earlier species. These distinctions will be investigated and specific reasoning behind their formation will be analyzed. I will also compare early hominids to modern Homo sapiens and explain particular factors that lead to their evolutionary changes. The Australopithecus afarensis, one of the earlier hominids, has a brain size of 500cc centimeters as compared to modern Homo sapiens who possess a brain size of more than 1350cc. The adaptation of bipedalism is also an important highlight of human evolution and there are many theories to explain its creation. Bipedalism may have been evolved over time due to changes in their environment and a necessity to walk upright and on two feet. This paper will try to outline the human past and provide anthropological evidence to support the evolutionary changes in human development.
It is a fundamental postulation that hominid evolution is directly correlated to the environment the species existed in. The term hominid refers to any member of the human family, Hominidae, and even more specifically, the genus Homo. The family Homindae consists of ancestors of modern humans and apes living today. (Foley 1995: 2) The fossil record of human evolution is incomplete, however human fossils can be traced back to millions of years ago. The family of humans has evolved greatly over time and is in part due to the effect of the environment on their behavior and development. The evolutionary changes most
ANTH 111 16
Title: Effect of Environmental Conditions on Human Behavior and Development in the Past.
Abstract: This paper will discuss and outline behavioral and developmental changes in human existence and the reasoning behind the formation of these new distinctions. Several changes in the human past that will be discussed are the change from walking on all four limbs to bipedalism, the greatly increased brain size in humans as compared to earlier humans and the creation of language and communication among earlier species. These distinctions will be investigated and specific reasoning behind their formation will be analyzed. I will also compare early hominids to modern Homo sapiens and explain particular factors that lead to their evolutionary changes. The Australopithecus afarensis, one of the earlier hominids, has a brain size of 500cc centimeters as compared to modern Homo sapiens who possess a brain size of more than 1350cc. The adaptation of bipedalism is also an important highlight of human evolution and there are many theories to explain its creation. Bipedalism may have been evolved over time due to changes in their environment and a necessity to walk upright and on two feet. This paper will try to outline the human past and provide anthropological evidence to support the evolutionary changes in human development.
It is a fundamental postulation that hominid evolution is directly correlated to the environment the species existed in. The term hominid refers to any member of the human family, Hominidae, and even more specifically, the genus Homo. The family Homindae consists of ancestors of modern humans and apes living today. (Foley 1995: 2) The fossil record of human evolution is incomplete, however human fossils can be traced back to millions of years ago. The family of humans has evolved greatly over time and is in part due to the effect of the environment on their behavior and development. The evolutionary changes most
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