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Understanding Culture, Society and Politics: Lesson 6: Human Origin and The Capacity To Culture

Human beings developed the biological capacity for culture through evolution of key traits like large brains, vocal abilities, dexterous hands, and bipedalism. This allowed the development of skills for survival like tool-making, hunting, and social cooperation. Early humans lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers in the Paleolithic period, before transitioning to settled agriculture in the Neolithic and developing metals like bronze and iron in subsequent eras, advancing technologies, social structures, and civilizations.

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3K views5 pages

Understanding Culture, Society and Politics: Lesson 6: Human Origin and The Capacity To Culture

Human beings developed the biological capacity for culture through evolution of key traits like large brains, vocal abilities, dexterous hands, and bipedalism. This allowed the development of skills for survival like tool-making, hunting, and social cooperation. Early humans lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers in the Paleolithic period, before transitioning to settled agriculture in the Neolithic and developing metals like bronze and iron in subsequent eras, advancing technologies, social structures, and civilizations.

Uploaded by

Andrea Ibañez
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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IMUS UNIDA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Quality. Christian. Education. 12

Understanding Culture,
Society and Politics

Lesson 6: Human Origin and the Capacity to


Culture
IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND CULTURE, WE NEED TO KNOW THE
FOLLOWING:
BIOLOGICAL CAPACITY FOR CULTURE 
– understanding the biological makeup of mankind. 
1. Our Thinking Capacity – the developed brain is necessary
in facilitating pertinent skills such as speaking,
touching, feeling, seeing and smelling. 
Brain – the primary biological component of humans that
allowed culture.
 Frontal Lobe and the Motor Cortex – function for
cognition and motor abilities. 
 Parietal lobe – allows for touch and taste
abilities. 
 Temporal Lobe – allows for hearing skills. 
 Occipital Lobe – allows for visual skills.
Compared with other primates, humans have a larger
brain weighing 1.4 Kg, Chimpanzees have a brain
weighing 420 g only, and those of gorillas weigh 500 g.
Due to the size of their brain and the complexity of
its parts, humans were able to create survival skills
that helped them adapt to their environment and outlive
their less adaptive biological relatives.
2. Our Speaking Capacity – while the brain is the primary
source of human capacity to comprehend sound and provide
meaning to it, the VOCAL TRACT acts as the mechanism by
which sounds are produced and reproduced to transmit
ideas and values.
Hyoid Bone- crucial for speaking as it supports the root
of the tongue (Hogenboom, 2013).
3. Our Gripping Capacity – the capacity to directly oppose a
thumb with the other fingers. It is an exclusive trait of
humans. Thus, we have the capability to create materials
with precision.
- The hand of a human has digits (fingers) that are
straight, as compared with the curved ones of the other
primates.
- The thumb of a human is proportionately longer than
those of the other primates. These characteristics of
human hand allowed for 2 types of grip: 
a. Power Grip – enabled human to wrap the thumb and
fingers on an object. 
b. Precision Grip – enabled humans to hold and pick
objects steadily using their fingers.
4. Our Walking or Standing Capacity – an important trait
that gave humans more productivity with their hands.
Through this, humans gained more efficient form of
locomotion suitable for hunting and foraging. Primates
have two forms of locomotion:
a. Bipedalism – the capacity to walk and stand on two
feet.
b. Quadrupedalism – uses all four limbs (both two hands
and two feet).

1. Paleolithic Age
- Coined in 1865 by John Lubbock.
- Derived from the Greek word palaios, which means “old”;
and, lithos, “stone”.
- In short, the Paleolithic Period, which happened 2.5
million years ago, is also known as “Old Stone Age”.
- In the paleolithic period, the Earth was extremely cold
and ocean levels were much lower than they are now. Due
to the cold climate, much of the Stone Age is also
called the Ice Age.
- During these years, people were nomads and able to use
simple tools and weapons made of unpolished stone. The
caves served as their shelter.
- Similarly, this was the time when people discovered to
use the fire, through the use of stone, for their
protection against cold temperature and to cook their
own food.
- Human beings in this time were grouped together in
small societies such as bands, and subsisted by
gathering plants and fishing, hunting or scavenging
wild animals.
-
- Also, in this era, according to the study of Dr. Jesus
T. Peralta of NCCA, respect is given to age, and
individual prowess and ability are recognized. There
are no leaders that could be said to be above everybody
else and whose commands are obeyed without question. In
some cases, one who is known for good decisions is
consulted when a problem arises; or well-known hunter
will be asked to lead a hunting group.

2. Neolithic Age
- Derived from the Greek word neo, which means “new”;
and, lithos, “stone”.
- In short, the Neolithic Period, which happened 10,000
B.C, is also known as “The New Stone Age”.
- during the Neolithic period ancient humans switched
from hunter/gatherer mode to agriculture and food
production. They domesticated animals and cultivated
cereal grains. They used polished hand axes, adzes for
ploughing and tilling the land and started to settle in
the plains. Advancements were made not only in tools
but also in farming, home construction and art,
including pottery, sewing and weaving.

3. Metal Age
- Ancient humans were never contented of their
accomplishments. They kept on discovering things for
their own convenience. So, they discovered metals, and
they gradually abandoned stone as the basic element for
their instrument and tools. This period was known as
Age of Metals (4000 B.C - 1500 B.C). The used of metal
such as bronze, and iron. There were two stages
distinguished within this Age due to the different
types of metals that were used: The Bronze Age and the
Iron Age.

A. Bronze Age- During the Bronze Age (about 3,000 B.C. to


1,300 B.C.), metalworking advances were made, as
bronze, a copper and tin alloy, was discovered. Now
used for weapons and tools, the harder metal replaced
its stone predecessors, and helped spark innovations
including the ox-drawn plow and the wheel.
- Bronze Age- This time period also brought advances in
architecture and art, including the invention of the
potter’s wheel, and textiles—clothing consisted of
mostly wool items such as skirts, kilts, tunics and
cloaks. Home dwellings morphed to so-called
roundhouses, consisting of a circular stone wall with a
thatched or turf roof, complete with a fireplace or
hearth, and more villages and cities began to form.
- Bronze Age- Organized government, law and warfare, as
well as beginnings of religion, also came into play
during the Bronze Age, perhaps most notably relating to
the ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids during
this time. The earliest written accounts, including
Egyptian hieroglyphs and petroglyphs (rock engravings),
are also dated to this era.

B. Iron Age- The discovery of ways to heat and forge iron


kicked off the Iron Age (roughly 1,300 B.C. to 900
B.C.). At the time, the metal was seen as more precious
than gold, and wrought iron (which would be replaced by
steel with the advent of melting iron) was easier to
manufacture than bronze.
- Iron Age- Along with mass production of steel tools and
weapons, the age saw even further advances in
architecture, with four-room homes, some complete with
stables for animals, joining more rudimentary hill
forts, as well as royal palaces, temples and other
religious structures. Early city planning also took
place, with blocks of homes being erected along paved
or cobblestone streets and water systems put into
place.
- Iron Age- Agriculture, art and religion all became more
sophisticated, and writing systems and written
documentation, including alphabets, began to emerge,
ushering in the Early Historical Period.

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