Roela Feliz M.

Bautista
2014-08704
Archaeo 2 WF 1-2:30 PM

What does It Mean to be Human?

Humans have always been considered as the alpha of all living beings on Earth. To answer the question
what does it mean to be a human, we simply have to differentiate ourselves from other animals. We simply
have to identify what makes us unique and this doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to find qualities that we
are superior in. Different fields on science and philosophical though offer a variety of answers: to be human is
to employ a higher level of thinking – to think about the past, the present, the future; to be human is to
communicate systematically using symbols and languages; to be human is to have a government and to live in
an economy; to be self-conscious; to be part of a culture. All of these answers are true but is there a general
answer that encompasses all of these?

Archaeology studies human behavior through material remains. It is a field that has given us knowledge
on how human lived in the past and how we evolved and became humans in first place. To come up with an
answer to question of the essence of being human in the archaeological perspective, we must consider various
biological and cultural factors. Aside from these, we must understand how one affects each other. These will
be easier to discern in earlier species of human as their lives were relatively more simple. As we adapt, learn and
evolve, the answer become harder and harder to find. The answer to what it means to be a modern human
must be based on historical, social, economic and cultural contexts. From what I’ve learned about the field of
Archaeology so far, I think that in the archaeological perspective, there is no one general correct answer to
what it means to be human – there are many ways of being human.

What is means to be a Homo sapiens might be different than what it meant to be a Homo Neanderthal.
What it meant to be human in the Egyptian civilization might be different to what it meant to be a human in
Sumerian civilization. What it meant to be a human in the Paleolithic might be different than it means to be a
human today. Archaeological excavations and studies and have given us evidences on how each group of
humans living in a particular point in time differed in their ways of life – these human had different diets,
different sustenance techniques, different beliefs, different culture - they differed in what they value they held
more important.

To sum it up, the answer to what it means to be human lies on how we are different from other living
beings. It could be our ability to high level thinking or our ability to communicate, to have a government and
to belong in a culture. In the archaeological perspective, the correctness of these statements depend on what
kind of human you are and where and what in the human timeline did you belong in. Humans have lived
differently from ancient times until today. Human beings have different ways of being human.