Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T20:11:35.361Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Biological and Cultural Evolution

from Pleistocene Evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2020

Patrick Manning
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Get access

Summary

This chapter traces evolution of hominin species from the late Pliocene era to 100,000 years ago, focusing on the concurrent emergence of several remarkable capabilities. The chapter begins with the biological evolution of the phenotype of succeeding species, including unusual growth in brain capacity. With the rise of Homo heidelbergensis some 700,000 years ago, this species and its offspring—especially Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans, gained capabilities including advances in learning (facilitated through inclusive fitness and multilevel selection), visual communication, logic, internal language, articulation of emotions, and family level behavior in groups of 15 to 30 individuals. The chapter traces documentation of these changes through studies in paleontology, cultural evolution, evolutionary linguistics, evolutionary psychology, and social anthropology; it defines the sum of these hominin capabilities as “individual-level human nature.” Such individual-level human nature allows for processes. The chapter concludes with the question of the degree to which these capabilities, known for Homo sapiens, also characterized Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Type
Chapter
Information
A History of Humanity
The Evolution of the Human System
, pp. 19 - 35
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×