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Overview of Human Evolution and Society

Humans are the only extant members of the subtribe Hominina and are characterized as great apes. Early hominins like australopithecines were less human-like than members of the genus Homo. Anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa around 315,000 years ago and began exhibiting behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago, migrating out of Africa to populate the world. Humans have profoundly impacted the biosphere through population growth and use of tools, language, social structures, science and technology, transitioning to sedentary agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago and establishing civilization globally. The current human population is estimated to be near 7.7 billion.

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3 views1 page

Overview of Human Evolution and Society

Humans are the only extant members of the subtribe Hominina and are characterized as great apes. Early hominins like australopithecines were less human-like than members of the genus Homo. Anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa around 315,000 years ago and began exhibiting behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago, migrating out of Africa to populate the world. Humans have profoundly impacted the biosphere through population growth and use of tools, language, social structures, science and technology, transitioning to sedentary agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago and establishing civilization globally. The current human population is estimated to be near 7.7 billion.

Uploaded by

John
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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org/wiki/Human

Humans (Homo sapiens) are the only extant members of the subtribe Hominina. Together
with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, they are part of the family Hominidae (the
great apes, or hominids). A terrestrial animal, humans are characterized by their erect
posture and bipedal locomotion; high manual dexterity and heavy tool use compared to
other animals; open-ended and complex language use compared to other animal
communications; larger, more complex brains than other animals; and highly advanced and
organized societies.[3][4]
Early hominins—particularly the australopithecines, whose brains and anatomy are in many
ways more similar to ancestral non-human apes—are less often referred to as "human"
than hominins of the genus Homo.[5] Several of these hominins used fire, occupied much of
Eurasia, and gave rise to anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Africa about
315,000[6] years ago.[7][8] Humans began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity around
50,000 years ago, and in several waves of migration, they ventured out of Africa and
populated most of the world.[9]
The spread of the large and increasing population of humans has profoundly affected much
of the biosphere and millions of species worldwide. Advantages that explain this
evolutionary success include a larger brain with a well-developed neocortex, prefrontal
cortex and temporal lobes, which enable advanced abstract reasoning, language, problem
solving, sociality, and culture through social learning. Humans use tools more frequently
and effectively than any other animal; and are the only extant species to build fires, cook
food, clothe themselves, and create and use numerous other technologies and arts.
Humans uniquely use such systems of symbolic communication as language and art to
express themselves and exchange ideas, and also organize themselves into purposeful
groups. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and
competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social
interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of
values,[10] social norms, and rituals, which together undergird human society. Curiosity and
the human desire to understand and influence the environment and to explain and
manipulate phenomena (or events) have motivated humanity's development
of science, philosophy, mythology, religion, anthropology, and numerous other fields of
knowledge.
Though most of human existence has been sustained by hunting and gathering in band
societies,[11] increasingly many human societies transitioned to sedentary agriculture
approximately some 10,000 years ago,[12] domesticating plants and animals, thus enabling
the growth of civilization. These human societies subsequently expanded, establishing
various forms of government, religion, and culture around the world, and unifying people
within regions to form states and empires. The rapid advancement of scientific and medical
understanding in the 19th and 20th centuries permitted the development of fuel-driven
technologies and increased lifespans, causing the human population to rise exponentially.
The global human population was estimated to be near 7.7 billion in 2019.[13]

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