Modern Humans

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Modern Humans
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Homo antecessor

• represented by 800,000-year-old specimens from
  Gran Dolina, Spain
• possibly ancestral to both H. sapiens and H.
  heidelbergensis
• most researchers dont draw the distinction

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Homo heidelbergensis

• Discovered in 1907 near Heidelberg, Germany
• dates to 800,000 to 100,000 years B.P.
• 1,283 average cranial capacity
• modern body proportions
• could probably speak
• probably ancestral to both H. sapiens and H.
  neanderthalensis

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Homo heidelbergensis
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Archaic Homo sapiens

• Archaic Homo sapiens (300,000-35,000 B.P.)
  includes Homo neanderthalensis (Neandertals,
  130,000-35,000 years ago) and H. heidelbergensis
  (800,000-100,000 B.P.)
• It is likely that the Archaic Homo sapiens
  population was most concentrated in tropical
  regions, but thus far more work has been done in
  Europe.
• The range of Homo sapiens was even more extensive
  than that of Homo erectus

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Transitioning

• Modern humans appeared on the scene more than
  50,000 years ago
• Evolving from homo erectus
• There are mixed trait fossils which have led to
  disagreement over how the evolution took place
• Neandertals were the first premodern humans to be
  discovered
• Skeletal traits showed bipedalism, and the larger
  brains of modern humans

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Homo neanderthalensis

• discovered in the Neander Valley (Tal) near
  Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1856 first pre-human
  ever discovered
• massive brain--about 1,400cc on average--larger
  than modern humans
• relatively large torso and short limbs, large,
  broad nasal passages for adaptation to cold
  climate
• Neandertal front teeth were extremely large and
  the remains of these show evidence of wear
  (chewing hides?)
• later Neandertal remains show a decrease in the
  robustness of the front teeth and face,
  suggesting the use of tools (Mousterian) replaced
  teeth, and suggesting selection against the
  larger teeth (possibly due to infections in
  crowded jaws)
• retained occipital torus, some mid-facial
  prognathism
• flexed cranial base and modern hyoid bone
  probable language

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Homo neanderthalensis
The skull of the classic Neandertal found in 1908
at La Chapelle-aux-Saints.
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Neandertals in Relation to AMHs

• Two basic models attempt to answer the debate
  about Neandertals Place in Homo sapiens
  ancestry.
• Neandertals were fully Homo sapiens, their
  differences constituting a minor sub-specific
  variation that disappeared as Neandertals were
  assimilated into the broader H. sapiens
  population.
• Replacement Hypothesis Neandertals were the
  product of a split within the H. erectus
  population, wherein one side moved into northern
  Europe and became Neandertals, and the other side
  evolved into Homo sapiens (Anatomically Modern
  Humans--or AMHs) in the Middle East, Africa, or
  Asia, and then drove Neandertals to extinction
  upon moving into their territories.

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Neandertals in Relation to AMHs

• Neandertals differed from AMHs in their
  comparatively rugged skeletons and faces, huge
  front teeth, larger cranial capacity, and greater
  sexual dimorphism.
• However, these differences were exaggerated on
  the basis of a misinterpretation of the La
  Chapelle-aux-Saints find, which turned out to be
  the skeleton of an old Neandertal man who had
  suffered from osteoarthritis.
• Fossil evidence and dating seems to support the
  assimilation hypothesis, but mtDNA seems to
  support the replacement hypothesis.

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Neandertal Tools - Mousterian

• Named after a rock shelter at Le Moustier, SW
  France
• more flake tools than Acheulean, fewer axes
• used for scraping hides or working wood
• some were attached to handles (tomahawk- or
  spear-like)
• Levallois technique of flaking
• butchering sites and base camps

Flaked tools from late Neandertal sites in French
rock shelters (Mousterian)
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Neandertals - Original Cave Men

• Neandertal remains found primarily in caves and
  rock shelters in Europe and the Middle East
• Many homesites out in the open, particularly in
  eastern Europe
• river-valley houses
• framed with wood
• covered in skins
• Probably moved to higher ground to hunt grazing
  animals for meat, skins

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Purposeful Burial

• Le Moustier
• A fifteen year old was found with a fashioned axe
  near his hand
• An entire family plot was unearthed
• At Shanidar
• About 60,000 years ago, a body had been laid to
  rest in a cave and on a bed of wild flowers

Recreation of Shanidar Cave
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Neandertal Language

• cranial base flexure
• large brain
• modern hyoid bone
• hunting/gathering lifestyle
• group size
• stone tool creation
• lack of chin

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What happened to Neandertals?

• H. neanderthalensis coexisted with H. sapiens for
  at least 20,000 years, perhaps as long as 60,000
  years
• What happened?
• Neandertals interbred with H. sapiens
• Neandertals were killed off by H. sapiens
• H. sapiens drove Neandertals into extinction by
  competition

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Cro-Magnon Man

• Oldest fossils of modern humans
• Come from Klasies River mouth in Africa and are
  as old as 100,000 years B.P.
• Other old fossils of modern humans
• come from Israel and date to between 50,000 years
  B.P. and 90,000 years B.P.
• Cro-Magnon humans
• 35,000 years B.P. in western Europe

Artists reconstruction of a Cro-Magnon man
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Origins of Modern Humans

• Regional-Continuity Model
• Milford Wolpoff, University of Michigan
• humans evolved more or less simultaneously across
  the entire Old World from several ancestral
  populations
• Rapid-Replacement Model
• Chris Stringer, Natural History Museum, London
• humans evolved only once--in Africa from H.
  heidelbergensis ancestors--and then migrated
  throughout the Old World, replacing their archaic
  predecessors
• also called the Out of Africa model by
  proponents and the Killer Ape hypothesis by
  detractors
• Combination Theory

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About Eve mtDNA

• Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
• Only the mother contributes mtDNA to an
  offspring, and this occurs through cloning, thus
  only mutation may change the pattern of mtDNA
  from one generation to the next.
• Researchers from Berkeley generated a
  computerized model of Homo evolution, based upon
  the average rate of mutation in known samples of
  mtDNA.
• The model describes an evolutionary tree, at the
  base of which is a single female, called Eve,
  in sub-Saharan Africa 200,000 B.P., from whom all
  modern humans have descended.

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Human Population Distribution
The known distribution of human populations at
approximately 130,000 to 35,000 B.P.
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Advances in Technology

• Tool-making technology shifted from flaking
  (Mousterian) to the making of blades, which is
  much more efficient and allows for greater
  specialization and diversity.
• An increase the distribution and number of
  technological remains is evidence of an overall
  increase in Homos population.
• Tool Diversity
• Different tool shapes, in connection with other
  site remains, can be associated with specific
  tasks, thus giving evidence as to how ancient
  human populations fit in their ecological niches.

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New Tool Techniques

• Indirect percussion
• Pressure flaking
• Creation of atlatls

Left Atlatls Above Indirect percussion Right
Indirect percussion
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Tool-making Timeline
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Self-Expression

• Art
• Traces of art found in beads , carvings, and
  paintings
• Cave paintings in Spain and southern France
  showed a marked degree of skill
• Subject of painting
• Mostly animals on bare walls
• Subjects were animals favored for their meat and
  skins
• Human figures were rarely drawn due to taboos and
  fears that it would somehow harm others
• Female figurines
• Called venuses, these figurines depicted women
  with large breasts and broad hips
• Perhaps it was an example of an ideal type, or
  perhaps an expression of a desire for fertility

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Cave Art
Cave paintings from 20,000 years ago at
Vallon-Pont-dArc in southern France (left) and
from Lascaux, in southwest France
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The Mesolithic - Food Procurement

• The Mesolithic era (11,000 to 9,000 yBP) saw the
  domestication of the dog, the development of food
  preservation techniques, the spread of the bow
  and arrow, the development of wood and leather
  working, and actual carpentry.
• Gathering
• Gathering, rather than hunting, became the
  mainstay of human economies.
• Role of women in Mesolithic subsistence economies
  probably increased as gathering became more
  important.

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Homesites

• Many homesites were located in caves and rock
  shelters
• But, keep in mind these types of shelters are
  more likely to weather the test of timeother
  types of shelters may have been destroyed with
  the passing of time
• Colder climates saw Homo sapiens using bones of
  mammoths which were used to hold animal skins in
  place

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Humans in the New World

• Verdict is still out on whether or not humans
  arrived in the New World before or after dates
  some 11,500 years ago
• Passage to the New World
• Beringia, the ice sheets, and a passage in
  between allowing for migration from Asia
• Linguistic theory
• Three waves of migration brought with them three
  different forms of language
• Amerind family of language
• Na-Dené family (some American Indian)
• Inuit-Aleut family (4,000 years ago)

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Humans in the New World