Homo Sapiens: A unique species

Modern humans developed from apes during a period of seven million years, via more or less ape-like pre-humans. But Homo sapiens is a strange and very unique species. We differ from our ancestors and all other animals. We walk upright on two legs, with bodies perfectly adjusted to that. We use advanced tools.

We cook our food, and have teeth and a digestive system adjusted to it. Our brain can think things no other animal can: think abstract thoughts. We are capable of advanced language, to make social life possible. We understand and create symbols and art. These abilities all interlink and have developed together.

Everything started with our upright walking. Our hands became free to both carry and to manufacture things. We could see further and detect dangers. We could roam over larger areas. And it became easier to carry our new large heads.

But the combination of upright walking and a large brain and head also had a disadvantage. Because when we rotated our hips upward, they became narrower, and the pelvic cradle became smaller. And it is through the pelvis that a baby is born. Hmm, a tighter passage and a larger head. Bad combination.

If a child gets stuck during birth there is a risk that both the mother and the child might die. The women that happened to give birth early in pregnancy, before the child's head grew large had the biggest chance of survival. Human children are not quite ready when then they are born, in comparison with other animals. A Giraffe-calf can run and follow its group only ten hours after birth. Human children are born helpless, and for a long time need help getting food, shelter and learning what to do.

To be able to take care of their unready young, humans needed to work together. They needed to cooperate and communicate, and they needed to feel and show empathy. Cooperation also became the method for hunting, gathering plants, and defending themselves. It didn't matter that they were physically weak as long as they could cooperate. Humans became dependent on cooperation within the group.

Those groups of humans that were best at cooperation and communication survived the best. Evolution enhanced social skills. Humans’ ability to remember and to understand complicated social relationships made us, over time, better at thinking other complicated thoughts. Soon we could think about things in advance. What will happen tomorrow?

If this happens, maybe we should do this. Thoughts became more abstract, we planned ahead, and became better at avoiding predators and defending ourselves. The earliest abstract thoughts by humans were probably, “We belong to the same group, and over there, those are the others”. Having a common identity made it possible for humans to cooperate in larger groups than they ever did before. All these changes did not happen at once.

Evolution takes place in steps, where every step affects the next. Already 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens looked like we do today, but most probably they didn’t think like we do today. Sometime between 70,000 and 35,000 years ago something happened to our brains. And probably it was then we started thinking like we do today. Finds from this period of time show that we created art and jewellery, that we travelled and exchanged - traded - with other groups of humans, far away.

We buried our dead, in a manner that indicates we believed in a life after death. Homo sapiens had developed into a remarkable and very unique species.