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The Descent of the Child: Human Evolution from a New Perspective
Why are chimp babies skinny, while human babies are so fat they float? As humans developed greater intelligence--and increased cranial capacity--how did babies and mothers adapt to increased fetal brain size? And how did humans develop our unique intelligence. Elaine Morgan, an internationally
bestselling science writer known for her iconoclastic take on evolutionary theory, addresses these questions and more in The Descent of the Child , an intriguing and controversial look at human evolution from the point of view of infant development.
Beginning with the assertion that much of our thinking about human evolution exercises an unconscious bias--that we envision an archetypal human being as an adult --Morgan sets out to explain why human infants evolved in the way they did. We are often told how, in the course of a million years,
adults acquired increased dexterity, adaptability, intelligence, and powers of communication. We are seldom reminded that over the same period infants became more helpless, more vulnerable, and more inert. Morgan focuses on the relationship between these two facts as she develops a stunning theory
of the origins of human intelligence she argues that our capacity for intelligence is a byproduct of evolving babyhood. Uniquely among primates, homo sapiens are born with considerable struggle, emerge wholly helpless, and continue to be dependent for a long time afterwards--only their eyes, faces,
and vocal cords work. They don't know that they're not always going to be like that, Morgan posits, but, bent on survival, they try to manipulate their parents or other caregivers to do things that the babies can't do for themselves. (For instance, they'll cry for food, and only human babies
continue crying after being picked up, sending a strong message not to be so remiss next time.) These early struggles, according to Morgan, provide our formative intellectual activity. It is in infancy that we really learn to think and to question.
In her much debated earlier works, Morgan has championed the controversial Aquatic Ape Theory of human evolution against the widely accepted Savannah Theory. The Descent of the Child takes her further into the fray with a provocative new argument adding new evidence to support AAT even as she
explores such urgent topics as conception and infertility, the maturation of the fetus, child rearing and parental roles, overpopulation, and a woman's place in society. This fascinating book should be read by parents (both new and soon to be) as well as anyone interested in child development or
human evolution.
bestselling science writer known for her iconoclastic take on evolutionary theory, addresses these questions and more in The Descent of the Child , an intriguing and controversial look at human evolution from the point of view of infant development.
Beginning with the assertion that much of our thinking about human evolution exercises an unconscious bias--that we envision an archetypal human being as an adult --Morgan sets out to explain why human infants evolved in the way they did. We are often told how, in the course of a million years,
adults acquired increased dexterity, adaptability, intelligence, and powers of communication. We are seldom reminded that over the same period infants became more helpless, more vulnerable, and more inert. Morgan focuses on the relationship between these two facts as she develops a stunning theory
of the origins of human intelligence she argues that our capacity for intelligence is a byproduct of evolving babyhood. Uniquely among primates, homo sapiens are born with considerable struggle, emerge wholly helpless, and continue to be dependent for a long time afterwards--only their eyes, faces,
and vocal cords work. They don't know that they're not always going to be like that, Morgan posits, but, bent on survival, they try to manipulate their parents or other caregivers to do things that the babies can't do for themselves. (For instance, they'll cry for food, and only human babies
continue crying after being picked up, sending a strong message not to be so remiss next time.) These early struggles, according to Morgan, provide our formative intellectual activity. It is in infancy that we really learn to think and to question.
In her much debated earlier works, Morgan has championed the controversial Aquatic Ape Theory of human evolution against the widely accepted Savannah Theory. The Descent of the Child takes her further into the fray with a provocative new argument adding new evidence to support AAT even as she
explores such urgent topics as conception and infertility, the maturation of the fetus, child rearing and parental roles, overpopulation, and a woman's place in society. This fascinating book should be read by parents (both new and soon to be) as well as anyone interested in child development or
human evolution.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Elaine Morgan
45 books44 followersWelsh feminist and proponent of the aquatic ape evolution theory, which claims that mankind evolved from sea-based apes.
Morgan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours for services to literature and to education.
Morgan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours for services to literature and to education.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 23, 2007
This book has some interesting ideas, but it is almost pure speculation with no supporting research of either the library or experimental kind. It is chock full of hypotheses without enough evidence to elevate them to the level of theories.
July 27, 2025
A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS
Elaine Morgan (1920-2013) was a Welsh writer for television, as well as the author of numerous books such as 'The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis,' 'The Scars of Evolution,' 'The Descent of Woman,’ etc.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 1995 book, “A generation ago it was still common for books about the evolution of our species to be based on the tacit assumption that the archetypal human being was a male. To a large extent that has been corrected… This is not a mere concession to political correctness… natural selection would never favor one sex at too great a cost to the other. However, one form of unconscious bias is still operative. … there is a tendency in discussion about human evolution to overlook the fact that at every step… there were not only males and females, but also babies, infants and children.” (Pg. vii-viii) She adds, “This book… is an attempt to speculate about why our children evolved in the way they did.” (Pg. x)
She notes, “The evolution of the placental mammals was one of the major milestones in the history of life on earth… the balance of benefit in becoming placental was extremely one-sided. The placental offspring is … warm and well-fed in an unchanging environment---even better than an eggshell because it is expandable.” (Pg. 18-19)
She states, “A great many … mammals have young that are born hairless… the human fetus has already acquired a coat of fur and then shed it… By the 20th week the head, face, body and limbs are completely covered with hair… We have not, in fact, ‘retained’ the primal hairless condition---we have REGAINED it.” (Pg. 36-37)
She asserts, “The only conclusion to be drawn from comparisons between the later stages of ape and human prenatal development is that the human body at some stage of its evolution became modified to fit the requirements of a totally different habitat.” (Pg. 41)
She reports, “Those who have experienced both water-birthing and traditional deliveries often report their impression that the baby, as well as the mother, seems to find water-birthing a less stressful process…. If it could be proved that babies did prefer the birthing pool, it would not be surprising… the new-born [discovers]… that he has suddenly become a lot heavier… and that it is cold. These perceptions can come to him a little less suddenly is he spends a brief transitional time in the weightless medium he is accustomed to… that is maintained at blood heat.” (Pg. 89-90)
She notes, ‘[Raymond] Dart was led to believe that the savannah was the true cradle of humankind… The hypothesis suggested that the African forests shrank… some apes were forced out onto the more challenging habitat of the grasslands. They lost their fur to keep cool, evolved bigger brains to fashion tools and weapons, ran on two legs to chase after game, and learned to speak… The central weakness of this scenario has always been that other primates---baboons, vervet monkeys.. savannah chimpanzees---have also left the forest to live on the savannah… But none of them has ever acquired … a single one of the characteristics which distinguish humans from apes. They have all remained hairy and quadrupedal and unable to speak. In recent years it has become clear that the imagined sequence of events basic to savannah theory was incorrect…. Since the move to the savannah has so long been held to be the whole raison d’être of the process of humanization, this new scenario has been difficult to assimilate.” (Pg. 156-157)
She asserts, “The only serious alternative to the moribund savannah theory is the Aquatic Apr Theory (AAT)… A brief outline is necessary here… At around the time of the split from the apes, there was one major and dramatic environmental event at the northern end of the Rift Valley. A large area of what is not continental Africa---corresponding to … the Afar Triangle---was flooded by the sea…. It remained flooded for hundreds of thousands of years, until it became land-locked at the eastern side and began to evaporate…. Leaving a vast salt plain. That area of Africa was part of a wide belt of tropical forest crossing North Africa and Asia.
“The AAT proposed that some of the indigenous apes living in that region could have been but off from the rest of the ape population and forced to adapt to a semi-aquatic life in flood plains or coastal marshlands or off-shore islands for up to a million years. Finally the drying up of the sea of Afar caused them to follow the waterways of the Rift Valley upstream and inland to the riverside and lakeside sites where virtually all of the African hominid fossils have been discovered.
“The strongest evidence in support of the AAT is anatomical. A list can be drawn up of all the physical features distinguishing humans from apes… None of these features is found in savannah mammals. But examples of all of them can be found among those species of mammals which have adapted to aquatic or semi-aquatic life…. IN the context of this book the question is whether a semi-aquatic stage in the evolution of humans would offer a possible explanation for some of the anomalous features of our offspring, before and after birth.” (Pg. 158-159)
She continues, “If an ancestral hominid had had to adapt to more aquatic surroundings as suggested, it would in the first instance have ventured into water while still covered in fur… In the large aquatic mammals stage two of the adaptation to the water is dispensing with body hair altogether, as in dolphins and seacows and hippopotamuses; this stage also is recapitulated in the unborn human when it sheds the lanugo.” (Pg. 159-160)
Those interested in ‘unconventional’ perspectives on human evolution may enjoy this book.
Elaine Morgan (1920-2013) was a Welsh writer for television, as well as the author of numerous books such as 'The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis,' 'The Scars of Evolution,' 'The Descent of Woman,’ etc.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 1995 book, “A generation ago it was still common for books about the evolution of our species to be based on the tacit assumption that the archetypal human being was a male. To a large extent that has been corrected… This is not a mere concession to political correctness… natural selection would never favor one sex at too great a cost to the other. However, one form of unconscious bias is still operative. … there is a tendency in discussion about human evolution to overlook the fact that at every step… there were not only males and females, but also babies, infants and children.” (Pg. vii-viii) She adds, “This book… is an attempt to speculate about why our children evolved in the way they did.” (Pg. x)
She notes, “The evolution of the placental mammals was one of the major milestones in the history of life on earth… the balance of benefit in becoming placental was extremely one-sided. The placental offspring is … warm and well-fed in an unchanging environment---even better than an eggshell because it is expandable.” (Pg. 18-19)
She states, “A great many … mammals have young that are born hairless… the human fetus has already acquired a coat of fur and then shed it… By the 20th week the head, face, body and limbs are completely covered with hair… We have not, in fact, ‘retained’ the primal hairless condition---we have REGAINED it.” (Pg. 36-37)
She asserts, “The only conclusion to be drawn from comparisons between the later stages of ape and human prenatal development is that the human body at some stage of its evolution became modified to fit the requirements of a totally different habitat.” (Pg. 41)
She reports, “Those who have experienced both water-birthing and traditional deliveries often report their impression that the baby, as well as the mother, seems to find water-birthing a less stressful process…. If it could be proved that babies did prefer the birthing pool, it would not be surprising… the new-born [discovers]… that he has suddenly become a lot heavier… and that it is cold. These perceptions can come to him a little less suddenly is he spends a brief transitional time in the weightless medium he is accustomed to… that is maintained at blood heat.” (Pg. 89-90)
She notes, ‘[Raymond] Dart was led to believe that the savannah was the true cradle of humankind… The hypothesis suggested that the African forests shrank… some apes were forced out onto the more challenging habitat of the grasslands. They lost their fur to keep cool, evolved bigger brains to fashion tools and weapons, ran on two legs to chase after game, and learned to speak… The central weakness of this scenario has always been that other primates---baboons, vervet monkeys.. savannah chimpanzees---have also left the forest to live on the savannah… But none of them has ever acquired … a single one of the characteristics which distinguish humans from apes. They have all remained hairy and quadrupedal and unable to speak. In recent years it has become clear that the imagined sequence of events basic to savannah theory was incorrect…. Since the move to the savannah has so long been held to be the whole raison d’être of the process of humanization, this new scenario has been difficult to assimilate.” (Pg. 156-157)
She asserts, “The only serious alternative to the moribund savannah theory is the Aquatic Apr Theory (AAT)… A brief outline is necessary here… At around the time of the split from the apes, there was one major and dramatic environmental event at the northern end of the Rift Valley. A large area of what is not continental Africa---corresponding to … the Afar Triangle---was flooded by the sea…. It remained flooded for hundreds of thousands of years, until it became land-locked at the eastern side and began to evaporate…. Leaving a vast salt plain. That area of Africa was part of a wide belt of tropical forest crossing North Africa and Asia.
“The AAT proposed that some of the indigenous apes living in that region could have been but off from the rest of the ape population and forced to adapt to a semi-aquatic life in flood plains or coastal marshlands or off-shore islands for up to a million years. Finally the drying up of the sea of Afar caused them to follow the waterways of the Rift Valley upstream and inland to the riverside and lakeside sites where virtually all of the African hominid fossils have been discovered.
“The strongest evidence in support of the AAT is anatomical. A list can be drawn up of all the physical features distinguishing humans from apes… None of these features is found in savannah mammals. But examples of all of them can be found among those species of mammals which have adapted to aquatic or semi-aquatic life…. IN the context of this book the question is whether a semi-aquatic stage in the evolution of humans would offer a possible explanation for some of the anomalous features of our offspring, before and after birth.” (Pg. 158-159)
She continues, “If an ancestral hominid had had to adapt to more aquatic surroundings as suggested, it would in the first instance have ventured into water while still covered in fur… In the large aquatic mammals stage two of the adaptation to the water is dispensing with body hair altogether, as in dolphins and seacows and hippopotamuses; this stage also is recapitulated in the unborn human when it sheds the lanugo.” (Pg. 159-160)
Those interested in ‘unconventional’ perspectives on human evolution may enjoy this book.
August 13, 2020
I read Elaine Morgan's Descent of Woman over 30 year ago and found it amazing. So I had high hopes for this. However while her account of the development of the child from conception through the growth of the foetus into early childhood, constantly comparing it with the development of primates and other mammals is fascinating (the growth and dissolution of the lanugo - complete body hair and development of the sebaceous layer and glands is particularly interesting), Morgan has no great new theory and only in the closing chapters refers it back to the Aquatic Ape Theory, which was the cornerstone of her previous book. There are some interesting questions about evolution now that the balance between the needs of the child and the mother have changed, but there are no real new theories that are explored in the same depth and I suspect that it is now 25 years out of date. Still a good read.
May 25, 2018
I read this years and years ago and have given it away several times and find myself recommending it more than most any other book. Everybody, but especially every parent should read this book. Lots of great insights about humanity, parenting, and especially the genius of your child.
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December 28, 2016I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14339936
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14339936
January 17, 2009
I just finished this and it is quite short (always encouraging). Ms Morgan and I go back a long way. I read 'The Descent of Woman' in the '70s. She's an excellent writer and she seems to effortlessly explain quite complex stuff, including tossing in references if you want to go verify what she says. This makes her highly readable.
Then there is what she says. This is about why human children are the way they are. She's arguing against the generally accepted notion that pretty much everything we see in a child is something it will need to turn into an adult. 'An adult is just a child's way of producing another child'. Huh? Well think about it. The child state has evolved to do its own thing. It is not just an immature adult.
She did a similar thing in 'The Descent of Woman'. Everyone was busily explaining that we (men) are the way we are because of hunting on the savannah. Morgan then asked: why are woman like this then? And proceeded to explain much with the idea that we spent a lot of time in the water, not on the savannah.
The aquatic phase comes up here too and she makes very convincing arguments (to me anyway, I gather this idea is still controversial).
Then there is what she says. This is about why human children are the way they are. She's arguing against the generally accepted notion that pretty much everything we see in a child is something it will need to turn into an adult. 'An adult is just a child's way of producing another child'. Huh? Well think about it. The child state has evolved to do its own thing. It is not just an immature adult.
She did a similar thing in 'The Descent of Woman'. Everyone was busily explaining that we (men) are the way we are because of hunting on the savannah. Morgan then asked: why are woman like this then? And proceeded to explain much with the idea that we spent a lot of time in the water, not on the savannah.
The aquatic phase comes up here too and she makes very convincing arguments (to me anyway, I gather this idea is still controversial).
September 12, 2008
I first read this book a couple of years ago for a physical anthropology class. I picked it up again and thought it was even more interesting the second time through. It is a book about human evolution, but it looks at evolution of the child not merely the human adult. In addition it includes a new theory that human evolution might have included an aquatic phase. Many of the characteristics that seperate us from other apes are often found in mammals that spend a lot of time in the water, such as: we are hairless, and we can control our breathing. It is an interesting theory for those who believe in evolution as a product of nature or by intelligent design. It is also fairly easy to read. It does not contain the references of scholarly work, which at times would be nice to have.
November 8, 2013
Re-reading actually. I love to delve into Elaine Morgan's early mankind world. The explanations are understandable and intriguing. In the chapter interacting I saw first hand the behaviors Ms. Morgan was using in her theory. Were the parenting chapter I would say is from a time of Grandparental vision, believing men to believe babies is a thing women have and their care a woman's responsibility. Not saying that there aren't a few men today that epitomise the old version of father, but my experience has lead me to see a new version that is happily willing to care for their infant children.
If you have an interest in Anthropology or are fascinated by artifacts of Early Man, then Elaine Morgan's alterntive theories may intrgue you.
If you have an interest in Anthropology or are fascinated by artifacts of Early Man, then Elaine Morgan's alterntive theories may intrgue you.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews