We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
This chapter traces evolution of hominin species from the late Pliocene era to 100,000 years ago, focusing on the concurrent emergence of several remarkable capabilities. The chapter begins with the biological evolution of the phenotype of succeeding species, including unusual growth in brain capacity. With the rise of Homo heidelbergensis some 700,000 years ago, this species and its offspring—especially Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans, gained capabilities including advances in learning (facilitated through inclusive fitness and multilevel selection), visual communication, logic, internal language, articulation of emotions, and family level behavior in groups of 15 to 30 individuals. The chapter traces documentation of these changes through studies in paleontology, cultural evolution, evolutionary linguistics, evolutionary psychology, and social anthropology; it defines the sum of these hominin capabilities as “individual-level human nature.” Such individual-level human nature allows for processes. The chapter concludes with the question of the degree to which these capabilities, known for Homo sapiens, also characterized Neanderthals and Denisovans.
Recommend this
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection.