Archaic Homo Sapiens and the Middle Paleolithic

1
Chapter 9

• Archaic Homo Sapiens and the Middle Paleolithic

2
Chapter Outline

• Who was archaic Homo sapiens?
• What was the culture of archaic homo sapiens
  like?
• Who were the Neandertals and what became of them?

3
Archaic Homo sapiens

• Species with modern sized brains in skulls that
  retained ancestral features.
• Descended from Homo erectus, transition took
  place between about 400,000 and 200,000 y.a.
• Neandertals, the best known, lived in Europe and
  western Asia between about 200,000 and 35,000 y.a.

4
Culture of Archaic Homo sapiens

• Made a variety of tools for special purposes.
• Made objects for symbolic purposes.
• Engaged in ceremonial activities.
• Cared for the old and disabled.

5
Appearance of Homo sapiens

• At sites in Europe, Africa, and East Asia,
  fossils have been found that date between 400,000
  and 200,000 y.a.
• These fossils show a mixture of traits of both H.
  erectus and H. sapiens.
• Indicates an evolution from the older into the
  younger species.

6
Levalloisian Technique

• Flake tools produced by this technique were found
  in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and China.
• Could be a case of independent invention or the
  spread of ideas from one part of the world to
  another.

7
Invention of Hafting

• Affixing small stone bifaces and flakes in
  handles of wood to make spears and knives.
• Involved three components handle, stone insert,
  and binding materials.
• Regional stylistic and technological variants are
  clearly evident, suggesting emergence of distinct
  cultural traditions.

8
Archaic Homo sapiens

• 200,000 y.a. populations of archaic H.sapiens
  lived in all parts of the inhabited world.
• The brains of archaic H. sapiens were no
  different in size and organization than our own.
• Utilized culture as a means of adaptation to a
  greater extent than their predecessors.
• They were capable of complex technology and
  sophisticated thought.

9
Mousterian Tradition

• Named after the Neandertal site of Le Moustier,
  France.
• Tools were lighter and smaller than the
  Levalloisian and included hand axes, flakes,
  scrapers, borers, wood shavers, and spears.
• Mousterian peoples buried their dead, cared for
  the disabled, and made objects for symbolic
  purposes.

10
Archaic Homo sapiens AndModern Human Origins

• Multiregional Hypothesis - all populations of
  archaic H. sapiens are easily derivable from
  earlier populations of H. erectus from the same
  regions.
• Eve Hypothesis - transition from archaic to
  anatomically modern H. sapiens took place in one
  population, probably in Africa.