Hominids to Humanity
The Unbinding of Isaac
The mythopoeic past
Our Humanity Emerges
The “precondition” of civilization- faith in the unseen “higher law”- value of human life- strength of love- exercise of free will
I. Internal and External Evolution
First step toward civilization
Homo sapiens ca. 200K BCE
↓
Civilization ca. 3500 BCE
Civilization is a by-product of human evolution…development of the human mind…response to environmental change
A. Paleolithic
1. 1 – 2.5 M Homo habilis and erectus
↓
↓
Homo sapiens (200K)
“thinking man”
2. Dispersal- Multiregional theory
multiple
- Out of Africa theoryone branch
3. Hoppin’ hominids
approx. time approx. #
200K BC – 1 M
70K BC – 10,000 (Toba Super-eruption)
1700 CE – 1 B2012 CE – 7 B
B. The Pleistocene Era: Ice, Ice, Baby 1.6M-10K BCE
1. Hidden uses of adversity- migration- “cold filter”
2. Fresh meat!- community- protein
C. The Paleolithic Revolution
1. Neanderthals- 500-30K (?)
Abstractions2. Cro-Magnon - sapiens sapiens
40-10K Lascaux
3. They are us (anatomically & intellectually “modern”)...
…but we’re moresophisticated
Myth & history
The Epic of Gilgamesh 2100 BCE
Gilgamesh
Enkidu
mythopoeic
II. Neolithic Revolution
A. End of an era1. Climate change
Pleistocene Overkill
2. Ice age tech
12,000-10,000 BCE
The Agricultural (neolithic)
Revolutionca. 9,000 – 5000 BCE
B. The Fertile Crescent
1. Nutritious plants- cereal grains
2. Cooperative animals- “big four”
C. I should have stayed on the farm
1. Domestication 10-8000 BCE
2. Horticulture 8000 BCE
3. Animal husbandry 7-5000BCE
D. Settlement: rewards & risks
1. Risks Gilgamesh- disease- malnutrition- loss of mobility- vulnerability- exploitation- gender inequities
Sex at Dawn (2010), Ryan & Jethá
2. Rewards- surpluses, material + intellect
- time = creativity → complexity CIVILIZATION
“Sticky” Egyptians, ca. 2000 BCE Edouard Manet, At the Bar of Folies Bergère 1882