The first step of human on earth
Life on earth first took form around 320 crore years ago. Since then, several forms of life - from the simplest single cell creatures to complex organisms such as dinosaurs- emerged, and eventually died out and went extinct. As time and evolution proceeded, life took various forms, various complex organisms emerged. And about 3 million years ago, humans came into existence.
The study of the emergence of science also starts around this period. In one way, we can say that when human beings tried to find ways to protect themselves from the vagaries and dangers of their natural environment, human thought and creativity emerged. This thought and creativity manifested in the form of technologies, scientific ideas and expressive objects. The making of the simplest tool, like sharpening a stone so it could be used to break the hard shell of fruits, was a technological development and a manifestation of scientific thought aimed at fulfilling a basic need. The resultant tools that were created tell us the story not only of human scientific thought and its evolution but also of human society and culture, the ways of life and living and engagement between humans and nature, among individual persons and groups. In actuality, or in lived experience, in the early era of human evolution as in present times, there was no segregation between art, culture, science, technology. Anything that was created was created by human thought and effort, which was expressive- and so, it was artistic; involved logical thinking - and so, was scientific; required communication between people and learning from each other- and so, was social; and, was created as a result of interaction between people and their environment and to serve some need of living- and so, was cultural. This is also true for the ways in which our world and everything in it is created today. The magazine that you are reading, for example, is a result of the invention of printing technology. But it is also a tool of communication and expression. The words and images in it are created so someone can communicate certain ideas to someone else. If a thousand years from today this magazine is found by someone, they will look at it and learn about our culture, our society and the scientific and technological advances that our civilization had achieved. Thus the magazine of our present times, just like the stone tools of prehistoric times, is an object that encompasses within it a history of human culture, social customs, scientific ideas and technological advances.
However, in order to study the evolution of thought in early human beings, in this article we will try to separate out these various threads, just like we dismantle a mechanical toy to see its various components to understand how it works.
Human beings evolved from the anthropoid ape. How did humans become differentiated from other animals? During the process of evolution from apes to humans, they had acquired various physical features from their ancestors which played an important role in their development and evolution. A crucial feature in this evolution was the shifting of humans from living on trees to walking on the ground. This shift meant that now their hands were free, and used for different things like touching and feeling objects that they found around them. Hand eye coordination improved, because of which, they could hold objects better, understand their shape and form. Their eyes were better able to perceive distance, and their complex nervous system was able to match the object in their hand to the image perceived by their eyes. These developments enabled early humans to make tools. In this process the creation or development of language was also extremely important because this allowed individuals and groups to share knowledge and ideas with each other. Without this sharing and collaboration, human beings would have been unable to make any creations or advancements.
The development of this consciousness is what differentiates humans from other animal species. Some apes also use tools but their usage of these is very very limited. Moreover, these animals carry out these activities as out of habit and as part of daily life, but without any particular consciousness of the act - very much like human babies cry or blink their eyes. Animals also create all sorts of simple and complex structures ranging from nests to hives to colonies to dams, canals and lodges, but what differentiates humans creation from that of these other animals is that human creations are based on an actively imagined idea, i.e., before the effort of creating comes idea of something towards which the effort is directed. This process is what is called work, labour or exertion- of thinking of or imagining something and then putting in effort to make it a reality.
It is this quality, this process of life, that made humans “human”. It is this process that leads to the creation of all other things that further differentiate humans from other animal species. In the words of Gordon Childe, humans made themselves.
Often in films or on television, we see a reconstruction of ancient times. If we could borrow a time machine from fantasy we could perhaps visit the time when human beings were first coming to ‘be’, when they were first beginning to see themselves as “human”- the formation of groups and tribes, the worship of totems, the making of tools, the beginning of language… But these imaginary devices are a winged form of the knowledge we have amassed through the hard work of historians and archaeologists.
What we have learnt about those times is based on a relatively small number of objects such as pieces of pottery or metalware found in the remains of prehistoric settlements, mummified skeletons, cave paintings, and so on. Unlike more recent human history, such as the Middle Ages or the Mughal Period, there is no written record from these prehistoric times, which we can read to learn about this period of time. Many of the objects that are found in archaeological excavations can be put through the processes of carbon dating through which we can learn about their age. In addition to this, we can use the science of biostatistics which helps us map the rate of human evolution by mapping the rate at which the human gene changes. But even with all this knowledge and technology the reconstruction of that period is quite difficult because the knowledge that we have about it is quite scattered. For one, the period itself that we refer to as prehistoric ranges from the start of human life- 3,3 million years ago, to the first signs of writing- which is only in 5300 years ago- so it is not a few hundred but many thousands of years. For another, throughout this period, human beings moved about from continent to continent, setting up bases here and there, moving because of the changing climate, and changing as their physical features, needs, ideas and ways of living evolved. Thus, in trying to study this period we are trying to cover a vast terrain- across time and across geography- and doing so with a relatively very small number of findings and evidence.
In comparison, it is easier to learn about the times in human history from where humans started “writing”, or developed “scripts” as visual forms of communication. This too, however, presents its own set of challenges in understanding history. For example, early written documents were either speaking about fantasies and imaginary worlds or were religious texts which have to be deconstructed and interpreted to understand what they say about the actual conditions of those times. In any age, history is written from a certain perspective and ideology. In order to find the ‘truth’ or the many truths that lie beneath the surface of what is written as ‘history’ we need to first brush off the preconceptions with which we first look at history. We can see the history of human species in looking at our own selves, our own times. We too, are living artefacts that hold clues about the long history of human evolution and it is in this story that we find the place of science.
Through the use of tools and their progressive brains, human beings developed the means to live a better life. These developments have sustained because of human culture, because all human knowledge- about gathering edible fruits, building fire, sensing danger, hunting animals, making tools, vessels and weapons, preserving meat, even stories of magic and illusions- was (and is) continuously passed on from generation to generation. Thus, the history of science is the history of human culture and not of the physical and biological evolution of human beings. Science is the knowledge of the laws of nature within the story of human life, a story made up of tools and technologies, myths and tales, music and paintings. Music and painting and science all emerge from human sociality- the interaction and sharing between human beings and the interaction between humans and their environment. Even though we think of science and art and music as separate, they are not- science forms an imprint on the art that is created in every era. The kind of art or science or music that is produced in any time is a product of that time, it is created as a result of several factors, some human, some non-human that make up the world at that period of time- thus, all of these- science, art, music, literature, technology- are, fundamentally, creations of history.
In his book ‘German Ideology’ Marx had said that there is no history of art, instead there is art located in history. Influenced by this idea, GD Bernal, instead of naming his book ‘A History of Science’, had named it ‘Science in History’.
Science in Paleolithic Times
If we look at it from the perspective of the emergence of human civilization, in some ways we can say that the first phase of human history was the paleolithic age. Perhaps the first species to make a tool was the Austropethicus Robustus but this is not something that has been completely proven as yet and scientists are divided in their opinions on the matter. Homo Habilis, it has already been proven, were making tools. How did human beings start making tools?
An important source for learning about science in history is the process of tool making by human beings and their knowledge of animals and plants. But before we get into the details of this, let us zoom out and learn a bit about the earth at that time.
If we look at the geological timeline, the paleolithic period coincides with the Plasticine Epoch. In this epoch (or era) temperature had reduced drastically all over the earth which brought on repeated Ice Ages. One third of the northern hemisphere was also covered in layers of ice. Considering the geography of today- New York City, London, Moscow and all the area between these cities was covered in ice. Between the many Ice Ages that made up this period, there would be some periods where the temperature would rise. These were called interglacial periods. In one of the interglacial periods which occurred about 1,12,000 years ago, homo sapiens came into existence. About 12,000 years ago, the era of Ice Ages ended. In the paleolithic period human beings spent a lot of evolutionary time adapting to the changes occurring in the earth because of the Ice Ages and the interglacial periods between these. They could only depend on gathering and hunting as means for survival. In studying the paleolithic period scientists look at it in a division of three parts. The first is the early paleolithic- which occurred about 26,00,000 years ago. After this came the mid-paleolithic period, about 3.5 lakh years ago, and then was the late paleolithic period which lasted from 40,000 to 10,000 years ago. Excavations at archaeological sites have thrown up various tools that show that human beings of this era had developed specialised skills to make tools of various kinds, for various uses. Through the use of carbon dating we have been able to place different tools in different period of the paleolithic age.
In this era, in the beginning, the productive activities of human beings were mostly limited to gathering food for survival. With the development of tools, human beings were able to develop their hunting skills, and thus came to be more dependent on hunting for their food. In all, the economic activity of the paleolithic age was limited to hunting and gathering. The life of the human beings at this time was made up of an earth covered with ice, of jungles and waterfalls, of caves and hills, and the difficulties encountered while wandering for food, and the night sky studded with bright stars. What we know as knowledge has been created in trying to understand and modify this very world. Knowledge of nature- or nature science- is a branch of knowledge. According to Marxist philosophy knowledge is created from behaviour. There are chiefly three sources of knowledge: production, class struggle, and scientific experimentation. In the period that we are talking about there was no segregation of classes but there were certain relations between different members of the society. The main source of knowledge then in this era must have been the practice undertaken in production of food, i.e., in hunting and gathering. Scientific experimentation has taken place continuously in both areas- of production, and that of social behaviour. Now we will divide our study of science in the paleolithic age into these two areas of behaviour- that of scientific experimentation and of social interaction and behaviour.
The Practice of Production: Tools, Weapons, Ways of Living and the Discovery of Fire
How was science created in the process of production? In order to learn about the science we will have to study the techniques used by humans, as well as the tools, utensils, clothes, spaces of living, et cetera that they made and used.
Tools made of animals’ teeth and claws greatly advanced human beings. Tools became like an extension of human limbs. Whether it is the axe, or the lathe machine, or the comet lander Philae, the story of tools is the story of humans gaining power. In the famous film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ director Stanley Kubrick shows juxtaposes the images of a bone used as a tool by early humans with a spaceship - a tool created by contemporary humans. Bernal has written that tools are an extension of human limbs- the stone is an extension of the mouth and teeth, the stick is an extension of the hand or arm, the pouch or the basket is an extension of the mouth and the hand, or- a completely different kind of extension- a satellite of the body, when the stone is thrown to hit a target. First of all, it is important to know that humans do not create tools in accordance with some natural, inherent tendencies. This means that a tool is a social production. The creation or invention- and selection of tools is based on a social process. every tool is created based on social needs. In the tools that have been found in archaeological excavations, in spite of differences in time (within the lower Paleolithic period) and location of production, there are similarities in the objects themselves. This is indicative of the processes of making of these tools and the tradition of teaching and learning to make and use them. This tradition, which might have included teaching everything related to making of a plinth or a pear, starting from selecting the stone to polishing and sharpening it, is where we can find the seeds of today’s educational institutions.
Bernal has said that because of these processes of social adaptation, humans always had access to tools that were worth reproducing.
In the beginning of the article we have spoken about the timeline of the prehistoric ages. Broadly, different kinds of tools can be differentiated based on different kinds of industries- by industries here we mean the cultures of making tools. The categorisation of these (tools or industries?) has today become extremely refined. They are labelled from Mode-0 to Mode-5, but we are not going to go into such details. The first known examples of stone tools are from 33,00,000 years ago. These were made by the species Australopithecus. But the creation of proper tools came about only with the genus Homo. The oldest culture of the stone age is Oldowan where ordinary tools were found which fal in the category of ‘core tools’. (prehistoric tools have been divided into two categories- ‘core’ and ‘flake’.) these tools were made from the core , i.e., inner nucleus of the stone (?) using stones from riverbeds. Scientists and archaeologists refer to the cultures that made such tools as ‘industries’. Core tools were also made in the acheulian culture but their specialty was that these were more carved or chiselled tools. The hand axe is an example of such a tool. A more developed culture (or industry) was the Mousterian in which sharp edged tools made of the ‘flake’ were made. Very long flake tools which are called ‘blades’ were made in the upper half of the paleolithic period (or the Upper Paleolithic period) which were more complex. Before the start of agriculture, i.e., the neolithic age, the most developed tools of the paleolithic age were composite tools in which microliths were used. This journey of the development of tools indicates improvements in hunting. Alongside this, it also indicates the development of science.
Advances in the processes of tool-making and the rise of natural sciences
How are tools made? We have discussed so far that human bodily structure, hand-eye coordination, complex neural machinery were preconditions for the development of tools. The earliest tools were stones found in nature which were occasional or circumstantial, i.e., stones found in their natural state which humans used as per their needs. Making use of this occasional stone, they brought out the form in which they could use it. They tried to make the form that they required, gaining independence from the ‘natural state’ of stone. This is where they tried to mould the stone into a standard form. Nicholas Toth has worked on this process of tool making. He has shown through his work that this was the output of an extremely complex mind. Before the making of the tool, the conception or the tool had to be present- selecting the appropriate kind of stone, hitting that stone with another using the correct amount of force and at a precise angle so that among the broken pieces one could find a piece which had qualities which matched that of the standard form of the tool. Gathering her experiences, the early human was giving rise to conception from behaviour or practice. Like Newton’s three laws, in that era too, there must have been laws for making tools from stone, even if they were simply an aggregation of random experiences. Only then could the process of tool making have been passed on from one generation to the next and developed generation after generation. These experiences can be seen as the foundation of the natural sciences, the foundation of the fundamental laws of force and speed. By studying the mechanism of stones crashing against each other and breaking, one learned about the properties of stones. This was the emergence of geology and mechanical science. In the beginning of the Paleolithic age these tools were used only to attack animals. Prey could be killed not only by attacking it with a great force but also by piercing its body with a sharp object. From this realisation came the beginning of sharp tools. Giving a sharp edge to tools was in itself a technological advancement. The hand axe is a physical manifestation of this need. The shape of these sharp edged tools was like a wedge, i.e., sharp at the front and thick at the back. This form was achieved by hitting the edge of the core towards the inside- thus using centripetal force. Then a smooth stone (steatite or soapstone) would be used to give the piece a sharp edge. By this time, early humans had created a categorisation of many different kinds of stones, just like today we have different categories for rocks and stones. This procedure started with understanding stones and their internal geometry. This technique of making a hand axe out of core stone was a more refined technique than that of making tools by crashing or hitting stones against each other, as had been practiced earlier in that period in the Oldowan culture. Peeling off the skin of the prey after killing it, separating the bone from the flesh- special tools were made for these tasks as well. The making of tools for specific purposes like chopping, cleaving and scraping also emerged around this time. Among the techniques used for making tools from stone, the Lavellois technique holds a special place. At Lavellois in France archaeologists found tools that were identical in shape to each other. In the technique used to make these tools, flakes- which are the shards that are carefully broken off from the core stone in the process of shaping it into a tool, were used to make flake tools. In the process of making these tools the makers had gone beyond simply hitting one stone with another- they had used sharp tools to separate pieces of flake from the core. The procedure is similar to peeling an onion- one layer of skin is to be removed from the layer underlying it. For carrying out a process like this, on many pieces of stone, producing what were identical pieces, language must have been a necessary precondition, because such a production had to have been a collective effort, which could not have been possible without language.
In the view of science, in the techniques of tool making, a major development was that of projectile tools. This developed from the need to target animals that were at a distance from the person. This is where kinematics or the science of speed and movement emerged.
In throwing the spear what should be the angle and the force applied so that the tip of the spear may pierce the hide of the mammoth. In the act of hunting the fundamental mathematical formulae of speed and force were taking birth. Among all projectile tools the bow had to be the most advanced discovery of the paleolithic age. This reflects the science of the stone age. The bow was among the first machines used by humans which would transmit energy into the arrow. Alongside the bow, the bow drill was also discovered which could be used to pierce through the thickest of bones. This is an example of rotation mechanics. With the discovery of the bow, the first string instrument was also discovered. This first string instrument was the predecessor of all our string musical instruments… guitar, sitar, violin, cello, santoor. The most advanced of the paleolithic industries was involved in making microlith flakes. Microliths were very small flakes, carved with a lot of effort and skill, used as the sharp piercing tips in assembled tools such as spears and arrows. This concept that a tool can be made by joining multiple smaller parts was a major jump in the consciousness of early humans. The journey of tools, going from incidental or occasional tools to assembled tools shows the deepening of human knowledge.
With the use of tools, humans adopted many new materials. Caves were utilised for accommodation and shelter; animal hide, or leather, was used as clothing for protection from the cold. Sticks and tools for making fire were carried along, on the person of humans. Besides basic clothing created from animal hide, ivory and other animal bones were carved to make ornaments. This shows us that humans were conscious of their bodies. Although no remnants of leather clothing have been recovered, the discovery of sewing needles indicates that animal hide was made into cloaks and capes. The development of woven cloth was an evolution of the basic coverings made from animal hide. Moreover, lice, which must have evolved from the head lice of humans, were discovered in the remains of human clothing from that period. By studying the rate of DNA mutation of that lice, it has been calculated that it must have appeared about 15 to 8 lakh (15,00,000 – 8,00,000) years ago. These living fossils are important for the study of human evolution as a technique to connect artefacts. From various discoveries and findings, we can surmise that early humans first used intestines, veins and muscles of animals as thread for sowing.
It is true that some animals also weave and sew - such as the ability of birds to weave straws and leaves into nests- but human beings understood the science behind this technique- that the thread that can be used for sowing together or joining pieces of other material can itself become an entire material. This knowledge became the basis for weaving. Knowing this, we understand that human knowledge was quite developed.
One discovery by early humans, which animals are unable to do automatically or unconsciously, is that of controlling fire. How to make and how to control fire is among the most important of human discoveries. By making controlled fires, humans could survive cold nights, scare off predators, and ease the process of preparing food. This made it possible for them to eat many things which they earlier could not, to digest food items like animal flesh by expending less energy. We can only imagine how these discoveries might have come about. It must have been an extremely difficult process. Fire that was not made by humans existed in the form of volcanoes, in areas with natural gas, or wildfires raging in forests. Perhaps after the first time that humans ate animal flesh roasted in a wildfire, they were in search of fire and desired a way to control it too. Perhaps the spark created from the rubbing of stones in the process of being made into tools set fire to a nearby clump of dry grass. This might have given them a clue about how to make fire.
They might have seen flashing fire converting solid wood to ash and smoke. This sight must have given rise to abstract (but now clear) experiences and conceptions about fire. Translating this experience into their behaviour, they might have for the first time thought of roasting their hunt in the fire. Here, the culinary arts came into being. Culinary art, which is a unique merger of science and art, must have given humans several new challenges to think about. Meat could have been cooked directly but boiling it was still difficult because this would require a vessel. Water could, so far, be collected in empty animal bones or in large eggshells, but these would not be sufficient for boiling water in. In excavations of paleolithic sites, chipped stones have been found, which indicate that humans must have placed buckets made of leather onto stones heated on fire. But even so, it was a difficult task. A better technique or implement was required. Covering these buckets with clay opened up a new dimension. Clay replaced leather, another major development which gave rise to the skills of pottery. Now, clay utensils could be used to keep all sorts of substances. Fermentation and other chemical changes in various substances could take place in these vessels, and thus be observed by humans. This knowledge must also have given form to the knowledge of dyeing and working with leather- that materials could be dipped into different liquids to change their colour or form. The first experiments and principles of chemistry emerged from the kitchens of early humans. The animals and plants that humans ate also were part of the knowledge they gathered- knowledge of the prey’s habits and habitat were essential to hunting; knowledge of which plants were edible and which were not, and where the edible ones could be found. This, of course, is the foundation of contemporary biological science.
In the passages above we have summarised the knowledge created by the productive nature of human beings. Even though humans might have had little understanding of their times, in some areas the processes and concepts they amassed were rather complex. These were mostly an aggregation of experiences, which could be passed on to the next generation. In this period the concepts that humans developed to explain some of these experiences was ‘magic’. All the knowledge sources that have been discussed above were woven into preconceptions of magic. And this is what was possible. In the process of understanding their society and the natural world in which they lived, humans created abstractions and principles that explained the world as per their magical preconceptions.
Bernal has said that humans wanted to use magic to trick nature. But perhaps this is not entirely correct: humans of the paleolithic era conceived nature and society as they saw it, or as it appeared to them, which was as a magical creation.
Social behaviour - language, totem and art
in our excavations of paleolithic sites we find tools made by early humans, we find their fossilised skeletons, but what we do not find are their thoughts. An excavation of thoughts can be undertaken through an exploration of our thoughts, and in fact, of human thought across history. We learn about the evolution and development of human thought by studying the evolution of language, the aboriginal cultures of our times, and to some degree, the remnants of the paleolithic period. Humans of that period too buried their dead. In some excavations, tools that probably belonged to the buried have also been found alongside the body. The cave paintings of this period are examples of magical preconceptions of the world. Human society, which lived in tribes, was organised- it had a particular structure. The transformation of the social organisation from small groups into tribes was also reflected in the magical preconception of humans. Every tribe had its own totem, which was usually an image or a sign depicting an animal or a plant considered sacred or symbolic of the beliefs of the tribe. Totems, as representative of these beliefs, were used as the basis for exchange and communication between tribes. The creation of these totems, and the creation of tribes can be seen in conjunction with the human tendency to create new classes and categories as a means of understanding the social and natural worlds. Members of tribes created cultural artefacts such as dances, paintings and ornaments that propagated their totem, much like we create cultural artefacts to propagate our beliefs and ideas today. The rituals organised around these totems served to pass on knowledge and concepts about the world to the next generation. Some of these concepts, reflective of the magical preconceptions of the world, can be seen today in the cave paintings from this period or even in certain dance forms. Dance has always been a representation of the relationship between humans and nature. Commonplace activities such as hunting and complex ideas like the beliefs attached to a totem could all be depicted through dance. Cave paintings were the attempts to create this same kind of depiction through another medium- making visual marks. Shamans or the mendicants of the tribe would depict the process of the hunt at a site in the cave that was distant from other tribe members. She would make these images repeatedly, often at the same site. This subject of depiction and representation of the daily activities and beliefs in different forms is in itself a very interesting one, but for now, we return to the core subject of the discussion. These various depictions were an attempt by human beings to place the ‘created’ in place of the ‘actual’. This formed the conceptual basis of contemporary art as well as science. Both these disciplines are different forms of understanding and representing the ‘actual’ world that we live in, they are both made up of images and symbols. The act of placing food in the grave while burying one’s companions, or keeping it warm, shows us that humans had a conception of the soul as continuing to exist beyond death.
Human knowledge has emerged from ideas and scientific experiments in both of these areas- art and science. In this article we have discussed, very briefly, the origins of mechanics, the science of motion and speed, geometry, chemistry and biology. This knowledge was an aggregation of some experiments and experiences and some behavioural concepts. The gaps in knowledge and information in these were filled in with concepts of magic. While tools were made for hunting, those tools were validated through totem rites. Fire was created by rubbing stones against each other, but the fire was seen as a mythical power. Thus, in paleolithic times, humans’ scientific knowledge was trapped inside magical preconceptions of the world, which would eventually be broken down by progress.
We have seen here, in brief, the moments of emergence of science. The seeds of today’s CERN experiments can be found in magical preconceptions and the experiments carried out in developing tools. The space shuttles launched into the sky by humans are an extension of the first projectile tools made. In the next article, we will explore the role of science as humans enter the age of agriculture, discover metal, and move towards creating a new world, and through this, we will continue our study of science in history.
- By Dr. Sunny Singh
(Translated from Hindi to English by Deepani)
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