Whether the
australopithecines were our ancestors or not, the proper ancestors of men must
have been able to stand erect and to walk on their two feet. Three further
important things probably were involved, next, before they could become men
proper. These are:
1. The increasing size and development of the
brain.
2. The increasing usefulness (specialization)
of the thumb and hand.
3. The use of tools.
Nobody knows
which of these three is most important, or which came first. Most probably the
growth of all three things was very much blended together. If you think about
each of the things, you will see what I mean. Unless your hand is more flexible
than a paw, and your thumb will work against (or oppose) your fingers, you
can’t hold a tool very well. But you wouldn’t get the idea of using a tool
unless you had enough brain to help you see cause and effect. And it is rather
hard to see how your hand and brain would develop unless they had something to
practice on--like using tools. In Professor Krogman’s words, “the hand must
become the obedient servant of the eye and the brain.” It is the coordination
of these things that counts.
Many other
things must have been happening to the bodies of the creatures who were the
ancestors of men. Our ancestors had to develop organs of speech. More than
that, they had to get the idea of letting certain sounds made with these speech
organs have certain meanings.
All this
must have gone very slowly. Probably everything was developing little by
little, all together. Men became men very slowly.
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