Human Evolution And Human Adaptation And The Theory Of Evolution

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Evolution is the process through which the genetic makeup of a population changes over generations and is the key focus of paleoanthropologists who specialize in the study of human evolution. Random forces surrounding a particular population have been known to contribute substantially to evolutionary change, not to undermine the impact that adaptation, “a series of beneficial adjustments of organisms to their environment”, has on evolutionary processes. Adaptation is deeply tied to the theory of evolution through a process called natural selection, first theorized by Charles Darwin during his observation of various ecosystems around the world between 1831 and 1836. Natural selection is “the principle or mechanism by which individuals having biological characteristics best suited to a particular environment survive and reproduce with greater frequency than individuals without those characteristics”. Humans are unique in their ability to adapt to changes in their environment both biologically and culturally. As humans developed and continued to expand their territories of inhabitation, an increased …show more content…

This era of early tool development took place during the Lower Paleolithic, and was known as Oldowan tool tradition. Anthropologists suspect that a feedback loop between brain size, behavior, and language began to develop during the time of Homo habilis, due to a proposed correlation between the gradual increase in brain complexity and size as well as the development of more complex cultural aspects of their society, such as the various tools developed during the era of the species habilis. The arrival of Homo erectus, about 2 million years ago, marked another noteworthy progression of biological and cultural adaption, as well as further evidence supporting the feedback loop

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