DOCSLIB.ORG

The Evolution of Language: Towards Gestural Hypotheses, 208 S

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Evolution of Language: Towards Gestural Hypotheses, 208 S This is a submitted manuscript version. The publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. Final published version, copyright Peter Lang Publishing: https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/62447 The Evolution of Language: Towards Gestural Hypotheses Przemysław Żywiczyński and Sławomir Wacewicz A publication of the Center for Language Evolution Studies (CLES) NCU Toruń Contents Introduction to the Translation 4 Introduction 5 Chapter 1 7 The Beginnings of Language and Language Origins 7 1.1. Religious beginnings 7 1.1.1. On the divinity of language, the forbidden experiment, and the Adamic language 8 1.1.2. Language as the object of investigation 9 1.1.3. Reflections on language in Indian philosophy 13 1.1.4. Summary 15 1.2. Glottogenetic thought: A naturalistic concept of language emergence 16 1.2.1. How to recover from the state of nature? 16 1.2.2. Darwin: The beginnings of the science on the evolutionary origin of language 34 1.3. Conclusion 41 Chapter 2 41 Evolution, Evolutionism, Evolutionary Thinking 41 2.1. Evolution and Natural Selection 43 2.1.1. Adaptation 47 2.1.2. Gene’s Eye View and Inclusive Fitness 48 2.2. Universal Darwinism and Cultural Evolution 50 2.3. Evolutionary Psychology 52 1 This is a submitted manuscript version. The publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. Final published version, copyright Peter Lang Publishing: https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/62447 2.4. Popular Reception and the Sins of Evolutionism 55 2.5. Evolution: Myths and Misconceptions 58 2.5.1. Simplification: Evolution = Natural Selection 59 2.5.2. Misconception: Panadaptationism (Naïve Selectionism) 59 2.5.3. Misconception: Survival of the Fittest 60 2.5.4. Misconception: Preservation of the Species / The Good of the Species 61 2.5.5. Misconception: Lamarckism 63 2.5.6. Misconception: Macromutation and Saltationism 64 2.5.7. Misconception: Evolution has a purpose (teleology) 65 2.5.8. Misconception: Evolution means progress or going up in the great chain of beings 66 2.5.9. Misconception: Recapitulationism (“ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”) 69 2.5.10 Misconception: Confusing explanatory levels 69 2.6. Summary 71 Chapter 3 72 The Evolution of Language: 72 A Departure from Glottogenetic Scenarios 72 3.1.1. Renewed Interest 76 3.1.2. Chomsky, internalism and the biological foundations of language 80 3.1.3. Advances in the Neurosciences 81 3.1.4. Evolutionism 91 3.2.1. The evolution of language: A new research programme 93 3.2.2. New research trends in the evolution of language 95 3.3. Evolution – of what? The taxonomy of “language” 97 3.3.1. Syntactic parser and the narrow sense of “language” 100 3.3.2. Language in the broad sense 103 3.4. Stages 110 3.4.1. Baseline 111 3.4.2. Preadaptations 112 3.4.3. Prelinguistic communication 112 3.4.4. Protolanguage 113 3.4.5. From protolanguage to language 116 3.5. Conclusions 118 Chapter 4 119 Preadaptations for Language 119 4.1. Speech 119 4.2. Speech reception 124 2 This is a submitted manuscript version. The publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. Final published version, copyright Peter Lang Publishing: https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/62447 4.3. The brain 126 4.4. Cognitive preadaptations 130 4.4.1. Mimesis 130 4.4.2. Theory of Mind 132 4.4.3. Metarepresentation 134 4.4.4. Memory 134 4.4.5. Executive functions 136 4.5. Summary 137 Chapter 5 138 Cooperative Foundations: An Essential Requirement for Language 138 5.2. The evolutionary stability of communication 140 5.3. How to ensure the honesty of communication? 142 5.4. The sources of human cooperativeness 144 5.5. Summary 147 Chapter 6 149 The Problem of Modality Transition in Gestural Primacy Hypothesis 149 6.1. Gestural primacy hypotheses in language evolution 150 6.2. Defining gestures 151 6.2.1. Gestures in interpersonal communication 152 6.2.2. Gestures in non-human primates’ communication 154 6.3. Arguments in favour of the gestural primacy hypotheses 156 6.3.1. Gesture and language origin – a brief historical background 156 6.3.2. Hewes’s position and the revival of concern with gesture in language evolution 157 6.3.3. Contemporary gestural hypotheses 158 6.4. The problem of transition to speech 164 6.4.1. Homo sapiens’s adaptations to speech 165 6.4.2. Sign languages as fully-fledged languages 166 6.5. Solutions 167 6.5.1. Traditional arguments 168 6.5.2. Information duality 169 6.5.3. Acquisition of sign and spoken languages in children 170 6.5.4. Natural connections between the hand and the mouth 171 6.5.5. Articulatory movements as a type of gesture 172 6.6. Conclusion – towards multimodal hypotheses? 175 Epilogue 178 3 This is a submitted manuscript version. The publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. Final published version, copyright Peter Lang Publishing: https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/62447 Introduction to the Translation The Evolution of Language: Towards Gestural Hypotheses is an English translation of the first Polish book devoted the problems of language evolution, published in 2015. This context bears on the character of the book and its content. The Evolution of Language was written for general audiences, who are not professionally involved in science, including the science of language evolution. Hence, it offers introductory information on topics such as the theory of evolution, the discussion of which serves to bring out the basics of evolutionary thinking, including popular misconceptions about evolution, and stays away from more technical and detailed issues (Chapter 2), elements of linguistic theory (e.g. definitions of language (3.3.), universal grammar (3.1.2.) or the neural infrastructure of language (4.3.) or the signalling theory. To further help the reader, we provide a glossary of technical terms at the end of the book. Another limitation of the book has to do with the fact that it was (and still is) the first book on the science of language evolution for the Polish reader who has not had access to the English literature on the subject: excellent introductions by Sverker Johansson (2005) and Tecumseh Fitch (2010) and other forms of secondary and tertiary literature on language evolution, such as a handbook of language evolution by Maggie Tallerman and Kathleen Gibson (2011) or James Hurford’s broad-scope monographs – The Origins of Meaning (2007) and The Origins of Grammar (2011). Hence, our presentation is for the most part confined to sketching an outline of the problems of contemporary language evolution, and not an in-depth, extensive discussion of these problems. Working on the English version, we have decided to reduce the number of supplementary texts, particularly in chapters 2 and 3. We have also radically shortened the first chapter on the historical context out of which the modern-day science of language evolution emerged. This area is certainly underexplored, but after the publication of Przemysław Żywiczyński’s book Language Origins: From Mythology to Science (2018), we felt there is no reason to repeat what can be found there, in a more extensive form. Funding The translation, editing and publication of this book was financed by a grant from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within the programme Uniwersalia 2.1 (ID: 347247, Reg. no. 21H 16 0049 84). 4 This is a submitted manuscript version. The publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. Final published version, copyright Peter Lang Publishing: https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/62447 Introduction The half-art, half-instinct of language still bears the stamp of its gradual evolution. Charles Darwin The Descent of Man (1871) For Darwin (1871), language was the greatest invention of humankind alongside fire. Maynard Smith and Szathmáry (1995) consider the emergence of language to be the last of the greatest evolutionary breakthroughs, and its explanation was called to be the most difficult problem in science (Christiansen and Kirby, 2003b).1 Language is a unique communication system in which symbolic units can be combined into larger wholes with the use of syntactic rules, and since it is human-specific, language also defines our uniqueness. This book is the first monograph written originally in Polish on the evolution of language – a new field of science, which emerged at the end of the 20th century. As a field, it is developing dynamically, which should not be surprising, given that rapid development is an inherent aspect of youth. The evolution of language, by being a thoroughly interdisciplinary enterprise, derives its impetus from other sciences, such as modern evolutionary theory, genetics, linguistics, neuroscience, palaeoanthropology, comparative psychology, and primatology, to name only a few. Yet, the evolution of language, as a scientific project, is successful because of the questions which determine the direction of its investigations: “Where does language come from, and why do, out of all living forms, only humans have it?” Language is the feature that unambiguously shows the difference between humans and other animals. Contemporary science provides a wealth of evidence that other traits, which traditionally were considered to be human-specific, are actually possessed by other species, mainly other apes. We can cite self-awareness, for example. Comparative psychologists have assumed the so-called “mirror test” (developed by Gordon Gallup, 1970) as a rough indicator, which showed self-awareness not only in all great apes – the chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla and orangutan – but also dolphins and elephants.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • H. Erectus 1  H
    Today in Astronomy 106: apes to modern humans Meet the hominids. Brains, diet and toolmaking: going where natural selection fears to tread. Genetic diversity in Africa, the Saharan bottleneck, and the spread of humanity. Selections from The Dawn of Man, The spread of in 2001: A Space Odyssey, by languages. Stanley Kubrick (1968). 13 June 2011 Astronomy 106, Summer 2011 1 Monkeys to hominids Once bipedal hominids began to Evans 2002 appear in newly-drier East Africa, many gene mutations were naturally selected which accelerated the differences between them and the apes. Distinct process from steady rate of increased difference in junk DNA. Most evident in parts of genes called human accelerated regions (HARs), of which 55 have been noted. 13 June 2011 Astronomy 106, Summer 2011 2 Monkeys to hominids (continued) HARs were discovered in 2006 by Katie Pollard (UCSF), as one of the first huge achievements +2 of the new science of genomics. HAR1, chromosome 20, for example: • Present in reptiles onward. • Base-pair difference between chimpanzees and chickens: 2. • Base-pair difference +18 between chimpanzees and humans: 18. 13 June 2011 Astronomy 106, Summer 2011 3 6 Africa’s Hominidae Ardepithecus 5 All bipedal and tail-less: Ardepithecus: several species 4 known mostly by femurs. Australopithecus Australopithecus afarensis (or Paranthropus) (e.g. Lucy), africanus, 3 Myr robustus, bosei. Evolved ago toward bigger teeth. 2 Homo Homo rudolfensis, habilis/ergaster, erectus, 1 heidelbergensis, neanderthalensis, 0 sapiens. Evolved toward bigger brains. Genetic difference (schematic) 13 June 2011 Astronomy 106, Summer 2011 4 6 Evolution of diet 5 As they walked from tree to tree, hominids gradually were selected for eating more than 4 fruit and leave, this also allowed A.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Modern Compositional Approaches
    Musical Aesthetics of the Natural World: Two Modern Compositional Approaches Eli Stine and Christopher Luna-Mega University of Virginia, McIntire Department of Music Throughout recorded human history, experiences and observations of the natural world have inspired the arts. Within the sonic arts, evocations of nature permeate a wide variety of acoustic and electronic composition strategies. These strategies artistically investigate diverse attributes of nature: tranquility, turbulence, abundance, scarcity, complexity, and purity, to name but a few. Within the 20th century, new technologies to understand these attributes, including media recording and scientific analysis, were developed. These technologies allow music composi- tion strategies to go beyond mere evocation and to allow for the construction of musical works that engage explicit models of nature (what has been called ‘biologically inspired music’). This paper explores two such deployments of these ‘natural sound models’ within music and music generation systems created by the authors: an electroacoustic composition using data derived from multi-channel recordings of forest insects (Luna-Mega) and an electronic music generation system that extracts musical events from the different layers of natural soundscapes, in particular oyster reef soundscapes (Stine). Together these works engage a diverse array of extra-musical disciplines: environmental science, acoustic ecology, entomology, and computer science. The works are contextualized with a brief history of natural sound models from pre- antiquity to the present in addition to reflections on the uses of technology within these projects and the potential experiences of audiences listening to these works. “Great art picks up where nature ends.” - Mark Chagall and aesthetics towards a more quantitative awareness of how The natural world has been a focal point for the arts since the natural world functions and evolves is present within a the Upper Paleolithic.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Evolution to Revolution: from a Slowly Developing Finite Communication System with Many Words to Infinite Modern Language
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/166520; this version posted July 20, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Language evolution to revolution: from a slowly developing finite communication system with many words to infinite modern language Andrey Vyshedskiy1,2* 1Boston University, Boston, USA 2ImagiRation LLC, Boston, MA, USA Keywords: Language evolution, hominin evolution, human evolution, recursive language, flexible syntax, human language, syntactic language, modern language, Cognitive revolution, Great Leap Forward, Upper Paleolithic Revolution, Neanderthal language Abstract There is overwhelming archeological and genetic evidence that modern speech apparatus was acquired by hominins by 600,000 years ago. There is also widespread agreement that modern syntactic language arose with behavioral modernity around 100,000 years ago. We attempted to answer two crucial questions: (1) how different was the communication system of hominins before acquisition of modern language and (2) what triggered the acquisition of modern language 100,000 years ago. We conclude that the communication system of hominins prior to 100,000 years ago was finite and not- recursive. It may have had thousands of words but was lacking flexible syntax, spatial prepositions, verb tenses, and other features that enable modern human language to communicate an infinite number of ideas. We argue that a synergistic confluence of a genetic mutation that dramatically slowed down the prefrontal cortex (PFC) development in monozygotic twins and their spontaneous invention of spatial prepositions 100,000 years ago resulted in acquisition of PFC-driven constructive imagination (mental synthesis) and converted the finite communication system of their ancestors into infinite modern language.
    [Show full text]
  • Swapping Tools Between Linguistics and Evolutionary Biology
    Biol Philos DOI 10.1007/s10539-017-9594-y Curiously the same: swapping tools between linguistics and evolutionary biology Lindell Bromham1 Received: 22 March 2017 / Accepted: 13 September 2017 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017 Abstract One of the major benefits of interdisciplinary research is the chance to swap tools between fields, to save having to reinvent the wheel. The fields of language evolution and evolutionary biology have been swapping tools for centuries to the enrichment of both. Here I will discuss three categories of tool swapping: (1) conceptual tools, where analogies are drawn between hypotheses, patterns or pro- cesses, so that one field can take advantage of the path cut through the intellectual jungle by the other; (2) theoretical tools, where the machinery developed to process the data in one field is adapted to be applied to the data of the other; and (3) analytical tools, where common problems encountered in both fields can be solved using useful tricks developed by one or the other. I will argue that conceptual tools borrowed from linguistics contributed to the Darwinian revolution in biology; that theoretical tools of evolutionary change can in some cases be applied to both genetic and linguistic data without having to assume the underlying evolutionary processes are exactly the same; and that there are practical problems that have long been recognised in historical linguistics that may be solved by borrowing some useful analytical tools from evolutionary biology. Keywords Language evolution Á Historical linguistics Á Biological evolution Á Darwinism Á Galton’s problem Á Phylogenetic non-independence Á Spatial autocorrelation Á Interdisciplinary The formation of different languages and of distinct species, and the proofs that both have been developed through a gradual process, are curiously the same.
    [Show full text]
  • How Did Language Begin?
    How did language begin? Written by Ray Jackendoff What does the question mean? In asking about the origins of human language, we first have to make clear what the question is. The question is not how languages gradually developed over time into the languages of the world today. Rather, it is how the human species developed over time so that we — and not our closest relatives, the chimpanzees and bonobos — became capable of using language. And what an amazing development this was! No other natural communication system is like human language. Human language can express thoughts on an unlimited number of topics (the weather, the war, the past, the future, mathematics, gossip, fairy tales, how to fix the sink...). It can be used not just to convey information, but to solicit information (ques- tions) and to give orders. Unlike any other animal communication system, it contains an expression for negation — what is not the case. Every human lan- guage has a vocabulary of tens of thousands of words, built up from several dozen speech sounds. Speakers can build an unlimited number of phrases and sentences out of words plus a smallish collec- tion of prefixes and suffixes, and the meanings of sentences are built from the meanings of the individ- ual words. What is still more remarkable is that every normal child learns the whole system from hearing others use it. Animal communication systems, in contrast, typically have at most a few dozen distinct calls, and they are used only to communicate immediate issues such as food, danger, threat, or reconciliation.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Generated By
    The Evolution of Language: Towards Gestural Hypotheses DIS/CONTINUITIES TORUŃ STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE Edited by Mirosława Buchholtz Advisory Board Leszek Berezowski (Wrocław University) Annick Duperray (University of Provence) Dorota Guttfeld (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Grzegorz Koneczniak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Piotr Skrzypczak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Jordan Zlatev (Lund University) Vol. 20 DIS/CONTINUITIES Przemysław ywiczy ski / Sławomir Wacewicz TORUŃ STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE Ż ń Edited by Mirosława Buchholtz Advisory Board Leszek Berezowski (Wrocław University) Annick Duperray (University of Provence) Dorota Guttfeld (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Grzegorz Koneczniak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) The Evolution of Language: Piotr Skrzypczak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Jordan Zlatev (Lund University) Towards Gestural Hypotheses Vol. 20 Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. The translation, publication and editing of this book was financed by a grant from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland within the programme Uniwersalia 2.1 (ID: 347247, Reg. no. 21H 16 0049 84) as a part of the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Ministry cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Translators: Marek Placi ski, Monika Boruta Supervision and proofreading: John Kearns Cover illustration: © ńMateusz Pawlik Printed by CPI books GmbH, Leck ISSN 2193-4207 ISBN 978-3-631-79022-9 (Print) E-ISBN 978-3-631-79393-0 (E-PDF) E-ISBN 978-3-631-79394-7 (EPUB) E-ISBN 978-3-631-79395-4 (MOBI) DOI 10.3726/b15805 Open Access: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 unported license.
    [Show full text]
  • Origin of Language
    Origin of language The origin of language in the human species has been the topic of scholarly discussions for several centuries. There is no consensus on the origin or age of human language. The topic is difficult to study because of the lack of direct evidence. Consequently, scholars wishing to study the origins of language must draw inferences from other kinds of evidence such as the fossil record, archaeological evidence, contemporary language diversity, studies of language acquisition, and comparisons between human language and systems of communication existing among other animals (particularly other primates). Many argue that the origins of language probably relate closely to the origins of modern human behavior, but there is little agreement about the implications and directionality of this connection. This shortage of empirical evidence has led many scholars to regard the entire topic as unsuitable for serious study. In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris banned any existing or future debates on the subject, a prohibition which remained influential across much of the western world until late in the twentieth century.[1] Today, there are various hypotheses about how, why, when, and where language might have emerged.[2] Despite this, there is scarcely more agreement today than a hundred years ago, when Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection provoked a rash of armchair speculation on the topic.[3] Since the early 1990s, however, a number of linguists, archaeologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and others
    [Show full text]
  • K = Kenyanthropus Platyops “Kenya Man” Discovered by Meave Leaky
    K = Kenyanthropus platyops “Kenya Man” Discovered by Meave Leaky and her team in 1998 west of Lake Turkana, Kenya, and described as a new genus dating back to the middle Pliocene, 3.5 MYA. A = Australopithecus africanus STS-5 “Mrs. Ples” The discovery of this skull in 1947 in South Africa of this virtually complete skull gave additional credence to the establishment of early Hominids. Dated at 2.5 MYA. H = Homo habilis KNM-ER 1813 Discovered in 1973 by Kamoya Kimeu in Koobi Fora, Kenya. Even though it is very small, it is considered to be an adult and is dated at 1.9 MYA. E = Homo erectus “Peking Man” Discovered in China in the 1920’s, this is based on the reconstruction by Sawyer and Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History. Dated at 400-500,000 YA. (2 parts) L = Australopithecus afarensis “Lucy” Discovered by Donald Johanson in 1974 in Ethiopia. Lucy, at 3.2 million years old has been considered the first human. This is now being challenged by the discovery of Kenyanthropus described by Leaky. (2 parts) TC = Australopithecus africanus “Taung child” Discovered in 1924 in Taung, South Africa by M. de Bruyn. Raymond Dart established it as a new genus and species. Dated at 2.3 MYA. (3 parts) G = Homo ergaster “Nariokotome or Turkana boy” KNM-WT 15000 Discovered in 1984 in Nariokotome, Kenya by Richard Leaky this is the first skull dated before 100,000 years that is complete enough to get accurate measurements to determine brain size. Dated at 1.6 MYA.
    [Show full text]
  • Darwin and the Recent African Origin of Modern Humans
    EDITORIAL Darwin and the recent African origin of modern humans Richard G. Klein1 Program in Human Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 n this 200th anniversary of When Darwin and Huxley were ac- The Course of Human Evolution Charles Darwin’s birth and tive, many respected scientists sub- In the absence of fossils, Darwin could the 150th anniversary of the scribed to the now discredited idea that not have predicted the fundamental pat- publication of his monumen- human races represented variably tern of human evolution, but his evolu- Otal The Origin of Species (1859) (1), it evolved populations of Homo sapiens. tionary theory readily accommodates seems fitting to summarize Darwin’s The original Neanderthal skull had a the pattern we now recognize. Probably views on human evolution and to show conspicuous browridge, and compared the most fundamental finding is that the how far we have come since. Darwin with the skulls of modern humans, it australopithecines, who existed from at famously neglected the subject in The was decidedly long and low. At the same least 4.5 million to 2 million years ago, Origin, except near the end where he time, it had a large braincase, and Hux- were distinguished from apes primarily noted only that ‘‘light would be thrown ley regarded it as ‘‘the extreme term of by anatomical specializations for habit- on the origin of man and his history’’ by a series leading gradually from it to the ual bipedalism, and it was only after 2 the massive evidence he had compiled highest and best developed of [modern] million years ago that people began to for evolution by means of natural selec- human crania.’’ It was only in 1891 that acquire the other traits, including our tion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Origin of Language and Communication
    Athena and Eve — Johnson Papers lution, editors Jones, Martin and Pilbeam conceded that The origin of ‘there are no non-human languages’, and then went on to observe that ‘language is an adaptation unique to humans, and yet the nature of its uniqueness and its biological basis language and are notoriously difficult to define’ [emphasis added].3 In his book, The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language communication and the Brain, Terrance Deacon noted: ‘In this context, then, consider the case of Brad Harrub, Bert Thompson and human language. It is one of the most distinctive Dave Miller behavioral adaptations on the planet. Languages evolved in only one species, in only one way, with- By age four, most humans have developed an ability out precedent, except in the most general sense. to communicate through oral language. By age six And the differences between languages and all other 4 or seven, most humans can comprehend, as well as natural modes of communicating are vast.’ express, written thoughts. These unique abilities of What events transpired that have allowed humans to communicating through a native language clearly speak, while animals remain silent? If we are to believe the separate humans from all animals. The obvious evolutionary teaching currently taking place in colleges and question then arises, where did we obtain this dis- universities around the world, speech evolved as a natural tinctive trait? Organic evolution has proven unable to process over time. Yet no-one is quite sure how, and there elucidate the origin of language and communication. are no known animals that are in a transition phase from Knowing how beneficial this ability is to humans, non-speaking to speaking.
    [Show full text]
  • The Modern Man: a Revision of His Definition and a New Estimation of His Emergence Date
    9 International Journal of Modern Anthropology Int. J. Mod. Anthrop. 1 : 1-110 (2008) Available online at www.ata.org.tn Original Synthetic Article The modern man: a revision of his definition and a new estimation of his emergence date Hassen Chaabani Hassen Chaabani was born the 07 / 09 / 1947 in Tunis (Tunisia). He is Full Professor and research unit Director at Monastir University. He is the Founder and the President of the Tunisian Association of Anthropology. He is the Founder and the Editor in-Chef of the International Journal of Modern Anthropology. Specialist in Human Genetics, Biological Anthropology and some cultural and religious subjects, he wrote many articles and books. Laboratoire de Génétique Humaine et d'Anthropologie, Faculté de Pharmacie, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia. E.mail: [email protected] Abstract - In spite of important anthropological data stored up to date, the recent human evolution is still a subject of great controversy. Here I present a revision of the definition of modern man and an attempt to estimate the date of his emergence. The anatomical feature criterion cannot be considered as a rigorous criterion for identified modern human fossils from those of earlier Homo peoples. This identification could be carried out indirectly from analysis of cultural products and, if possible, directly by ancient DNA analysis. During the last 20,000 years period, Homo peoples have shown a first real cultural progress, which reflects their possession of the superior level of potential intellectual aptitude that marks the definition of modern man. On the basis of this definition, in agreement with several anthropological basic data, I consider that the real modern man, Homo sapiens sapiens, emerged at about 20,000 years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Members of the Genus Homo -. EXPLORATIONS: an OPEN INVITATION to BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
    EXPLORATIONS: AN OPEN INVITATION TO BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Editors: Beth Shook, Katie Nelson, Kelsie Aguilera and Lara Braff American Anthropological Association Arlington, VA 2019 Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. ISBN – 978-1-931303-63-7 www.explorations.americananthro.org 10. Early Members of the Genus Homo Bonnie Yoshida-Levine Ph.D., Grossmont College Learning Objectives • Describe how early Pleistocene climate change influenced the evolution of the genus Homo. • Identify the characteristics that define the genus Homo. • Describe the skeletal anatomy of Homo habilis and Homo erectus based on the fossil evidence. • Assess opposing points of view about how early Homo should be classified. Describe what is known about the adaptive strategies of early members of the Homo genus, including tool technologies, diet, migration patterns, and other behavioral trends.The boy was no older than 9 when he perished by the swampy shores of the lake. After death, his slender, long-limbed body sank into the mud of the lake shallows. His bones fossilized and lay undisturbed for 1.5 million years. In the 1980s, fossil hunter Kimoya Kimeu, working on the western shore of Lake Turkana, Kenya, glimpsed a dark colored piece of bone eroding in a hillside. This small skull fragment led to the discovery of what is arguably the world’s most complete early hominin fossil—a youth identified as a member of the species Homo erectus. Now known as Nariokotome Boy, after the nearby lake village, the skeleton has provided a wealth of information about the early evolution of our own genus, Homo (see Figure 10.1).
    [Show full text]