7.9 文化在人类进化中的作用
章节大纲
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Surviving in a Cold, Cruel World
::在一个寒冷、残酷的世界中生存This photo was taken in a museum devoted to Neanderthals, the archaic humans that lived in Europe and Asia during the last ice age. The model of the Neanderthal man in the photo illustrates some of the important cultural adaptations that allowed Neanderthals to control and exploit their environment. Without culture, it is unlikely that Neanderthals would have been able to survive in a cold climate .
::这张照片拍摄在一家博物馆里,该博物馆的馆主是尼安德特人,这些古老的人类在上一个冰河时代生活在欧洲和亚洲。 照片中的尼安德特人模型说明了让尼安德特人控制和开发环境的一些重要的文化适应。 没有文化,尼安德特人就不可能在寒冷的气候中生存下去。What Is Culture?
::什么是文化?Culture is the entire way of life for a group of people. It includes all the learned skills and knowledge that people share with other members of their society . During human evolution, our biological traits and culture reinforced one another, and it is likely that neither could have developed fully without the other. When human ancestors became bipedal, for example, it freed their hands to devote more time and effort to making and using tools. The ability to make tools may have been one stimulus for the evolution of a bigger brain . A bigger brain, in turn, helped early humans invent more useful tools and better ways to solve problems.
::文化是一群人的整个生活方式。它包括人们与其社会其他成员分享的所有学到的技能和知识。在人类进化过程中,我们的生物特征和文化相互加强,并且有可能没有另一人也不可能完全发展。例如,当人类祖先变得两极分化时,它释放了他们的双手,投入更多的时间和精力来制造和使用工具。制造工具的能力可能是推动更大大脑进化的一种刺激因素。而更大的大脑反过来又帮助早期人类发明了更有用的工具和更好的解决问题的方法。Human culture has four important characteristics:
::人类文化有四个重要特点:-
Culture is learned.
People are not born with culture, but they acquire it from
those
around them as they grow up. From a young age, children are ready and able to learn culture, but
the specific
culture they learn depends on the culture in which they grow up.
::文化是学习的。 人并非天生就有文化,而是在成长时从周围的人那里获得文化。 从小,儿童就准备并能够学习文化,但是他们学习的具体文化取决于他们成长的文化。 -
Culture is shared
. People with the same culture share the same ways of thinking and behaving. They also share their culture with the next generation by passing it on to their children, like the mother in the photo below.
::文化是共有的,拥有相同文化的人有着同样的思维和行为方式,他们也与下一代分享自己的文化,把文化传给他们的孩子,就像下面照片中的母亲一样。 -
Culture is symbolic
. A symbol is a word, sign, or action that stands for something else. Spoken or written language is based on symbols (words). The ability to share culture depends on language.
::文化是象征性的。 符号是一个代表其它事物的词、 符号或行动。 口语或书面语言基于符号( 词 ) 。 分享文化的能力取决于语言 。 -
Culture is adaptive.
Culture lets people live almost
anywhere
on Earth. It is a powerful tool that allows people to survive in harsh climates. As a result, people depend on culture to survive.
::文化是适应性的,文化使人们几乎可以生活在地球上的任何地方,它是一种强大的工具,使人们能够在恶劣的气候中生存,因此,人们依靠文化生存。
Human children learn about their culture and the world around them starting at a young age. This mother is teaching her children about wildlife at a wildlife refuge.
::人类儿童从小就了解自己的文化和周围的世界,母亲正在野生动物避难所向孩子传授野生动物知识。Culture increasingly became the main way that human ancestors adapted to the environment, starting as early as Homo habilis. Culture is by far our primary method for adapting to the environment today. Culture allowed our ancestors to thrive and spread into new areas. Humans first lived in the tropics and were physically adapted for a warm climate. In fact, in terms of their biology , humans are still . Eventually, however, humans moved into colder areas. When they did, culture allowed them to live in cold climates without the need to adapt biologically. For example, they did not have to develop thick fur or a layer of blubber like other cold-climate mammals . Instead, they used fire, built shelters, and made clothes to stay warm.
::文化日益成为人类祖先适应环境的主要方式,最早从同性居住开始。文化是当今我们适应环境的主要方法。文化使我们的祖先得以繁荣发展并传播到新的地区。人类最初生活在热带地区,并适应了温暖的气候。事实上,从生物学角度讲,人类仍然在生存。然而,最终,人类迁移到寒冷地区。当他们这样做的时候,文化允许他们在寒冷的气候中生活,而不必进行生物适应。例如,他们不必像其他冷气候哺乳动物那样发展厚厚的毛皮或一层鲸脂。相反,他们使用火、建造住所和制成衣服来保持温暖。Language
::语言语言语言Language is the of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary symbols — called words — that are represented by vocal sounds, and in many cases by written marks, as well. Language is arguably the single most important component of culture, because much of the rest of culture is shared through language. Language allows people to share their inventions and solutions to problems with other members of their group. It also allows them to pas s on to subsequent generations cultural knowledge and what they have learned by experience. In this way, people can continually build on the knowledge that was developed in the past by their forebears.
::语言是思想和感情的表达方式,通过一种任意的符号体系,即所谓的语言,由声音和许多情况下的书面标记来体现,语言可以说是文化中最重要的组成部分,因为文化的其余部分大多通过语言共享,语言使人们能够与群体其他成员分享他们的发明和解决问题的办法,还使他们能够向后代传授文化知识,以及他们从经验中学到的东西,这样,人们可以不断利用他们祖先过去积累的知识。Human Language vs. Nonhuman Animal Communication
::人类语言与非人类动物交流Most animals (not just humans) communicate with others. H uman language, however, has several traits that set it apart from nonhuman animal communication. No form of animal communication shows all the traits of human language, nor the complexity of human language. Some of the main differences between human language and nonhuman animal communication include the following:
::多数动物(不仅仅是人类)与他人交流。然而,人类语言有几种特性,使其与非人类动物交流有区别。没有一种动物交流形式显示人类语言的所有特征,或人类语言的复杂性。人类语言与非人类动物交流之间的一些主要区别包括:-
Human language is learned, whereas most nonhuman animal communication is instinctive. The ability of humans to use language is biologically based, but they can learn any language equally well if they are exposed to it at a young age.
::人类的语言是学得的,而大多数非人类动物的交流是本能的。 人类使用语言的能力基于生物基础,但如果在年轻时接触语言,他们同样可以很好地学习任何语言。 -
Human language can be used to communicate about things in other places and about past or future events. In nonhuman animals, in contrast, most communication refers to the here and now.
::人类语言可以用来交流其他地方的事情以及过去或将来的事件。 相比之下,在非人类动物中,大多数的交流都指这里和现在。 -
Human language is composed of individual vocal sounds that are combined to create words, which are symbols that have meaning. A finite number of words can be used to create a nearly infinite variety of sentences. Most nonhuman animal communication, in contrast, is based on a limited range of sounds or
movements
that can convey only basic information.
::人类语言由个别声音组成,这些声音被组合起来来创造词语,这些词语是具有意义的符号。 数量有限的单词可以用来创造几乎无限种类的句子。 相比之下,大多数非人类动物交流是基于有限的声音或运动,这些声音或运动只能传递基本信息。
Producing and Comprehending Speech
::制作和编篡发言Some of the cultural adaptations of the Neanderthals, as described below, most likely would have required them to have a relatively sophisticated means of communication. Physiological evidence based on and also suggests that Neanderthals were probably able to produce and comprehend speech. Most likely, they were the first humans to be able to do so.
::如下文所述,尼安德特人的一些文化改造很可能要求他们拥有相对先进的通信手段。 基于并表明尼安德特人可能能够制作和理解语言的生理证据。 他们很可能是最早能够这样做的人。The speech centers of the brain are the areas of the brain involved in producing and comprehending speech, and they are highlighted in the figure . For comparison, the figure shows both a human brain and a chimpanzee brain. The region called Broca’s area controls speech production, and the region called Wernicke’s area controls speech comprehension. Both areas were apparently well developed in Neanderthals, and it is said they were as large as they are in modern human brains.
::大脑的言语中心是大脑中参与制作和理解语言的地区,图中也强调了这两个方面。相比之下,图中显示的是人类的大脑和黑猩猩的大脑。 布罗卡地区的语言中心控制着语言制作,而韦尼克地区的语言中心控制着语言理解。 这两个地区在尼安德特人中显然都非常发达,据说它们和现代人类大脑一样大。Broca's and Wernicke's areas are larger in the modern human than the chimpanzee brain. This reflects a greater capacity for and dependence on vocal communication through the use of language in humans.
::Broca和Wernicke在现代人类中所处的领域比黑猩猩大脑大。这反映了通过在人类中使用语言来提高声音交流的能力和对声音交流的依赖。Modern humans have an for a gene called the FOXP2 gene, and it is necessary for human language as we know it. The allele is needed both for understanding grammar and for controlling movements of the mouth needed to produce speech. Recent analysis of Neanderthal DNA shows that this allele was present in the Neanderthals sampled. It provides more evidence that Neanderthals were capable of producing and comprehending speech.
::现代人类拥有一种叫做FOXP2基因的基因,而这种基因对于我们所知道的人类语言是必需的。 要理解语法和控制产生言论所需的口腔运动,就需要用方言。 最近对尼安德特人的DNA分析显示,这个方言存在于采集的尼安德特人样本中。 它提供了更多的证据,证明尼安德特人能够产生和理解语言。Another biological marker of speech production is a in the neck called the hyoid bone (see figure ). The function of this bone is to support involved in speech production, including muscles of the jaw, tongue, and larynx . In modern humans, the hyoid bone is located high in the throat, where it allows us to make a wide range of sounds. Its position and shape are essentially the same in Neanderthals, suggesting that they may also have been capable of producing a wide range of vocal sounds.
::语言制作的另一个生物标志是颈部的一个称为合金骨(见图 ) 。 该骨的功能是支持语言制作,包括下巴、舌头和喉咙的肌肉。 在现代人类中,合金骨位于喉咙的高处,它让我们能够发出广泛的声音。 它的位置和形状在尼安德特人中基本相同,表明它们也能够产生广泛的声响。The shape and position of the hyoid bone is related to the human ability to produce a wide range of vocal sounds. It supports muscles involved in speech production.
::骨的形状和位置与人产生各种声响的能力有关,它支持参与语音制作的肌肉。It's unknown whether or not humans earlier than the Neanderthals could produce speech. There is no clear-cut evidence for it. Based on their skulls, it is possible that Homo heidelbergensis also had well-developed speech centers in the brain. However, this evidence is indirect, and any conclusions about Homo heidelbergensis and language are speculative.
::人类是否早于尼安德特人能够发表演讲还不清楚。 没有明确的证据证明。 根据他们的头骨, 同性恋的海德堡人可能在大脑中拥有发达的言语中心。 但是, 这种证据是间接的, 任何关于同性恋的言语和语言的结论都是推测性的。Subsistence Strategies
::维持生计战略The term subsistence strategy refers to the general way in which a group of people obtain food and the types of food they rely on most. It is possible to determine what many of our ancestors ate based on evidence, such as tooth-wear patterns and the types of food scraps found in association with their fossils. It appears that australopithecines and Homo habilis relied mainly on gathering wild plant foods, supplemented with the occasional scavenging of small animals for meat. They probably also collected eggs , grubs, and for food, much as chimpanzees do today.
::维生战略一词是指一群人获得食物的一般方式和他们最依赖的食物种类,可以根据诸如牙带型和与化石有关的食物残片等证据来确定我们祖先吃了什么。看起来,青蒿素和同族居民主要依靠采集野生植物食物,同时偶尔还收集小动物肉类,他们可能还收集鸡蛋、小麦和食物,就像今天黑猩猩一样。With the evolution of Homo erectus, there was an increase in the proportion of meat in the diet. Meat from larger animals was scavenged from the kills of large predators . Small animals were hunted for their meat. At late Homo erectus sites, there is evidence of refuse bones from a wide range of animals, including small animals, such as rabbits and rodents and also large animals, such as deer and rhinoceroses. Some late Homo erectus also ate a variety of and shellfish, such as oysters and mussels. By 500 thousand years ago, Homo erectus was using virtually every available animal for food. It is likely that they were also collecting an equally diverse range of wild plant foods.
::随着人体勃起的进化,肉类在饮食中的比例有所上升;大型动物的肉因大型掠食动物的灭绝而腐蚀;小型动物被猎杀为肉;在后人体勃起地点,有证据表明大量动物,包括兔子和老鼠等小动物以及鹿和犀牛等大型动物的残骸;一些已故的人类勃起者还吃各种各样的贝类和贝类,如牡蛎和贝类。在50万年前,智壮年几乎使用每一种动物作为食物;它们还可能收集同样多种多样的野生植物食物。It has been argued that the adoption of a diet high in meat by Homo erectus may have been one of the reasons this human was able to leave tropical Africa and move into colder areas of the Old World. The problem with living in a cold area was not so much the temperature, but the relative scarcity of plant foods during the winter. Becoming better at hunting and scavenging animals would have helped Homo erectus deal with this problem.
::有人争论说,人之所以能够离开热带非洲,进入更寒冷的旧世界地区,可能是因为智障人采用高肉含量的饮食方式。 生活在寒冷地区的问题不在于温度,而在于冬季植物食物相对稀缺。 狩猎和拾荒动物越好,就越能帮助智障人解决这一问题。A subsistence strategy that involves hunting wild animals and collecting wild plant foods is called hunting and gathering . This subsistence strategy — first adopted by Homo erectus — was used throughout the rest of human prehistory, until modern humans first invented approximately ten thousand years ago. Even today, small pockets of modern Homo sapiens in isolated regions of the world still "make a living" by hunting and gathering. You can see members of one such group in the picture .
::有关狩猎野生动物和收集野生植物食物的自给战略被称为狩猎和采集。 这种由勃起的智人最初采用的自给战略在人类史前的其余部分一直使用,直到现代人类在大约一万年前首次发明。 即使在今天,世界偏远地区的少数现代智人仍然通过狩猎和采集“谋生 ” 。 你可以从图中看到其中一个群体的成员。!Kung San people (who live in southern Africa) are hunter-gatherers who live a lifestyle similar to their forebears thousands of years ago. Their shelters are simple constructions, because they must move often to find food and water sources.
::孟山人民(生活在南部非洲)是狩猎采集者,他们生活在与几千年前祖先相似的生活方式中。 他们的庇护所很简单,因为他们必须经常搬家寻找食物和水源。Tool Traditions
::工具传统We know more about the tools made by early humans than we know about their other cultural adaptations, because many of their tools were made of stone that was nonperishable. Hundreds of thousands of early stone tools have been discovered, only some of which are associated with fossil remains of the tool makers. The earliest, widely-agreed upon stone tools were found in East Africa and have been dated to about 2.5 million years ago. They were found with fossils of the earliest members of our genus , Homo habilis, although they could also have been made by australopithecines. Because these tools were first discovered at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, they were given the name Oldowan tools.
::我们对早期人类制造的工具的了解比我们对其他文化适应的了解要多,因为他们的许多工具是用不易腐坏的石头制造的,已经发现了数十万早期的石头工具,其中只有部分与工具制造者的化石残骸有关,最早的、广泛商定的石工具是在东非发现的,日期大约为250万年前。它们与我们最早的基因成员Himo habilis的化石一起发现,尽管它们也可能是用奥斯特洛皮西人制造的。由于这些工具最初是在坦桑尼亚的奥杜威峡谷发现的,因此它们被命名为奥多万工具。The table below shows the different types of tools developed by our human ancestors and the earliest date for each type. All the stone tool traditions together are referred to as the Paleolithic (“old stone”) stage of human technological . The Paleolithic is further divided into L ower, M iddle, and Upper Paleolithic stages, as shown in the table.
::下表显示了我们人类祖先开发的不同类型的工具,以及每种类型的最早日期,所有石块工具传统统称为人类技术的白石化(“旧石”)阶段。 如表所示,石化进一步分为低层、中层和上层石化阶段。Paleolithic Stage of Human Technological Development Stage of the Paleolithic Earliest Date (years ago) Tool Tradition(s) Upper Paleolithic
::上叶石化17,000 Magdalenian 21,000 Solutrean 27,000 Gravettian 75,000 Aurignacian Middle Paleolithic
::中叶石化100,000 Mousterian Lower Paleolithic
::下叶石化1,500,000 Acheulian 2,500,000
Oldowan Oldowan Tools
::奥尔多万工具NameOldowan tools are part of the L ower Paleolithic stage of technological development. They were made by H omo habilis, and also by early Homo erectus. There were two main types of Oldowan tools: core tools and flake tools
::Oldowan工具是技术发展的下叶石化阶段的一部分,由High habilis和早期智人勃起制造,有两种主要类型的Oldowan工具:核心工具和片面工具。-
Core tools
were made by using a rock as a hammer to knock flakes off another stone, resulting in a chopping tool that could be held easily in the hand. The tool could also be used for hammering or digging. You can see an example of an Oldowan core tool
.
::核心工具是用石头作为锤子来敲敲另一块石头上的片片,从而形成一个可以轻而易举地握在手中的切片工具。该工具也可以用于敲锤或挖掘。您可以看到一个奥多万核心工具的例子 。 -
Flake tools
were the flakes of rock that were removed in the process of making the core tools. Flake tools were used as knives.
T
hey were used, for example,
to butcher
animals, as evidenced by cut marks on animal bones found in association with the tools.
::Flake工具是在制作核心工具的过程中被去除的岩石片片,Flake工具被用作刀具,例如用于屠宰动物,与工具一起发现的动物骨骼上的切痕就证明了这一点。
Oldowan core tool
::Oldowan 核心工具Besides stone tools, Homo habilis may have made tools out of other materials, such as wood or bone. Even grasses could be used to make tools by braiding them into a rope. However, these materials would not have survived to the present, so there is no evidence of them today.
::除了石器之外,Higen Habilis可能用木头或骨头等其他材料制造工具。 即使是草地也可以通过用绳子粘住它们来制造工具。 然而,这些材料本不会活到现在,因此今天没有证据表明它们的存在。Acheulian Tools
::Acheulian Acheulian 工具工具Although Homo erectus made Oldowan tools at first, they were increasingly better made and more efficient than the tools made by Homo habilis . For example, the cutting tools made by Homo erectus had straighter, sharper edges. By about 1.5 million years ago in East Africa, Homo erectus tools had become advanced enough to be considered a new tool-making tradition, although they were still part of the L ower P aleolithic stage of technological development. These new tools were called Acheulian tools (named for a site in France where this type of tool was first discovered). Acheulian tools have since been found wherever Homo erectus (and later Homo heidelbergensis) lived throughout the Old World. Over time, Homo erectus refined the tools they made, and became increasingly reliant on them. At the most recent Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis sites, thousands of discarded stone tools have been found.
::尽管智人勃起最初制造了奥多万工具,但是这些新工具的制造和效力比智人壮大的工具越来越好,例如,智人勃起制造的切割工具有更直的、更锋利的边缘。在东非,大约150万年前,智人勃起工具已经发展到足以被视为一种新的工具制造传统,尽管它们仍然是技术开发的下叶石化阶段的一部分。这些新工具被称为Acheulian工具(被命名为法国一个首次发现此类工具的地点 ) 。 古人勃起的工具(后来的Heidelbergensis)在老世界各地的任何地方被发现。 随着时间的推移,智人勃起的工具经过改良,越来越依赖这些工具。 在最新的智人勃起和同性海德尔贝吉斯遗址,发现了数千个废弃的石头工具。The most important tools of the Acheulian tradition were hand axes, like the one pictured . These were like the Oldowan core tools, but they were shaped on both sides with greater skill to form an oval tool with a pointed end and sharp edges along the sides. These tools were probably used for a variety of tasks, including butchering, chopping, digging, and cracking open bones and nuts. Other tools made by Homo erectus included flake knives and scrapers. Like Homo habilis, Homo erectus probably also made tools out of other materials besides stone, but these would not have survived to the present.
::Acheulian传统中最重要的工具是手斧,就像所描绘的一样。这些工具像奥尔多万核心工具一样。但是它们被塑造在两侧,具有更大的技能,可以形成一个有尖尖端和尖锐边缘的奥瓦尔工具。这些工具可能被用于各种任务,包括屠宰、砍、挖、敲裂骨和坚果。其他由智人勃起的工具包括刀片和刮刀。像同性人一样,智人勃起者也可能用石头以外的其他材料制造工具,但这些工具不可能活到现在。Acheulian hand axe
::Acheulian 手斧Mousterian Tools
::软模工具The tools made by Neanderthals and other archaic humans were more advanced than the Acheulian tools made by Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis. These more advanced tools date back to at least 100 thousand years ago, and they have been given the name Mousterian tools for the site in France where they were first discovered. Mousterian tools were made not only by archaic humans, but also by early modern humans in some areas, including southwest Asia and Africa. They are classified in the Middle P aleolithic stage of technological development.
::尼安德特人和其他古老人类制造的工具比阿切利人制造的工具更先进,这些更先进的工具至少可以追溯到10万年前,并被命名为法国首次发现的工具。 摩斯特人制造的工具不仅由古老人类制造,而且由包括西南亚和非洲在内的一些地区早期现代人类制造。 它们被划入技术发展的中白石化阶段。The most important Mousterian tools were flake tools, rather than the core tools of earlier traditions. Mousterian flake tools were made with a special method (called the Levallois technique) that made them more refined and standardized. The flake tools were also specialized for particular jobs, with different tools for scraping, cutting, or puncturing. Some were even specialized to be spear points, which is the first time stone tips were attached to wooden shafts to make spears.
::最重要的穆斯特工具是片片工具,而不是早期传统的核心工具。 摩斯特片工具是用一种特殊方法(称为Levallois技术 ) 制造的,使这些工具更加精细和标准化。 片片工具也专门用于特定的工作,有不同的刮碎、切割或穿刺工具。 有些工具甚至专门用作长矛点,这是第一次把石尖附在木柱上制造矛。Upper Paleolithic Tools
::上层叶化工具By about 75 thousand years ago, some early modern humans began making tools that were significantly different from the earlier Mousterian tools. They have been categorized in several different tool traditions in the U pper P aleolithic stage of technological development. These new tools have been found in sites in Europe and elsewhere in the Old World and more recently in the New World. You can see sketches of a variety of Upper P aleolithic tools in the figure . They range from blades of various shapes and sizes to barbed harpoon heads.
::大约在75 000年前,一些早期的现代人类开始制造与早期的摩斯特工具大不相同的工具,在技术发展的上叶石化阶段,这些工具被分为几个不同的工具传统。这些新工具在欧洲和老世界其他地方以及最近在新世界找到。您可以看到图中各种高叶石化工具的草图。它们从各种形状和大小的刀片到横刺的鱼叉头,不一而足。Upper Paleolithic tools
::上层石化工具Besides barbed harpoon heads, there were other new specialized tools for hunting in the U pper P aleolithic stage. T he spear thrower was invented, most likely by about 17 thousand years ago, during this stage of technological development. The spear thrower increased the range and force of impact of spears. This allowed hunters to take down game animals from a safer distance. By about 12 thousand years ago, the bow and arrow had been invented. This increased the range of projectile weapons even more. When these hunting tools were invented, game animals were becoming scarcer, and this may have been the impetus for their invention.
::除了有刺的鱼叉头以外,还有其他新的专门狩猎工具,在上白石化阶段。扔矛器是在这个技术发展阶段发明的,很可能是17 000年前发明的。扔矛器增加了长矛的射程和冲击力。这让猎人能够从更安全的距离上击落猎物。大约12 000年前,弓箭被发明了。这增加了射弹武器的范围。当这些狩猎工具被发明的时候,猎物变得越来越稀少,这或许是它们发明的动力。Another new development during the U pper P aleolithic stage was the invention of tools for making other tools. These included tools that served as chisels and punches. The upper paleolithic stage was also characterized by increasing dependence on compound tools, which are tools with multiple parts. The advantage of compound tools is that they can be repaired if one part breaks. They don't need to be replaced entirely. Tool-making tools and compound tools were new tool-making principles — not just new kinds of tools — and this represented a quantum change in technology.
::上叶片阶段的另一项新发展是发明了制造其他工具的工具,其中包括作为辣椒和拳头的工具;上古石片阶段的特点是日益依赖复合工具,这些工具是多部件的工具;复合工具的优点是,如果一个部分断裂,可以修复这些工具;不需要完全替换这些工具;工具制造工具和复合工具是新的工具制造原则,而不仅仅是新型工具;这代表了技术的量子变化。Other Cultural Adaptations
::其他文化适应Besides making and using tools, several other cultural adaptations helped early humans remain relatively unchanged physically while moving into new areas of the world. These cultural adaptations included the controlled use of fire, shelters, clothing, and social adaptations.
::除了制作和使用工具外,其他几项文化适应措施还帮助早期人类在进入世界新地区时保持相对的物理不变,这些文化适应措施包括有节制地使用火灾、住所、衣服和社会适应措施。Use of Fire
::使用火灾The controlled use of fire by early humans may have been a turning point in human evolution. It allowed humans to cook food and obtain light and warmth. Light and heat from fire allowed humans to expand their activities into the dark and colder hours of the night. It also provided protection from predators and insects. Predators generally fear and stay away from fires, and insects such as mosquitoes could be kept away by the smoke. Cooking plant foods would have helped break down tough plant fibers so they were easier to digest. Cooking meat would not only make it easier to digest. It would also kill and parasites that are common in wild animal meat, making it safer to eat.
::早期人类对火灾的控制使用可能是人类进化的一个转折点。它使人类能够烹饪食物,获得光和温暖。火光和热能使人类能够将其活动扩大到黑夜和寒冷的夜晚。它也保护人类免受食肉动物和昆虫的侵袭。捕食者通常害怕并远离火灾,蚊子等昆虫可能被烟雾挡住。烹饪植物的食物会帮助打破坚硬的植物纤维,使他们更容易消化。烹饪肉不仅会更容易消化。它也会杀死和寄生虫,而野生动物肉中常见的寄生虫则更安全地吃。Conclusive evidence of widespread controlled use of fire by archaic and early modern humans dates to approximately 125 thousand years ago. There is some evidence — though not conclusive — that fire was used as early as 1.5 million years ago by Homo erectus . If Homo erectus did use fire, it was likely to have been an important cultural adaptation allowing this species to move out of tropical Africa.
::有确凿证据表明,古老和早期现代人类在大约12万5千年前广泛使用有控制的火力,有些证据——尽管不是决定性的——早在150万年前就被立体人利用了,如果勃起人使用火力,这很可能是一项重要的文化适应,使这种物种能够离开热带非洲。Shelter and Clothing
::住房和服装部There is a plethora of evidence to show that Neanderthals lived in rock shelters and the mouths of caves both in Europe and southwest Asia. An example of a cave once inhabited by Neanderthals in France is pictured . Typically, Neanderthals selected rock shelters and caves that opened toward the south, which would provide the most exposure to light and warmth from the sun. Evidence also shows that Neanderthals built temporary lean-to shelters from brush and branches, as well as simple tents from animal skins. The use of shelters would provide some protection from cold, wind, and precipitation . This would have been especially important during the glacial periods of the last ice age when Neanderthals were living in Europe.
::有大量证据表明,欧洲和西南亚的尼安德特人生活在岩石掩体和洞穴的口中,一个曾经由法国尼安德特人居住的洞穴的例子被描绘出来。 典型的情况是,尼安德特人选择了向南开放的岩石掩体和洞穴,这些洞穴最能接触阳光和阳光的温暖。 证据还表明,尼安德特人建造了临时的从刷子和树枝栖息的洞穴,以及简单的动物皮质帐篷。 使用掩体可以提供某种保护,防止寒冷、风和降水。 这对于在尼安德特人生活在欧洲的最后一个冰河时代的冰川时期尤其重要。This cave in France has been fenced off to protect it from people who are curious to see where Neanderthals once lived.
::法国的这个洞穴被围起来 保护它不受人们的伤害 这些人想知道尼安德特人曾经住在哪里Clothing served the same purpose as shelter: it provided protection from the elements . Being able to make clothing from animal hides was a major advance in allowing early modern humans to live in a cold climate. No doubt Neanderthals wore animal hides as body coverings. However, the ability to make fitted clothing tailored to the body probably depended on the invention of the sewing needle about 25 thousand to 30 thousand years ago, so this would have been a skill first developed by early modern humans. This type of clothing would better hold in body heat and allow a wider range of motion while still keeping the body covered.
::服装的作用与掩蔽物相同:它保护人们免受动物遮蔽物的伤害。能够制造衣服防止动物遮蔽物是让早期现代人类生活在寒冷气候中的一大进步。毫无疑问,尼安德特人将动物遮盖作为人体遮蔽物。然而,为身体配制合适的衣服的能力可能取决于大约25 000至30 000年前针缝纫针的发明,因此这是早期现代人首先开发的一种技能。这种衣服最好能保持体温,让更多的人运动,同时保持身体遮盖。Social Support and Social Networks
::社会支助和社会网络A diversity of evidence suggests that Neanderthals relied on other people in their group for social support. Consider the earliest fossils ever found of these archaic humans. The fossils represent an elderly man who had a number of disabilities, including severe arthritis in his spine and loss of most of his teeth and part of his lower jaw. Misinterpretation of this specimen led to the early mistaken ideas that the Neanderthals were crude, brutish, and dull-witted. What this specimen actually reveals is that Neanderthals had a system of social support in which an elderly handicapped individual could survive by being fed and cared for by others. Similar evidence that care and support were provided to disabled group members has been found at other Neanderthal sites, as well. Another way in which social support helped our ancestors was cooperative behavior in hunting. There is evidence, for example, that early modern Cro Magnon people used coordinated hunting methods to kill large herd animals.
::各种各样的证据表明,尼安德特人依靠他们群体中的其他人提供社会支持。 想想这些古老人类最早发现的化石。 化石代表的是一位年长的老人,他患有许多残疾,包括脊椎严重关节炎,失去大部分牙齿和下巴的部分牙齿。 对这个标本的错误解释导致早期错误的观念,认为尼安德特人粗糙、野蛮和愚昧。 这份标本实际上揭示了尼安德特人拥有一种社会支持系统,让一个年长的残疾人能够靠别人的喂养和照顾生存。 在尼安德特其他地点也发现了向残疾群体成员提供护理和支持的类似证据。 社会支持帮助我们祖先的另一个方式是合作狩猎行为。 比如,早期的克罗·马贡人使用协调的狩猎方法杀死大群畜。Social interactions not only within but between groups of early humans may have helped them survive in a hostile world. By establishing trade relations with other groups, people may have had broader social networks to rely on when conditions were especially harsh. They may have been able to trade materials for tools that were not present in their area, or to gain access to or food resources that were temporarily unavailable in their customary range.
::通过与其他群体建立贸易关系,人们可能拥有更加广泛的社会网络,在条件特别恶劣时可以依赖这些网络,他们可能已经能够将材料交换为本地区不存在的工具,或者获得或获得在其传统范围内暂时得不到的粮食资源。Feature: My Human Body
::特质:我的人体No doubt you have heard of the paleolithic diet, also called the paleo diet. It has become increasingly well known since it was popularized by Loren Cordain in his 2002 book The Paleo Diet . It is likely that you know someone who has followed the diet. You may even have adopted or thought about adopting the diet yourself. Cordain and other supporters of the diet make it sound so reasonable. But is it really?
::毫无疑问,你听说过古石美食,也叫古石美食,它越来越广为人知,因为Loren Cordain在2002年的《帕利奥饮食》一书《帕利奥饮食》中广为人知。你可能认识某个人,他已经了解食谱。你甚至可能自己接受或考虑过食谱。Cordain和其他饮食支持者认为这很合理。但真的呢?Proponents of the paleo diet claim that it improves health and promotes weight loss. The diet is based on foods presumed to have been consumed by our Paleolithic ancestors. It includes meats, fish, vegetables, fruits , nuts, and . It excludes dairy products, grains, legumes, sugar, and processed foods.
::古老饮食的支持者声称,这种饮食可以改善健康和促进体重下降,这种饮食以假定我们古代的古代祖先消费的食物为基础,包括肉类、鱼、蔬菜、水果、坚果等,不包括奶制品、谷物、豆类、糖和加工食品。The idea behind the paleo diet is that the healthiest way to eat is how our ancestors ate during most of the time span of human evolution, when humans were hunters and gatherers and had not yet adopted agriculture, which is why dairy products and grains are excluded from the diet. These became common dietary items only after plants and animals were domesticated about ten thousand years ago. One of the most important underlying assumptions of the paleo diet is that biological evolution occurs too slowly for human metabolism to have caught up with the relatively recent changes in our diet that started with the agricultural revolution. Proponents of the diet argue that we are biologically adapted for the hunter-gatherer diet of our ancestors and that eating otherwise spells trouble for our health and our waistlines.
::古代饮食法背后的理念是,最健康的饮食方式是,在人类进化的大部分时间里,人类的祖先是如何吃饱的,当时人类是猎人和采集者,尚未采用农业,这就是为什么乳制品和谷物被排斥在饮食之外的原因。 只有在大约一万年前动植物被驯化之后,这些食品才成为常见的饮食项目。 古代饮食法最重要的基本假设之一是,生物进化过程太慢,人类新陈代谢无法跟上农业革命开始的相对近期饮食变化。 饮食法的支持者认为,我们的生物适应性适应了我们祖先的狩猎采集者饮食,而食用其他方法会给我们的健康及腰带带来麻烦。There are several reasons why the assumptions and arguments underlying the paleolithic diet are flawed. One reason is that we don’t know for certain what our Paleolithic ancestors ate. We don’t know all the species they ate or in what proportions. Proponents of the paleolithic diet get around that problem by modeling the diet on the foods eaten by half a dozen modern hunter-gatherer groups. This assumes that the groups they chose are typical of all hunter-gatherers, including hunter-gatherers who lived during the Paleolithic. This assumption has no basis in fact. There is great variation among modern hunter-gatherer diets. Inuit hunter-gatherers in northern Alaska, for example, eat a diet very high in meat and fish, whereas hunter-gatherers in the Peruvian Andes eat mainly starchy vegetables. Diets of a given hunter-gatherer group may also vary from season to season, and none of the groups is likely to eat the same diet as their ancestors, even just a few generations ago. Most modern hunter-gatherers have been pushed into marginal areas, and some have at least limited access to agricultural and processed foods.
::古石食谱背后的假设和论点存在缺陷的原因有几个。 原因之一是我们不知道我们的白石祖先吃了什么。 我们不知道他们吃了什么,或者吃什么比例。 我们不知道他们吃了什么。 古石食谱的提倡者通过在半打现代狩猎采集者群体所吃的食物上建模来绕过这个问题。 这假设他们所选择的群体是所有狩猎采集者中的典型群体,包括生活在白石产期间的狩猎采集者。这个假设没有事实根据。现代猎食者食谱之间有很大差异。 例如,北阿拉斯加的因努伊特猎食采集者在肉类和鱼类中吃着很高的饮食,而秘鲁的狩猎采集者则主要吃着恒食蔬菜。 给猎食者的饮食可能季节和季节不同,而且没有一个群体可能像他们的祖先那样吃同样的饮食,即使是几代前。 多数现代狩猎采集者被推向边缘地区,被加工过,而且获得过有限的农业食品。Even if we could determine what our ancestors ate, most of the foods would be unavailable to us today. You can’t go to your local supermarket and fill your cart with the same animal and plant foods that Neanderthals were hunting and gathering tens of thousands of years ago. Wild species have evolved by throughout the long period of time since our ancestors ate them. Most of the food species available to us today — including virtually all the foods in your local supermarket — have also been intentionally modified by breeders using artificial selection to change their traits.
::即使我们可以确定我们的祖先吃了什么,但今天大部分食物对我们来说是无法享用的。你不能去本地超市装满与尼安德特人数以万计年前狩猎和采集的同样动物和植物食品,野生动物物种自祖先吃这些食品以来已经发展了很长一段时间。 大部分今天提供给我们的食品物种 — — 包括你们本地超市几乎所有的食物 — — 也被繁殖者故意改变,他们利用人工选择来改变它们的特性。The assumption that humans have not had enough time to evolve genetic adaptations to modern diets is also without merit. Actually, we have had plenty of time, and there are good examples of genetic adaptations to dietary change occurring just since the agricultural revolution. Consider milk. A gene encodes the lactase, which digests the sugar lactose in milk. Before people began keeping dairy animals and consuming milk about seven thousand years ago, the gene normally shut down after . At some point, a occurred that kept the gene turned on throughout life, resulting in lactose tolerance and the ability to easily digest milk products after infancy. In the past seven thousand years alone, this mutation increased rapidly in frequency in that kept dairy animals. For example, at least 80 percent of Europeans and North Americans are lactose tolerant today. Clearly, we are not biologically identical to our Paleolithic ancestors, because we have continued to evolve for thousands of years. Even the bacteria in our gut — which play important roles in digestion and metabolism — have continuously evolved since their ancestors inhabited ours.
::假设人类没有足够的时间对现代饮食进行基因改造也是没有道理的。事实上,我们有充裕的时间,而且有一个很好的例子可以证明,自农业革命以来,对饮食变化的基因适应正在发生。 考虑牛奶。 一种基因编码了乳糖酶,消化了牛奶中的糖乳糖。 在人们大约七千年前开始养殖奶牛和消费牛奶之前,基因通常会关闭。 在某个时候,发生了一种使基因在整个生命中保持活力、导致乳糖耐受性并能够很容易地消化婴儿后奶制品的情况。 仅在过去七千年中,这种基因适应在养养奶动物的频率上迅速增加。例如,今天至少有80%的欧洲人和北美人具有乳糖耐性。 显然,我们与我们的白糖祖先在生物学上并不完全相同,因为我们已经持续了数千年的进化。 甚至我们肚子中的细菌——在消化和新陈代代谢中起着重要作用——自从他们的祖先住我们的祖先以来,也在不断演变。Variability in diets around the world past and present shows that humans can not only survive but thrive on a wide diversity of diets. Just as humans have evolved to be adaptable in the face of changing climates and habitats , humans have evolved to be flexible eaters. If humans had not been nutritionally adaptable, we wouldn't have been able to colonize so many different habitats, and we would not have adopted new subsistence strategies, such as agriculture.
::全世界过去和现在饮食的可变性表明,人类不仅能够生存,而且能够以多种多样的饮食为生。 正如人类在不断变化的气候和生境下已经进化为适应性,人类已经演变为灵活的饮食者。 如果人类没有营养适应性,那么我们就无法将如此多不同的生境殖民化,我们也不会采取农业等新的生存战略。Summary
::摘要-
Culture is the entire way of life of a group of people. It includes all the learned skills and knowledge that a group of people share. Culture increasingly became the main way that human ancestors adapted to the environment. It allowed them to move out of the tropics and live in colder climates without developing biological adaptations to the cold.
::文化是一群人的整个生活方式,包括一群人分享的所有学习技能和知识,文化日益成为人类祖先适应环境的主要途径,使他们得以离开热带,生活在更寒冷的气候中,而不发展适应寒冷的生物适应。 -
The ability of people to share their culture depends on language. Language is the communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary symbols (called words). Human language differs significantly from nonhuman animal communication. The earliest humans to use language may have been the Neanderthals. Their culture, DNA, and physiology all provide support for the idea that they could produce and comprehend speech.
::人们分享其文化的能力取决于语言,语言是通过任意符号(所谓的文字)系统交流思想和感情,人类语言与非人类动物交流有很大不同,最早使用语言的人可能是尼安德特人,他们的文化、DNA和生理学都支持他们能够产生和理解语言的想法。 -
Subsistence strategy refers to the general way in which a group of people obtain food and the types of food they rely on most. At least since
Homo erectus,
humans were hunter-gatherers. They hunted a variety of wild animals and gathered a diversity of wild plant foods. Only after agriculture was invented around ten thousand years ago did some human populations adopt a different subsistence strategy. Some people remain hunter-gatherers even to this day.
::维持生计战略指的是一群人获得食物和他们最依赖的食品的一般方式。至少自同性恋勃起以来,人类就是狩猎采集者,他们猎杀各种野生动物,收集各种各样的野生植物食物。直到大约一万年前农业发明之后,一些人才采取了不同的维持生计战略。有些人甚至至今仍是狩猎采集者。 -
Making and using tools was an important cultural adaptation during human evolution. The Pale
olithic
stage of technological development was the long period during which human species made and used stone tools. It started about 2.5 million years ago with the simple Oldowan tools of
Homo habilis.
It continued with increasingly sophisticated tools made by
Homo erectus
, archaic humans, and finally early modern humans.
::在人类进化过程中,制造和使用工具是一个重要的文化适应。 技术开发的白石化阶段是人类制造和使用石器的漫长时期。 它始于大约250万年前的奥多万简单的同性工具。 它继续使用由智人勃起、古老人类、最后是早期现代人类制造的日益尖端的工具。 -
Other cultur
al
adaptations that helped early humans remain relatively unchanged physically while moving into new areas of the world included the controlled use of fire, shelters, clothing, and social adaptations.
::帮助早期人类的其他文化适应措施在物质上保持相对不变,同时进入世界新地区,包括有节制地使用火灾、住所、衣服和社会适应措施。
Review
::回顾1. What is culture? What are its characteristics?
::1. 什么是文化?其特征是什么?2. Define human language. Why is it arguably the most important component of culture?
::2. 界定人的语言:为什么它可以说是文化最重要的组成部分?3. What evidence suggests that Neanderthals could use language?
::3. 有什么证据表明尼安德特人可以使用语言?4. Describe the subsistence strategy used by human groups up until the agricultural revolution.
::4. 描述人类群体在农业革命之前采用的维生战略。5. Summarize the P aleo lithic stage of technological development.
::5. 概述技术发展的石化阶段。6. Explain how cultural adaptations helped early humans remain tropical animals even after they left the tropics.
::6. 说明文化适应如何帮助早期人类即使在离开热带后仍保留热带动物。7. Describe two advances in stone tool making that helped humans improve their hunting during the Paleolithic period.
::7. 描述在石器制造方面的两项进展,这些进展有助于人类在石化时代改善狩猎。8. What types of tools did Homo erectus make?
::8. 人造人造何种工具?a. Oldowan
::a. 奥尔多万b. Acheulian
::b. Acheulian语c. Mousterian
::c. 止血器d. A and B
::d. A和B9. Using the example of the development of tailored, fitted clothes, explain why technological advances can often lead to other advances.
::9. 以发展定制、合身衣服为例,说明技术进步往往导致其他进步的原因。10. How is bipedalism related to the development of more advanced tools?
::10. 如何在开发更先进的工具方面实现双向发展?11. True or False: All societies today are agricultural.
::11. 真实或假:当今所有社会都是农业社会。12. True or False: Culture is transmitted genetically.
::12. 真实或假:文化是转基因传播的。13. True or False: There are separate areas of the human brain that comprehend and produce speech.
::13. 真实或假:人类大脑中存在不同的区域,可以理解和产生言语。14. Explain why scientists mainly find stone tools from the Paleolithic — and not tools made from other materials.
::14. 解释为什么科学家主要从石化工艺中找到石头工具,而不是从其他材料中找到的工具。Explore More
::探索更多Watch this TED talk for an in-depth critique of the paleo diet:
::观看TED的演讲,Learn more about the role of culture in human evolution here:
::更多了解文化在人类进化中的作用: -
Culture is learned.
People are not born with culture, but they acquire it from
those
around them as they grow up. From a young age, children are ready and able to learn culture, but
the specific
culture they learn depends on the culture in which they grow up.
