Chapter 14 The Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans

Homo sapiens sapiens  All contemporary populations- Homo sapiens sapiens.  Several fossil forms (100k.y.a.) = same subspecies.  African recent H. sapiens fossils -“near- modern.”

Questions About the Origin and Dispersal of H. sapiens sapiens  When did H. sapiens sapiens first appear?  Where did the transition take place?  In one region or 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  Complete Replacement Model  Regional Continuity Model  Partial Replacement Model

Complete Replacement Model (Recent African Evolution)  By Christopher Stringer and Peter Andrews.  Africa origin in the last 200,000 years.  They migrated from Africa, completely replacing populations in Europe and Asia.  Transition from archaic H. sapiens to modern H. sapiens anywhere except Africa?

Partial Replacement Model  By Günter Bräuer of the University of Hamburg.  Earliest dates for African modern Homo sapiens at over 100,000 y.a.  Initial dispersal from S. Africa- environmental conditions.  Hybridization in Eurasia- eventual replacement.  The disappearance of archaic humans.

Regional Continuity Model (Multiregional Evolution)  By Milford Wolpoff, 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)  Question: How did modern humans evolve in different continents and end up so physically and genetically similar?  Explanation:  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) 110,00020 individuals (minimum) Large sample; variability in expression of modern traits Skhu-l (Israel) 115,00010 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 RemainsComments 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 Dates (y.a.) Human RemainsComments Abrigo do Lagar 24,500 4 y.o. child’s skeleton Shows mixture of traits Velho (Portugal) Interpreted as evidence of hybridization Cro- Magnon (France) 30,000 8 individuals Famous site of early modern H. sapiens; variability in expression of modern traits

Early Modern Homo sapiens Discoveries - Europe, Asia, Australia Site Dates (y.a.) Human Remains Comments Ordos (Mongolia, China) 50,0001 individual Perhaps earliest evidence of H. sapiens in Asia Kow Swamp (Australia) 14,000- 9,000 More than 40 individuals (all ages) Very robust individuals Lake Mungo (Australia) 60, ,000 3 individuals, one cremation Date is controversial; recent extraction and analysis of DNA

The New World  Bering Land Bridge over many millennia.  New World hominids date to about 12,000 y.a.

Anatomically modern Homo sapiens and Homo floresiensis

The Upper Paleolithic  Western Europe- approximately 40,000 years ago.  Industries based on tool technologies: 1. Chatelperronian 2. Aurignacian 3. Gravettian 4. Solutrean 5. Magdalenian

Upper Paleolithic Tools  (a) Burin. A very common Upper Paleolithic tool.  (b) Solutrean blade. This is the best-known work of the Solutrean tradition.  Solutrean stonework is considered the most highly developed of any Upper Paleolithic industry.

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 PaleolithicMousterian

Cave Art  Most from southwestern France and northern Spain.  Grotte Chauvet  Aurignacian period more than 30,000 y.a.  Images: stylized dots, human handprints and animal representations.  Dozens of footprints on the cave floor produced by bears and humans.

Africa  Rock art-in southern Africa (between 28,000 and 19,000 y.a.)  Personal adornment- 38,000 y.a., beads made from ostrich shells.  Remarkable bone craftmanship- in the Katanda area.  Intricate bone tools resembling harpoons were made from the ribs of large mammals.

Human Evolution  Overview of past evolution  What may human evolution lead to?  om/ET/ om/ET/