Topic 16: Homo sapiens

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Topic 16 Homo sapiens
400,000 BP to present
Africa, Asia, Europe
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Homo sapiens
1 Archaic Homo sapiens
400,000 - 130,000 BP
2 Homo sapiens neanderthalensis
150,000 - 30,000 BP
3 Homo sapiens sapiens
180,000 BP - present
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Archaic Homo sapiens
Atapuerca 300,000 BP
Steinheim 250,000-200,000 BP
Swanscombe 250,000 BP
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European Neanderthals
La Chapelle 50,000 BP
La Ferrassie 38,000 BP
Combe Grenal 90,000-40,000 BP
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Middle Eastern Neanderthals
Tabun Cave 40,000 BP
Skhul Cave 35,000 BP
Shanidar Cave 45,000 BP
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Skeletal Anatomy

• post-cranial modern

• skull variable

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Archaic Homo sapiens

• brain 1200 -1400 cc

• brow ridges pronounced

• decreased prognathism

• smaller teeth

• foramen magnum forward

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'Classic' Neanderthals

• long low cranial vault

• heavy brow ridges

• cranial capacity 1300-1600 cc

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• chin absent

• large noses

• heavily muscled

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Neanderthal DNA studies

• Neander Valley fossils

• 27 / 28 base pair difference from H.s. sapiens

• Homo neanderthalis?

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Middle Palaeolithic Technology
e.g., Mousterian
100,000 - 40,000 BP

• Neanderthals

• Homo sapiens sapiens

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1. Increased refinement

• Levallois technique

conservation of energy

• Disc-core technique

conservation of resource
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2. Increased Diversity

• more tool types than Acheulian

• composite tools

• variety of tools

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Combe-Grenal
5 distinct tool assemblages

• temporal change?

• Binford functional tool kits?

• Bordes ethnic groups?

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Subsistence

• essentially modern hunters gatherers

• cooperative hunting of big-game

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Mortuary Practices
1st to bury dead

• La Ferrassie (France) family burial

• Shanidar IV (Iraq) flower burial

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Social Consciousness
Care of Handicapped

• La Chapelle aux Saints

• Shanidar I

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Religion / Hunting Magic

• ceremony/ritual

• belief in afterlife

• cave bear cult?

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Beginnings of Art
churingas
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Anatomically Modern Humans
Homo sapiens sapiens
180,000 - present
DNA evidence
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Models

• Out of Africa

• Candelabra