Europe Before Civilization:

8 Million Years of Hominids

Hominid
Humans (and all human ancestors after human/chimpanzee split approx. 4-6 million years ago)
Range due to initial division followed by gradual divergence accompanied by continued interbreeding Includes astralopithecines

Chimpanzees + bonobos Gorillas orangutan

Family Tree

Hominid Skeletons
(Side view)

Australopithecines
(4-2 MYA)

Taung Child 2.4 MYA

Homo habilis and tools

2.4-1.4 MYA

Homo erectus
1.8 million 70,000 KYA

Homo heidelbergensis
600K-400KYA?

Homo neanderthalensis
300K-30KYA

Gigantopithecus blacki
1 million 300KYA

Homo floresiensis

Homo Plasticus?

The Missing Link

How does one species emerge from another?
If species X evolves into species Y, then there must be a point at which a child belongs to the new species Y but his or her parents still at species X. Members of different species (generally) by definition cannot interbreed, yet obviously a child of species X should be able to breed with other members of species X So whats going on?

The teapot theory OR at what point does cold water become hot? Reality is a continuum
You can think of this like a bell curve OR a flip book There IS no disruption point Things smoothly and continuously link from one to the next. Change is gradual and cumulative Intermediate forms die out Can only be understood BACKWARDS, but is lived FORWARDS

Continuous Flow

Hominid Skulls
(Homo sapiens on far right)

Rift Valley

Skull Distribution

The Third Chimpanzee

Bonobo

What Makes Us Human? War?

Agriculture?

Farming?

Sociality?

Tool Use?

Culture?

Intelligence and the Encephalization Quotient

So, what makes us unique?

Reductio ad absurdum On one level, perhaps nothing. Remember the continuum! But keep these four things in mind:
Manipulator organ (for humans, hands + esp. opposable thumb) Disproportionate brain size (7.4X expected norm adjusted for body mass)
Bottlenose dolphins are next, at 5.4X

Communication (language) History

Thomas Hobbes
Life, pre-civilization: Nasty, brutish, and short The Leviathan

Centers of Agrarian Revolution

Chronology
Hunter-Gatherer: 100 KYA 20 KYA Pastoral: 20 KYA- 11 KYA Neolithic Revolution: 11 KYA
Hilly Flanks

Fertile Crescent & Hilly Flanks

Domestication

Pestle, for grain preparation

Beer

Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland

Neolithic Farmhouse

Catal Huyuk, Turkey

Catal Huyuk

Jericho, West Bank, Israel

Tell of Jericho

Jericho, Wall Cross-Section

Neandertal

Neandertal (Side View)

Range