The beginning of technology and human origins - Essay Example

The paper "The Beginning of Technology and Human Origin" is an excellent example of an essay on history. In the first chapter of the book “Technology: A WorldHistory” its author Daniel R. Headrick investigates the development of technology during the Stone Age period. He particularly pays the reader’s attention to a role that tools had in human’s life: they were not just a source for survival, but also a thing that shaped human’s personality and way of acting.  The author analyses the evolution of Homo or hominid since Australopithecines, admitting that both their brains and tools evolve to create the anatomy and nature of our ancestors.

Homo developed their skills and evolved firstly to Homo habilis and then to Homo erectus of two distinct species within the genus: one was Neanderthal and other was archaic Homo Sapiens. The technology of these two species considerably differed from those of other Homo erectus species: there were many different stone tools for different purposes. After Neanderthals extinction, an explosion of innovations in Homo sapiens’ life took place, and not just in tools but also in such previously unknown aspects of life as ocean navigation, art, and religion.

It’s worth paying attention, that human culture was changing far more quickly than the biology of species. Homo sapiens went far beyond the needs of survival: they were looking for aesthetical enjoyment or for religious and magical needs. Thus Homo sapiens got that important trait that distinguished them from their ancestors and that was a sense of beauty. This cultural change – an invention of metaphysical symbols – was a necessary condition for transforming archaic Homo sapiens into modern humans.

Perhaps, this rapid development coincided in time with the invention of talk, as for success it was important to create and use symbolic representation. One more innovation Homo sapiens introduced in their lives was helping edible plants grow and raising captured animals. These activities, unlike hunting, could be interrupted and picked up again, as well as combined with caring for small children. All that rapidly transformed the global environment and perhaps gave ancient Homo sapiens the time to think about cultural development.

The technology was changing as slowly as human’s brains and bodies. Nowadays technology development is considered to be a sign of progress, as for instance herding and farming could support more people than foraging could. Still, early farmers could hardly name progressive their way of life, as compared to their hunting-gatherer ancestors they got poorer nourish and worse health.