IGNOU FST CHAPTER 13 Q1(Assignment 2017)

Q)Detailed account on the evidences of human evolution.
Ans)There are many evidences of human evolution
Paleontological Evidence
Paleontology is a branch of earth sciences, which is essentially a study of plant and animal life in the past goelogical periods, millions of years ago.It deals with the successive plants and animals which have inhabited the earth since the earliest times. Evidence is left in the form of skeletons and bones buried in the rocks. These are known as fossils.Crucial evidence of human evidence of human evolution is provided by the study of these fossils.
Sometimes the buried body and the skeleton of and animal disintegrate entirely, If the surrounding material is sufficiently firm,a cavity may remain, having the exact outlines of the structures that disappeared. Such a cavity is called mold. Similar to molds are the impressions. These are left by extinct objects or parts of the body upon the surrounding material.The impression is made while the surrounding material is soft. like foot prints in clay or lava. Footprints  of extinct animals are also impressions affording valuable information about the animals who made them.
It is important to mention here, that early human fossils that have been found are generally fragmentary and incomplete. This is because only during the last 50,000 years or so man started burying his dead. These later fossils are better preserved and, therefore give us more information. for the earlier period, parts of bones are often the basis of imagining the re-construction of the whole skeleton. The finding of fossils deposits is both a matter of chance and of deliberate excavation in certain regions of the earth.
Archoelogical Evidence
The study of antiquities, especially of pre historic periods is known as archeology. The biological and cultural evolution of man preceded side by side and the two influenced each other. Like the physical remains of man, his cultural deposits also lie buried in the ancient deposits. Often, the two categories of evidence are found together in the same categories of rock. With the passage of time, and the increasing capacity of his brain and development in other bodily organs, man's culture became more and more varied and complex.He learned the use of new materials for making tools and developed new techniques for improving them. The use of tools had a tremendous impact on increased access to food and therefore on cooperative living in colonies. In many areas archaeological remains show reindeer to be the principal source of meat they ate.
Anthropological evidence
Modern humans arose at a time when the earth was going through  a very cold and icy period called the Ice Age, which began about 75,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago. The ice age was at its most severe about 18,000 years ago, a point which coincides with the development of pre historic art, represented by colorful images painted on cave walls and rock shelters.Many thousands of carved and engraved pieces of bone and ivory have been discovered from the same period.A great majority of images are, indeed, of animals we can recognize, especially images of reindeer and bisons are plentiful; while paintings of people are strangely absent.
The general view about agriculture is that, at the end of the last ice age, i.e. about 10,000 years ago there was a dramatic global pattern in the human pattern of living form nodmatic hunting and food gathering to settlements producing food. The discovery that sprinkling of grain could lead to crops and hence to lot of food, must have had a very big impact on social living. Settled living probably led to the increase of population, as also to development of music and dance to occupy the leisure. Language and communication must have developed, as also a capacity to wander and to reflect about nature.
Biochemical Evidence
Darwin had recognized that humans and the great apes shared many physical characteristics.This led him to conclude that human and apes descended from a common stock. Darwin's conclusions were based on the study of fossils and the physical similarities that he had observed. Now, a century later biochemical studies of proteins and the genetic material-DNA showed how good his guess was.