McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 1 9 The Genus Homo Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity 11 th Edition Conrad Phillip Kottak

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2 The Genus Homo Early HomoEarly Homo Out of Africa I: Homo ErectusOut of Africa I: Homo Erectus Archaic Homo SapiensArchaic Homo Sapiens The Neandertals Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHs)Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHs)

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 3 Early Homo –Not very different from the australopithecines in terms of body size and shape Homo habilis—earliest members of our genus

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 4 Early Homo –Sharp contrast between H. habilis (1.8 m.y.a.) and early H. erectus ( m.y.a.) suggests an acceleration in hominid evolution Supports punctuated equilibrium model of evolution—model proposing that most species were produced by genetic drift, occurring in relatively quick leaps (of 50,000 years, or so) interspersing long periods of relative stasis (of several million years) Homo habilis

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 5 Early Homo –With the emergence of H. erectus there is rapid proliferation in number and diversity of tools being made –Cultural treatment of food began to select for smaller dentition –Cultural manipulation of the environment allowed erectus to exploit a wider array of environments Homo habilis

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 6 Out of Africa : Homo erectus Paleolithic Tools –Three Paleolithic Divisions Lower Paleolithic (Homo erectus) Middle Paleolithic (archaic Homo sapiens, including Neandertals) Upper Paleolithic (Homo sapiens sapiens, up to 15,000 years ago)

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 7 Out of Africa : Homo erectus Paleolithic stone toolmaking marked by advancing refinement of technique, recognizable groupings, called toolmaking traditions. Basic distinction between core and flake tools The primary tradition of the Lower Paleolithic is the Acheulian Paleolithic Tools –Technique Differentiation

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 8 Out of Africa : Homo erectus –Interrelated changes in biology and culture increased human adaptability Acheulian tools and essentially modern bipedalism aided hunting Biological changes increased hunting efficiency H. erectus’ average brain size (1000 cc) double australopithecines’ Adaptive Strategies of Homo erectus

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 9 Out of Africa : Homo erectus H. erectus’ bipedalism, the—relative to the australopithecines—de-emphasis on chewing (smaller molars), and emphasis on front teeth (possibly for eating flesh) suggest hunting and gathering as primary adaptive strategy Adaptive Strategies of Homo erectus –Hunting and Gathering

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 10 Out of Africa : Homo erectus Fire part of human adaptive kit by this time Adaptive Strategies of Homo erectus –Hunting and Gathering Skeletal evidence for hunting and gathering is supported by site remains, such as those found at Terra Amata (approximately 300,000 years ago)

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 11 Out of Africa : Homo erectus Adaptive Strategies of Homo erectus –Hunting and Gathering Evidence confirms the cooperative hunting of large animals and the manufacture of complicated tools Activities might have been too complex to have gone on without some kind of language Seems plausible to assume H. erectus had rudimentary speech

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 12 Out of Africa : Homo erectus Evolution in Tool Making –Insert Figure 9.1

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 13 Out of Africa : Homo erectus Rear Views of Three Skulls of H. erectus and One of “archaic” Homo sapiens (a Neandertal) –Insert Figure 9.2

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 14 Out of Africa : Homo erectus –Homo erectus was at least as variable a species as is Homo sapiens Dmanisi, in former Soviet Republic of Georgia, produced two skulls dated to m.y.a. Fossils also found in Tanzania, China, and Europe The Evolution and Expansion of Homo erectus

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 15 Out of Africa : Homo erectus The Evolution and Expansion of Homo erectus Many paleoanthropologists now consider Dmanisi, and another fossil from Nariokotome, a new species, Homo ergaster, which is intermediate between H. habilis and H. erectus

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 16 Out of Africa : Homo erectus Fossil found in Heidelberg, Germany, called Homo heidelgergensis, may refer to group of hominids describes as either late H. erectus or archaic H. sapiens –The Evolution and Expansion of Homo erectus

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 17 Out of Africa : Homo erectus Summary of Data on Homo Fossil Groups –Insert Table 9.1

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 18 Archaic Homo sapiens Archaic Homo sapiens (300,000 to 25,000 B.P. ) encompasses earliest members of our species, along with Neandertals (130,000-28,000 years ago) Homo’s tolerance of environmental diversity increased Probably many more people in the tropics than in Europe during ice ages

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 19 The Neandertals –Neandertals were stocky, with large trunks relative to limb length—phenotype that minimizes surface area and conserves heat –Massive nasal cavities of Neandertal fossils suggest long, broad noses to expand the area for warming and moistening air Cold-Adapted Neandertals

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 20 The Neandertals Probably used for many jobs later done by tools The face, particularly the large browridge, was designed to support considerable stress on the front teeth Later Neandertal remains show decrease in robustness of the front teeth and face, suggesting the use of tools (Mousterian) replaced teeth, and suggesting selection against larger teeth Cold-Adapted Neandertals –Neandertal front teeth were extremely large and show evidence of wear

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 21 The Neandertals –Current prevailing view proposes H. erectus split into separate groups, one ancestral to Neandertals and other ancestral to H. sapiens sapiens— anatomically modern humans (AMHs) The Neandertals and Modern People

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 22 The Neandertals The Neandertals and Modern People –Some propose modern humans evolved in Africa, Asia, Central Europe, or the Middle East and eventually colonized Western Europe, displacing Neandertals Neandertals differed from AMHs in their comparatively rugged skeletons and faces, huge front teeth, larger cranial capacity, and greater sexual dimorphism

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 23 The Neandertals The Neandertals and Modern People –Differences 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

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 24 The Neandertals Skhül V –Insert Figure 9.4

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 25 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) –AMHS likely to have evolved from an archaic H. sapiens African ancestor –AMHS spread to other areas, including Western Europe, where they replaced, or interbred with, Neandertals, whose robust traits eventually disappeared Current interpretation of fossil evidence and dating favor replacement hypothesis

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 26 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) Focused on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) –Only mother contributes mtDNA –Concluded that everyone alive today has mtDNA that descends from a woman (dubbed “Eve”) who lived in sub-Saharan Africa around 200,000 years ago Out of Africa –Researchers from Berkeley generated a computerized model of Homo evolution, based upon the average rate of mutation in known samples of mtDNA

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 27 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) Samples of DNA from modern populations worldwide show only 5 to 8 differences Neandertals coexisted with modern humans in Middle East for thousands of years Out of Africa –DNA extracted from Neandertal bone showed 27 differences with modern DNA

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 28 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) 1997 discovery of 3 anatomically correct skulls in Ethiopian Valley date back to 150,000 years ago Gives additional support for view that modern humans originated in Africa and then spread into Europe and Asia Several archaeologists believe they have found early evidence for behavioral modernity in Africa Out of Africa –Recent Fossil and Archaeological Evidence

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 29 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) –Scientists defended two competing theories about origin of anatomically modern humans Multiregional Evolution Out of Africa theory—small group of modern people arose recently in one place (Africa), then spread out and occupied the rest of the world

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 30 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) –Evolutionary advances more wide spread Bands have always maintained relations with neighbors, including interbreeding Linked by gene flow, humans in every region could and would share any beneficial mutation that arose in any one place Proponents note fossil record shows long-term regional continuity rather than an abrupt shift around 200,000 years ago when the Eve supporters date the appearance of modern humans Multiregional Evolution

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 31 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) –In Europe, Upper Paleolithic tool making traditionally associated with AMHs Toolmaking technology shifted from flaking (Mousterian) to making of blades Advances in Technology

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 32 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) Advances in Technology –Increase in the distribution and number of technological remains is evidence of an overall increase in Homo’s population

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 33 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) Evidence of how ancient human populations fit in their ecological niches Some features of tools are not so much related to function as they are to traditions specific to a population Advances in Technology –Different tool shapes, in connection with other site remains, can be associated with specific tasks

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 34 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) Middle Paleolithic Tools of the Mousterian Tool-Making Tradition –Insert Figure 9.6

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 35 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) Upper Paleolithic Blade-Tool Making –Insert Figure 9.7

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 36 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) –During glacial period, large game hunting constituted major feature in adaptive strategies of most Homo populations Glacial Retreat

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 37 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) The continental shelf covered with water, creating zone for new marine life that was accessible to humans Biodiversity increased as plains of southwestern Europe replaced by forests Broad-spectrum revolution— result of the postglacial changes; human populations’ means of exploiting their environments became correspondingly more diverse, setting the stage for food production Glacial Retreat –Changes Due to Glacial Retreat

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 38 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) Ceremonies of increase Improved hunting Rites of passage Cave Art –Most cave paintings concentrated in southwestern France and northern Spain –Various magical or ritual functions proposed reason for cave paintings:

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 39 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) –Mesolithic followed Upper Paleolithic Marked by trends of diversification called the broad-spectrum revolution The Mesolithic

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 40 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) –Fishhooks –Harpoon tips –Dart tips The Mesolithic –Physical Evidence Most known Mesolithic remains result of archaeological research done in Europe Microliths—small stone tools typical of Mesolithic technology:

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 41 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (AMHS) The technology reflects shift from focus on herd game hunting to more varied and specialized activities Generalized, broad-spectrum economies persisted about 5,000 years longer in Europe than in the Middle East The Mesolithic –Physical Evidence