Chapter 2- Origins of Man in Asia We usually thank Charles Darwin, author of the book Origin of the Species, for

giving us the knowledge about the scientific explanation of the origins of the human race. But there were others before him. A.R.Wallace and J.F. Blumenbach were the most famous of those who tried to explain that the first people to live on earth came from long years of evolution and natural selection and not by a supernatural being. Of those who believe that the world was created by God, Bishop Ussher was known for having said in 1654 that the world was created at 9 a.m. on October 23, 4004 BC in Mesopotamia, now Iraq. The Japanese, on the other hand, believe that they are descendants of the sun-goddess Amaterasu, through her grandson Jimmu Tenno, the first Japanese emperor. The Koreans who live nearby, think that they originated from the union of a spirit-tiger and a female bear, while the Tibetans believe that their race came from the union of a monkey and a female devil made flesh. Needless to say, the Filipinos have the legend of Silalac (Malakas, LalakiStrong, Man) and Sibabay (Maganda, Babayi-Beautiful, Woman) who sprang from a bamboo split open by a kite or a bird. Almost two centuries ago, many scientists suggested that man evolved from a lesser animanl form, say, the ape. One theory in the early 19th century even suggested that the human race was divided into four classes, based on the color of their skin: European white, African black, Asiatic yellow and Lapp (later changed to Red Man by Linnaeus who is better remembered today by his efforts in classifying and giving scientific names to living things or the science of taxonomy. Another proposed that the black-skinned people descended from the gorilla, the Europeans from the chimpanzee, and the Yellow race people of Asia from the orangutan. Although indeed, the monkey, gorilla, chimpanzee and orangutan are mammals, and belong to the same class and order, man is still different. All else belong to the family pongidae, while man belongs to hominidae family. Man belongs to the homininae sub-family, genus homo, species sapiens. Modern man is homo sapiens.

The Origins of Man The planet earth is estimated to be 4. 5 to 5 billion years old. According to studies, some portions of the earth gradually changed in temperature, from extremely hot to temperate. Life forms began to emerge. Scientists believe that these early life forms appeared in the oceans and seas 35 billion years ago. By complex chemical processes, protein structures developed into the first single-celled water dwelling plants and animals. Fishes, amphibians and other marine animals developed later. Huge reptiles including dinosaurs inhabited the earth. In the Tertiary period, more land forms emerged from the sea in a phenomenon called land uplift. Likewise, mammalls appeared. Unlike earlier life forms, mammals are generally warmblooded. Mammals also take care of their young. They give birth either by laying and hatching their eggs or feeding their young while inside the womb through the umbilical cord. Examples of mammals are horses, dogs, kangaroos and man. According to Darwin's theory, man is the product of the long evolution from the mammal called ape. To prove the transition from ape to man, different places where the early men first settled have been studied. Often, this transition or evolution is explained in terms of the change of diet from roots, fruits and nuts gathered from trees to more protein-rich foods like fish and meat; the change of dwelling from trees to land habitat; the assumption of erect posture; the capability for speech and language; the development of social life; the size of the brain; the strength of grip and flexibility of hands and fingers; and the tools used. The use of fire is also considered man's greatest achievement. Scientists consider the ramapithecus and the australophitecus as the two important apes considered the ancestors of man. The ramaphitecus, first found in India and Africa, was named after Rama, the hero of the Indian epic Ramayana. It is estimated to have lived in the planet some 14 million years ago. It had a large foramen magnum, (a hole at the back of the neck which permits the entry of the spine into the skull region), and a set of teeth squarely opposed to those of the upper teeth. The teeth suggest it had a better diet that was closer to that of

modern man. The size of the foramen magnum of the ramapithecus implies a semi-erect posture. The austrolopithecus or southern ape, was found in 1924 in Taung, South Africa by Prof. Raymund Dart. It was a man-like creature who walked with erect posture and had about 600 cubic centimeters of brain size, less than half of the brain of modern man. it is estimated to have lived some five million years ago. He probably used tools made from the bones of animals he fed on. In 1973, American anthropologist Donald Johnson and his team found similar fossils in Hadar,Ethiopia. The husban and wife team of Louis and Mary Leakey found similar but more complete fossil remains of the australopithecus. They also found the remains of a young Australopithecine girl they called "Lucy." In June 1991, French and American scientists discovered in the mountains of Namibia in southern Africa a lower jaw bone fossil probably 10 million to 15 million-years old. Scientists think that this fossil may provide the clue to the real "missing link" in the evolution of ape to man. Early forms of man called hominids appeared in the period called the pleistocene or Ice Age. The pleistocene occured some one to two million years ago. The important hominids are the homo habilis and the homo erectus. The homo habilis or the "able man" or "handy man" was so named by Dr. Louis Leakey who found its bone fragments at the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. It is estimated to have lived some 1.75 million years ago. Its brain size is estimated to be 680 cubic centimeters. The homo habilis was only four feet tall. Its hands and fingers suggest that it was able to make the first simple stone tools for slicing meat and tearing plant food apart, making it different from all other animal species of its time. The homo erectus or erect man lived probably half a million years ago. It had a larger brain of about 1,000 cubic centimeters and a still prominent jaw but smaller teeth. He used fire, made simple hand-axes and hunted large animals. It was widespread in Asia, Africa and Europe where sophisticated chopping tools were discovered. The homo sapiens or the "intelligent man" is modern man's direct ancestor. First found in Swanscombe, England and in Stenheim,

Germany, the homo sapiens lived about a quarter of a million years ago. He had a brain slightly smaller than and a skull similar to modern man but made more sophisticated and efficient stone tools. The Neanderthal man found in 1856 in the Neander Valley in Germany is a form of the homo sapiens. It is believed to have lived between 150,000 to 31,000 years ago. Although it gained recognition only after Darwin published his theory of evolution, the Neanderthal man is believed to be the closest to modern man. However, it still differs from modern man as the Neanderthal man has a longer skull with a bulge called the ocipital bun at the back of its head. Its forehead also slope back from the brow ridges and its joints are much larger. The Neanderthal man produced more complex tools and weapons, engaged in hunting, and used fire. Fossils similar to that of the Neanderthal man were found in France, Belgium, Iraq and Israel. Modern man is scientifically called homo sapiens sapiens, a subspecies of the homo sapiens. The homo sapiens sapiens has a brain size of about 1,450 cubic centimeters and a well-proportioned face with a full-developed chin. They used advanced tools such as harpoons made from antler's horn and stone tools for scraping. The racial groupings of the homo sapiens sapiens are Caucasoids, Mongoloids and Negroids. Caucasoid, native to Europe, is of fair-skin and eyes, narrow nose and thin lips. The Mongoloid live in central Asia and northern India has flat broad face and slit eyes. The Negroid is of dark skin, broad nose, thick lips, and black and wooly hair. Origins of Man in Asia It is still generally believed that man's ancestors lived in southeast Africa, in a place called Olduvai Gorge in present-day Tanganyika (Tanzania). Some say that that was probably the garden of Eden, and that man and his family left it because of the attacks of the tse-tse fly, known to inflict a "sleeping sickness," actually a fatal disease. Early man in West Asia came from Africa. In the early 1980s, two American archeologists from Texas found evidences that when early man left Africa, he traveled too across

Arabia and stayed there for a while before leaving again for another destination. That Arabia was a next stop from Africa is supported by the thinking that this man, probably a homo erectus, could have done so only by (1) making a long journey down the Nile River in Egypt, across the Sinai and into northern Arabia, or (2) crossing the Bab al-Mandab, the narrow strait at the entrance of the Red Sea, separating Africa from southern Arabia, to southern Arabia. The three places where Acheulean stone tools were left by early man in Arabia are Shuwayhitiyah and Najran in south Arabia and the east bank of Wadi Tahthlith, about 160 kilometers north of Najran. According to studies of the tools found in one of these sites, early man in Arabia performed seven distinct activities, divided into animalrelated, tool production, and plant gathering and processing. The three animal-related activities are butchering, splitting bones to obtain marrow, and scraping hides. The three tool production activities are woodworking, bone-working, and stone-tool manufacture. Siwalik Front The Siwalik front refers to the chain of low-lying foothills that skirt the southern border of the central Himalayan range in a crescentric sweep from Kashmir to Bengal. This are rises sharply from the plains of north India to heights varying from 9,000 feet in the west to 1,000 feet at the extreme western end, where the river Tista reaches the lowlands of Bengal. The generally tropical climate of the Siwalik made an ideal home for the pongids, including those that belong to the genera dryopithecus, ramapithecus, and gigantopithecus whose range extended eastward to China. The dryopithecus was so named after the dryas flora or oak complex environment. It had dental characteristics similar to that of modern man's and moved on two feet. Sundaland or Sunda Shelf The deep sea break in the insular Southeast Asian region is called Sunda shelf or Sundaland. Insular Southeast had been frequently considered as part of Australasia and therefore linked with Oceania. Hominids are widespread in this whole area together with Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Palawan. Such

hominids are the meganthropus which is characterized by two large jaws and scattered teeth, and the more advanced homo erectus such as the "Java man" found by the Dutch physician Eugene Dubois. In the Philippines, the "Tabon man" was found in the Tabon cave in Palawan in early 1960s by the National Museum team headed by Robert Fox. The "Tabon man" is believed to be 20,000-24,000-year old. South China The most important early man in China is the so-called "Peking man" found in Chou-kou-tien cave, 35 miles southwest of Beijing. It was found by the Canadian anatomist Davidson Black of the Peking Union Medical College. For the first time, it is certain that man began to use fire and may have engaged in cannibalism for survival. Other places in China where traces of early man were found are Yunnan, Kwangsi and Shenshi provinces. It is believed that the Java man and the Peking Man are related in the sense that both are considered homo Erectus. Paleolithic and Neolithic Man in Asia The paleolithic and neolithic are divisions of the ways of life or cultures of early man based on the tools they produced and actually used. Paleolithic means "old stone age," neolithic "new stone age." However, it does not mean that man during these periods was confined to the use of stone tools alone. Furthermore, the culture of man during these periods were determined basically by how they acquired their food and other needs, that is, the technology they employed. Paleolithic During the paleolithic, man used chipped or flaked stone tools. The earliest stone tools found are approximately one million years old. It may be said that man who lived during the so-called Pleistocene period or Ice Age had paleolithic culture. Hunting and gathering was the manner by which man during the paleolithic secured his food that consisted basically of roots, fruits, nuts and other plants. This manner of securing is otherwise called collecting or foraging.

Man shaped various objects, among them, pieces of stone chipped off from bigger stones. The smaller but sharper pieces of stone were used to slice pieces of meat of animals that they killed. The killing of animals, usually conducted in group, represented a higher level of organization of early men. Meat from said animals even represented a depature from a vegetarian diet which may have occurred later in man's development. In more advanced paleolithic culture, fire was used particularly by Peking man estimated to be half a million years ago. Paleolithic stone tools found in Asia have been given various names such as Soanian for stone tools in India, Anyathian in Burma, Tampanian in Malaya, Patjitinian in Java, and Hoanbinian in Indo-China, among others. Caution should be exercised , however, as it has been noted that some of these names have been used without making sure that these tools were related to human fossils. Stone tools may have been made by percussion flaking and/or secondary pressure flaking. Percussion flaking is done by striking a nodule or flake with another stone to knock pieces off. Neolithic In Europe, the transition from the paleolithic to the neolithic period is said to have occurred with the appearance of farming. For a relatively good measure of time, it is believed that the introduction of farming actually ended man's hunting and gathering. But evidences suggest that in some parts of Europe, farming actually appeared even before man began to use polished stone tools, the hallmark of the neolithic. In a 1993 excavation in Egypt, a piece of cloth had been found believed to have come even before man began planting. Weaving represents a far more advanced technology and had been generally believed to have been engaged by man after settling down first in agricultural communities. Like the paleolithic, the neolithic can be divided into the early, the middle and late stages. In the early neolithic, stone tools that were found included the "adze-chisel-gouge" type and the sharp-sided adzes. A writer

explains that the "adze-chisel-gouge" type was narrower than the central diameter of the body of the tool itself and may have been produced by a pointing and rounding of the two ends of the implement before spoon-shaped depression is ground out on the blade end-but the butt was usually left in its original rounded and more or less pointed form. The sharp-sided adzes, meanwhile, had only sharpened sides and a blunt butt. These tools are believed to have scattered in use by those who moved from various points in the Asian mainland, probably from China, to Formosa, Japan and into northeast Asia, or from Manchuria, to Japan, Formosa and Luzon, or from central China to Indo-China, then to Luzon and Formosa, then to Korea, Japan and Manchuria. In the middle neolithic, tool types used were the true shouldered axe-adze type, the ridged-back type, the tangedbutt type, and the Hoifung (near Hong Kong) adze type. In the Philippines, some middle neolithic tools were made of a giant clam, the Tridacna gigas. While there may be small movements of people, these voyages merely followed the coasts during appropriate seasons. The domestication of plants and animals was intensified during the period, and settlements along the rivers and coasts began to grow. Gabi and yam were also planted. In the late Neolithic, particularly in the Philippines, more polished, well-developed, rectangular, and trapezoidal tools with completely flattened sides were made. Other tools were made of jade. Hunting and fishing continued to support the main form of livelihood, farming. The use of pottery is also a characteristic feature of the late neolithic. In most finds in the Philippines, pottery is associated with the jar-burial tradition of the people. Chapter Review 1. In what cave was the Peking Man found? Who discovered it? 2. Who found the Java Man? 3. Which early man in Asia first used fire? 4. Cite two important physical characteristics of the ramapithecus. 5. What important fossil was found in Palawan? 6. Cite three paleolithic stone tools in Asia. 7.Cite two beliefs about the creation of man. 8. What are the different stages in the paleolithic period? 9. Differentiate between the neolithic and paleolithic period. 10. What are the three sub-species of the homo sapien sapiens?

Sources: Allen, J., J. Golson, R. Jones (editors), Sunda and Sahul: Prehistoric Studies in Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Australia, New York: Academic Press, 1977. Bowles, Gordon T. The People of Asia, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977. Chideya, Farai. "Finding the Missing Link," Newsweek, July 8, 1991, p. 48. Jocano, Felipe Landa, "The Beginnings of Filipino Society and Culture," in _______ (editor) Readings on Philippine Culture and Social Life: ? : ?, 19??. Whalen, Norman M. and David W. Pease, "Early Mankind in Arabia," Aramco World Magazine, (July-August 1992), pp. 1623.