How did Stone Age people become clever enough to learn to hunt and gather food? And how did humans and animals evolve? Rukiye Shahla Babaoglu (9)

Hi Rukiye!

I am not a specialist in early Human archaeology but when I’m asked questions like this I always point out that ‘Stone Age Man’ was the same person as us – Homo Sapiens Sapiens – and therefore was just as clever, or potentially clever, as we are. So they learned the same way we do – from their parents and grandparents, by trying things out and succeeding (or failing …), and most importantly for humans, by discussing their ideas with each other.

It’s important to realise that there have been several species of human and that not all of them directly lead to us. Our species was probably partly responsible for the extinction of a very successful human species known as the Neanderthals, who survived alongside us until about 20,000-30,000 years ago. This sounds a terribly long time ago but in terms of evolution it’s very recent.

As for evolution, the place to start is with the title of Charles Darwin’s famous 1859 book ‘On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection’. Natural selection occurs when differences and changes within a species are passed on to the next generation. Changes that help a species survive are passed on, and become more common, and so the species evolves to include these characteristics.

The archaeology I mostly encounter doesn’t cover the huge amount of time needed to show evidence for evolution, but archaeologists do see how people have adapted to their environment – and also adapted the environment – via the evidence left in the ground.