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Southern New Hampshire University *

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101

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Anthropology

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Oct 30, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by DeanOkapi495

I will be speaking about how climate changes affected human biological and cultural evolution during the Paleolithic period.  Climate fluctuations did cause these habitats to be altered. This did lead to many changes in the variable conditions of natural selection and population density. There were faults caused by volcanic eruptions which did reduce the size of lakes and cause a fracture to the landscape. Flash floods, eruptions, natural disasters, and droughts were what they were faced with.  While the environment was changing early humans did appear around 4 to 5 million years ago. This was the appearance of Australopithecus afarensis these people lived for about 3 million years and then 1.8 million years ago a new type of hominian emerged in Africa, Indonesia, and China called Homo erectus (Garland, 2020).  Early humans used primarily stone tools to tear away the flesh from the carcasses, to pound the animals, and to crush bone. Stone hand axes and spearpoints made from rock were used as well. They use the hides of large animals and furs to make clothing for themselves.  Adaptive challenges for survival with having a varied diet, making tools to gather food, caring for another and burying someone when they died, and using fire to cook and heat during cold nights. Sleeping in trees or huddled together in groups the heat became a blessing.  Geological evidence at Olorgesailie also shows how some 400,000 years ago earthshaking tectonic activity began to reshape the region—segmenting the landscape, raising hills and cliffs, and draining huge lakes—shifts that made the area more sensitive to changes like more variable rainfall (Handwerk, 2020). Zebras, giraffes, and elephants were replaced by smaller animals which led to there were new ways to gather food as well as hunt animals. The landscape brought about many grassland ecosystem changes. Climate does affect every one of us but we do begin to adapt to the changes. We can see the difference between our ancestors and how we have developed now over the thousands of years. This does impact what we drink, and eat, the air we breathe, and some health issues. Evolution is constantly evolving and will continue to do so. Clothing changes year after year which does cause a cultural evolution in the way we are living and how we are adapting to the different climates of where we are living. Technology advancements are something that we have evolved into having and using. Extreme weather changes have also been changing in the climate and we never know what new diseases will cause a pandemic in the future. Reference Garland, Robert, Ph.D. (2020, June 15). Wondrium Daily Ancient History. Paleolithic Period: Who Were the Early Humans? https://www.wondriumdaily.com/paleolithic-period-who- were-the-early-humans/#:~:text=Early%20humans%20first%20appeared%20around,and %20China%20called%20Homo%20erectus. Handwerk, Brian. (2020, October 21). Smithsonian Magazine. To Adapt to a Changing Environment 400,000 Years Ago, Early Humans Developed New Toos and Behaviors.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-drastic-ecological-change-led- leap-forward-behavior-weapons-and-tools-180976101/

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