12 - advent of modern humans

2 major differences between modern and archaic humans

1. Archaic humans have Spherical globular vault (tall wide short

2. Humans have a face thats short, non projected, and retracted underneath the brain

3 hypothesis of modern human origins

1. Multiregional

2. Out of Africa

3. Assimilation

Multiregional modern human origin

Modern traits arose from all around the world and spread amongst populations through gene flow

Out of Africa modern human origin

Modern humans arose in Africa and replace all other populations

Assimilation modern human origin

Mostly out of Africa

Where were the earliest modern humans found and when

• jebel irhoud, Morocco in 315 ka

• OBO kibish, Ethiopia 230 ka

• Herto, Ethiopia in 160 ka

What was the first step outside of Africa

• Tabun, skhul and qafzeh caves in isreal

• Then Neanderthals migrated into Western Asia Erie and modern humans retreated

Fossil evidence in Europe

• from Germany, 45 ka

• Suggests multiple pulses of modern human migration around this one

When did humans become abundant in Europe

30 ka

• includes cro magnon in France

• Few Neanderthals suggesting they were outcompeted directly or indirectly

• Some skeletons have been suggested as hybrids (not well supported)

Cultural periods

Describes how human cultural traditions changed over time

• not restricted to specific periods of time

• Defined based on material cultural remains

• Different periods start in different areas as different times

What era were the geological and cultural period

G - Pleistocene

C - palaeolithic

Upper paleolithic tech

• increased use of blades and diverse tool types

• Increase hafting

• First evidence of sewing and tailored clothes

• First use of bones, antlers and ivory

UP symbolisms

Dramatic explication of paintings, sculptures, figurines, beads, pigments during UP

Ex. Venus figurines, shell beads, anthropomorphic lion, cave paintings

What was the first believed idea of human revolution

Modern Homo sapiens went under a mutation around 40-50 ka leading to greater cognitive abilities

• false idea since it was a bias thought

Actual idea of human revolution

Gradual accumulation of modern behavior in Africa until they left and spread

Old world expansion in Europe, Middle East and Asia

Europe - modern humans appear 45ka but neandtherals lasted until 30ka, leaving room for 15ka for possible interactions

Middle East - skhul and qafzeh lived in Israel, shanidar lived in Iraq. Possible population overlap

Asia - growing evidence for modern human presence before 60ka and as early as 130ka

Molecular evidence

Draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome

• showed that all non African modern humans have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA through interbreeding of humans and Neanderthals

• Since then many studies have found that Neanderthals, denisovans, and modern humans interbred multiple times and places

TRUE OR FALSE - Europeans are more Neanderthal

False, all people that left Africa have same amount of Neanderthal DNA

• only applied to humans that no longer live in Africa

Human hybrids

• genetic evidence at denisova cave found individual with a Neanderthal mother and denisova father (first gen hybrid) , with almost exact 50/50 Neanderthal/denisova mix

What area was found to have the most neadanthal DNA

Oase cave Romania

Best word to describe human evolution

“Braided stream” - where species may diverge and then reticulate to interbreed again

• some evolving in isolation, migration and interbreeding

• Theres no such thing as a pure breed, everything mixes somehow

Who made it to America

Modern humans (only people to make it into America)

4 Possible route theories to America

• Beringia (ice free corridor)

• Northern coastal route - TRUE ROUTE

• South Pacific

• North Atlantic

Beringia - Bering land bridge

• late Pleistocene, where beringa was exposed during periods of maximum glaciation

• Followed ice free corridor that periodically emerged between cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets in western Canada

2 Pleistocene ice sheets of North America

1. Cordilleran - originating in mountains of western North America

2. Laurentide - centered in Hudson Bay region and expends across eastern canada and northern USA

Support for beringa (3 evidence)

1. Simplest way to get from old world → new world was by foot

2. Lots of animals arrived by this route during that era

3. Early archaeological evidence supported timeline of the ice free corridor

Clovis first hypothesis

• theory said Clovis were first to be in America (extremely wrong and is a dead theory only shared by racists)

• Believed to be big game hunters that drove animals into extinction

• Characterized by fluted biracial spear points

Problems with Clovis first hypothesis

• ice free corridor opened around the time Clovis started appearing but this was just coincidence

• Several more sites were older and people who lived there couldn’t have entered the americas through the ice free corridor

White sand footprints

• best evidence we have

• Human footprints from New Mexico, showing human occupation before rise of Clovis

Pacific coastal route hypothesis (kelp highway)

• Only valid theory

• Early immigrants travelled by boat along the islands and environmental refugia dotting the pacific coast

• Humans entered new world by travelling along coats in forms of transport

North Atlantic / solutrean hypothesis

Had similar Clovis tools and a soul treat tradition

Similarities and differences between solutrean and Clovis

Similarity - both use overshoot technique, flakes go past midline

Differences - Clovis had a curve and a strike at the bottom

Haplogroups

Specific mitochondrial linages that have traces of ancestry back to a single female ancestor

• supports an East Asian origin for the first inhabitants of the americas

• used mtDNA to track ancestral linages

Shovel shape incisors

More common in East Asian and Native American populations

Linguistic evidence for origin of America

Divided into 3 major families of American languages

1. Amerindian

2. Na dene

3. Eskimo

These groups reflect 3 major waves of migration

• coastal route

• Ice free corridor

• Arctic Ocean migration

South Pacific route

Polynesians were skilled ocean travellers, probably capable of reach South America

What’s the oldest site

Cerutti mastodon site (more likely make up_

• had broken mastodon bones and hammer stones

• Must more evidence needed

When were Americas discovered/ settled

All based on perspective, migration into America wasnt just a single event, its been a continuous process since humans first set foot