How could periodic, catastrophic climate changes affect human evolution in such a way to help bring about the development of a language faculty?<o:p></o:p>
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Evidence of periodic, potentially catastrophic climate changes, occurring over just a few years, has recently been found in ice core diggings in <st1:place>Greenland</st1:place> and <st1:place>Antarctica</st1:place>. Such quick cooling of the global climate would have adversely affected mammalian populations, causing starvation and population crashes. This extreme environmental selection pressure, as well as the genetic bottleneck that such crashes in population would have caused could very well have served to speed up the course of human evolution, both genetically and culturally. The adaptive traits of cooperation and reciprocity that would facilitate survival through these cold, dry periods could be the basis of evolution toward the human language faculty.
This is the rough draft for an essay for my Human Evolution class...questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome!
Cheers,
sæskwač