Please note this was where I'd just sit and type my thoughts onto page without any editing at all. I did my best to not consciously think of what I was writing so I would not stop the flow or influence the content. I found it today in some writings and thought I would share it with you. I hope you find it interesting and if so maybe I will post more of what I found. Thank you for your time in reading it.
You ask about paleontology and the ascent of mankind and its true that your mind goes automatically to the concepts raised in Darwin's "Origins of Species". But it is not enough to merely theorise without contemplating the bigger issues such as when do we make the distinction between man and beast? At what stage do we consider early man to become the species we believe had crudely defined sense of self and thus started his way on the evolutionary journey to where we are now.
This distinction is important because if we are to believe that "man" did evolve, his brain adapting to new surroundings and needs, was this a gradual or sudden development? Was this something which happened all at once or was it regionalised. Can a classification of early man be made so generally for age periods if there were waves of learning speeds between the separate areas? From the earliest "humanoids" we see patterns emerging from anphropomorphical digs. Genealogists can summise the ascent of man and predict how the races developed. But what we cannot seem to do is relate to the forebears a stark reality of what we once were. And is it is not possible that living man at this juncture in time could not also seem so "basic" by luminaries of the next millennia? The pattern of man's progress across his terrain was a somewhat slow one. He seems to have predominantly been nomadic to match his needs. He was slow moving, heavy set and ignorant of the compulsion to travel. It was just a basic need to him. As man progressed from all fours having come down from the huge prehistoric forests that dominated the landscape, he had a purpose. The trees were beginning to be cleared and the vegetation with it. Over population of the species in these dense areas meant animals had to diversify to continue at the rate they were developing. They gradually started to move into the more open plains, where the forest could no longer hide them. Predators quickly followed suit, and then a whole manner of species were venturing further despite being exposed to the elements and predators. The earliest man, more animal than human as we would recognise him began as a larger ape.
He became more land-bound, finding food more readily and plentiful on the ground than the forest canopy. This led to a more carnivorous diet. We were never herbivores, we were carnivores who learned to adapt. The more varied our diet the more we changed physically. For a start, our teeth became more sharp to bite and tear. Our brains increased to help us adapt to our new needs such as rudimentary tool making and shaping. Our physiques too began to become different as we eventually became more land-based. There was a physical need to hunt and overpower our prey. That meant becoming quicker, being more adept, and using more organisation and social interaction to meet the group's needs. That was a very important first step the sense of "I" became a sense of "we", and with it the realisation of the benefits that this could bring. Broader shoulders for throwing, lifting and carrying. A more upright posture to help us be more agile on the ground and see further whilst pursuing prey or watching/listening for predators. A change in the larynx and the development of the vocal chords to allow us to communicate better. The physiological benefits of having limbs that could better manoeuvre and aid us in our daily lives. And as we clothed and housed ourselves we were less exposed to the elements, so the hair which covered us gradually became less useful. The changes happened over time alongside man's mental development. There was no sense of superiority, only instinctual patterns to his behaviour as he became more curious, to have a sense of self and what set us apart from each other and the other beasts. Above all - man was the one creature whose adaptive nature made him the ultimate overall dominant species. Not in every case could he claim to be master of the environment, or the best suited to success. But he did succeed and his knowledge expanded.
The many changes that took place happened over thousands of years. In fact our progress was as much stop and start as anything else. When we had learned the arts of survival and were protected against our enemies and the environment- we sought no need to change. These periods of inertia found us rooted in one spot - only when we were forced to move did we begin to have to learn new ways and conceive of new ideas to be as successful as we once knew we had been. This went on in man's early dawning of his consciousness, and created the drifts in developmental stages throughout the world as we know it today.
Eventually man began to develop his communication and become less aggressive over issues of his terrain. He began to trust other groups, albeit warily finding in this a mutual benefit - shared knowledge. As he did so interactions and travel became more commonplace until finally the type of society we see today had evolved in its rudimentary forms. The haves and have nots, the emotions and sins which we judge and govern ourselves by. We were never perfect, and are still far from it. We come from the very creatures for whom we now must have a responsibility to in helping to keep their habitats alive.
good job bro..keep it up