Nat D. Bhaskar
In the span of a few million years, Home sapiens have climbed the ladder of being, from near the bottom to the top. From being a prey in the food chain, today man is the ultimate predator. Humans have developed extraordinary capacity to show grace, benevolence, kindness and love to all beings. However, humanity has also accumulated vast powers with which we can obliterate the earth.
This blog post is a continuation of the series titled “The Ascent of Man”; posted on November 8, 2021. A brief recap of Part 0 sets the context for Part 1. The basic question we had raised was: What were the key enablers for man to acquire such awesome powers to climb to the top of the ladder? I draw my discussion material from Peter Watson’s book titled “Ideas: A History of Thought and Inventions, from Fire to Freud.” My goal is to distill the essence of what I gained from reading this book. You may call this a “Cliff Notes” version. I am hoping that this will stimulate and inspire you to devote some of your time exploring this subject of our ancestor’s accomplishments and what we are made of — a sort of discovery of the “self.”
Part 0 was the discussion of “Introduction and Prologue” of Watson’s book. Starting with Part 1 I plan to dive deep into Watson’s vast historical material, starting with prehistoric man. Watson emphasizes that the archeological and paleontological evidence pertaining to man’s early beginning (about 10 million years ago) is very sparse. As a result, our key knowledge of early man is speculative, and evolving with new research. Therefore, for any question we ask there are several competing hypotheses for answers and Watson gives a balanced presentation of them in his book.
However, keeping in the spirit of providing an essential distillation of Watson’s book, I present only the dominant idea for any issue we discuss. In Part 1 I will cover a sizable ground — grouped under “Lucy to Gilgamesh” — the first four chapters. I plan to divide this material into two parts: Part 1 covering “Ideas Before Language” and “The Emergence of Language and the Conquest of Cold.” and Part 2 (which will be published subsequently) covering “The Birth of Gods, the Evolution of House and Home,” and “Cities of Wisdom.”
The four dominant threads of our Part 1 are:
- Bipedalism and the Great Transformation
- Emergence of Stone Tools
- Emergence of Language
- Conquest of Cold
Man is a new kid on the block. It is reasonable to assume that primates first showed up on Earth about 10 million years ago. That’s essentially a wink in the geological and environmental evolution of our planet. Our planet’s environment continues to remain dynamic. Many cataclysmic changes have occurred in the past — meteorite collisions, floods, volcanoes, glacier drifts and climate changes have masked the evidence left behind in the form of fossils by the earlier species. Archeologists and paleontologists face immense challenges in reconstructing our early history. Man’s march through time is marked by long periods of stagnation and stasis. It stretches our imagination to its limit to conjure how man has managed to come this far and that too against all odds. Man is a miracle of nature.
Bipedalism and the Great Transformation:
I want to share an encounter I had, during one of our family summer camping trips to the Sequoia National Park in California. During one of our evening walks through the woods, our sights were arrested by a family of black bears, a big mama bear with her cubs. We were at a safe distance and watched quietly the bear family frolicking in the green meadows. Suddenly the huge mama bear stood up on her hind legs with paws on her chest. She stood still-not a step forward or backward. Time stopped for several minutes. Moments later the mama bear got back on her fours and led her family back into the woods. My young son’s first question was that though he was small yet he could walk and run, but why the bear couldn’t walk. A very poignant question!
I recall mumbling something to answer his question. Living beings show a variety of methods of locomotion: swimming, hopping and flying–only man walks erect, with arms free. This was a “Great Transformation” that took place around ten million years ago.
Primates, man’s closest ancestors, were tree dwellers. They foraged on fruits and nuts. Charles Darwin, in his “The Descent of Man-1871” theorized that early ancestors of man descended from the trees and began to walk upright out of sheer survival necessity brought upon by the big “climate change-global warming.” With the end of the last ice age, earth’s temperatures started soaring up resulting in gradual loss of rainforests. Survival required man to “walk” on open savannahs in search of food.
Readers should be aware that this “neat hypothesis” has been challenged with alternate explanations. Watson describes some in his book. From the skeletal remains of “Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis) it is accepted that bipedalism of early man existed 3–4 million years ago. Evolution of bipedalism had a colossal impact on the structure, physiology, anatomy, sociology, and psychology of that evolving species which we call humans today. Evolutionary adaptation and genetic mutations are strong co-factors in this transformation. “Primitive man” walking erect in the open savannahs triggered a complex set of chain reactions. The principal ones were:
- spurts in the growth of brain size
- freeing of the arms and hands enabling man to transport food to the distant tribes-origin of the community
- development of fine muscles in the hand which triggered creating stone tools
- transformation from scavenging to hunting
- becoming a carnivore which provided needed nutrient for the brain development
- descent of the larynx, structural refinement of the jaws (fine muscles), finer movements of the tongue–were enablers for speech and language
- narrowing of the pelvis and the narrowing of the birth canal, resulted in smaller babies at birth requiring longer maternal nurturing period
- division of labor and the origin of the nuclear family
Watson calls bipedalism as the first “proto-idea” of man, although bipedalism was far more instinctive than cognitive and aided by evolutionary forces and genetic mutation.
Emergence of Stone Tools: The Second Big Idea:
The ability to create tools from stones actually marks the beginning of the Great Stone Age. This lasted for hundreds of thousands of years, as man made advances in manufacturing and standardization of stone tools. This truly is an idea driven by man’s use of his expanding brain, aided by evolution.
Manufacturing of stone tools went through five major phases in prehistory, from handling a raw stone, to manufacturing a sharp edge by using another stone-sharp pointed tool that could pierce through the animal hide. This was a giant step in climbing the ladder of being. It enabled man to transform from a scavenger, to an active hunter vastly expanding the food supply. It helped establish a carnivorous diet, which aided the enlargement of brain size and its functions. From the simple beginning of selecting a sharp stone, to the manufacture of stone tools using other stones, marks the great sophistication in “thinking.” To this day, we are a species which specializes in making tools for myriads of applications. Tools development has been identified in several hominid species, not unique to the homo family. The structure, size and shape of the fingers–opposable thumb, together with finer muscle movement — is considered a major factor for refined tools development. This is an attribute limited to humans.
Watching a small child pick up cheerios from the bowl using the thumb and index finger, is a sight to behold. It tells the story of our evolution in using arms, hands and fingers. Some hominid species, in spite of their larger brain size, could not advance beyond the primitive stone tools. Homo erectus–upright man is credited with this skill and also to be the first true hunter rather than a scavenger.
Homo erectus is thought to have “invented cooking” based on small fossilized tooth size and the gut. This increase in intake of carbohydrates, which is necessary for energy production, contributed to expansion of functional capabilities. “Purposeful use and control of fire” is a giant step and it remains challenging to assert when this truly started. During the process of making stone tools using other stones sparks of fire are inevitable. Most likely the man started the fire accidentally. We will discuss the significance of “taming of the fire” subsequently. Every civilization placed fire as one of the important gods in their evolving pantheon. Control of fire would count as primitive man’s one of the most important ideas. Needless to say control of fire helped man to take a major stride in defending himself against ferocious predators resulting in the march to becoming a predator and using this natural force to his advantage.
“Standardization” of hand axes across diverse geographic regions show that man had the basic mental apparatus including some mathematical skills without the benefit of writing. Paleontologists have discovered a wide variety of stone tools including spear points — javelin like spears. Watson presents a detailed discussion of various types of stone tools, and shows how man mastered the tools based on the type of stones that were available in a given region. Some historians see a correlation in the spurt in the growth of brain size and the sophistication of stone tools.
There are other key developments that clearly point to the evolution of the “thinking man.” In some sites ochre (red colored mineral) is used as “crayons” and also for medicament. Another important historical fact is the “practice of burying the dead.” Excavations of sites show that from being rare in the beginning of our historical understanding, burying the dead appears to have become a regular practice. Elaborate burial ceremonies evolved as civilizations began to develop. Excavations of the early burial sites show man’s evolving preoccupation with death and afterlife. Archeologists have uncovered burial sites with some form of beads and artifacts buried with the dead, believing in some form of afterlife.
How did primitive man comprehend death with existential danger surrounding every moment of his being? When does the concept of loss, sorrow, and grief emerge? These are deep philosophical questions that have historians struggling to find evidence to form a coherent explanation and understanding of our ancestors.
Watson discusses the start of some form of “primitive religion” as man begins to confront death and develops some concepts of afterlife–perhaps the origin of “human soul.” Watson discusses several theories that have been debated regarding man’s ability at this point to evolve from episodic thinking, to think beyond the moment–reactive to contemplative mode.
Historians believe the period 400,000–50,000 years ago as possibly one of the most momentous stages in history. Watson describes two forms of thinking of the primitive man-primarily Homo erectus.
The second form of thinking is “mimetic” — intentional mime and imitation–sounds and gestures–beginning of “pedagogy, the acculturation of the young.” This marks the beginning of “generational continuity” — unique to the primitive man where wisdom and experience from the old is passed on to the young. Around 60,000–40,000 years ago “appearance of art” led historians to call this a period of “creative explosion.”
The sudden appearance of art around 40,000 years ago adds a new dimension to our understanding of the profile of primitive man. The art we refer to are the famous cave paintings, Venus figurines and, multi-colored beads. Watson calls the “cave art” an early form of writing.
How does the appearance of art shape our understanding of the cognitive abilities of primitive man? Watson attributes three levels of intelligence-the natural history intelligence, the technical intelligence and the social intelligence — the three forms coming together around 100,000–40,000 years ago (this idea is credited to Stephen Miller).
The “Venus figurines” of paleolithic art have been interpreted in many different ways. It is clear that these figurines represent “female force” and perhaps fertility which remained a mystery to the primitive man. Some historians believe these were meant to convey “sexual images.”
Beads were common around 20,000 years ago and were found in significant abundance in the burial sites-perhaps a form of burial ritual. Some historians theorize that the appearance of “grave gods’’ could be a clear indication of man’s struggle in grappling with death and afterlife.
Many such fundamental questions are subject to different interpretations when direct evidence is sparse. Cave art could be viewed as some form of modern day “documentation” with contextual material. The innumerable paleolithic artifacts-cave art, Venus figurines, beads, grave gods all lead to a very fundamental question-namely how were all these carried out intergenerational without language and speech — which represents cognition and communication!
The Emergence of Language:
Language is one of the most important characteristics that separates Homo sapiens from all other living beings. An understanding of the invention and evolution of language is fundamental to our understanding of man’s history. Watson devotes a full chapter to the discussion of language. We will distill the essentials from those discussions.
We understand that man begins to evolve differently from his other primate ancestors and this gulf widens with time. The first striking deviation is man becoming a “thinking” being, not merely acting based on instincts.
Paleontologists early on discovered that the relatively large brain size of Homo habilis was a critical factor in understanding man’s achievements. As mentioned earlier the marked refinement of stone tools with time is a testimony to evolving cognitive skills. Invention and innovation runs through the development of the primitive man.
Archeological evidence shows that primitive man was capable of making “mental maps”, which led to man’s capability to transport raw materials and food over tens of kilometers, prompting us to infer some form of social structure to which he belonged and contributed. Some zoologists from the study of primates have concluded that there is a definite relationship between the “brain volume” and the size of the social group. Social dynamics would necessitate recognizing one’s own offspring and kin from the wider group.
Another part of the social dynamics would be the evolution of group identity. As mentioned earlier “beads” were found in graves. Some speculate that beads were a part of bodily adornment, perhaps to show a sense of individuality.
The paramount question is how such complex social dynamics could occur and grow without language! We do know that many species live and hunt in large groups without using “language.” The invention and evolution of language is perhaps one of the most important ideas of the primitive man. To this day historians continue to devote a lot of scholarship in the study of languages. Within the scope of this article we plan to limit this discussion.
Modern Neuroscience research has helped identify the language centers of the brain. Comparing this to the skulls of the primates tell us that Homo habilis had the necessary component of speech. Skulls from over 95,000 years ago show “supra-laryngeal vocal tract”, indicating hominids were capable of speech. Homo neanderthalensis had “hyoid bones ”and the ear bones to pick up vibrations of the same frequency as speech.
Development of family and kin systems, and passing on the knowledge of making tools from one generation to the next, would have required speech. Scientists are using modern methods of gene mapping as part of archeological research. This research indicates that there were two critical gene mutations that appeared in some hominid species. It is hypothesized that humans inherited these mutated genes, which spread rapidly around that time. These mutant genes are thought to have conferred on early humans a finer degree of control of the muscles of the face and mouth, giving rise to a palette of sounds which lay the foundation of language. The gene mutational advantage of early humans is considerable.
Was there some ”nuclear language” from which all other languages evolved? This question continues to engage linguists around the world. Some linguists believe that all languages of Europe, Asia and even North Africa–the so-called Indo-European languages descended from a remote ancestry called “Nostratic.” Global etymologies indicate a connection between all the world’s languages. Watson expounds on this lucidly in his book. We can be certain that our understanding will expand with more linguistic research.
The Conquest of Cold:
The archeological findings from Siberia provide considerable material to help us understand how early man lived, in the harsh and cold environment. Did the Siberian man wear some form of “tailored clothing” which would have required the invention of a “needle”?
Sharp stone tools were capable of piercing through a thick hide, which could have evolved into some form of clothing made of hide. Another question is whether man had mastered the use of fire to provide comfort and protection in the harsh environment.
As we ruminate over these basic questions, a remarkable aspect of man’s history is the “peopling of America.” The migration from Siberia to the Americas would have required the crossing of the Bering Strait. Geologists tell us that eons ago there was a land bridge between Siberia and modern day Alaska. Migration might have been through slow trekking, with numerous encampments. Earth was effectively divided into two huge land masses– Eurasia and Africa on the one hand, and the Americas on the other. Early man then set about developing on the two land masses, each for the most part unaware of the other’s existence. What does that tell us about man’s “fundamental nature?” Archeologists believe Home erectus to be the ones to have migrated globally. It is important to emphasize that no trace of Homo erectus or Homo neanderthalensis has ever been found in America or in fact above 53 degrees north parallel. This suggests that only Homo sapiens successfully adapted to the cold weather. Archeological findings from Siberia are key to our understanding of “man’s conquest of cold.”
We will conclude this part with a very heavy question: How did human consciousness develop? We will continue to explore this from every facet of human development. Early humans had “social intelligence” which helped humans identify and recognize the anatomical and functional differences between males and females, leading to the refinement of division of labor and the “nuclear family.” By consciousness we mean developing a “sense of self.” Many historians believe that this was one of the most important developments in the psychology of man, out of which many things evolved. These include language, culture, writing and civilization. Paleolithic humans fell considerably short in these areas.
We have discussed four major ideas of primitive man: Bipedalism, Stone Tools, Language development and the Conquest of Cold, resulting in primitive man’s migration from Europe to America. These ideas were critical for man’s ascendency. In the next part we trace how these laid the foundation for great civilizations.
