Jennifer+Bentley

=The Theory of ﻿Human EVOLUTION 5 = toc By Jennifer Bentley



//According to theories of human evolution, many changes in humanity have enabled us to make progress. //

Introduction
 No one is exactly sure whether the early hominids were real or not. The whole story is just a theory. It is possible though that it was true.  Through time, there have been many different hominid species. We do not know about all the different species, but we do know about many. The main hominids that I will be writing about are: All of these different hominids are the different stages of evolution. We have developed from the Australopithecus Afarensis to the Homo Sapien Sapiens, **our** form of humanity. Where did it all start? How have we developed? What were the major changes?  Through this essay, you will hopefully have more understanding about the early Hominids.
 * The Australopithecus Afarensis
 * Homo Habillis
 * Homo Erectus
 * Homo Sapien
 * And us, the Homo Sapien Sapiens

=Australopithecus Afarensis = Over 3 million years ago in Africa, the climate was drying out. This resulted in forest areas becoming grass lands. Here, mainly along the Rift Vally is where the Australopithecus Afarensis lived and fought for survival.

**Physical Appearance**
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Australopithecus Afarensis is what we think was the first species to walk on two legs, to stand upright. According to discovery, the Australopithecus Afarensis was similar to us, but not in many ways. They mainly shared similarities with apes.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Australopithecus Afarensis had teeth that were smaller than those of modern apes but still bigger than ours. Some people say that the Afarensis only walked on two legs but others say that they sometimes lived in trees. Their hands, feet and shoulder joints suggest that they did live in trees. The finger and toe bones were similar to many modern apes' and hint that they might have lived in trees because of the way they could grip branches. The pelvis is more similar to humans than to apes. The thigh bone angles towards the knee this would mean that the foot was holding up the rest of the body. The big toe helps balance the body by spreading towards the mid-line of the body. The shoulders were closer to the head than they are for us - this might show that they could use their hands and arms for reaching high up on branches above their heads and climbing. The Australopithecus Afarensis evolved from apes and had similarities with them as well as with the Homo Sapien Sapiens. Their faces came outwards like apes and they probably had lots of body hair too.



<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tools
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">People can only debate about if Australopithecines were completely terrestrial or not. Some people think that they kept safe at night by finding shelter in the trees, they also looked for fruits to eat in the trees. There is no proof that they used tools to cut meat. But it is possible that they used branches for reaching things,fishing, etc.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">As people explore ancient caves, they often find small rocks and sticks lying around on the floor. They aren't normal sticks or stones. They have been made into tools. The sticks have sharp edges, they look almost like spear, and the rocks have been sharpened and were probably used as knifes of some sort. Seeing as the Australopithecus walked on two legs, they could easily make tools out of items often found in nature, e.g. rocks, sticks and grass. Even though these tools were so simple, they made a great difference in the hominids' daily life.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Australopithecus used sticks to fish out insects out of logs. They used rocks to open up hard fruits. The tools were also very useful for hunting. Clubs, animal bones and sticks were very useful for hunting down different kinds of animals found on the African Savannah. The hominids managed to use tools, but they were still very simple. Although they //had// tools at that time, they didn't know how to use fire....................yet.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tools have made a great difference in the hominids' daily life. Scientist are continuing to search for more tools.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Social Behavior
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Scientists don't know much about the social behavior of the Australopithecus Afarensis. It is hard to find this sort of thing out from extinct species. People decided that the Australopithecines didn't live in groups like the later hominids. They lived in small families. They kept more to themselves, they stayed away from others. The Australopithecus Afarensis did not work together while hunting or anything else. This proves that the social behavior of these hominids was very different to ours.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Homo Habilis =

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Homo Habilis means "handy man". This hominid species was named like this because with the found fossils were many early made tools. The Homo Habilis existed around 2.4 and 1.5 million years ago. Some scientists say that the Homo Habilis wasn't a seperate species and should be in the group of Australopithecine or an early Homo Erectus.



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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Physical Appearance
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> According to its appearance and morphology, the Homo Habilis species was the least similar to humans of all species so far. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The Homo Habilis was a short creature. It had very long arms compared to the arms of modern humans. Its' face was not as protruding as the faces of Australopithecines, who have by now extinct. The Homo Habilis was about 1.52m tall and weighed around 45.36kg.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tools
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Homo Habilis, like all other hominids didn't have strong claws to fight. They could not defeat lions and other huge animals. They had to start thinking mentally to survive. The Homo Habilis started creating with stone, they made tools to help them survive and to make life easier. The Homo Habilis sheltered under cliffs and in caves. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Although we think of the Homo Habilis as very clever, their tools and weapons were still basic. But they discovered one of the best tools ever....Fire. They did not have skills to work with the fire and they could not control it. But they used it to keep warm and to scare and capture animals. Seeing as the Homo Habilis couldn't make fire, they had to find it. They mainly found it burning from natural causes, they sometimes started the fire with a lightening strike. The fire had to be watched, because if the fire would go out, they wouldn't be able to start it again. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Scientists and archeologists find charcoal and stone tools in these camps. Animal bones have been found as well.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Social Behavior
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The Homo Habilis was the first hominid species to live in small groups. They were the first hominids to work in groups. Together they hunted, spent time together and in the evenings they would tell stories about the day while sitting around the camp fire. People have discovered, through the shape of the Homo Habilis' brains, that they did use some speech. This is important as well because it shows that they communicated and spoke with each other. The Homo Habilis was the first proper step towards society.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Homo Erectus =

The Homo Erectus lived in Europe, Asia and Africa. The Homo Erectus was named like this because it was probably one of the first hominids to walk completely upright, the word "Erectus" means upright man. Scientists and archeologists say that this species live about 1.9 million years ago.



<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Physical Appearance
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The remains of the Homo Erectus species were so far found in Africa and Asia, showing that they were the most widely spread hominids of that time. The brain of the Homo Erectus are larger than that of the past found fossils. Their foreheads were much flatter and the cranium came lower. The face also got shorter as well as the arms. The hight of the Homo Erectus is about a foot larger than that of the Homo Habilis. The Homo Erectus was over 1.52m tall. The found fossils were still very robust, showing that the Homo Erectus was quite strong. This helps when it comes to hunting.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tools
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Homo Erectus' tool-making was much better then that of its' early ancestor. They had many weapons including the stone axes and knives. Homo Erectus was also probably the first proper hunter. Homo Erectus also had the skill to make FIRE!!! Like other inventions made, fire mad a HUGE difference in life. The hominids found out that animals were terrified of fires so they made campfires to keep warm, for light and for safety. With fire they didn't have to find shelter out of the wind, unless they wanted to. If their fire ever went out, they could easily relight it. This meant that they could always chose where they wanted to camp. on a very warm night, they could find a safe place where there is a slight breeze. With control of fire they could camp in colder places because they had the fire to keep them safe and warm. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Fire also changed the way that people ate and prepared their food. They started cooking their food. Cooked food is also safer when it comes to getting diseases. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Thanks to the foundation of fire, every camp had a hot, burning campfire. It used to only be for warmth, comfort and safety, and later became a "social occasion". The people gathered around the campfire each evening to tell their stories about the day's hunt and activities, to have a laugh and just to chill.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Social Behavior
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The Homo Erectus species lived in groups. Homo Erectus might have had their own language. Not as complete and accurate as ours, but better than the kind of communication that chimpanzees use. It shows that they took the first step to communication. Homo Erectus hunted in groups, shared and used tools, and took care of each other.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Homo Sapien =

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Homo Sapien is also known as the Homo Heidelbergenis. This species lived in Europe, Africa and Asia. The Homo Sapien, existed in the time of the "Ice Age", the same time as the Neanderthals. The change in climate also changed the hominids. They had to get used to living in a colder world.



<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Physical Appearance
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The Homo Sapien was well dressed, nice and warm in the cold weather. They had very big noses, apparently the larger the nose, the warmer you are. The Homo Sapien was about 1.65meters tall, this is shorter than the average human height but they still weighed more than us! The Homo Sapien was a very powerful creature, strong arms, legs and strong teeth. In some ways the Homo Sapien looked quite similar to us.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tools
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The Homo Sapien used quite a lot of tools. They made knives, spears and a lot of other tools used while hunting! Like the Homo Erectus and Homo Habilis they used fire. But they didn't only use the fire, they knew how to make this powerful weapon!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Social Behavior
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The social behavior of the Homo Sapien was more advanced than that of the earlier species. The shape of the brain, proves that they had speech, it wasn't as advanced as ours, but it was better than the earlier speech. The Homo Sapiens also lived together like the earlier hominids and also worked well together. Each group had a leader, this leader made sure that everyone was doing their jobs right. He was in charge of everyone else. He made the rules and everyone obeyed him.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Homo Sapien Sapien =

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">What have **we** become? We are the Homo Sapien Sapien, the modern hominid. The Homo Sapien Sapiens have conquered the world, we live EVERYWHERE. We have everything we need: Food, water, fire, clothing, shelter and also a load of things that we don't really need for survival. We also have a load of things that we actually don't need **at all**, although some people could argue with me about this matter. But the point is, that humans have developed and learned a lot over time. During the earlier stages of human development, we wouldn't have even thought about playstations, Wii, etc. I mean, think about it, imagine an Australopithecus Afarensis sitting on a rock playing on its' PSP.....seriously??? A while ago the hominids thought that life was all about survival and in a way it was because they didn't have the right tools, but we do. So, I am now going to tell you about us.......the Homo Sapien Sapien.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Physical Appearance
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Well, you know the answer to this. Every person looks completely different. We do not all look similar like the Australopithecines, we are unique in our own way. Take a look at yourself and others around you, you will see a difference......I hope.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tools
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> I can not recall all of the tools that we have. There are sooooo many!!! We have all sorts of cooking equiptment, definitely more advanced than that of the earlier hominids. We also have plenty of hunting tools. We have EVERYTHING we could possibly need. The human brain has developed SO much through time that we invent all sorts of tools. People often even make a fuss about being passed the wrong knife to cut meat. Had the other hominids, for example the Australopithecus had ANY kind of good knife, they would be thrilled. We are, in a way, spoiled because of everything that we have. Because we have SO many tools, we don't make things anymore that we REALLY need. We make things for our pleasure. The humans have invented the TV, Computers, iPods, iPhones, PlayStations, I could go on forever. But not only these things, clothing has also changed. We don't really care anymore about keeping warm, we care about wearing "cool" clothing. Well take me as an example, I don't care if I'm wearing a warm T-Shirt, I care if I'm wearing PURPLE.

There is a huge difference

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Social Behavior
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> We are socially very different to the earlier hominids. We have many friends and family members, we work together in our societies. Humans have also developed speech and can therefore communicate better to each other. We don't really have leaders, we handle our own lives, except for when we are at work or at school. There we have principles or bosses who make sure that we are doing everything correctly. Also, not like the earlier hominids, we do our best to make friends with other people. Friendships are something that the Homo Sapien Sapiens really value.

=Conclusion=

Huge changes have taken place throughout time. We all started off as the Australopithecus and now we are the Homo Sapien Sapiens. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Have we become better people? Learning about this topic has made me start thinking differently about human life. I don't just pick up an object and use it, I think about how amazing it is that us humans have managed to create it. But not only our tool-making skills have developed greatly, also our physical appearances. We definitely aren't hairy monkeys anymore, we are the strong and proud....."Homo Sapien Sapiens". The final, and probably most important change that has taken place, is that we have changed socially. Us humans, work //together//, and this has, //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"enabled us to make progress". //

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