Different in degree or kind: Sapiens begin brain use (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, October 09, 2016, 15:51 (2967 days ago) @ David Turell


> david; My firm view is that form appears before function. Look at today's comments about infant brain development and its relation to the evolutionary process. Development from attempted function, your view, implies tiny experimental changes, not the gaps in phenotype which is the only evidence we have to consider.-Example:-The author, a paleontologist, muses about when humans started to use their brains in partial and then toward full capacity using ornamental jewelry artifacts to judge when there were advances:-http://nautil.us//issue/40/learning/the-modern-mind-may-be-100000-years-old-"Homo sapiens first emerged as a distinct species in Africa somewhere around 200,000 years ago. Of course, this doesn't mean that one day our ancestors were one species, and by the next day—or year, or even generation—they suddenly became modern humans. Evolution is a slow process. But geneticists and anthropologists have, nevertheless, been able to pinpoint a time frame in which most of the distinct genetic traits that make us human appeared—that made us different enough from other existing species that we became a species of our own.-"So by around 200,000 years ago, people were living in Africa who were just like us: anatomically modern humans. Physically they looked the same as we do, and their brains were identical in size to ours. What we don't know is if they were already thinking like us—or when they started to. They don't appear to have been burying their dead, or wearing jewelry, or making decorative marks on their tools, or anywhere else for that matter. We don't find evidence for any of these practices for another 80,000 years. (my bold)-"In other words, they were us, but at the same time maybe not quite us. I often wonder what it must have been like to be one of the first modern humans to walk this earth. Frankly, even as a paleoanthropologist, I find it hard to wrap my head around what that question actually means: If they didn't yet know how to use their imaginations, or make art, or use symbols, then what did they think about? Did they experience self-awareness? How did they interact with each other? Could they tell jokes? Did they believe in worlds beyond what they could see?-"In a very log interesting essay the author describes early jewelry and burial sites looking or the earliest evidence of societal mentation. His final paragraph:-"Within the last 15 years, several sites have been identified in North Africa that contain artifacts similar to those found at Skhul and Qafzeh. The first is Sai Island, in Sudan, located in the Nubian region of the Nile River. This is the very earliest site with evidence of ochre use by modern humans. Occupied off and on by people throughout the Paleolithic, this island has many archaeological layers. The period we are most interested in dates from about 180,000 to 200,000 years ago, and excavation of this layer yielded large quantities of both red and yellow ochre. While red is almost always the dominant color at early human sites, the inhabitants of Sai Island seem to have preferred yellow pigment. To me this suggests that these people already had some sort of culture that was influencing their choice of ochre. Sai Island also yielded an even more intriguing artifact: a rectangular sandstone slab with a depression carefully hollowed out in its center. The slab appears to have been a grinding stone, with evidence of ochre powder within the depression. Two small pieces of chert stone with fragments of ochre still attached were found nearby. The pieces of chert were used to crush the ochre into a fine powder on the slab, like an early mortar and pestle. This could very well be the earliest example in the world of an ochre-processing kit."-Comment: Of course these folks had thought and culture. So did the previous Homo species, so findings, if available, should date back to 200,000 years ago. My point is simple. Sapiens had the biggest brain, given 200,000 years ago and had to learn how to use it. Like being given a piano and learning to ten finger play with both hands. My bolded sentence above makes the point. Gaps, then form, then function. Requires intense, accurate planning