Describe trends in human evolution.
For Merit explain how or why trends in human evolution occur.
For Excellence link biological ideas about trends in human evolution.
Trends in human evolution refers to change over a period of time in relation to:
- human biological evolution begin with early bipedal hominins and may require comparison with living hominids
- skeletal changes linked to bipedalism
- changes in skull and endocranial features
- changes in the manipulative ability of the hand.
- human cultural evolution involving
- use of tools (stone, wood, bone)
- use of fire
- clothing
- abstract thought (communication, language, art)
- food-gathering (hunter-gatherer, domestication of plants and animals)
- shelter (caves, temporary settlement, permanent settlement).
- patterns of dispersal of hominins.
Hominins refers to living and fossil species belonging to the human lineage. This is a subgroup of hominids, a group which includes both humans and the great apes.
Interpretations of the trends in human evolution are based on current scientific evidence which is widely accepted and presented in peer-reviewed scientific publications.