Download Chapter 11 Premodern Humans Introduction Okay, here we are

Chapter 11
Premodern Humans
Introduction
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Okay, here we are (finally) talking about a species of hominin that I guess everyone has heard of at some point: Neandertals
(Neanderthals)
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Note I use a different spelling than your textbook which is Neandertal. Both are correct
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So why has anthropology been so fixated on Neandertals (NEANDERTHALS) for over 160 years? They remind us of
what it means to be human

Both by their physical features and their behaviors they are more similar to us than any other of the hominins.

In fact, some anthropologists have suggested they are us.
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All this leads us to one of the themes for the chapter: The Neanderthal Problem.
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This chapter also introduces a species that was split off from Neandertals (Neanderthals): Homo heidelbergensis.
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Finally, the chapter briefly introduces a group of specimens not yet given a scientific name, the Denisovans
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Dispersal of Middle Pleistocene hominins
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There have been discoveries on 3 continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe
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Europe, for the first time, became permanently and densely populated
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These new hominins did not extend the geographic distribution, but instead replaced earlier populations.
When, Where, and What 1
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The Pleistocene (1.8-0.01 mya or 10 kya) -- “The Ice Age”
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Most of the hominins about which we will be talking this chapter lived during the Pleistocene. Here we will begin
using kya (thousand years ago, rather than mya)

We will use these geological terms: the Middle Pleistocene (780 kya-125 kya) & the Upper Pleistocene (125–10
kya)

Archaeologically, we will look at the late Lower Paleolithic and the Middle Paleolithic. This later cultural period:
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Began roughly 30,000–40,000 ya and ending about 10 kya.
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Distinguished by major technological innovations, the creation of the earliest human art widely recognized as
such, and many other accomplishments.
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Is best known from western Europe, similar industries are also known from central and eastern Europe and
Africa.
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During this time there were massive advances and retreats of glaciers (glaciation events).

Of course, this means that the temperature fluctuated with these shifts.

Glaciations were the periods during which the ice sheets covered much of the northern continents
When, Where, and What 2
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The Pleistocene (continued)
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The most traumatic effects of glaciation were felt in Europe and in northern Asia (less in southern Asia and Africa)

In Africa
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Climates did fluctuate, mostly as a result of rainfall changes.
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In southern latitudes the climate becomes wetter during interglacials.
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When there was glaciation, it was more arid in Africa; during the interglacials, it was wetter.
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Food resources were affected
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Migration routes swung as the Sahara expanded and blocked the migration in and out of sub-Saharan
Africa
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In Eurasia
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Interglacials in northern latitudes were associated with warmer temperatures
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During glaciation events, migration routes were also affected as ice sheets advanced, sea levels lowered and
parts of northern areas became uninhabitable.
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The pictures at the right illustrate these effects in Africa
Middle Pleistocene Hominins: Terminology
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In general, the premodern hominins (after 780 kya) replaced Homo erectus, but in some areas there were long periods of coexistence.
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This is especially true in Southeast Asia; this coexistence extended as long as 300 kya.
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These premodern humans were a transitional mix of ancestral and derived characteristics
They retained many Homo erectus features: large face, projected brow ridges, and in many cases the cranial vault
is thick

In other features they were more derived: increased cranial capacity, more rounded braincase, more vertical nose,
and less-angled back of the skull (area called the occipital)
They existed for over 500,000 years and as they spread to 3 continents, it is not surprising that this is a very diverse
group of fossils.
How to name this has been a struggle, but a consensus is being forged:

When I was first being taught paleoanthropology, these fossils were labeled as “archaic Homo sapiens”, but even
then there was a strong disagreement that this term was being used.
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At that time they referred to modern humans as “anatomically modern Homo sapiens sapiens (acronym:
AHMSS).
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Today “archaic Homo sapiens”, have been split apart from the AHMSS and are considered to be a transitional
species called Homo heidelbergensis

Homo heidelbergensis may not represent a truly biological species, but is considered a morphological species.
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Homo heidelbergensis 1
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Africa fossil finds
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Found at several sites, but the best known is Broken Hill (Kabwe) in Zambia

A complete cranium and other cranial and postcranial fragments of several persons were located.

They exhibit a mixture of older and newer physical traits.

Dates to about 600-125,000 years ago
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Bodo is another significant site for Homo heidelbergensis

It is a nearly complete cranium, dating to 600,000 years ago, which makes it among the oldest Homo
heidelbergensis in Africa.

There are cut marks on the cranium that resemble butchery marks and so this cranium was defleshed.
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First evidence of bone processing of hominins by hominins, but the reason for the defleshing is unclear.
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Could be cannibalism, but could be funeral rights also
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Other crania from south and east Africa also show a mixture of traits, The most important of these sites are at Florisbad
& Elandsfontein (South Africa) and Laetoli (Tanzania)
Homo heidelbergensis 2
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European fossil finds
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More fossils of Middle Pleistocene humans have been found in Europe than elsewhere.
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Time line for Europe is across the complete Middle Pleistocene and into the Upper Pleistocene.

At the earlier end (850,000 years ago) is Gran Dolina, in northern Spain where we see strong evidence for a species
separate from Homo erectus

Some debate: Remember the Spanish discoverers think they are a different species (Homo antecessor), but your
textbook suggests they are part of Homo heidelbergensis
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More recent and better studied examples of Homo heidelbergensis are found throughout Europe

Sites include Ehringsdorf & Steinheim (Germany), Petralona (Greece) Swanscombe (England), Arago (France),
and Atapuerca (Spain)
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Again, they are mixture of Homo erectus and derived traits. Among the derived traits are increased cranial
capacity, more rounded occiput, parietal expansion (sides of cranium) and reduced tooth size
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Particularly interesting are from Atapuerca region at the Sima de los Huesos (”pit of bones”) site; these finds are
located close to the Gran Dolina fossils
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At least 28 individuals, 4000 fossil fragments, have been recovered and this represents about 80% of the Middle
Pleistocene finds (Homo heidelbergensis) in the world

Dates differ by type of technique used: 400-500 kya or 600 kya

They have more early-Neanderthal-like morphology, including arching brow ridge, projecting midface and other
features.
Homo heidelbergensis 3
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Asian fossil finds
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Again a mix of Homo erectus and derived traits
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They display a sagittal ridge and flattened nasal bones (primitive as seen by Homo erectus at Zhoukoudian)
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Dali is the most complete skull of the late Middle or early Upper Pleistocene fossils in China.
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Again a mixture, with a cranial capacity of 1,120 cm3
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Dates to about 230-180 kya
At Jinniushan a partial skeleton has been found
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The walls of the braincase are thin and the cranial capacity is about 1,260 cm3
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These two modern traits are surprising in a specimen this old (200 kya years ago)
The Chinese interpret the presence of Homo erectus traits in these specimens differently than Western researchers do.

The Chinese discoverers promote the concept of genetic continuity (as some of these traits can be seen in modern
humans)
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This idea is that they evolved separately and not from Homo sapiens in Europe or Africa (extremely controversial)
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Westerners seen these differences as regional variants, not separate speciation.
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Homo heidelbergensis Culture 1
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The Acheulian tool tradition of Homo erectus carried into the Lower Paleolithic until nearly the very end of the period.
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Acheulian hand axes were common in European depositions.
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At Schöningen, Germany, 6 wooden spears were discovered
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Dating to about 400 kya
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Found with other wooden tools and associated with bones
of horses and other big game. The fossils have butchery
marks.
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Some of the later pre-modern humans in African and Europe
invented a new, and very complex, technique: the Levallois technique (also called the prepared-core method)
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This suggests greater cognitive ability
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Controls flake size and shape, although this is more work, of course
Homo heidelbergensis Culture 2
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During this time populations continued to live in caves and in open-air sites, but increased use of caves may have occurred
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The most recent interpretation about use of fire is quite surprising. They seem to have moved into these cold areas without
the habitual use of fire!
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As mentioned in the previous chapter, at 790 kya we see strong evidence for the use of fire at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov,
Israel
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Even so, habitual use of fire in Europe seems to date to 400-300 kya only
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At the same time as habitual use of fire occurs, there is a shift in how people shelter against the cold:
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By 400-300 kya, Lower Paleolithic hominins were building temporary structures, as we see the concentrations of
bones, stones, and other artifacts at some sites
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At Terra Amata, near Nice, southern France, we see the classic example of this lifeway At Terra Amata they were
eating a wide variety of foods: fruits, vegetables, fish, seeds, nuts, bird eggs, maybe marine resources (major food shift)
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Whether they hunted is still debated
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Outside of a few bits of evidence, such as the Schöningen spears, the record does not show much to support extensive
hunting by these populations.
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While both meat and plants were important food sources, they do not seem to have been true hunter-gatherers at this
time.
Terra Amata (Not pictured)
Neanderthals: Late Pleistocene 1
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Neandertals (Neanderthals) have many characteristics of humans, but they are different, too. Are the differences greatly
significant? This is the Neanderthal Problem
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Until quite recently, Neandertals (Neanderthals) have been increasingly placed by researchers into a separate species:
Homo neanderthalensis. As we will discuss later, this is not supported by the latest genetics.
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Many anthropologists classify Neandertals (Neanderthals) as H. sapiens, but they’re included as a subspecies,
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.
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Yet others are firm: They are us (Homo sapiens)
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The evolutionary roots of Neanderthals reach far back in western Europe, as evidenced by the 400,000-year-old
remains from Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, in northern Spain.
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Neanderthal fossil remains have been found at dates approaching 130,000 years ago, but the book focuses on those
of the last major glaciation (75,000 years ago).
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The Neanderthals remain one of the most debated species, and with the advent of the morphological species, Homo
heidelbergensis, the time frame of Neanderthals is lessened to about 100, 000 years. (130-32 kya)
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Neanderthals: Late Pleistocene 2
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The majority of Neanderthal finds have been in Europe and we tend to think of all Neanderthals as looking like them. This
group is called the classic Neanderthals.
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The classic Neanderthal is a cold-weather adaptation
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Those from eastern Europe, western Asia, and even those from the last interglacial are more gracile.
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Classic Neanderthal characteristics
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The average brain size of Neanderthals is larger than modern Homo sapiens
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Homo sapiens are at 1300-1400 cm3, but Neanderthals are at 1520 cm3
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This larger size may be associated with metabolic efficiency
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In cold weather populations tend to have larger brains (such as the Inuit do)
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Also, remember there is a larger body size, another adaptation to cold weather.

The classic Neanderthal cranium is large, long, low and bulging at the sides
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There is usually an occipital bun, but a reduced occipital angle as compared to Homo erectus
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Their faces project out (so we see them as ‘chinless’) and they possessed large, arching brow ridges
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Postcranially, they were robust, barrel-chested and very strong and their limbs were shorter.
Neanderthals: Late Pleistocene 3
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Western Europe
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La Chapelle-aux-Saints (France) (60-40 kya) was the site of an important 1908 as a nearly complete skeleton was found
in a shallow grave
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The body was in a flexed position and several of the long bones had been placed over the head
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He was about 40 years old, a cranial capacity of about 1,620 cm3, but he was unusually robust and may
represent one extreme of the species.
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A bison was placed on top of these bones
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Flint tools and broken animal bones were placed around the body
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This burial conflicted with the stereotypic descriptions of French anatomist, Marcellin Boule who talked of
Neanderthals as brutish and bent-kneed, using the La Chapelle-aux-Saints as evidence of primitiveness
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He was an extremely well-respected anatomist, but he looked at the arthritis seen in this specimen and declared
Neanderthals as brutes.
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Classic example of how scientists must be careful not to let personal views color interpretations

The La Chapelle-aux-Saints specimen had classic Neanderthal cranium, but his robustness is on the extreme end,
even for Neanderthals.
Neanderthals: Late Pleistocene 4
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Western Europe (continued)
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El Sidríon, northern Spain (49 kya) represents an important new line of evidence.

Twelve individuals were found smashed, butchered, with evidence of cannibalism
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They appear to have died together as a result of a cave collapse.

They show use clues of their social organization/group composition (3 adult males, 3 adult females, 5
children/adolescents, and 1 infant)
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Genetic data shows the adult males were closely related, but the adult females were not
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More recent finds are found at St. Césaire, in SW France
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Date around 35 kya and some think they were co-existing with modern humans.
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Some suggest one result was a new tool tradition consisting of scrapers, points and other stone tools they call
the Chatelperronian tradition (Upper Paleolithic industry found in France and Spain).
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The argument is that Neanderthals borrowed techniques from observations of modern humans and so merged
into a new tradition. Could have been other way around, too.
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From genetic data, we can support they were also exchanging DNA
Neanderthals: Late Pleistocene 5
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Central Europe
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There are quite a few other European classic Neanderthals in Central Europe
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At Krapina (Croatia) there are 70 individuals derived from 1000 fragments.
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With them are 1000 stone tools
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It is an old site (130-110 kya), maybe the oldest for a fully classic Neanderthal features, if a bit less robust.
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Thirty miles from Krapina are the fossil finds at Vindiza (Croatia)
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It is well sequenced through the Upper Pleistocene with many cultural, hominin and faunal data there.
The 35 individuals found at Vindiza represent some of the most recent Neanderthals (date to 42-32 kya)
Dates such as these remind us that Neanderthals and modern humans were in close proximity in that modern humans
were present by about 35 kya
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Neanderthals: Late Pleistocene 6
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Western Asia
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Israel

Several specimens from Israel look more modern and are less robust than the classic Neanderthals

Mugharet-et-Tabun (also called Tabun Cave) dates to about 120-110,000 years ago. This means the female
skeleton found there was contemporary with modern humans
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At Kebara, a partial male skeleton dates to 60,000 years ago and includes the hyoid (useful for language analysis),
as well as most complete thorax and pelvis found to date
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Iraq
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Shanidar is where they have found 9 individuals, 4 of these were deliberately buried
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Shanidar 1 is a skeleton of a male who lived to be 30 to 45 years old, a very old age for prehistoric human.
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His height is estimated at 5 feet 7 inches, and his cranial capacity is 1,600 cm3.
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He had injuries that made it impossible to perform normal activities leading researches to believe he must have
been helped by others.
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Central Asia
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At Teshik-Tash, Usbvekistan, there may be the most eastern of the Neanderthal sites
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The skeleton is of a 9-year old Neanderthal boy, based on recent DNA analysis
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He was buried with 5 pair of wild goat horns and Mousterian tools
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Other finds are noted in southern Siberia (44-37 kya) were also Neanderthals, based on both nuclear DNA and
mtDNA
Denisovans: Hot Topic Find
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This is another of the southern Siberian finds that has hit the news in recent years.
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In 2000 and 2008 remains were found at Denisova Cave (dating to 40-30 kya)
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Right now only one finger bone and two teeth of a young girl have been found so no morphological reconstruction is
possible.
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In 2011 a toe bone was discovered.
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What was possible was DNA analysis.
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Mitochondrial DNA shows significant genetic distance from both Homo sapiens and Neandertals
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The data also suggest the split from Neanderthals/modern humans was over 1 million years ago.
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Recently (2010) the Max Plank Institute sequenced the entire genome from the finger bone.
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The nuclear DNA indicates the girl was dark haired, brown eyed and had dark skin (reported August 31, 2012)
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While distanced from us there was interbreeding. Today we see remnants of Denisovan DNA in Papua New
Guineans (3 %), aboriginal Filipinos and slight amount in some Chinese groups.
Red Deer Cave People: Hot Topic Find
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Another set of fossils (not presented in your book) that were announced in March, 2012.
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The first of these specimens was found in 1979, in southern China
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Dates they lived were 14,500-11,500, but many of their facial features were more primitive than modern populations.
These include a lack of a chin, larger molars, moderate sized brains and heavy brow ridges and thick skull bones.
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Conflicting hypothesis surround them:
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Separate migration out of Africa of primitive Homo sapiens
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Separate Homo species
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A hybrid of modern Homo sapiens with population of archaics already present in China
Middle Paleolithic Culture 1
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Neandertals improved previous techniques by inventing a new variation, Mousterian.
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They trimmed a flint nodule around the edges to form a disk-shaped core.

Each time they struck the edge, they produced a flake, continuing until the core became too small and was
discarded. Also developed the discoid prepared-core technique. Also called “radial core” technique
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They then trimmed the flakes into various forms, such as scrapers, points, and knives.

This industry is characterized by a larger proportion of flake tools than is found in Acheulian tool kits.
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This was an improvement on the prepared-core technique of the Levalloisian technique.
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This is the more cutting edge for the same raw material.

They also developed a wider range of tool types; more tool specialization.
While closely associated with Neanderthals, Mousterian assemblages have also been found with remains of early modern
H. sapiens.
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Early in the last glacial period the Mousterian tool tradition spread across Europe and northern Africa.
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In sub-Saharan Africa, the contemporaneous Middle Stone Age industry is broadly similar to the Mousterian
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Middle Paleolithic Culture 2
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Technology
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The composite tool was one of the most significant Middle Paleolithic innovations.
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Minimally, a tool made of several pieces. For example, a prehistoric knife typically included a handle or shaft, a
chipped stone blade, and binding materials such as glue or sinew to hold the blade firmly in place.
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Developed in Africa as early as the Lower-to-Middle Paleolithic transition, 300,000–200,000 ya.
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They made little use of bone, ivory and antler as raw materials.
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Hunting technology mostly limited to thrusting spears.
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Subsistence
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They were successful hunters, albeit maybe not very efficient

They were limited to the thrusting of spears (asking to get hurt)
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Used close-proximity spears for hunting (spear thrower and bow and arrow weren’t invented until the Upper
Paleolithic).
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Soon after this time though, modern humans began to use the atlatl (spear-thrower) and soon after the bow and
arrow.

Neanderthals sustained injuries usually seen in modern rodeo riders.
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Update: Neanderthals used medicinal plants
Middle Paleolithic Culture 3
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Symbolic behavior
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Many hypotheses as to whether Neanderthals could speak and this is not settled

Prevailing consensus has been that Neandertals were capable of articulate speech.

The book discusses the FOXP2 gene, but does not label as such.
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Mutation of this gene was found to be linked to language problems with syntax and so was a clue to look at it.
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Research determined humans have 7 alterations in this gene as compared to closest relatives and so did the
Neanderthals
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Even if Neanderthals did speak, many researchers suggest they did not have the same language capabilities of
modern Homo sapiens. Others suggest both their brains and their throats were like ours.
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There is a general consequence that modern humans had some kind of a behavioral advantage over the Neanderthals,
but data not there yet to confirm.
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Burials
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Neanderthals deliberately bury their dead
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This goes back at least 90 kya to Tabun

At Atapuerca, Spain at a much older date we see evidence of disposal (burial?) down a shaft of 28 individuals
(400,000 years ago)
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Other sites, once thought of as grave sites, were excavated before rigorous techniques were used and are now
questioned.
Genetic Evidence
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Tremendous advances in past 15 years in sequencing Neanderthal mitochondrial and nuclear DNA
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The more recent the DNA the more likely it is not degraded, but some ancient DNA is intact
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They have managed to extract DNA from a dozen Neanderthals dating to 50-32,000 years ago from in Europe
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Results
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May, 2010: Between 1-4% of most humans DNA is Neanderthal. Exception are African populations (think about
migration patterns)
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December 22, 2010: First report on Denisovans. Read/watch here
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These new data suggest interbreeding of premodern and modern populations
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Breaking news (July 26, 2012): University of Washington reports 3 modern African populations have DNA of
unknown premodern species.
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Breaking news (August 12, 2012): Newest report challenges this interpretation and researchers say similarities result of
shared ancestry
Why should knowing the full genome of Neanderthals help us learn something important about ourselves?
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Much of what makes humans unique is coded in genes that have been altered by evolution in the last few hundred
thousand years.
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By looking at Neanderthal DNA, we can see which genes have been modified.
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We can then begin to explain the biological bases of human intelligence and even perhaps the nature of consciousness.
o
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Close Human Connections
Middle Pleistocene hominins were a diverse group, while regional population sizes were small and often isolated from other
groups.
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There were some general trends, though:
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This group was transitional between Homo erectus and modern humans
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There is much debate on the names, but most paleoanthropologists realize tis is a paleospecies distinction (review
concept in Chapter 5)
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Neanderthals and Denisovans were on the way to speciation, but not completed. Demonstrates that evolution is a
process, not an event.
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