Saugat Upadhyay

The history of human beings has always been a fascinating topic for me. We being the youngest species of the planet and the most advanced there is a certain amount of gravitas about humans and their evolution as a whole.
Humans came into existence only about seven million years ago in this 4.5 billion years old earth. From numerous species of us down to one, it has been quite a journey for us.
The digression from the gorilla lineage and our closest relatives like the bonobo chimps has changed the course of human evolution in a completely different way.

Stone, Bone Tools
From stone and bone tools to modern guns and nuclear warheads, from hieroglyphics and cave paintings to touch screens and from hunting-gathering foods to delivery of food within some minutes in our doorsteps, evolution as a whole has taken a huge leap of faith within a very short period if we compare time in earth’s point of view.
It almost took 3 million years for early humans to reach a point where they started having an upright posture from a bent body structure before that. While it took prehistoric humans six million years to reach Java from Africa, I think that in another six million years multiple planets and galaxies will be habituated and explored respectively by the upcoming ultramodern and complex humans.
 The exponential curve of human invasion and exploration will not cease for the time being unless the natural resources required diminishes completely.
The advancement of modern humans commenced from the start of civilization some 6000 years ago. It all started in Sumer, Mesopotamia in 3000 BC where the first of the civilized humans started to live a somewhat complex lifestyle.
Before that for the longest of times, early humans used to live in caves and teepees and were hunters and gatherers. They used bones and stones as tools and animal skin as covering for the body. Even today the use of skin is used for clothing and other fabrics which shows that some things passed from generations to offspring even after thousands of years.
Not only this but several traits have been passing down the generations and we are surrounded by them even today.
Talk about art or entertainment the ancient humans did practice it in various ways depending upon the availability of resources. It is evident that humans evolved with food, and the culture of involvement in the field of art and entertainment evolved when they did not have to worry about what to eat the next day.
After the Cro-Magnons started making bone tools around 40,000 years ago, hunting large animals and fishing became much easier and effective. It made them involved in certain creative fields such as paintings and drawings, figuring out the ways for communication within and outside of the tribes and many more such activities of communal involvement.
The hieroglyphics that came from ancient Egypt were the primitive way of writing and imprinting the images that the people saw then. It also carved the imagination of ancient humans. Fast forward to a few millenniums ahead (i.e. 14th century) some sculptors and artists painted and created the art form in a much more advanced way but following the same roots and using similar forms of the canvas.
Even today, I feel the wall art or graffiti follows the same footsteps, which has a history of more than 4000 years. It all seems to have a certain connection in human consciousness.

Intelligent Species
In hindsight, looking back at the early lives and evolution, we come to a significant conclusion that humans as a species were much more intelligent since the very beginning. Also, Darwin’s theory of ‘Natural selection’ and ‘Survival of the fittest’ gives more aid to it. Similarly, the facts archived by historians and interpreters are much insightful and important in the course of evolution.
We humans have come through a huge amount of change in terms of intelligence and skills over the past few centuries. But, on the biological aspect, we have been the same for the past 200 years. Nothing has changed but the way we live, behave and think has changed much more significantly and for our good.
Today’s modern humans are very much different from prehistoric humans. The priorities have changed, the way of living has changed and the emotional and behavioural change is also immense. Food is the last thing we should be worried about as it is one of the easiest things to get.
The Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals would never have imagined that the immense sky can be penetrated and the outer space can be touched. The process took just about seven million years when the first early humans came into existence, which is a huge achievement because of how young of a species we are on this planet where hints of life came into existence 3.7 billion years ago.

(The writer is an electronics engineer)