The

Evolutionary
Origins of
Human
Culture
Alex K. Ruuska, PhD
NMU
Lecture 13

11/13/2014t

Announcements
Tutor for AN 100: Mon, Wed 6-8 pm Gries
Hall, 1st Floor, Conference Room
Examination: Next Thursday, Sept. 29,
2011, Chapters 1-4
Lecture Notes, Ethnographic Readings
2

Announcements
Quiz and Discussion Points Posted on
Educat
This Week- Move to Quizzes online
Ethnographic Reading on Educat
Human Evolution
Link directly below Syllabus Link
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Review
Last Week: Looking at the centrality of
fieldwork to anthropology (21st C- Geertz)
Popular theory of 19th C: Social Evolution
2oth Century: gets replaced by
Structuralism, Functionalism and Historical
Particularism - Which we will continue to
examine in coming weeks
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This Week
Chapter 4, Haviland et al.
Becoming Human: The Origin and
Diversity of Our Species

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So who are we?

where did we
come from?
where
are
we
going?

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Dominant Explanatory
Frameworks
Cultures tell many stories to themselves
using different types of information as a
means of validating their truth claims
Among scientists the theory of evolution is
critical to understanding where we have
been, who we are as modern humans, and
where we may be going
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Theory
Set of ideas
formulated by
reasoning from
known facts to
explain
something
Promote new
understanding
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Fact

Concept of Evolution preceded

Charles Darwin

Used THEORY of Evolution to

Explore HOW evolution occurred

KEY: NATURAL SELECTION

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

(HERBERT SPENSER)
Social evolutionist
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Evolution
This weeks agenda: Look at principals
that determine human adaptation,
variation and change

Biological evolution: Looking at Primates;

humans and their closest relatives
Diffusion: where they originated and
spread
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Contemporary Humans
Cultural Adaptationmanipulate artifacts and
behaviors in relation to the
environment
Biological Adaptation- Adapt
genetically in response to
environmental forces (e.g.
sweating, cools the skin;
short extremities in arctic
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climates)

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I. The Evolution of Culture

When did the human capacity for
modern cultural behavior
emerge? 2.5 million years ago
What was going on then? Tool
making that we can study
through the archaeological
record
150,000 years ago, anatomically
modern humans in Africa
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50-70, 000 years ago- to Asia

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Cultural Adaptation
Cultural responses to
physical/environmental
needs

What items of material

culture do you use to
change your experience
when youre cold? Hot?

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12

History of Evolutionary Theory

18th Century- increased
interest biological diversity
and human origins
Contrary to dominant
explanation of the time:
Creationism/Genesis

Charles Darwin
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Life forms seen as

immutable; all differences
originated at the creation
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Contested Stories
James Ussher and John
Lighfoot Biblical Scholars
claimed approximately 37
Creation dates including
October 23, 4004 BC, at
9: 00 am
Fossil discoveries
challenged these dates if all
created at same time, why
no fossils; contemporary
plants missing in fossil
record
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Lightfoot

Usher
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Catastrophism
Modified view of
creationism:
catastrophism
Said evidence of
ancient species
destroyed by floods,
fires and other
catastophies
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Epic of Gilgamesh,
Mesopotamia
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Review from Yesterdays

Lecture
Cultural Adaptation
Biological Adaptation
Natural Selection

Survival of the Fittest

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Review from Yesterdays

Lecture
18th Century Debates:
Uniformitarianism & Evolution
Creationism & Catastrophism

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History of Evolutionary Theory

18th Century- increased
interest biological diversity
and human origins
Contrary to dominant
explanation of the time:
Creationism/Genesis

Charles Darwin
11/13/2014

Life forms seen as

immutable; all differences
originated at the creation
18

Contested Stories
James Ussher and John
Lighfoot Biblical Scholars
claimed approximately 37
Creation dates including
October 23, 4004 BC, at
9: 00 am
Fossil discoveries
challenged these dates if all
created at same time, why
no fossils; contemporary
plants missing in fossil
record
11/13/2014

Lightfoot

Usher
19

Catastrophism
Modified view of
creationism:
catastrophism
Said evidence of
ancient species
destroyed by floods,
fires and other
catastophies
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Epic of Gilgamesh,
Mesopotamia
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Uniformitarianism
concept developed in 1785, James Hutton
catastrophic processes not responsible for the
landforms that existed on the Earth's surface.
Earth developed over long periods of time
through a variety of slow geologic and
geomorphic processes.
1832 William Whewell, a scholar from
Cambridge used the term Uniformitarianism to
present an alternative to Catastrophism

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Uniformitarianism
Charles Lyell further advanced this idea
Darwins geological work on the 5 year
voyage upon the HMS Beagle, established
him as a supporter of Lyells work

Also increased his value in the scientific

community
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Evolution developed from

Uniformitarianism
Evolution:
Theory that species arise from
others through a long and gradual
process of transformation, or
descent with modification
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Evolution

Uniform modification of genetic

traits over long periods of time

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Proto-evolutionary ideas
Erasmus Darwins book:
Zoonomania
Grandfather of Charles
Darwin
1794
Common ancestry of all
animals

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Jean-Baptiste
Lamarck about
transmutation of
species
influenced
radicals, but were
rejected by
mainstream
scientists.

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Other Influences on Darwin

Thomas Malthus: 18th Century
All living things have a tendency to increase
geometrically if they have enough food
Disease, war, famine to reduce the pressure
on resources
His views influenced Darwin and other 19th
Century Thinkers; still has influence today
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Theory of Evolution
Who: Charles Darwin &
Alfred Wallace

What: In biology, evolution

is the change in the
inherited traits of a
population of organisms
through successive
generations.
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Evolution/ Transformism
Tree of Life: the firstknown sketch by
Charles Darwin of an
evolutionary tree
describing the
relationships among
groups of organisms.
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Theory of Evolution
When a population splits into smaller
groups, these groups evolve
independently and develop into new
species over time

How: Natural Selection

Selection occurs in concert with traits
already in the environment
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SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Natural Selection
Forms most fit to survive
and reproduce in a given
environment do so in
greater numbers than
others in same population

Measured as Reproductive
Success
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30

Natural Selection
the process by which forms of life having
traits that better enable them to adapt to
specific environmental pressures, as
predators, changes in climate, or
competition for food or mates, will tend to
survive and reproduce in greater numbers
than others of their kind, thus ensuring the
perpetuation of those favorable traits in
succeeding generations.
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SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Giraffe Neck- access to
resources increased through
long neck; more likely to
reproduce; Variety Needed
Sexual Competition for mates
e.g. ornate peacock feathers,
the antlers of the stag (male
deer), manes of lions.
(Contemporary examples)
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Natural Selection
Mutations: Changes in the DNA
May be adaptive and increase survival
in given environments
Peppered Moth- can be light or dark
Great Britain- industrial pollution
increased- peppered moth stuck out;
darker peppered moths survived and
reproduced in greater numbers
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Taxonomies
The thing we apprehend
in one great leap, the
thinking that, by means of
the fable, is demonstrated
as the exotic charm of
another system of thought,
is the limitation of our own,
the stark impossibility of
thinking that
Foucault, The Order of
Things, xv
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34

Finding our Place in the World

From A certain Chinese encyclopaedia
in which it is written that animals are
divided into: (a) belonging to the
Emperor, (b) embalmed, (Cc) suckling
pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray
dogs, (h) included in the present
classification, (i) frenzied, (j)
innumberable, (j) drawn with a very fine
camelhair brush, (l) et cetera, (m)
having just broken the water pitcher, (n)
that from a long way off looks like flies
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35

Culturally Constructed
Realities
What we see is often shaped
by the societies and cultures
we are emerged in

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36

Discussion
Human Migrations

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37

Review, Lecture 13
Cultural Adaptation
Biological Adaptation
Natural Selection

Survival of the Fittest

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38

Review , Lecture 13
18th Century Debates:
Uniformitarianism & Evolution
Creationism & Catastrophism

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39

II. So What is Our Place

Among Primates?

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Overarching Question:
When did we begin to learn culture?

Is culture something shared by other

primates or is it unique to humans?

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41

Taxonomy
Hominins- tribe classification that includes
all human species that have ever existed
(does not include chimps or gorillas)
Hominids-family classification that includes
fossil and living humans, chimps and
gorillas.

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Hominids (entire chart),

Hominins (right side only)

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A. Primate Tendencies
Primatologists
study non-human
primates
Apes, lemurs,
monkeys including
Chimpanzees
Jane Goodall , Primatologist
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Gombe Stream Chimpanzee

Reserve

Lake Tanganika, Tanzania

Goodall asked to study Chimapanzees
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Jane Goodall
Revolutionized the study of primates,
our closest relatives
Set radically new standards and a
new intellectual style for the study of
animal behavior
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47

Interview Questions
In those early days of your field study,
when you'd sit for weeks and months
trying to make contact with the
chimpanzees, what kept you going and
believing that what you were doing
would, in fact, lead to something
valuable and important?
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48

Being Interviewed
It wasn't so much that it would be valuable
and important. My goal was to habituate
the chimps and learn what they did. The
first time I saw them using tools, I actually
couldn't believe it. It was just so amazing.
So, it wasn't that I hoped to make
significant findings. It was that I had a job
to do and the job was to get the chimps to
stop being frightened of me so I could
learn how they lived.
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Jane Goodall
When Louis Leaky first
hear about Jane Goodalls
discovery that chimps
fashion and use tools, he
sent her a telegram,
Now we must redefine
tool, redefine man, or
accept chimpanzees as
human.
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The Woman
Who
Redefined
Man
Prior to Goodall,
definition of human,
MAN THE
TOOLMAKER

50

B. Humans and Apes

(1) Most Studied: Those
that spent lots of time on
the ground: baboons,
gorillas, chimpanzees,
orangutans
(2) Those that are most
closely related to
humans: the great apes
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Orangutans

Lemur

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Primate Tendencies
Grasping: five digited hands that are suitable for
grasping (e.g. branches)
Opposable Thumbs: thumb can touch other
fingers (imagine not using your thumb for an
entire day!!)

Grasping feet: lost among the species in which

bipedalism walking on two feet is dominant
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Primate Tendencies
Sight: visually oriented; primary method of
getting information
Steroscopic and color vision great
(seeing width, height, depth)
Adaptive function: finding food, easier grooming
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Primate Tendencies
Nose to Hand: tactile organs; being able to
thread a needle
Brain complexity: brain size to body ration higher
than for most animals
Parental Investment
Sociality
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III. What We Share with Other

Primates
A. Learning
Learned Ability: Using Tools; both
Humans and Great Apes
(Gorillas, Chimpanzees,
Orangutans)
Book: Among Orangutans: Red
Apes and the Rise of Human
Culture (Dr. van Schaik)
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A. Communal Learning
Washing potatoes in the salt water
Washing dirt off of sweet potatoes
(Japanese Macaques)
Changes in learned behavior tend to move
quicker from top down than bottom up
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III. What We Share with Other

Primates
B. Tools
Sumatra Orangutan Tool Use
Using Sticks to get honey and
insects
Other Sticks for seeds of the
neesia fruit
Opening Tool Box

Tool Use: Cultural; They learn

it from each other
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B. Tools
Tool use is one indicator of higher
intelligence
Behavior that was once used to set
humans apart from other animals

Broad range and degrees of sophistication

of the tools that humans and other
primates use
Primates including early hominins, and the
study of these tools provides important
information concerning the evolution of the
human tool using abilities.
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III. What We Share with Other

Primates
C. Predation and
Hunting
Both apes and humans
are predators
Terrestrial primatesprimarily vegetarian diet
Pan troglodytes
chimpanzee
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III. What We Share with Other

Primates
C. Predation and
Hunting
Both apes and humans
are predators
Terrestrial primatesprimarily vegetarian diet
Pan troglodytes
chimpanzee
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IV. What we share with other

primates
A. Sharing and
Cooperation

Pan troglodytes
chimpanzee

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Differences: Human Mating

and Kinship
Humans mate throughout the year to
increase reproductive success
Marriage and Exogamy
Maintaining ties to children over lifetime

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Tools Defined
Any object manipulated
to perform a specific
task.

Beneficial Task
Task is made easier by
the use of the tool

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Naturefact

Some tools are very

simple

Tool which requires no

alteration to be functional, is
sometimes described as a
"naturefact"
E.g. a bunch of leaves used
as a sponge to carry water,
or a stick to help scratch the
animal's back.
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64

Artifact
A tool that has been
crafted: altered in some
way to make it more
suitable for the job in
hand.
E.g. chimps have been
know to chew their termite
fishing sticks so that they
fit better into the holes in
the termite mounds. A
chewed stick is now an
artifact.
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Non-Primate, E.g. Raven

Dropping nuts from sky to
drop them
If they didnt break open,
dropped into traffic, to be
run over
Waited for traffic light to
change to get

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Capuchin Monkey

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Capuchin monkeys
(e.g.. Cebus apella) are observed to use stones to crack
nuts in the wild. This behavior has been much studied in
captivity with some interesting observations:
1. Not all animals seem capable of learning to use tools
2. They don't seem to "understand" their tools (e.g..
banging the ground next to the nut)
3. Other members of the group are able to learn to use
tools by observation
4. In captivity, they will use other tools to perform
particular tasks (e.g.. honey dipping with straw)
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III. What We Share with Other

Primates
C. Predation and
Hunting
Both apes and humans
are predators
Terrestrial primatesprimarily vegetarian diet
Pan troglodytes
chimpanzee
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Importance of Hunting
If human hunting and meat consumption
was unique among primates, then the
evolution and effects of this behavior could
easily be understood as vitally important.

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Hunting Styles

Opportunistic
Planned

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C. Predation and Hunting

Research by Mitani and
Watts in Uganda
Largest Chimpanzee
Community described in
the wild
26 M, 40 F, 16 Adolescent
M, 5 F, 30 Infants

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Large Hunting Parties

Most hunts 78% led to a kill

Higher success rate than lions (26%),

hyenas (34%), cheetahs (30%)

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Chimpanzee Hunting Behavior

Advantages:
1) Nutrition: Protein in a largely frugivorous
diet
2) Social Currency of Hunting- Maintain
alliances b/t adult males
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Styles of Hunting
Cooperative Event
Success increases with
group size
In some areas,
chimpanzee success
leading to population
decline of red colobus
monkeys

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Hunting Act
Multiple males are involved in cornering
and capturing prey,
Members of the hunting party are spread
out widely on the ground and in the trees
(if hunting arboreal prey such as colobus
monkeys), and other members of the
community often observe and vocalize
excitedly throughout the pursuit (Watts &
Mitani 2002).
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Hunting
Building
AlliancesSelective
Distribution of
Meat
Deny Meat to
Enemies
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IV. How We Differ From Other

Primates
A. Sharing and
Cooperation

Pan troglodytes
chimpanzee

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Social Band Organizations

Small populations

Large Homeland
Hunting and Foraging

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Social Organization
Cooperation in the
quest for food, social
practices, etc.
Break the laws,
banished

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IV. How We Differ From Other

Primates
B. Mating
and Kinship
Non-human
primates
mate when
female is
ovulating
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Human Mating and Kinship

Humans mate throughout the year to
increase reproductive success
Marriage and Exogamy
Maintaining ties to children over lifetime

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