The way species evolve is a process that occurs slowly and when the environment demands it. Modern humans have gone through a long line of changes to create the perfect species to be flexible and creative to adapt to multiple areas. If we look at the Australopithecus Afarensis, Lucy, she had a small brain and was only about 3ft tall. She was believed to be on this earth 3.2 million years ago. If we take a look at 100,000-50,000 years ago, we find the species H. florensiensis which was a species that was almost identical to Lucy with being 3ft tall, having a small brain, and long arms. The biggest difference from the two species is that florensiensis was able to create stone tools used for hunting which as explained in the lectures is odd considering how small their brain is. This shows exactly how slow evolution works but the smallest change can make one species more successful than another.
As the harsh environment of the ice age started to form, a species needed to evolve that would become more flexible to with stand these temperatures which later becomes one of the biggest traits modern humans could contain. The species that evolved was the Neanderthal which was a species that still was a mix of primitive and new traits. The most interesting thing about the Neanderthal was that they had a bigger brain than even modern human beings. Modern humans brain size is usually around 1400 ccs but Neanderthals had a brain size of 1520 ccs. Most people would think that a bigger brain is better and can only open up for more flexibility but after these species got analyzed, it came to the realization that due to their large brain they developed faster leaving less time to learn things as children. The reasoning why this changed makes complete sense. Child development is the most important thing on us to determine how we are in the future which is why human beings parent- child bond is demanded for many years. Since Neanderthals still have primitive traits it is as if the way of development was still mimicking chimps where offspring didn’t need dependence on their mother for long but as we continued to evolve into our own species away from primitive traits, this long need for development came with it. Also explained in the lectures it stated how these species have a little lifespan due to not being able to find super old fossils which is not a trait we would have wanted to keep due to the need to reproduce as much as possible and the push to establish a community. Growing slow and living long is a trait that would be preferred over growing fast and living short.
When it comes to traits evolving and making us who we are today, I think the most important is the brain. The mind controls how we handle situations, thinking of new ideas to improve living, and overall expanding our knowledge to live a long life. As much as other traits evolved for the better with the brain, I believe that the body kept evolving until a “perfect” brain was produced.
I really like that you went into some detail about both neanderthals and Homo floresiensis. I think it is interesting on the points of the brain being the most important part of determining different parts of evolution and why different species may have different brain capacities and how they may have used them. It really can tell a lot about a species on how they may have used their brain capacity for cognitive functioning despite the size. For myself, the ways in which different species have used stone tools is a good indicator to how much the species may have used their brains, as it is a way to show how they behaved in everyday ways of obtaining food and surviving overall. It is very showing that a species such as neanderthal can show signs of being related to us, even though they existed thousands of years ago.