Biological Factors in Human Evolution

It is challenging to answer when did human evolution start. Still, a shred of solid evidence supports the branching of the human lineage from that apes produced in Africa approximately 6 and 7 million years ago. Humans are assumed to be diverse living species of great apes. 

So, to make it clear, humans did not evolve from chimpanzees; instead, they share a common ancestor that had lived roughly 10 million years ago. Indeed, the primary source in human evolution would always remain the fossils, but the development also depends on several factors. And so, biological and cultural factors in human evolution play an important role. Now you will see what these factors tell,

The biological and cultural factors in human evolution are situated on variation and have certain similarities and dissimilarities. So, it is important to know how these arise and work differ.

Biological factor

To begin with, both biological and cultural factors in human evolution are somehow interlinked, but understanding them separately is also important. So,  biological factors in human evolution are unconscious and are population-level processes. It is guided in a larger part by the selection, and when it comes to a smaller population, it is guided by a random process. 

Also, there are two types of selection processes targeted at the individuals in the natural world, which are based on the differences in their genes. It is said that biological evolution is based on the idea that all life is connected, and hence it can be traced back to one common ancestor. Charles Darwin proposed the two types of selection are:

• Natural Selection (1859)
• Sexual Selection (1913)

Natural Selection

 It is a process in which the population of living organisms gradually adapts and eventually changes. It is the engine that initiates and drives evolution. Therefore, you can say that natural selection is a force to determine which variants will survive and reproduce. 

Sexual Selection

This special type of natural selection process involved in biological and cultural factors in human evolution plays an important role in the evolution and speciation of the species. It acts as one of the fundamental modes in understanding biological evolution. So, it means selecting their respective sexual halves organisms or, in a better way, the selection of genes that the offspring will acquire from the partners involved.  

These processes are essential to determining different biological factors in human evolution. These changes in the phenotypes of the given population are generally noticeable. Hence, the adaptation of any population according to the environmental possibilities constantly increases. To summarise, this process of biological human evolution is based on three issues, the fact of evolution, evolutionary history, and the mechanisms by which the evolutionary changes occur.

Cultural factor

Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change; it is also known as social selection, which is very effective. This is followed by the definition of culture, which is the information capable of affecting individuals’ behaviour. Culture is defined as the wholeness of the achievements in terms of the mental and material of a society or humanity. The cultural factor explains how the cultures and societies have changed over time. It is the changes or the developments in cultures from a simple form to a more complex form of human culture. In short, it is the structural recognition that produces a form or structure which is qualitatively distinct from the ancestral form. 

In terms of academics, it is important to know about biological and cultural factors in human evolution and anthropology as it will help you. But apart from the academic point of view, cultural evolution is seen as a fundamentally interdisciplinary field. It bridges the gap between the academic disciplines and disparate approaches. It is important to learn about the cultural evolutionary process and its applications because it enhances understanding of human history and biology. This Darwin evolutionary process changes socially transmitted customs, ideas, skills, beliefs, languages, attitudes. These individual activities play an active role in developing a phenotype; it is a set of observable characteristics or traits such as height, blood type, eye colour, etc., resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.

Therefore, biological and cultural factors in human evolution are part of the chief principles that are clarified for better knowledge of the evolution process.

Conclusion

Like fossils are valuable to show life on earth, which was once different from life found on earth today, in the same manner, the biological and cultural factors in human evolution are equally supreme to learn about. The contributions made by naturalists, geologists, and biologists are the prime source of knowledge in biological and cultural factors in human evolution. One such contribution was made by Charles Robert Darwin that was widely accepted and even considered a fundamental concept in Science. Not only are these, but they are also central biological and cultural factors in human evolution and anthropology.