Knowledge Tree
Pleistocene
Also known as: Pleistocene epoch, Pleistocene period
Facts (19)
Sources
Evolutionary Psychology | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu 8 facts
measurementThe Pleistocene period, during which human ancestors lived in small nomadic hunter-gatherer bands, spanned approximately 1.8 million years ago to 10,000 years ago.
claimSignificant evolutionary change can occur within 400 generations, which corresponds to the 10,000 years since the Pleistocene, provided that selection pressure and heritability are sufficiently high.
claimCognitive mechanisms produced by natural selection are adaptations for survival in Pleistocene conditions, rather than for modern tasks like playing chess, passing logic exams, navigating large cities, or maintaining weight in an environment with fast food.
claimThe human environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) is defined as the set of environmental conditions encountered by human populations during the Pleistocene, specifically from 1.8 million years ago to 10,000 years ago, when early hominids lived as hunter-gatherers on the savannahs of eastern Africa.
claimEvolutionary Psychology focuses on adaptations that evolved in response to characteristically human adaptive problems faced by hunter-gatherers during the Pleistocene, such as choosing a mate, recognizing emotional expressions, acquiring language, distinguishing kin, detecting cheaters, and remembering the location of edible plants.
claimCosmides and Tooby (1994) assert that the human mind lacks cognitive procedures dedicated to solving problems that would not have enhanced the survival or reproduction of Pleistocene hunter-gatherers, which explains why modern human performance on such tasks is poor and uneven.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that natural selection is a slow process and there have not been enough generations since the Pleistocene for new cognitive mechanisms to evolve that are specifically adapted to post-agricultural industrial life.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that human psychological mechanisms are adapted to Pleistocene environments because the human species spent over 99% of its evolutionary history as hunter-gatherers in those conditions, rather than the brief period since the advent of agriculture or industrialization.
Evolutionary psychology - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 4 facts
claimEvolutionary psychology proposes that most human psychological mechanisms are adapted to reproductive problems frequently encountered in Pleistocene environments, as most human adaptations evolved or were maintained by stabilizing selection during the Pleistocene.
claimReproductive problems encountered in Pleistocene environments include challenges related to growth, development, differentiation, maintenance, mating, parenting, and social relationships.
claimHuman minds evolved for Pleistocene environments and may possess traits that are incongruent with the modern world.
claimThe genus Homo appeared between 1.5 and 2.5 million years ago, a period roughly coinciding with the start of the Pleistocene 2.6 million years ago.
Changes in Diet Allegedly Drove Human Evolution answersingenesis.org Jan 12, 2013 4 facts
claimThe East African ecosystem in the Olduvai Gorge region transitioned abruptly between wet woodland and drier grassland during the early Pleistocene.
accountGraduate student Clayton Magill and professor Katherine Freeman analyzed carbon isotopes in fossilized leaf wax from early Pleistocene rock in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, to determine historical ecosystem transitions.
claimA study from Penn State geoscientists suggests that rapid changes in environmental conditions during the early Pleistocene may have stimulated human evolution.
perspectiveBible-believing geologists assert that Pleistocene rock was deposited during the Ice Age in the centuries following the global Flood, and they argue that radiometric dating of volcanic rock in the region is based on unverifiable, worldview-based interpretations.
Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution frontiersin.org 1 fact
claimExposures to psychedelic fungi by australopithecines and early Homo during the Pleistocene epoch (beginning 2.5 million years ago) are implied by the presence of these fungi in African grasslands, particularly growing on the dung of ungulates, which were a target of hominin scavenging and hunting.
The Evolution of Human Nutrition carta.anthropogeny.org Dec 7, 2012 1 fact
measurementThe third major transition in meat-eating occurred at the end of the Pleistocene, between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago, characterized by a shift from a broad spectrum diet to the intensive, managed use of a few prey species.
Nutritional Evolution – Human Origin and Evolution ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in 1 fact
referenceGabunia, L., Vekua, A., Lordkipanidze, D., Swisher, C. C., Ferring, R., Justus, A., & Jöris, O. (2000) published 'Earliest Pleistocene hominid cranial remains from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia: taxonomy, geological setting, and age' in Science, 288, 1019-1025.