Chapter 11

Homo sapiens sapiens

Chapter Outline

The Origin and Dispersal of Homo sapiens sapiens (Anatomically Modern Human Beings)

The Earliest Homo sapiens sapiens Discoveries

Technology and Art in the Upper Paleolithic Summary of Upper Paleolithic Culture

Homo sapiens sapiens

Members of early Homo sapiens sapiens are our direct kin.

They were much like us skeletally, genetically, and (most likely) behaviorally.

They were the first hominids that we can confidently refer to as “fully human.”

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 in 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)

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.

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.

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 both hybridization and replacement.

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.

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

SiteDates (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

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

Early Modern Homo sapiens Discoveries - Europe, Asia, Australia

SiteDates (y.a.)

Human Remains Comments

Abrigo do Lagar

24,500 4-year -old 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; some variability in expression of modern traits

Early Modern Homo sapiens Discoveries - Europe, Asia, Australia

SiteDates (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 (adults, juveniles, infants)

Very robust individuals

Lake Mungo (Australia)

?60,000- 30,000

3 individuals, one a cremation

Date is controversial; recent extraction and analysis of DNA (also controversial)

Techniques for Dating Middle and Upper Pleistocene Sites

Technique 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

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.

The Upper Paleolithic

Cultural period began in western Europe approximately 40,000 years ago.

Five industries based on tool technologies:1. Chatelperronian

2. Aurignacian

3. Gravettian

4. Solutrean

5. Magdalenian

Cultural Periods of the European Upper Paleolithic

Upper Paleolithic (beginnings) Cultural Periods

17,000

21,000

27,000

40,000

Magdalenian SolutreanGravettian

Aurignacian

Chatelperronian

Middle

Paleolithic Mousterian

Cave Art

Majority comes 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 the archaeological traces are dozens of

footprints on the cave floor produced by bears as well as humans.

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.