Cultural Anthropology Assignment: Primates, Humans, and Evolution

This assignment delves into the significance of primate studies in anthropology, exploring their role in understanding human evolution and behavior. It addresses key questions regarding the importance of primate research, highlighting its contribution to understanding human origins, adaptations, and social structures. The assignment also explores the specific questions related to the BecomingHuman.org website and the Neanderthals film, focusing on topics such as the dietary habits of early humans, the discovery of new human species, the evolution of human communication, and the challenges faced by Neanderthals. The assignment provides a comprehensive overview of the subject matter, incorporating relevant references to support the arguments and findings.

Running head: Cultural Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

Cultural Anthropology 1
Q1) Why in the world are anthropologists so interested in studying other primates?
Anthropologists mainly are interested to study about other primates because:
● Learning about species similar to modern day humans helps in knowing more about us.
● It helps in better understanding of how different species are closely related to each other
as well as to modern day humans (Hooton, 2020).
● To gain a solid foundation of the human evolutionary history (Hooton, 2020).
● To better understand what traits have newly come up and what old traits have gone
extinct in order to make the primates better adaptable to their environment (Hooton,
2020).
● Better understanding of primates helps in understanding how humans have differentiated
themselves from animals and accommodated their lives within a complex social structure.
Q2) Which 2 reasons do you think are the most important for understanding humans and
why?
The two eminent reasons for studying other primates are that learning about primates
helps in learning more about ourselves and to get a better understanding of evolutionary history
as a whole. The reasons are essential as because these driving forces have helped anthropologists
to make new discoveries and also reveal that how speech came to humans as a complex mode of
communication within them (Fuentes & Wolfe, 2002).
Q3) 5 questions based on the BecomingHuman.org website?
1. What did the diet of the early humans of Africa compose of?
2. What is the newest human species that has been found and announced officially by
Anthropologists?
3. What is the earliest date of the human figurative art that has been claimed?
4. What does the consequential fossil found recently in Ethiopia claim?
5. What claims regarding dispersals of humans have been suggested from the DNA
specimen that has been found in Cameroon?
Q4) 5 questions based on the Neanderthals film?
1. How have the Homo Sapiens evolved to such an extent from the Neanderthals in order to
have advanced form of language based communication method, adaptive capability and
mobilization skills?

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2. How did the Neanderthal world evolve into being a small self-sufficient unit in cold
Europe which is very unlikely to the evolving history of other animals?
3. Did the Neanderthals have cognitive thinking and creative skills in order to build up new
ways of life and change the course of human evolution as a whole?
4. How did the Neanderthals world see a leap in the creativity ability, the point at which the
tool making hunter nomads first started making jewelry and decorative items?
5. Describe the harsh environmental conditions that Neanderthals had to bear and even was
the primary cause for the death of most of the newcomers in the clan before reaching
their stage of adulthood?

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References
Fuentes, A., & Wolfe, L. D. (Eds.). (2002). Primates face to face: the conservation implications
of human-nonhuman primate interconnections (Vol. 29). Cambridge University Press.
Hooton, E. (2020). THE IMPORTANCE OF PRIMATE STUDIES IN ANTHROPOLOGY.
Retrieved 9 February 2020, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41448090?seq=1