Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
It is what Stephen Jay Gould called ‘Punctuated Equilibrium’, a theory that suggests Evolution proceeds with long periods of stasis, Interrupted by short, sharp bursts of rapid change.

If the environment changes in stops and starts, then it makes sense for evolution to do the same.

Unseen wrote:
I mean, if bees and…

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@Reg

Science is coming around to the view that these pre-homo sapiens humans didn’t really fit the traditional “cave man” notion of stupid no account lunks. I mean, if bees and termites can have a social order and organize to create a place to live, why not human beings?

It is remarkable that a flourishing and sophisticated human civilization existed at Gesher Benot Yaʽaqov some 780,000 years ago. They had a controlled use of fire, the ability to organize and hunt and gather a broad spectrum of food types.

What is most remarkable is that ‘only’ 120,000 years earlier, our human lineage had undergone a severe gene…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
I’m sure that other species of human beings were capable of making settlements, if the conditions were temporarily right for it, i.e., if there were rich resources in one place, like next to a waterway or sea.  Culture – why not?  In the sense of making artwork.  I’m not sure they would have had cultural markers to mark the…

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Unseen wrote:
What if archaeologists are finding evidence of human settlements and the rudiments of culture 800,000 years ago?

I’m sure that other species of human beings were capable of making settlements, if the conditions were temporarily right for it, i.e., if there were rich resources in one place, like next to a waterway or sea.  Culture -…[Read more]