ABSTRACT
The Australopithecines have not generally been considered directly ancestral to later Hominids despite their marked physical resemblance such as dentition and bipedal locomotion, and despite their certain classification, morphologically, with the Hominids rather than with the Pongids, or great apes. The consequence which Hallowell deplores, however, was that this left the pursuit of evolution largely in the hands of the biologists, and, as he regretfully observed, “the psychological dimension of evolution, which to Darwin himself was an integral part of the total evolutionary process and of vital significance for our comprehension of man’s place in nature, fell upon evil days.” The biological continuum has been postulated for so long, and the behavioral continuum so subconsciously assumed, that the present investigators are faced with a highly sophisticated body of culture theory which has man’s distinctive and unique characteristics as its foundation and major supports.
