Looking at Upper Paleolithic humans!
An intriguing question for many researchers revolves around the demise of Homo
neanderthalensis, Since the disappearance of this species coincides with the rise of
modern humans, it suggests there might be a link. Speculation has raged about this
topic for decades but in recent years the combination of multi-disciplinary evidence
and a greater understanding of the ancient world has led professionals to believe:
maybe. One old refrain claims modern humans killed off the Neanderthals through
conflict and warfare – but no evidence points to this scenario, yet still, the idea
persists. Population densities at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic must have
been very low (by comparison to today) and it's possible the two groups were rarely
at odds with each other over resources. We also know that modern humans utilized
a much wider subsistence strategy than Neanderthals, who were apex predators
and survived primarily on protein. Consequently, when the climate began to
change, the weather warmed, the ice sheets receded and the megafauna began to
disappear – this must have impacted the Neanderthal diet more strenuously. Most
extinctions are a complex result of multiple factors and Neanderthal will likely turn
out the same. Genetic evidence indicates an admixture of human and Neanderthal
genes, interbreeding that resulted in a portion of the world’s population deriving part
of their heritage from Neanderthals.
It is in the Upper Paleolithic world that something remarkable happens. Culture
appears in the form of art. This is the first evidence of not just complex cultural
behavior, but also the emergence of symbols and abstract thinking. The Upper
Paleolithic was a period of great transition in the world. The Neanderthals in Europe
disappeared by 33,000 years ago, and modern humans began to have the world to
themselves. Stone tools of the Upper Paleolithic were primarily blade-based
technology. They were used to create an astonishing range of formal tools, tools
created to specific, wide-spread patterns with specific purposes. In addition, bone,
antler, shell and wood were used to a great degree for both artistic and working tool
types, including the first eyed needles presumably for making clothing about 21,000
years ago.
The Upper Paleolithic is perhaps best known for the cave art, wall paintings and
engravings of animals and abstractions at caves such as Altamira, Lascaux
and Coa . Another development is mobile art, including the famous Venus
figurines and sculpted batons of antler and bone carved with representations of
animals. Debate has raged for twenty years about the Slovenia artifact . This
50,000 year old bone fragment found in Slovenia might just be a flute manufactured
by a premodern human.
THE TASK:
1 Surf the web for a specific Upper Paleolithic site or object that
appeals to you and provide an image and link for further reading.
(10 points)
2 Write a brief report to explain what you find fascinating about your
selection. (10 points)
Patterns of
Hominid Dispersal
How did we
get where we
are today?
There are two theories about
the origin of modern humans:
One, they arose in one place — Africa.
Two, pre-modern humans migrated out
of Africa to become modern humans in
other parts of the world.
Most evidence seems to point
to the first theory because:
fossils of modern-like humans
are found in Africa
stone tools and other artifacts
support African origin
DNA studies suggest a founding
population in Africa
The Hominid Continuum…
…and the Hominid Continuum
Three Major
Evolutionary Transitions
1. The transition from early
Homo to Homo erectus.
2. The transition from
Homo erectus to archaic
Homo sapiens.
3. The transition from
archaic Homo sapiens to
anatomically modern
Homo sapiens.
Understanding the issue:
One of the most hotly debated issues in
the study of human origins focuses on the
origins of modern humans, Homo
sapiens.
Roughly 100,000 years ago, the Old
World was occupied by a morphologically
diverse group of hominids.
In Africa and the Middle East there was
Homo sapiens; in Asia, Homo erectus;
and in Europe, Homo neanderthalensis.
Modern Homo sapiens sapiens
By 30,000 years ago this
taxonomic diversity had vanished
and humans everywhere had
evolved into the anatomically and
behaviorally modern form.
The nature of this transformation
is the focus of great deliberation
between two schools of thought:
one that stresses multiregional
continuity and the other that
suggests a single origin for
modern humans.
The Multiregional
Continuity Model
This contends that after
Homo erectus left Africa and
dispersed into other portions
of the Old World, regional
populations slowly evolved
into modern humans.
The Multiregional Continuity model
contains the following components:
some level of gene flow between geographically
separated populations prevented speciation, after the
dispersal.
all living humans derive from the species Homo erectus
that left Africa nearly two million-years-ago.
natural selection in regional populations (ever since their
original dispersal), is responsible for the regional variants
(sometimes called races) we see today.
the emergence of Homo sapiens was not restricted to
any one area, but occurred throughout the entire
geographic range where humans lived.
The Out of Africa Model
In contrast, this model
asserts that modern humans
evolved relatively recently in
Africa, migrated into Eurasia
and replaced all populations
which had descended from
Homo erectus.
Critical to the Out of Africa model
are the following tenets:
after Homo erectus migrated out of Africa the different
populations became reproductively isolated, evolving
independently, and (in cases like the Neanderthals), into
separate species.
Homo sapiens arose in one place, probably Africa
(geographically this includes the Middle East).
Homo sapiens ultimately migrated out of Africa and
replaced all other human populations, without
interbreeding.
modern human variation is a relatively recent
phenomenon.
To understand the controversy, the
anatomical, archaeological, and genetic
evidence needs to be evaluated.
The multiregional view posits that genes
from all human populations of the Old
World flowed between different regions
and by mixing together, contributed to
what we see today as fully modern
humans.
The replacement hypothesis suggests
that the genes in fully modern humans all
came out of Africa, and as these peoples
migrated they replaced all other human
populations with little or no interbreeding.
Anatomical evidence:
Sometime prior to 1 million years ago, early hominids
(sometimes referred to as Homo ergaster), exited Africa
and dispersed into other parts of the Old World.
Living in disparate geographical areas their morphology
became diversified through the processes of genetic drift
and natural selection.
In Asia these hominids evolved into Peking Man and
Java Man, collectively referred to as
Homo erectus.
In Europe and western Asia they
evolved into the Neanderthals.
Anatomical evidence…continued
Neanderthals lived in quasi isolation
in Europe and are distinguished by
a unique set of anatomical features.
By 130,000 years ago, following a
prolonged period of independent
evolution in Europe, Neanderthals
were so anatomically distinct that
they are best classified as a
separate species — Homo
neanderthalensis.
This is a classic example of
geographic isolation leading to a
speciation event.
Anatomical evidence…continued
At roughly the same time, in Africa, a
body plan essentially like our own had
appeared.
While these early Homo sapiens were
anatomically modern they were not
behaviorally modern - it is significant that
modern anatomy evolved prior to
modern behavior.
Hence, the anatomical and
paleogeographic evidence suggests that
Neanderthals and early modern humans
had been isolated from one another and
were evolving separately into two distinct
species.
Archaeological evidence:
Very interestingly, while
Neanderthals and early Homo
sapiens were distinguished from
one another by a suite of
obvious anatomical features,
archaeologically they were very
similar.
Hominids of the Middle Stone
Age of Africa (H. sapiens) and
their contemporary Middle
Paleolithic Neanderthals of
Europe had artifact
assemblages characterized by
little variation in stone tool types.
Archaeological evidence…continued
The archaeological picture changed
dramatically around 40-50,000 years ago
with the appearance of behaviorally
modern humans.
This was an abrupt and dramatic change
in subsistence patterns, tools and symbolic
expression - literally a “creative explosion”
which made us who we are today.
The appearance of fully modern behavior
apparently occurred in Africa earlier than
anywhere else in the Old World, but
spread very quickly, due to population
movements into other geographical
regions.
Archaeological evidence…continued
Some archaeologists suggest
changes in social relations
(such as development of the
nuclear family), played a key
role in bringing about the
transformation.
Others proffer the notion that
biological change (brought
about by mutations), played the
key role in the emergence of
behaviorally modern humans.
The Venus of
Wilendorf, dated
at 24,000BP.
Archaeological evidence…continued
A possible flute made
from the femur of a
cave bear, found in
Slovenia. Dated to
45,000BP.
Shortly after fully modern humans
entered Europe, roughly 40,000
years ago, the Neanderthals began a
fairly rapid decline, culminating in
their disappearance roughly 30,000
years ago.
Neanderthals were apparently no
match for the technologically
advanced fully modern humans who
invaded Europe and evidence for
interbreeding of these two types of
hominids is equivocal.
Genetic evidence:
Genetic variation in modern human
populations supports the view that the
origin of Homo sapiens is consistent with
the Out of Africa Model.
Studies of contemporary DNA, especially
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), reveal that
humans are astonishingly homogeneous,
with relatively little genetic variation.
There is significantly more genetic variation
between two individual chimpanzees drawn
from the same population than there is
between two humans drawn randomly from
a single population.
Genetic evidence…continued
The highest level of genetic variation
occurs in African populations and implies
that Homo sapiens arose first in Africa and
has had a longer period of time to
accumulate genetic diversity.
The genetic distance between African
populations and others suggests Homo
sapiens arose between 100,000 and
400,000 years ago in Africa.
The low amount of genetic variation in
modern human populations suggests that
our origins may reflect a relatively small
founding population for Homo sapiens.
Genetic evidence…continued
Scientists recently succeeded in extracting DNA from
several Neanderthal skeletons and after careful
analysis, it is apparent that Neanderthal DNA is very
distinct from our own.
The degree of difference between DNA in Neanderthals
and modern humans, suggest the two lineages have
been separated for more than 400,000 years.
Such genetic studies support the view that
Neanderthals did not interbreed with Homo sapiens
who migrated into Europe and it is unlikely that modern
humans carry Neanderthal genes in their DNA.
Additional considerations:
The chronology in the Middle East does not
support the Multiregional Model where
Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans
overlapped for a long period of time.
Cave sites in Israel, most notably Qafzeh and
Skhul date to nearly 100,000 years and contain
skeletons of anatomically modern humans.
Neanderthal remains are known from sites such
as the 110,000-year-old Tabun cave, which
predates the earliest Homo sapiens by about
10,000 years in the region.
Additional considerations…continued
There are locations and remains that seem
to support one dispersal model or another,
but all have problems with interpretation.
China may contain the best evidence for
supporting the Multiregional Model with the
discovery of a couple of skulls dated to
roughly 100,000 years ago that seem to
possess a mixture of classic Homo erectus
and Homo sapiens traits.
Better geological dating and more complete
specimens are needed to more fully assess
this possibility.
Conclusion:
For the moment, the majority of anatomical,
archaeological and genetic evidence gives
credence to the view that fully modern
humans are a relatively recent evolutionary
phenomenon.
The major neurological and cultural
innovations that characterize the appearance
of fully modern humans has proven to be
remarkably successful, culminating in our
dominance of the planet at the expense of all
earlier hominid populations.
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