1. The Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans
Chapter 11
The Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans

2. Chapter Outline Approaches to Understanding Modern Human Origins
The Earliest Discoveries of Modern Humans
Something New and Different
Technology and Art in the Upper Paleolithic
Summary of Upper Paleolithic Culture

3. Homo sapiens sapiens
All contemporary populations are placed in the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens.
Most paleoanthropologists agree that several fossil forms, dating as far back as 100,000 y.a., should be included in the same subspecies.
Recently discovered fossils from Africa are clearly H. sapiens, but show minor differences from living people and could be described as “near-modern.”

4. 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?

5. Theories of Human Origins
Complete Replacement Model
Regional Continuity Model
Partial Replacement Model

6. Complete Replacement Model (Recent African Evolution)
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.

7. Partial Replacement Model
Proposed by Günter Bräuer of the University of Hamburg.
Postulates the earliest dates for African modern Homo sapiens at over 100,000 y.a.

8. Partial Replacement Model
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 hybridization and replacement.

9. Regional Continuity Model (Multiregional Evolution)
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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. Early Modern Homo sapiens Discoveries - Europe, Asia, Australia
Site
Dates (y.a.)
Human Remains
Comments
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

14. Early Modern Homo sapiens Discoveries - Europe, Asia, Australia
Site
Dates (y.a.)
Human Remains
Comments
Ordos
(Mongolia, China)
50,000
1 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

15. Techniques for Dating Middle and Upper Pleistocene Sites
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
Thermoluminescence (TL)
Accumulation of electrons in certain crystals released during heating
Date ancient flint tools; provide key dates for the Qafzeh site
Electron spin resonance
(ESR)
Measurement of trapped electrons
Date dental enamel; corroborate dating various sites in Israel, Java, South Africa, and Australia

16. The New World
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.

17. Anatomically modern Homo sapiens and Homo floresiensis

18. The Upper Paleolithic
Cultural period began in western Europe approximately 40,000 years ago.
Industries based on tool technologies:
Chatelperronian
Aurignacian
Gravettian
Solutrean
Magdalenian

19. 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.

20. 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

21. Cave Art Majority 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 traces are dozens of footprints on the cave floor produced by bears and humans.

22. Africa
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.
Intricate bone tools resembling harpoons were made from the ribs of large mammals.

23. Quick Quiz

24. 1. Which of the following is NOT one of the hypotheses explaining the origins and dispersal of anatomically modern humans?
the partial replacement model
the regional continuity model
the regional replacement model
the complete replacement model

25. Answer: c
The regional replacement model is NOT one of the hypotheses explaining the origins and dispersal of anatomically modern humans.

26. 2. Scientists are fairly clear on when anatomically modern Homo sapiens first appeared.
True
False

27. Answer: False
Scientists are not fairly clear on when anatomically modern Homo sapiens first appeared.

28. 3. The _________________ holds that anatomically modern populations arose in Africa within the last 200,000 years, migrated out and replaced populations in Europe and Asia. They did not interbreed because they were a separate species.

29. Answer: Complete Replacement Model
3. The Complete Replacement Model holds that anatomically modern populations arose in Africa within the last 200,000 years, migrated out and replaced populations in Europe and Asia. They did not interbreed because they were a separate species.

30. 4. The model also known as "Recent African Evolution" is based on the origin of modern humans
in Africa and their interbreeding with local African populations.
in Africa and their replacement of local populations in Europe and Asia.
in China and their relatively recent evolution in Africa.
simultaneously in Africa and China.

31. Answer: b
The model also known as "Recent African Evolution" is based on the origin of modern humans in Africa and their replacement of local populations in Europe and Asia.