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What Makes Us Human?

What Makes Us Human?. Anthropology's Answer. How Do Humans fit in?. Social scientists look for answers in: Genetics: the science of inheritance Influences of environment and heredity (transmitting of characteristics from parents to offspring) trace evolutionary development of humans.

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What Makes Us Human?

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  1. What Makes Us Human? Anthropology's Answer

  2. How Do Humans fit in? • Social scientists look for answers in: • Genetics: the science of inheritance • Influences of environment and heredity (transmitting of characteristics from parents to offspring) • trace evolutionary development of humans

  3. Anthropology • Age of Exploration – 15-16th century – discovery of new species of plants • Explorers – interacted with Aboriginal people in North and South America • Carolus Linnaeus – first to classify plants and animals according to structures

  4. 18/19th Century- discoveries indicated that humans existed on earth for a long time • Discovery of fossils Charles Darwin – discoveries in South America lead to theory of Evolution • Theory of Natural Selection – process by which animals and plants best adapted to their environment survive and produce similar offspring

  5. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

  6. The Galapagos Islands • Where Darwin studied • He proposed that the ancestral finches who came to the islands, finding no competitors or predators came to occupy the variety of ecological niches on the islands • geographic isolation prevented breeding between those in different areas resulting in a subspecies of finches

  7. The Finches • He saw: • ground finches which ate food on the ground or in low shrubs • tree finches who live primarily on insects

  8. The Science behind the Theory • We now know that inherited variation comes about through mutation, random assortment of chromosomes and genes, sexual reproduction where two parents contribute (different) genes to the offspring, and out breeding between different populations of the same species.

  9. ConvergingEvolution

  10. Homologous structures are those that develop from similar embryological origins. Analogous organs are those that are adapted to the same purpose. Some organs are both homologous and analogous.

  11. Humans and Evolution

  12. Gregor Mendal – provided theoretical background for genetics as part of evolution • Patterns of evolutions established • 1924 – R. DART discovers fossilized child in South Africa (Australopithecus Africanus), postulates that Humans originated in Africa not Asia as was believed before

  13. Classification • Classifying plants and animals according to similarities and differences in the physical structures

  14. Human classifications • Kingdom: animal • Phylum: Chordata (having a backbone) • Class: Mammalia • Order: Primates • Family: Hominidae • Genus: Homo • Species: Sapiens

  15. Human Classifications • Primates: humans, apes, monkeys • Subdivided into 10 categories • Humans – HOMINIDAE – from “Hominids” by anthropologists • We have larger braincase than other primates • Teeth are placed in rounded arches • Big toes are not opposable (able to grasp things) • Modern humans ONLY surviving members of this group • HOMO – man, SAPIENS – “wise and intelligent”

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