Hi there,

 

 

I was wondering what peoples thoughts were on how 'culture' emerged in Homo sapiens in reference to evolution. How did it emerge, and when did it emerge?

ie- was it due to language development, physiological development, increased cognitive function or tool use etc that caused culture to emerge?

I know it is difficult to define culture, but just curious to what everyones thoughts are?

 

Yaz

Without defining it I find it impossible to provide an answer. Since, by some definitions our ape cousins have culture, then it did not emerge in man, but in one of our common ancestors with our fellow apes.

 

Since tool making, in a consistent manner, is surely a part of culture, then it emerged about two and a half million years ago.

 

Or, if you are looking for something involving 'art', probably about 50,000 years ago though direct evidence does't turn up till about 35,000 years ago.

Two popular books that immediately come to mind are J. Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee, and N. Wade's Before The Dawn. Oh, also R. Klein's The Dawn of Human Culture. If you're into casual reading I'd recommend those. Klein also has an epic tome called The Human Career.