Prehistoric Cultures

Fall 2012 Calendar -- DAY  [archive]

Fall 2012 Calendar  -- EVENING [archive]

Dates and Times to Remember 

class slides on-line

Wednesday, 12 November 2025, 20:57 (08:57 PM) GMT, day 316 of 2025
. . . in History 
  . . . in Headlines 

      Babel Fish Translation 
~ translate this page 

Alan Alda
talks with anthropologist
Mary Marzke

to top of page / A-Z index

"Handmade Humans"

from Scientific American Frontiers
"Life's Really Big Questions"

15 min., 2000, CC, VC 426 -- Segment #2

"What happened some four or five million years ago that set us off on our journey to become human?"

When did we become modern?

Where did we become modern?

"People have long wondered what separates humans from the rest of the animals. Is it a soul, tool use, language? Could it be baseball? Our hands are unique in their flexibility and grasping capabilities. A chimp's hands, good for swinging in trees, are virtually useless on the baseball diamond. In 'Handmade Humans' anthropologist Mary Marzke suggests that the traits that make people the world's best ball players might have spurred on the evolution of the human mind. It’s the flexible joints of our index and pinky fingers that allow us to palm a ball and choke up on a bat. Those same joints allowed our ancestors to fashion stone tools and wield clubs. According to one hypothesis, tool-making offered early humans such a competitive advantage, natural selection favored the evolution of our dexterous and versatile hands. But making tools also requires a brain that can think ahead and consider cause and effect. The ability to look into the future- that’s what truly separates us from the rest of the animals." -- PBS

"For more on this topic, see the web feature: 'Meet Lucy'" -- PBS

• Note the numan ability to rotate the little finger across the palm to touch the thumb -- the "opposibility of the pinkey."
  
  

to top of page / A-Z index

Cultures

• Neanderthal
  
  
• Cro-Magnon

to top of page / A-Z index

Individuals

• Alan Alda
• Mary Marzke
• William Kimbel
• Nick Toth
• Kathy Schick
• Steve Shakely

to top of page / A-Z index

Bibliography / Resources

• PBS Teaching Guide
  
  
• "Meet Lucy" -- PBS
  
  
• WEB CONNECTIONS (from PBS)
  
  
• Interactive x-ray of hand bones
  Especially valuable as a resource to part 1.
  
  
• Hand transplant
  News article with links on first US Hand Transplant
  
  
• Comprehensive site on hand anatomy
  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences- however, it does present information and images of cadaver dissections.