Birth of Humanity: Last Human Standing

There are many early humans that died out. Even some of them may have lived on earth much longer than us, why were we the last humans standing? Are we special or just had more developed brains and thoughts? 

Neanderthals had a survival almost twice as long as us today. They were very sophisticated early humans, with a bit bigger brains than ours. They were the most advanced humans on Earth until we came along. There are many reasons that caused their extinction. I believe that as they ate only meat, they spent much more time hunting their prey and using up energy compared to eating and resting. Or maybe we invented much more techniques for survival since our brains are more complex. 

Our last common ancestor is Homo heidelbergensis. Over time species needed to adapt to the different changes on Earth, for example the need to expand their diet. Homo heidelbergensis was the first to eat sea food. Also needed to expand their tools, language, art, or moving to different places, like how homo heidelbergensis moved out of Africa because of the droughts and loss of water. And lastly expanding their rituals. It is thought that Homo heidelbergensis had burial ritual. They would bury their loved ones along with some precious belongings such as tools  made out of quarts. Homo heidelbergensis evolved into Neanderthals in Europe and into H. sapiens in Africa. Unfortinatully, where ever we (the Homo sapiens) came, we pushed everyone out, that is another theory for why we are the last humans standing. 

Even if some of our ancestors had bigger brains than us, we still have more developed brains at use all parts of it. We also have more developed bodies, foods/diets, language and culture, that is why we are the last humans standing. But who knows if that is true, there could be a very simple explanation like, there might have not been enough food, or all the ancestors were killed by predators, sicknesses, or just being unable to adapt to the different environmental changes. Who knows, maybe someday it will be us on the edge of extinction.

                

"Last Human Standing." Becoming Human. PBS/NOVA. 31 Aug. 2011. Television.

From Grunt To Grammar: The Evolution Of Language

From Grunt To Grammar: The Evolution Of Language
By:Jeanne Miller
October 2009
Odyssey magazine: Adventures in science
pg 34-36

Language provides for humans to express their thoughts and feelings. The questions are when was the brain ready and developed enough to understand grammar. And when was the voice box/larynx able to sound out all the different words. 

The skulls of the brains and the brain hollows show how the brains of our ancestors changed and developed over time in size and complexity. Comparing the brains of early human and us, they are not that different. Some parts of the brain in homo Habilis Show speech. So maybe even two and a half million years ago our ancestors started communicating threw speech.  

The larynx plays a big role in speech, just like the brain. The larynx holds the vocal cords that allow us to make sounds. To animals, making sounds is pretty limited because their larynx is high in the throat. However over the years our larynx started going down. "The larynx disengaged from the back door of the nasal cavity" said Laitman. This detachment changed the way we eat, breath and make sounds. Having a large space above their larynx allowed them to breath easily threw their mouth. Also sounds made by the vocal cord could be modified. 

Trying to know when language started is a hard task. That is because there is no direct evidence to prove it. Speech can’t be found underground like bones and skulls. Researchers have to interpret archaeological in terms of weather language would be necessary to produce them". For example stone tools. Some stone tools require more and some less communication to make them. Communication is not only talking, its is gestures and speech. Even if we can’t know the right date when language started, we can still write down our own thoughts and ideas. We can take prehistory time events, and draw a conclusion. For example when Homo sapiens spread into the whole world. We don't know if that needed a little or a lot of communication. Much of their journey could have been along the water. The would need water craft to pass it for example a boat. Making boats takes a lot of communication and speech. So that means that is is clear that by 35,000 or 40,000 years ago, Homo sapiens were using fire. 

Even if we never find out when speech started, there is no reason to give up. We know ourselves and our abilities. We also have monkey still around. But what happened in the past will be revealed slowly during the years. We have gone so far with our communication. From grunts to grammar, all the way to twitter. But what interests us is how it all started. 

Miller, Jeanne. "From Grunts to Grammar: The Evolution of Language ." Odyssey :Adventures in Science

Taming Fire: The first scientist?

Taming Fire: The first scientist?                                                
by Mary Betb Cox
Oddysey: Adventures in Science
October 2009
Pages 29-30

Using fire has been very risky since it was used. The early human who discovered fire changed the lifestyle 

of all humans today. Building was improved and cooking and lots more. But naturally occurring fires like 

wildfires started occurring long before early humans learned to make fire themselves. Lightning from 

thunderstorm would set dry vegetables on fire. Wild fires spread very quickly. Most of the animals wouldn't

survive, so the early humans would eat what is left over of them. Humans used fire for about 250,000 years.

A quarter of a million years ago, hearths started appearing. Hearth fires heat objects to a higher temperature

than wildfires. In the hearths there were charred bone or singed stone tools. And unburned tools and bones are 

found scattered elsewhere nearby. This shows that they first killed the animal with a stone tool before 

cooking it. Cooking food took away food-born parasites like bacteria and worms and destroyed toxins 

that are in the meat. This is evidence of fire. With all the evidence that has been collected, it may be that fire

came long before 1,000,000 years ago. Fire can be very dangerous, but when u put it to good use and make use 

of it correctly, u wont go wrong.

Cox, Mary Betb. "Taming fire: the first scientist?" Odyssey: Adventures in Science Oct. 2009: n. 

pag. Print.