Download Chapter 11 Homo sapiens sapiens

Chapter 11
Homo sapiens
sapiens
Chapter Outline
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The Origin and Dispersal of Homo sapiens
sapiens (Anatomically Modern Human Beings)
The Earliest Homo sapiens sapiens
Discoveries
Technology and Art in the Upper Paleolithic
Summary of Upper Paleolithic Culture
Homo sapiens sapiens
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Members of early Homo sapiens sapiens are
our direct kin.
They were much like us skeletally, genetically,
and (most likely) behaviorally.
They were the first hominids that we can
confidently refer to as “fully human.”
Questions About the Origin and
Dispersal of H. sapiens sapiens
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When did H. sapiens sapiens first appear?
Where did the transition take place? In one
region or in several?
What was the pace of evolutionary change?
How fast did the transition occur?
How did the dispersal of H. sapiens sapiens to
other areas of the Old World take place?
Theories of Human Origins
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Complete Replacement Model
Regional Continuity Model
Partial Replacement Model
Complete Replacement Model
(Recent African Evolution)
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Developed by British paleoanthropologists Christopher
Stringer and Peter Andrews.
Proposes anatomically modern populations arose in
Africa in the last 200,000 years.
They migrated from Africa, completely replacing
populations in Europe and Asia.
Does not account for the transition from archaic H.
sapiens to modern H. sapiens anywhere except Africa.
Partial Replacement Model
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Proposed by Günter Bräuer of the University
of Hamburg.
Postulates the earliest dates for African
modern Homo sapiens at over 100,000 y.a.
Partial Replacement Model
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Initial dispersal of H. sapiens sapiens from
South Africa was influenced by environmental
conditions.
Moving into Eurasia, modern humans
hybridized with resident groups, eventually
replacing them.
The disappearance of archaic humans was
due to both hybridization and replacement.
Regional Continuity Model
(Multiregional Evolution)
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Associated with paleoanthropologist Milford
Wolpoff of the University of Michigan.
Populations in Europe, Asia, and Africa
continued evolutionary development from
archaic H. sapiens to anatomically modern
humans.
The Regional Continuity Model
(Multiregional Evolution)
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Question: How did modern humans evolve in
different continents and end up so physically
and genetically similar?
Explanation:
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Due to gene flow between archaic populations,
modern humans are not a separate species.
Earlier modern H. sapiens did not originate
exclusively in Africa.
Early Homo sapiens Discoveries
From Africa and the Near East
Site
Dates
(y.a.)
Human Remains
Comments
Qafzeh
(Israel)
110,000
20 individuals
(minimum)
Large sample; variability
in expression of modern
traits
Skhu-l
(Israel)
115,000
10 individuals
(minimum)
Earliest evidence of
modern H. sapiens
outside of Africa
Early Homo sapiens Discoveries
From Africa and the Near East
Site
Dates (y.a.)
Human
Remains
Comments
Omo-Kibish
(Ethiopia)
120,000–
80,000?
Cranium and
postcranial
remains
Second individual
shows fewer modern
traits
Klasies River
Mouth (South
Africa)
120,000?
Several
individuals;
fragmentary
Perhaps earliest
modern H. sapiens in
Africa
Early Modern Homo sapiens
Discoveries - Europe, Asia, Australia
Site
Abrigo do
Lagar
Dates
(y.a.)
24,500
Human
Remains
4-year -old
child’s
skeleton
Velho
(Portugal)
Cro-Magnon
(France)
Comments
Shows mixture of traits
Interpreted as evidence of
hybridization
30,000
8 individuals
Famous site of early
modern H. sapiens; some
variability in expression of
modern traits
Early Modern Homo sapiens
Discoveries - Europe, Asia, Australia
Site
Ordos
(Mongolia,
China)
Dates
(y.a.)
50,000
Human Remains
Comments
1 individual
Perhaps earliest evidence
of H. sapiens in Asia
Kow Swamp 14,000(Australia)
9,000
More than 40
individuals (adults,
juveniles, infants)
Very robust individuals
Lake Mungo ?60,000(Australia)
30,000
3 individuals, one a
cremation
Date is controversial;
recent extraction and
analysis of DNA (also
controversial)
Techniques for Dating Middle and
Upper Pleistocene Sites
Technique
Physical Basis
Examples of Use
Uranium series
Radioactive decay of
short-lived uranium
isotopes
Date limestone formations;
estimate age of Jinniushan site in
China and Ngandong site in Java
Thermolumines Accumulation of
cence (TL)
electrons in certain
crystals released
during heating
Date ancient flint tools; provide
key dates for the Qafzeh site
Electron spin
resonance
(ESR)
Date dental enamel; corroborate
dating various sites in Israel, Java,
South Africa, and Australia
Measurement of
trapped electrons
The New World
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Ancestors of Native Americans reached the
New World through migration over the Bering
Land Bridge over many millennia.
Debates continue, but at present, the only
direct evidence of hominids in the New World
date to about 12,000 y.a.
The Upper Paleolithic
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Cultural period began in western Europe
approximately 40,000 years ago.
Five industries based on tool technologies:
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2.
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5.
Chatelperronian
Aurignacian
Gravettian
Solutrean
Magdalenian
Cultural Periods of the European
Upper Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic
(beginnings) Cultural Periods
17,000
21,000
27,000
40,000
Magdalenian Solutrean
Gravettian
Aurignacian
Chatelperronian
Middle
Paleolithic Mousterian
Cave Art
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Majority comes from southwestern France and
northern Spain.
Grotte Chauvet
– Dating has placed the cave painting during the
Aurignacian period more than 30,000 y.a.
– Images include stylized dots, human handprints and
animal representations.
– Among the archaeological traces are dozens of
footprints on the cave floor produced by bears as
well as humans.
Africa
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Rock art is found in southern Africa dating to
between 28,000 and 19,000 y.a.
Personal adornment dates back to 38,000 y.a.
in the form of beads made from ostrich shells.
Excavations in the Katanda area show
remarkable bone craftsmanship.
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Intricate bone tools resembling harpoons were
made from the ribs of large mammals.