Essay Topic
How has the environment been a factor in human evolution? How has the environment transformed humans and their ancestors, both biologically and culturally?
deMenocal, Peter B., 2019, ‘Climate Shocks’, Scientific American, special edition- Fall 2019: 10-15.
Marean, Curtis W., 2019, ‘When the Sea Saved Humanity’, Scientific American, special edition- Fall 2019: 25-31.
Write the essay. The essay should be written professionally and cleanly. You can use any editing style that you feel comfortable with or have used in the past. No bibliography is needed for this essay. You should focus your writing on the assigned readings. Be sure also to support the essay readings with information from the class section on ‘Human Evolution.’ You must demonstrate to me your overall comprehension of human evolution.
No quotations! Your overall score will be lowered by 10 points for each line of quotes.
The essay has no word minimum or maximum. You need to write an essay long enough to complete the assignment thoroughly.
You need to discuss the specifics of the two articles. Three-time periods are reviewed in the article:
2.9 to 2.4 million years ago
1.9 to 1.6 million years ago
195,000 years ago until 123,000 years ago
Describe what happened in each time period! What were the environmental changes? There are four different species that you need to discuss: Australopithecus afarensis, Paranthropus sp., early Homo, and Homo sapiens. Discuss all four. Which one fits with which time period? Tell me how they changed physically, behaviorally, and culturally.
