The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

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Chapter 9

• The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their
  Technology

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Chapter Preview

• When Did Anatomically Modern Forms of Homo
  sapiens Appear?
• What Is the Relationship Between Middle
  Paleolithic Homo and Modern Homo sapiens?
• What Was the Culture of Upper Paleolithic Peoples
  Like?

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When Did Anatomically Modern Forms of Homo
sapiens Appear?
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Cro-Magnons

• The remains of ancient people who looked more
  like contemporary Europeans than Neandertals were
  discovered in 1868 at Les Eyzies in France, in a
  rock shelter together with tools of the Upper
  Paleolithic.
• Consisting of eight skeletons, they are commonly
  referred to as Cro-Magnons, after the rock
  shelter in which they were found.

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Cro-Magnons

• This Cro-Magnon skull shows evidence for a
  possible fungal infection on the forehead.

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Cro-Magnons and Anatomical Modernity For Class
Discussion

• Compare this Cro-Magnon skull (bottom) with the
  skull of a Neandertal (top).
• What traits do they have in common? What traits
  are different?

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Cro-Magnons and Anatomical Modernity For Class
Discussion

• Cro-Magnons resemble later populations in
  braincase shape, high broad forehead, narrow
  nasal openings, and common presence of chins
  their faces.
• Like Neandertals, their brow ridges were a bit
  more prominent, their teeth and jaws were just as
  large, and some display the distinctive occipital
  bun of the Neandertals.

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Defining Modernity

• Defining what is anatomically modern is
  surprisingly difficult.
• If we rely on the brain sizes of modern people,
  this had already been achieved by archaic H.
  sapiens.
• Neandertals had average brain sizes 10 larger
  than modern populations.

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Defining Modernity

• Using the reduction of body size is also not
  helpful because there are modern populations
  (like Australian aborigines) that are as robust
  as Neandertals.
• No biological diagnosis of anatomical modernity
  can be both exclusive of archaic populations and
  inclusive of all contemporary humans!

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Defining Modernity For Class Discussion

• Examine these skulls from 20th century Australian
  aborigines.
• How are they similar to archaic Homo sapiens,
  Neandertals, or even Homo erectus?

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Defining Modernity

• Defining modernity in terms of culture also
  raises some questions.
• Behavioral modernity is often associated with the
  new technologies and expressive arts of the Upper
  Paleolithic.

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The Upper Paleolithic

• Upper Paleolithic tool kits are known for a
  preponderance of blade tools, with flint flakes
  at least twice as long as they are wide.
• The earliest blade tools come from sites in
  Africa.
• The Upper Paleolithic archaeological record also
  contains a proliferation of expressive arts such
  as portable figurines and cave art.

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What Is the Relationship Between Middle
Paleolithic Homo and Modern Homo sapiens?
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The Human Origins Debate

• Some propose that Neandertals, evolved into
  anatomically modern versions of Homo sapiens as
  different features of modern anatomy were carried
  to them through gene flow.
• Other propose that anatomically modern humans
  with superior cultural capabilities appeared
  first in Africa about 200,000 years ago,
  replacing existing archaic forms as they spread
  from Africa to the rest of the world.

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Timeline for Human Origins
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The Multiregional Evolution Model

• Argues that some, or all, of the genetic
  variation between the contemporary human
  populations is attributable to genetic
  inheritance (i.e. gene flow) from hominid species
  or sub-species of the genus Homo, that were
  geographically dispersed throughout Asia, Europe,
  and Australasia, prior to the evolution of
  anatomical modern humans.
• Candidate populations suggested by
  multi-regionalists as sources for such genetic
  variation include Asian H. erectus and the
  Neandertals.

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Recent African Origins or Eve Model

• Argues that all contemporary species of genus
  Homo became extinct after the exodus of
  anatomically modern humans out of Africa.
• These extinct human ancestors were too
  genetically and culturally different to
  interbreed with modern human or were out-competed
  due to inferior technology.

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Sorting The Evidence
Morphological Features (a mosaic of features
could indicate gene flow stable differences
would indicate no gene flow) Genetics (shared
DNA and mtDNA could suggest gene flow DNA and
mtDNA uniqueness would suggest no gene
flow) Archaeology (shared cultural traits may
indicate interaction distinct cultural traits
would indicate little to no cultural exchange)
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The Herto Finds

• Hominids found in Ethiopia and dated to 160,000
  years ago.
• The discoverers of these fossils called them Homo
  sapiens idaltu (meaning elder in the local Afar
  language).
• While conceding that these skulls are robust,
  they believe that these skulls have conclusively
  proved the recent African origins hypothesis,
  relegating Neandertals to a side branch of human
  evolution.

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A Mosaic of Anatomical Features

• Some Neandertals have features associated with
  modern humans ex a higher forehead, smaller
  browridges, and chins.
• The earliest anatomically modern human skulls
  from Europe often exhibit features reminiscent of
  Neandertals
• Some typical Neandertal features such as the
  occipital bun are found in diverse living
  populations today such as Bushmen from Southern
  Africa, Finns and Lapps from Scandinavia, and
  Australian aborigines.

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A Mosaic of Anatomical Features
A a Neanderthal with human features B a
robust Cro-Magnon
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The Case of the Portuguese Boy (c. 30,000 ya)
An apparent Neandertal boy with an incipient
chin or a very husky human boy?
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The Case of the Portuguese Boy (c. 30,000 ya)
An incipient chin
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Mitochondrial DNA

• The 16,569 bases in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are
  organized into circular chromosomes present in
  large numbers in every cell.
• The human mtDNA sequence has been entirely
  sequenced with functional genes identified.

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Mitochondrial DNA and the African Eve Hypothesis

• Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of all living
  humans can be traced back to a mitochondrial
  Eve who lived in Africa some 200,000 years ago.
• If this is the case, all other populations of
  archaic H. sapiens, as well as non-African H.
  erectus, would have to be ruled out of the
  ancestry of modern humans.

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Neandertal Mitochondrial DNA

• The mtDNA of Neandertals differs substantially
  from modern Europeans.
• However, the average differences are not as great
  as those seen among living subspecies of the
  single species of chimpanzee.
• Also, the differences between populations
  separated in time by tens of thousands of years
  tell us nothing about differences between
  populations contemporaneous with each other.

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Aurignacian Tradition

• Tool making tradition in Europe and western Asia
  at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic.

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Mousterian and Aurignacian Traditions

• Between 30,000 and 36,500 years ago, Upper
  Paleolithic industries developed from the
  Mousterian tradition of European Neandertals.
  These new Neandertal industries co-existed with
  the Aurignacian industry, usually associated with
  anatomically modern humans.

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What Was the Culture of Upper Paleolithic
Peoples Like?
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Upper Paleolithic Technology

• Upper Paleolithic tool kits are known for a
  preponderance of blade tools, with flint flakes
  at least twice as long as they are wide.
• The earliest blade tools come from sites in
  Africa.

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Upper Paleolithic Tools

• Pressure flaking was used to press off small
  flakes as the final step in stone tool making.
• Burins were used to work bone, horn, antler, and
  ivory into fishhooks, harpoons, and eyed needles.

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Blade Techniques

• During the Upper Paleolithic, a new technique was
  used to manufacture blades.
• The stone is worked to create a striking
  platform long almost parallel-sided flakes then
  are struck around the sides, providing
  sharp-edged blades.

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Pressure Flaking

• Two methods used for pressure flaking in which a
  bone, antler, or wooden tool is used to press
  rather than strike off small flakes.

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Techniques of the Upper Paleolithic

• The Solutrean bifaces of Europe were made using
  the pressure technique. Tools such as eyed
  needles and harpoons began to be manufactured out
  of bone as well.

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Spear Throwers

• Spear-throwers (atlatls) allowed Upper
  Paleolithic people to throw spears from a safe
  distance while maintaining accuracy.
• Upper Paleolithic artists combined artistic
  expression with function, ornamenting
  spear-throwers with animal figures.

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Timeline of Upper Paleolithic Cultural Innovations
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Types of Upper Paleolithic Art

• Carvings in tool handles
• Statues and figurines
• Cave paintings
• Bone flutes and whistles

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Lascaux Cave
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Lascaux Cave

• These 17,000-year-old images, painted on a wall
  in the multichambered Lascaux Cave in the
  Dordogne region of southwest France, were
  discovered in 1940 by 4 teenage boys.
• In addition to the Ice Age animals depicted
  herehorses, wild ox, rhino, and bisonthe
  chambers of Lascaux feature renderings of other
  recognizable species.

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Peche Merle Cave
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Rock Art and Shamanism

• There is a close connection between figurative
  art and shamanism, and many scenes depict visions
  seen in states of trance.
• Distortions in the art, usually of human figures,
  represent sensations felt in a state of trance,
  whereas the geometric designs depict illusions
  that originate in the central nervous system in
  altered consciousness.
• These entoptic phenomena are luminous grids,
  dots, zigzags, and other designs that seem to
  shimmer, pulsate, rotate, and expand.

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Rock Art and Shamanism For Class Discussion

• Examine this rock painting from Australia. Can
  you find any examples of entoptic phenomena?

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Venus Figurines

• Made of stone, ivory, antler or baked clay
• Found from France to Siberia
• Possibly used as fertility figures
• CAUTION interpretations of these figurines often
  rely on contemporary gender norms and cultural
  standards

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Venus Figurines For Class Discussion

• According to art historian LeRoy McDermott, the
  distortions and exaggerations of the female form
  visible in the Venus figurines are a result of
  the perspective taken by female artists
  representing their own bodies.

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Personal Adornment

• Pendants and beads for personal adornment became
  common in the Upper Paleolithic. In Europe, most
  were made by Cro-Magnons, but somelike these
  shown herewere made by Neandertals. The earliest
  undisputed items of personal adornment are some
  40,000-year-old beads from Africa made from
  ostrich egg shell.

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Upper Paleolithic Huts

• Reconstruction of an Upper Paleolithic hut with
  walls of interlocked mammoth mandibles.

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The Spread of Upper Paleolithic Peoples

• By 60,000 years ago, people arrived in Australia
  and New Guinea.
• They crossed at least 90 kilometers of water that
  separated Australia and New Guinea from the Asian
  continent throughout Paleolithic times.

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Sahul

• The greater Australian landmass including
  Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania.
• At times of maximum glaciation and low sea
  levels, these areas were continuous.

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Sunda

• The combined landmass of the contemporary islands
  of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Bali that was
  continuous with mainland Southeast Asia at times
  of low sea levels corresponding to maximum
  glaciation.

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Habitation of Australia and New Guinea

• This figure represents the coastlines of Sahul
  and Sunda now and in the past.
• As sea levels rose with melting glaciers, sites
  of early human habitation were submerged under
  water.

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The Spread of Upper Paleolithic Peoples

• Expanded into regions previously uninhabited by
  their archaic forebears.
• Colonization of Siberia began 42,000 y.a.
• 10,000 years later they reached the northeastern
  part of that region.

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Habitation of the Americas

• Arctic conditions and glaciers in northeastern
  Asia and northwestern North America provided
  opportunities and challenges for ancient people
  spreading to the Americas.
• The Arctic conditions provided a land bridge
  (Beringia) between the continents, yet harsh
  environmental conditions pose considerable
  challenges to humans.

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Paleoindians

• Paleoindians, like their Upper Paleolithic
  contemporaries in Eurasia, were such accomplished
  hunters that they, too, could kill more animals
  than could possibly be used at one time.
• These bones are the remains of some 200 bison
  that Paleoindian hunters stampeded over a cliff
  8,500 years ago.