Biological And Cultural Evolution From Australopithecus to Homo Sapiens Biological and Cultural Evolution are key concepts in the study of the origins of modern humans. Biological Evolution refers to the changes modifications and variations in the genetics and inherited traits of biological populations from one generation to another Evolution Is diverse and it occurs in different levels of the biological population. It can occur in the level of species or organism and even in the molecular level. Cultural Evolution Refers to the changes or development in cultures from a simple form to a more complex form of human culture. Charles Darwin Biological evolution is based on the theory of evolution that was introduced by the famous English naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin(1809-1882). Darwin after conducting numerous studies regarding the changes that occur among plants, fossil animals, and different breed of pigeon concluded that each species was not created at one time in a fixed form( Ember ,Ember and Peregrine 2002, p.32) Because of the result of his studies he introduced the concept of evolution to explain the origins of modern humans. In his published work entitled On the Origins of Species by Means of Natural Selection(1859) From Hominids to Homo Sapiens: The Biological and Cultural Evolution of Modern Humans This evolutionary ladder illustrates the apelike ancestors of modern humans at the base and the modern humans at the top. The transformation from apelike ancestors to modern humans occurred after millions of years f biological and cultural evolution. In this long process of evolution an apelike ancestors developed and eventually became modern humans ( Homo sapiens sapiens). For archaeologists artifacts and fossils are important sources of information in the reconstruction of human evolution. Fossils refer to the human, plant and animal remains that have been preserved through time like human or animal teeth, skull and bone fragments. Artifacts refer to the objects that were made and used by humans. Hominid – is the general term used by scientist to categorize the group of early humans and other humanly – ke creatures that can walk erect during the prehistoric times. 4 Categories of Homo Sahelanthropus Sahelanthropus tchadensis is an extinct species of the Hominini and is probably the ancestor to Orrorin that is dated to about 7 million years ago, during the Miocene epoch, possibly very close to the time of the chimpanzee–human divergence. Few specimens other than the partial skull, nicknamed Toumaï ("hope of life"), are known. Ardipithecus Ardipithecus is a genus of an extinct hominine that lived during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene epochs in the Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Originally described as one of the earliest ancestors of humans after they diverged from the chimpanzees, the relation of this genus to human ancestors and whether it is a hominin is now a matter of debate. Two fossil species are described in the literature: A. ramidus, which lived about 4.4 million years ago during the early Pliocene, and A. kadabba, dated to approximately 5.6 million years ago (late Miocene).Behavioral analysis showed that Ardipithecus could be very similar to chimpanzees, indicating that the early human ancestors were very chimpanzee-like in behavior. Australopithecus Australopithecus ( from Latin australis, meaning 'southern', and Greek πίθηκος (pithekos), meaning 'ape', informal australopithecine or australopith (although the term australopithecine has a broader meaning as a member of the subtribe Australopithecina, which includes this genus as well as the Paranthropus, Kenyanthropus, Ardipithecus, and Praeanthropus genera) is a 'genus' of hominins. Homo Homo ("human being") is the genus which emerged in the otherwise extinct genus Australopithecus that encompasses the extant species Homo sapiens (modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely related to modern humans (depending on a species), most notably Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis. The genus is taken to emerge with the appearance of Homo habilis, just over two million years ago. Genus Homo, together with the genus Paranthropus is probably sister to A. africanus in the genus Australopithecus, which itself had previously split from the lineage of Pan, the chimpanzees.
