Origins by Richard E. Leakey
"Origins" by Richard E. Leakey and Roger Lewin is an exploration of human evolution and the factors that have shaped the development of humanity. The book begins with an overview of early hominids, specifically Ramapithecus, and traces the lineage leading to modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens. It discusses significant historical advancements in our understanding of evolution and the age of the Earth, as well as the transition from a hunting and gathering lifestyle to agricultural society.
The text is structured through several chapters that delve into the roots of humanity, the evolution of hominids, and the social dynamics that influenced human nature, including intelligence and aggression. Leakey and Lewin challenge prevailing notions about human aggression, presenting alternative perspectives that question the idea of innate violence among humans. The book aims to provide insights into modern society by examining the evolutionary processes and societal changes that have occurred over millions of years.
Additionally, "Origins" includes a wealth of illustrations that enhance the readers' understanding and appreciation of the discussed themes. While the book offers a well-researched account of human evolution, it also reflects the evolving nature of knowledge in anthropology, as evidenced by subsequent works that address new discoveries in the field. Overall, "Origins" seeks to foster a deeper understanding of what it means to be human, both in historical context and in relation to contemporary society.
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Origins by Richard E. Leakey
First published: 1977; illustrated
Subjects: Nature, race and ethnicity, and science
Type of work: History
Time of work: Human prehistory
Recommended Ages: 15-18
Form and Content
Several terms are useful to master before reading Origins. The small, apelike creatures who appeared twelve million years or so ago are known as Ramapithecus and were the first hominids, or primates of the family Hominidae. Ramapithecus were the ancestors of two long-extinct species termed australopithecines, Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus boisei. Ramapithecus were also the begetters of Homo erectus, who around half a million years ago evolved into Homo sapiens and later, perhaps fifty thousand years ago, into the modern humans that Richard E. Leakey and Roger Lewin name Homo sapiens sapiens.
After a chapter that puts “Humanity in Perspective,” the authors explain “The Greatest Revolution,” or the series of events in the nineteenth century that led to understanding the great age of the earth and the rudiments of evolutionary theory. Five chapters on the development of humankind follow: “The Roots of Humanity,” “Hominid Beginnings,” “The Cradle of Mankind,” “From Africa to Agriculture,” and “The First Mixed Economy.” The chapters “Intelligence, Language, and the Human Mind” and “Aggression, Sex, and Human Nature” argue very strongly the authors’ views on these topics; the final essay is entitled “Mankind in Prospective.”
Leakey and Lewin state the goal of Origins clearly:
Through an exploration of the forces that nurtured the birth of the hunting and gathering way of life perhaps three million years ago, and through studying the question of why such a long-established mode of existence was superseded, beginning some 10,000 years ago, by a sedentary agricultural society, we can hope for some insight into modern society, and with it some guide to our future. That is the aim of the book.
As they proceed with this aim, the authors dispute the thesis that humans are innately aggressive, a position held notably by Konrad Lorenz, Raymond Dart, and Robert Ardrey. The vigor with which Leakey and Lewin rebut their opponents gives Origins a sharply tendentious tone.
If possible, readers should obtain the original hardbound edition, with its many illustrations that parallel the text throughout and bring alive much of the discussion. The only advantage of the unillustrated paperback edition published in 1991, aside from its compactness, is its greatly enlarged bibliography. Slight changes occur in the text as well, reflecting changes in scholarly thinking. For example, the hardbound edition begins with the words “Close to three million years ago . . . ,” whereas the paperback shortens the period to two million years.
Special attention should be given to the several hundred illustrations, half of them in vivid color, in the hardbound edition. The photographs are sometimes grouped by theme, depicting the varying responses to similar challenges of widely different cultures. The chapter “Mankind in Prospective,” for example, juxtaposes five photographs on facing pages to compare a variety of habitats: a Moroccan nomad’s tent, an Inuit’s igloo, a Mali dweller’s grass hut, a French farmer’s home, and a Solomon Islander’s house built over the water on stilts. Similarly, the self-adornment practices in dress and cosmetics of six different cultures are compared in colorful photographs printed side-by-side.
Critical Context
The cautious reader will approach Origins with considerable respect for the erudition of its authors and the fluency of its arguments. Yet, not only are many of its claims controversial—such as the one that follows the linguist Noam Chomsky in assuming that humans have an innate capacity for language structures—but the knowledge of the human past changes rapidly and not much can be taken for granted.
Indeed, in 1992 Leakey and Lewin published Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human. Most of this volume is devoted to updating discoveries in the field, but the last chapter, “Origins Reconsidered,” apologizes for their suggestion in Origins that the species has had a telos, or end, toward which it has been marching to the tune of some cosmic principle. The chapter also introduces some compelling philosophical issues that will be of great interest to readers of the original book.