- Module 2 -

Human
evolution &
CULTURE
Presented by Ms. AR Balmores
 Lesson Agenda
01
Cultural Beginnings

02
HUMANS ORIGINS & CULTURE
03
LEGACY OF EARLY HUMANS
 CULTURAL
BEGINNINGS
 Introduction
What is CULTURE?
• defined as “that complex whole which
encompasses beliefs, practices, values,
attitudes, laws, norms, artifacts,
symbols, knowledge, and everything that
a person learns and shares as a member
of a society” (Tylor, 2010). [a]
 What is CULTURE?

• To understand the culture, you

need to know the following:
• Biological capacity of humans
for culture
• Place of humans in the animal
kingdom
• How humans came to develop
early forms of culture
 BIOLOGICAL
CAPACITY FOR
CULTURE
1) Our thinking capacity
• The primary biological component of
humans that allowed for culture is the
developed brain. [a]
• Due to the size of their brain and the
complexity of their parts, humans were
able to create survival skills that helped
them adapt to their environment and
outlive their less adaptive biological
relatives. [b]
 BIOLOGICAL
CAPACITY FOR
CULTURE
2) Our Speaking capacity
• The vocal tract acts as the mechanism by
which sounds are produced and
reproduced to transmit ideas and values.
[a]
• Traditional scientific belief pegs the
development of language at 100 000 years
ago, making it an exclusive trait of the
modern human. [b]
 BIOLOGICAL
CAPACITY FOR
CULTURE
3) Our GRIPPING capacity
• The capacity to directly oppose your
thumb with your other fingers is an
exclusive trait of humans.
⚬ It allowed us to have a finer grip.
Thus, we have the capability to craft
materials with precision. [a]
⚬ 2 types of grip:
￭ Power grip
￭ Precision grip
 TYPES OF GRIP
POWER PRECISION
• GRIP
enables humans to wrap the • GRIP
enables humans to holdand
thumb and fingers around an pick objects steadily using
object; their fingers;
• Purpose: to hold tools firmly • Purpose: for tool-making
for hunting and other activities
activities
 BIOLOGICAL
CAPACITY FOR
CULTURE
3) Our WLAKING/STANDING
capacity
• Primates have two forms of locomotion:
bipedalism and quadrupedalism. [a]
• Humans are the only fully bipedal
primates. [b]
⚬ This is an important trait, as it gave
humans more productivity with their
hands. [c]
"Cultural development is predicated by the
physical development of humans."
HUMAN ORIGINS &
CULTURE
 STONE TOOL
INDUSTRIES
• As our ancestors evolved biologically in response to their environment, they have also
developed cultural technologies that aided them to efficiently obtain food and deter
predators.
• Archaeologists refer to these early traditions as stone tool industries, instead of culture,
as the material products of these periods merely display the methods used by early
humans in creating tools and not the modern context by which we define it.
 OLDOWAN
characterized by the use INDUSTRY*
of “hard water-worn creek cobbles made out of volcanic
rock” (O’Neil, 2012).

Percussion flaking
These raw materials were then made into tools through
percussion flaking, which is a process involving the
systematic collision of a hammer stone with a core stone.

core tool & flake tool

The impact of the collision produces a core tool (used for
general purposes) and a flake tool (used as a knife).
• allowed for the species to “butcher
large animals, because human teeth
and fingers are totally inadequate for
cutting through thick skins and
slicing off pieces of meat. [a]
• improved food gathering skills using
the ‘hammering, digging, and
chopping implements’” (O’Neil,
2012).
 ACHEULIAN
Using the same process of INDUSTRY
percussion flaking, Homo erectus created hand axes that
were bifacial, shaped on both sides, and with straighter and sharper edges.

USED FOR MULTIPLE ACTIVITIES

these stone implements were used in multiple activities such
as light chopping of wood, digging up roots and bulbs,
butchering animals, and cracking nuts and small bones.

NAMED AFTER SAINT ACHEUL

This industry was named after Saint Acheul, a patron saint
in southwest France, as these artifacts were discovered in
the area. [a]
• Tools in this time were kept and not
disposed of like the tools in the
Oldowan industry because they
were more useful due to their
generic application.
• Homo erectus made other tools such
as “choppers, cleavers, and
hammers as well as flakes used as
knives and scrapers” (O’Neil, 2012).
 MOUSTERIAN
INDUSTRY
The tools from this industry combined Acheulian industry techniques with the
Levalloisian technique [a]

KnOWN FOR THEIR EFFICIENCY

This type of tool is very efficient as all the sides of the flake
tool are sharpened and, due to the reduction in size, handier.

NAMED AFTER A SITE IN FRANCE

This industry was named after a site in France called Le
Moustier, where evidence was uncovered in 1860.
• Most archaeologists
hypothesize that this
industry could be evidence
of the acculturation of
modern humans with their
Neanderthal relatives. [a]
• The tools differ in terms of size, shape, and sharpened sides.
⚬ These differences are primarily due to the shifting needs of the users
who were adapting to their environment as they addressed their need
for food and security.

• It could also be said that these

are pieces of evidence of the
development of tradition, as one
efficient trait is borrowed or
passed on to the next generation
or group of species.
By the end of the Paleolithic period, early humans have
been engaged in a proto-culture type of industries* wherein
they did not just create tools but also started creating art
and other symbolic materials.
 AURIGNACIAN
INDUSTRY
Users of this industry used raw materials such as flint, animal bones, and antlers. [a]

CULTURAL MILESTONE: SELF-

Apart from a more advanced toolmaking industry, what
AWARENESS
made this industry a cultural milestone for modern humans
in Europe is their development of self-awareness.

NAMED AFTER A SITE IN FRANCE

The term was derived from Aurignac, an area in France
where the evidence for this industry was found.
[1] [2]

[3]
 MAGDALENIAN
This industry was defined by INDUSTRY
several revolutionary advancements in technology such as
the creation of microliths from flint, bone, antler, and ivory. [a]

ART REVOLUTION
Apart from functional tools which were at times beautified
by artistic engravings, the early humans during this period
were engrossed in creating figurines, personal adornments,
and other forms of mobiliary art.

NAMED AFTER THE LA MADELEINE

The industry was named after the La Madeleine site in
SITE
Dordogne, France.
• The creation of specialized weapons
(e.g., barbed harpoon) is evidence of the
growing sophistication of the hunting
skills and technology of early humans.
• Another cultural milestone was the use of
temporary man-made shelters such as
tents made of animal skin. [a]
• The technological development in this
industry has allowed early humans to
have more leisure time,. [b]
 HUMAN ORIGINS & CULTURE:
Processes of Cultural & Sociopolitical Evolution
 EVOLUTIONARY
PALEOLITHI
PERIODS NEOLITHIC
• has provided Cthe bases for the • characterized by a major shift in the
development of complex human groups economic subsistence of the early humans
through the establishment of culture. [b]
• made foraging (hunting and gathering) ⚬ from foraging to agriculture.
the primary mode of subsistence. [a] ⚬ agriculture encouraged permanent
⚬ foraging made early humans nomads settlement
⚬ changed the entire array of behaviors,
attitudes, beliefs, and corresponding
material inventions
 VIEWS ON
NEOLITHIC
REVOLUTION
• Traditionally, it is being argued that
with the development of agriculture
and technology, humans were able to
develop sociopolitically, as the
existence of systematic food
production has resulted in a food
surplus that enabled members of the
population to indulge in self-
actualizing activities such as the arts
and politics.
 VIEWS ON
NEOLITHIC
REVOLUTION
• Opposing this perspective: progressive
scholars argue that the same
phenomenon of surplus production has
had negative impacts on human
populations such as social divisions,
high population density, and gender
inequality.
HUMAN ORIGINS & CULTURE:
Early Civilizations and the Rise of the State
• The earliest civilizations rose by
the end of the Neolithic period.
[a]
• Early civilizations were
characterized by a) the presence
of city-states, b) a system of
writing, and c) a ceremonial
center where public debates and
decision-making were conducted.
[b]
 What is STATE?

• a political entity that has four

requisite elements:
⚬ territory,
⚬ sovereignty,
⚬ people, and
⚬ government
 THEORIES ON STATE
FORMATION
DIVINE RIGHT THEORY
Rulers ascended to power convinced that their right to rule is based
on their filial relationship with supernatural forces and entities. [a]

FORCE THEORY
A group forces members of another group to subject themselves to
its rules. [b]

PATERNALISTIC THEORY
The father essentially is the leader of the first political unit, which
grew as the number of members of his family grew. [c]
 THEORIES ON STATE
FORMATION
SOCIAL CONTACT THEORY
The creation of a state was a mutual agreement between the ruler
and the ruled to ensure order and security from outside threats.

NATURAL THEORY
Humans have an innate need to be part of a community. [a]
HUMAN ORIGINS & CULTURE:
Democratization of Early Civilizations
• The early states were governed by
a limited few who ascended to
power through wealth, birthright,
or religious dogma.
• This alienated the masses from the
daily administration of rules and
regulations in their society.
• As a result, the social cleavage in
early civilizations widened and
resulted in social clashes.
 TRADITIONAL
VIEW ON
DEMOCRACY*
• An Athenian statesman named
Cleisthenes proposed demokratia as a
political ideology that aimed at
dispersing power from the monopoly of
the elites to the masses. [a]
• This allowed for the closing in of social
gaps between diverging social groups.
[b]
 COUNTER
THEORY ON
• viewsDEMOCRACY*
that democracy was first practiced
in the Fertile Crescent region, specifically
in the sacred city of Nippur (Keane,
2009). [a]
• further argued that the idea and
implementation of democracy could be
traced to the Mycenaean settlements of
the Peloponnese region between 1 500
and 1 200 BCE. [b]
LEGACY OF EaRLY HUMANS
 CULTURAL
HERITAGE*
• "not limited to material manifestations, such as monuments and objects that
have been preserved over time. This notion also encompasses living
expressions and the traditions that countless groups and communities
worldwide have inherited from their ancestors and transmitted to their
descendants, in most cases, orally" (UNESCO, 2010).
 cultural heritage
tangible heritage
Heritage in the form of structures, monuments,
historical sites, and other artifacts.

intangible heritage
Heritage in the form of literature, oral traditions,
concepts, and values.
 tangible heritage categories*
movable immovable
• often removed from the sites • often left to the elements of
where they were found and nature (i.e., rain, wind,
transferred to museums for sand, sun), which makes
safekeeping and them vulnerable to decay
maintenance. and corrosion. [a]
 LEGACY OF EARLY HUMANS:
Role of Museums in Preserving Human Heritage
 What is A MUSEUM'S ROLE?

• In the 2010 Conference of the Museum

Association, new roles of the museums
were identified:
⚬ 1) fostering community solidarity
through shared history
⚬ 2) regeneration and development
of the local economy
 What is A MUSEUM?

• the repository of archaeological finds that

allow people from the contemporary
period to reconstruct the culture and
environment of their ancestors. [a]
• ordinary people get to have an access to
their ancestors’ lives and the environment
without traveling to archaeological sites,
which are often highly inaccessible
 10 MOST FAMOUS
•
•
MUSEUMS*
Smithsonian Institution in
Le Louvre in Paris, France
Washington, DC, USA

• The Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece

• State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia
• The British Museum in London, UK
• The Prado in Madrid, Spain
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, USA
• The Vatican Museums in Vatican City
• The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy
• Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
 PHILIPPINE MUSEUMS

• In the Philippines, the key museum

that houses most of the country’s
highly valuable artifacts is the National
Museum.
• There are local museums in the
country that were built by local
governments to address the need of
preserving local history and traditions.
"Material culture is as significant as the intangible
parts of the culture in providing context to the kind
of life that humans had."
 REFERENCE
• Alejandria-Gonzalez, M. C. P. &
Custodio, H. M. (2019). Understanding
Culture, Society, and Politics (2nd ed.).
DIWA Learning Systems Inc.
 ANY
QUESTION
S?