If all you have in your toolbox is a hammerstone...

A magnificent discussion delivered beautifully. We have come a long way. As DJ says may our descendants also have the ability to look back the same way we have been able to. Love, peace and understanding to the world forever.

Awesome, how far you've come since I studied anthropology in 1961, such diligence and attention given to each and every detail. We were still under the spell of organized religion in those days and what we were suggesting, evolution in a nutshell, was a forbidden idea! You could go to hell or hades just for thinking about it!

15 minutes in and still nothing about the origin of human diet?! I want my grant money back. This is a waste of time.

When did free will kick in? Just answer that.

I don’t think

Aren't there vultures that eat marrow?

My genes want her genes.

I’m not a scientist, just old. I remember a video where a woman said her (chimps?) were yelling a certain way because they were excited about getting grapes with lunch and heard other, distant chimps who already were fed yelling that way and she posited that they were communicating. And then there’s the apes who are trained to point to words to “say” things. I don’t think this argues against your explanation, just begs some refinement. I think it supports the concept that the hardware for cognition was present but not used. In the book “how emotions are made” by Lisa Feldman Barrett we learn that emotions depend on words. I think this is more support for your theory. Of course, as a scientist you should be spending your time trying to disprove the theory (and hopefully failing), not looking for support.

9:37 communication leading to social constructs that helped in things like hunting in a pack and other pack activities. Social constructs leading to abstraction and other more complex thoughts. Religions forming as a type of coping structure and part of the hierarchical structures formed. From tribes and clans to big cities with a range of cultural mix. Humans influenced by their surroundings and even names. Thank you for sharing the video.

Skip the resume reading 4:20

I think Lucy ate broccoli, bananas and avocado all day long

just my 2cents but I think human cognition started because humans started eating a highly varied, novel, diet and that took lots of eye, finger, brain coordination for food preparation. very quickly when your doing complex tasks like that the sequence of operations your doing, technique come into play that require further skill sharpening. the ultimate is when your solving time oriented problems like saving surplus for later as part of the process. My guess is storing surplus food of novel food (not just squirrels using instinct to store nuts) was as big of change in human evolution as farming was later.

Mr. Ian Tattersall, in reference to the statement “ take red ball outside”, what would be the variation that humans would make on that that other primates could not? Just looking for a specific to illustrate the concept. Thank you.

Mr. Ian Tattersall, in reference to the statement “ take red ball outside”, what would be the variation that humans would make on that that other primates could not?

So, sabre tooth cat extinction is due in part at least to Austrapithecus' ability to access bone marrow. Rather specific, but good to know.

The pounding tool would eventually be used for shaping cutting tools.

Chimp canines are for intimidating other chimps!

Not only hyenas break bones. At least one species of vulture drops bones from height in order to break them open.

Also, of course, there is research that indicates that more recently our brain has decreased in size.

7.30. They may not need a giant brain, as H. sapiens didn't NEED one.. But they would have gained an advantage by developing one.

Has anyone considered the homo genus is a composite of all previous hominids not an exclusive separate species ✌️❤️🇬🇧

Good lecture.

That intro was ridiculously long

In the beginning was the Word, and it sought the highest thought.

Hmmm, Maybe. Did Lucy have Long Hair ?. We Don't Know. Why are Humans Mostly Bare Verses Apes, Gorillas, Monkey's ?. If Evolution is True, What Reason Explains the Loss of Body Hair/Fur ?.

Hard to buy the concept that anatomically modern humans only figured out how to speak in the last 125K years. I suspect the watershed event was more subtle than that. The fact that language processing is embedded in the neural structure implies that this process didn't just spring out of our species' head like Athena out of Zeus'. I always view non-adaptive and non-gradualist explanations with suspicion. All that hardware got pushed right up to the threshold for whatever transformative mutation / cultural innovation that changed the course of human interaction/behavior thereafter.

Agree 100%. Food is most powerful evolutionary driver.

I am Portuguese teacher of physics and chemistry very interested on this theme. I loved every single word I heard

They are thinking that neanderthals could very well have spoken too.

He should have defined symbolic cognition and illustrated what counts as evidence for it.

Possibly the critical change in Homo Sapiens was the ability to verbally share ideas rather than having to visually try to demonstrate the idea!! The incredible sudden ability to store and spread ideas became like a match to paper!!!!!

Donald Johanson' s tech comment is profoundly evoked/captured by that bone toss/space ship cut in 2001 A Space Odyssey!!

These guys always ~never remember that a set of foot prints, size ~7 and shaped just like our feet today, was found and dated 500 thousand yrs older than Lucy. These prints do not fit their story so they do not mention them in most cases.

Uh, meat contains fat and protein. It's not meat vs fat.

Unfortunately, so many people just don't care. Hopefully another Lucy-level discovery will come along to reignite interest. Fingers, toes, and eyes all tightly crossed!

Excellent!

Jebel Irfoud, 300000 years ago has been reported as the earliest evidence of H. sapiens.

Two weeks before his funding was about to be terminated.....VIOLA!

A wonderful, highly-informative presentation concerning cognitive and behavioral traits of our phylogeny and those related to us within Primates, and how we differ. Many thanks.

Interesting lecture. Thank you!

i now eat meat and animal fat only. ive never been stronger and happier. with all my illnesses gone. carnivore is the optimal diet for humans. you can eat plants but its second rate and makes alot of people ill

bone splinters and fragments via rock smashing

Such an important message, Don, and so well said - thanks for this message! 🙏

Dr. Donald Johanson is a hero in the field of palaeoanthropology. I have been reading his work for the last 12 years, throughout my academic career.

Do they do online course on anthropology

Very eloquently said. Thank you for recording this message!

A well-articulated and poignant presentation.

I was honored to meet Dr. Johanson and his lovely wife at the anniversary celebration of his incredible discovery at ASU. He is such a wonderful educator.

Am sorry Jesus and Allah but the game is over😂