Early humans and their world

193 Pages·2005·2.639 MB·English

by  Bo Gräslund

EARLY HUMANS AND
THEIR WORLD
This book presents a breadth of scholarship not found in previous books on the
evolution of early hominids. This wide-ranging account creates an accessible
introduction to the development of humankind, suitable for students at all
levels and the interested non-specialist. The re-evaluation of existing conven-
tions and their replacement with convincing alternatives provide the basis for
the study of early hominid evolution for years to come.
The author combines biological and humanistic perspectives to provide a
synthesis of the latest palaeo-anthropological and biological research on early
human origins and evolution, from the split with the apes some six million
years ago to the rise of early modern humans. He focuses on how early humans
evolved, lived and organised themselves, whilst signifying the relevance of
that advancement for the understanding of modern social life.
The deconstruction of current thought on early hominid evolution continues
as the author applies critical scrutiny to the biological theory of kin selection
and its relevance for the evolution of human morality and the behaviours of
inbreeding avoidance and infanticide. He also examines other key issues such
as the origin of cognition, spoken language, morality and typical human
sexuality, as well as diet and population density.
In a discussion on the present lack of a coherent evolutionary explanation of
bipedalism, the author also draws our attention back to the idea of a possible
semi-aquatic environment for our early ancestors that is otherwise seldom
given a fair account. He gives further consideration to the evolutionary instru-
ments used in creating bipedalism, as well as the modern human skull and
face and the special human traits of curiosity and creativity.
The author accesses research by the world’s leading scholars of early
hominid evolution and primate behaviour to create a landmark exploration of
human origins.
Bo Gräslund is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at Uppsala University,
Sweden. Among his many research areas are biological-cultural evolution and
ecology in prehistory.

EARLY HUMANS AND
THEIR WORLD
Bo Gräslund
First published 2005
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2005 Bo Gräslund
Translated by Neil Price
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gräslund, Bo.
Early humans and their world/Bo Gräslund.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Fossil hominids. 2. Human evolution. 3. Social evolution. I. Title.
GN282.G73 2005
599.93(cid:1)8–dc22
2004020988
ISBN 0-203-30659-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0–415–35345–9 (pbk)
ISBN 0–415–35344–0 (hbk)
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
1 The tangible past 1
2 The evolution of human social life 12
3 Next of kin 41
4 Traces of the early humans 47
5 Becoming human 64
6 Evolutionary tools and the path to humanity 81
7 A new sexual pattern 89
8 Intellect and language 106
9 Ways of life and social structure 136
Bibliography 165
Index 175
v

PREFACE
Imagine how different it would have been if human beings had been delivered
ready-made with an instruction book, well thought through, simple and un-
complicated. In reality the opposite occurred, and we must write the manual
ourselves. We are only able to do this if we follow the strands of our biology
and culture back into the most distant past. It was with this in mind that I
began this book.
In the first instance the book deals with humankind’s origins as a species,
and with our biological, social and cultural development at and after the
‘creation’. I have tried to bring together recent results from a broad range of
research fields, and to combine them in an over-arching interpretation. There
can be no question of an exhaustive survey. I have primarily worked with
issues that I myself find exciting, important or unjustly neglected.
In recent years several scholars have brought great insight to the difficult
and sensitive matter of innate and culturally acquired elements of human
behaviour. It is my hope that this book on human origins can contribute to a
continued discussion of these and other questions of our evolutionary inherit-
ance. I have time and again gone off at tangents of this kind, only to rein
myself in in order to return to the main theme of the book.
A critical chapter is devoted to the dominant biological theory on the
evolution of elementary social order, and its maintenance among the higher
animals – a question of decisive importance for our perspectives on both early
and modern humans.
I am conscious of the problems inherent in attempting to combine and
interpret the findings of a range of different disciplines in which one lacks
direct research experience. If any reader should find their blood pressure rising
as a result of this book, I offer my apologies. In my defence I would say that
multi-disciplinary syntheses would never be written by a single individual if
scholars always kept to their own narrow specialisms. The alternative, a
number of researchers working together across a broad front, appears more
secure but often loses out through lack of co-ordination and an appreciation of
the whole.
The immediate source material for the study of early humans consists first
of the more-or-less fragmentary remains of their bones, of the environmental
vii
PREFACE
data that illuminate the world in which they lived, and the simple objects that
they made. This material has deficiencies that make it hard to interpret, and
in the light of this we can note that the frequent disagreements between
researchers are in fact a healthy sign. We should remember that the sources
will remain mute until we ask questions of them. When some kind of answer
is received, it is more often than not in the form of an obscure pronouncement
that differs according to who is asking and how the question is phrased. This
is, in turn, linked to the fact that we cannot come to an understanding about
anything in the past – whether it be a matter of culture, nature, human or
animal – unless we can relate it first to something that we believe ourselves
to understand already. In this way, all interpretation is coloured by the
researcher’s frames of reference and prejudices, so that even the most serious
research receives an intravenous dose of subjectivity, limitations and circum-
stance. This general dilemma of theoretical knowledge rarely emerges more
clearly than in research into the origins of the human race and its earliest
development. This, naturally, is true of the present book.
The necessary background information on important finds, find-spots,
dating, research histories and similar matters has been collected in a single
chapter.
Wherever practicable, professional jargon has been avoided, even if this
has only been possible to a certain extent. Hopefully whatever remains is
adequately explained. For the guidance of interested readers, I have provided a
bibliography of selected books and journals at the end of the book.
To conclude, it is perhaps unnecessary to point it out, but I shall do so
anyway, the term ‘evolution’ is used here in neither a positive nor negative
sense, but only as a synonym for biological change. There is likewise no value
judgement implied in the expressions ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ animals that I have
sometimes rather lightly employed to distinguish mammals and birds from
other creatures.
Bo Gräslund
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is an English version of my Swedish original, De första stegen:
Urmänniskan och hennes värld, that was published in 2001 by Atlantis Press in
Stockholm. For the English edition I have made a few minor changes and
additions.
The book has been translated by Dr Neil Price, my colleague at Uppsala.
Neil has also made valuable comments on the content and supported me with
good advice. The same applies to a large number of colleagues, friends and
associates – none named but none forgotten. I owe them all many thanks.
I am also grateful to Routledge’s two anonymous referees for their construc-
tive comments on the text. One of them also expressed some mild surprise at
the occasional colloquialisms in this book, and I feel I should point out that
these are faithful renditions of my Swedish.
That we know so much about the earliest origins of humankind is due to
the dedicated efforts of numerous researchers working with great care in the
field and in the laboratory, within the various specialist fields that shelter
under the broad umbrella of palaeoanthropology. Here I can mention only a
few: Berhane Asfaw, Robert Broom, Michel Brunet, Ronald Clarke, Yves
Coppens, Raymond Dart, Yohannes Haile-Selassie, F. Clark Howell, Glyn
Isaac, Donald Johansson, Kimoya Kimeu, Louis Leakey, Mary Leakey, Meave
Leakey, Richard Leakey, David Pilbeam, Martin Pickford, Brigitte Senut,
Gen Suwa, Phillip Tobias, Alan Walker, Tim White and Bernhard Wood. Of
great importance for this book, and for me personally, has been the contri-
bution of modern primatology with its systematic studies of wild apes and
monkeys. This especially applies to our closest relatives among the former.
Here too I can mention only a select handful of scholars: Christophe Boesch,
Hedwige Boesch-Ammermann, Richard Byrne, Diane Fossey, Biruté
Galdikas, Jane Goodall, T. Hasegawa, M. Hiraiwai-Hasegawa, William
McGrew, Takayoshi Kano, Linda Merchant, Toshisada Nishida, Vernon
Reynolds, Susanne Savage-Rumbaugh, Carel van Schaik, George Schaller,
Craig Stanford, Yukimaru Suguyama, Randall Susman, Geza Teleki, Michael
Tomasello, Caroline Tutin, Frands de Waal, Francis White, Andrew Whiten
and Richard Wrangham. The work for this book has also required a number of
ix