modern humans appear

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La Chappelle Skull
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Limb Proportions
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Human Limbs
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The Neandertals

• Thomas Henry Huxley (1863), observed that
• Under whatever aspect we view the
  Neandertal cranium, we meet with ape-like
  characters, stamping it as the most pithecoid of
  human crania yet discovered.
• But the size of the brain, he notes, is
  within that of modern humans.
• He concludes that In no sense, then, can
  the Neanderthal bones be regarded as the remains
  of a human being intermediate between Men and
  Apes...It is, in fact, a fair average human
  skull, which might have belonged to a philosopher
  or might have contained the thoughtless brains of
  a savage.

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Modern Human Origins

• So, what are the relationships between the
  Neandertals (and their contemporaries in other
  parts of the Old World) and living humans?
• Multi Regional evolution and Single Origins
  theories rely on different sorts of evidence.
• 1) Multi regional evolution relies primarily on
  fossil evidence from Asia.
• 2) Single Origins emphasizes fossil evidence
  from Africa and comparative genetic evidence from
  living human populations.

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Skulls I
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It should be pointed out that neither the Multi
Regional Evolution theory, or the Single Origins
Theory (Out of Africa) are without problems
and that both ideas are not only totally
contrasting, but both have serious problems
associated with their complete acceptance.
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Single Origins Theory Fossil Evidence

• This theory would be acceptable if fossils were
  found that were modern human in form, but dated
  earlier in time than Neandertals. Clearly, it
  would be difficult to support multi-regional
  evolution if modern humans were around either
  before or at the same time as their presumed
  ancestors, the Neandertals.

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Single Origins Theory The Fossil Evidence

• Three sites in Africa appear to have modern human
  fossil remains, and each seems dated to the time
  of the Neandertals, or earlier.
• Unfortunately, each of these sites has problems
  associated with either the dates or the
  interpretation of the anatomy.
• The Three sites are
• 1) Omo River Basin, Ethiopia
• 2) Border Cave, between South Africa and
  Swaziland
• 3. Klasies River Mouth Cave, South Africa

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Africa Modern
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Omo River Basin, Ethiopia

• Several skulls have been found, all with modern
  human features.
• There is a date of 130,000 years.
• This would appear to be very good evidence that
  modern humans did not evolve from Neandertals.
• However, there are serious problems with the
  dating technique used, and most anthropologists
  have reservations about the correctness of this
  date.

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Omoskull
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Border Cave

• A site located on the border between South Africa
  and the small African Kingdom of Swaziland.
• Site was dug more than 50 years ago by the farmer
  who owned the land, and he was not a skilled
  excavator.
• A number of modern looking skeletons were found
  associated with tools that have been dated to
  more than 100,000 years ago.
• Problem is that archaeologists suspect that the
  skeletons are intrusive burials into the ancient
  deposits.

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South Africa Sites
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Border Cave
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Klasies River Mouth Cave

• A large cave site on the seashore on the very
  most southern part of South Africa.
• Very well excavated, and the human fossil remains
  are clearly directly associated with ancient
  tools and other materials dated to 90-110,000
  years ago.
• The problem here is that the fossils are very
  fragmentary and extremely difficult to interpret.
  The most complete specimen, for example, a lower
  jaw, is very ambiguous.

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Klasjawside
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klasJawTop
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Tabunjaw
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Summary Fossil Evidence for Single Origins Theory

• The three sites in Africa all have a variety of
  difficulties associated with their total
  acceptance as evidence for the early appearance
  of modern humans in Africa. Thus, the evidence
  has to be carefully evaluated.
• There are other sites, however, not in Africa,
  but in Israel, in the Middle East, which would
  appear to offer much better evidence for the very
  early appearance of modern humans.
• We will examine this fossil evidence later on.