The Ape that Stood on Its Own Two Feet: Hominids of the Plio-Pleistocene

We’re just a blink of Time’s eye

What's this "Plio-Pleistocene" thing? Or, What caused human evolution?

The Pleistocene: Ice Ages

Why glaciers? Perhaps a ‘wobbly’ earth

Glaciers and the earth Compression of climatic zones up to 30° latitude

Massive ice sheets as much as 1.5 kilometers thick covered much of the northern hemisphere. 32% of land mass was ice- covered (10% now)

Glaciers and the earth Climatic compression detail: North America

Glaciers and the earth Sea level changes of up to 100m (300+ feet)

As the glaciers went away, sea levels rose

Time (1000 Years) Conditions North America Alps Northern Europe Poland- Russia 0-18Interglacial 18-67GlacialWisconsinWurmVistulaVarsovian InterglacialSangamonUznachEemMasovian GlacialIllinoisanRiss Warthe/Saal e Cracovian InterglacialYarmouthHoettingHolstein Sandomiria n GlacialKansanMindelElsterJaroslavian InterglacialAftonian CromerLikhvin GlacialNebraskanGunz Menapian Interglacial Waalian Glacial Donau IIWeybourne Interglacial Tiglian Glacial Donau I About 20 Glacial Advances 2000 (2 M.Y.) Beginning of Pleistocene 4000 (4 M.Y.) Dwarf forests still in Antarctica 15 M.Y.First Glaciation in Antarctica World glacial sequences: A complex sequences of advances and retreats

All this led to… Environmental stresses on species Increased mutation Increased competition for econiches Population movements

Which led to… Early Man

Home The Great Rift Valley of East Africa

Homo floreiensis One view of the sequence Click on skull image for information. Click for a list with details of these and other specimens

A slightly different view

1 HOMO HABILIS ~ NICKNAME: Handyman LIVED: 2.4 to 1.6 million years ago HABITAT: Tropical Africa DIET: Omnivorous – nuts, seeds, tubers, fruits, some meat 2 HOMO SAPIEN ~ NICKNAME: Human LIVED: 200,000 years ago to present HABITAT: All DIET: Omnivorous - meat, vegetables, tubers, nuts, pizza, sushi 3 HOMO FLORESIENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Hobbit LIVED: 95,000 to 13,000 years ago HABITAT: Flores, Indonesia (tropical) DIET: Omnivorous - meat included pygmy stegodon, giant rat 4 HOMO ERECTUS ~ NICKNAME: Erectus LIVED: 1.8 million years to 100,000 years ago HABITAT: Tropical to temperate - Africa, Asia, Europe DIET: Omnivorous - meat, tubers, fruits, nuts 5 PARANTHROPUS BOISEI ~ NICKNAME: Nutcracker man LIVED: 2.3 to 1.4 million years ago HABITAT: Tropical Africa DIET: Omnivorous - nuts, seeds, leaves, tubers, fruits, maybe some meat 6 HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Goliath LIVED: 700,000 to 300,000 years ago HABITAT: Temperate and tropical, Africa and Europe DIET: Omnivorous - meat, vegetables, tubers, nuts 7 HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Neanderthal LIVED: 250,000 to 30,000 years ago HABITAT: Europe and Western Asia DIET: Relied heavily on meat, such as bison, deer and musk ox

‘Co-evolution’ of biology and culture

Controversial, but exciting

Why don’t we know all that much? Why all the controversy? All the fossil specimens we’ve found so far would fit into the back of one pickup truck!

Ardipithecus ramidus

The Australopithecines Australoptihecus anamensis

Raymond Dart and the 1924 Taung discovery Taung Child (Australopithecus africanus) Australopithecus africanus Paranthropus robustus Robert Broom ( ) The Australopithecines Mary and Louis Leakey with a Zinjanthropus boisei palate and a modern human skull

Laetoli footprints Australopithecus afarensis Tim White Donald Johanson with "Lucy"

Homo habilis

The Paleolithic

Homo erectus What did Homo erectus look like?

The origins of complex cultural practices Homo erectus Stone-knapping advances that resulted in Acheulean bifacial tools The beginnings of shelter construction The control and use of fire Increased dependence on hunting Communal Hunting Care of the infirm

Neanderthal The original caveman 100,000 to 30,000 years ago

Neanderthal culture Well developed family and clan structures Intentional burial Walking with Cavemen

Key questions about Neanderthal What is there relationship to modern humans? DNA evidence suggests a shared ancestor at about 550,000 years ago. See Neanderthal DNANeanderthal DNA Did the overlap humans in some areas? Did they interbreed with humans? Did AMH competition drive Neanderthal to extinction? Did Neanderthals have language?

We have finally arrived!

Anatomically Modern Humans, that is, Us

Anatomically Modern Humans Sophisticated art Sophisticated stone and other tools Music

What cave art means about us

Palm prints at Chauvet (above right shows hand placement of palm prints at left A firm sense of individual identity

Cave Bear altar, Chauvet Cave, 32,600+/-490 and 21,390+/-420 ybp Searching for meaning Altamira, Bison, 40,000 ybp

A search for control of the unknown? Or just documentation of life? Hunting magic? Cattle herding?

Shamanic trance states?

and more… Sophisticated, permanent shelter Burials Firm identity as individuals Visit Chauvet cave

Modern Human Migration