creative explosion, upper paleolithic, & modern human origins

mode 3 tools

• neandertals

• prepared core

• levallois technique

mode 4 tools

• sophisticated, prepared cores with blades

• greater skill required

• some blades so thin, not functional, purely to show off skill (solutrean)

tools can reveal

• complex hunting strategies

• trade

• personal ornaments

• engraving, cave painting

• symbolic thought and complex social organization

most archaeology and art evidence comes from

europe = eurocentric focus on human origins

western asia evidence differs from europe

AMH with classic mode 3 found at shhul and qafzeh, dated to 60 kya before upper paleolithic (40 kya)

evidence in africa

• earliest worked bone tools (90-160 kya)

• blombos cave in s. africa suggests modern behavior evolved first in africa (abstract engraved art, shell beads)

modern human origins: replacement/out of africa

• AMH evolve in africa ~200 kya and spread outward

• replace but also interbreed with regional hominins

modern human origins: multiregional evolution

• AMH evolved simultaneously across old world through gene flow

• claims regional continuity (traits persist where groups live today)

• fossil/archaeological evidence generally contradicts this

genetic evidence: mitochondrial DNA

• “mitochondrial eve” ~200 kya (wilson and cann)

• african populations show most variation

• misconception: not the only woman alive — just the only one whose mtDNA line survived

genetic evidence: y-chromosome

• “y-chromosome adam” 40-140 kya in africa

• same pattern: greatest variation in africans

arguments against replacement

• early AMH and neandertals share tool types in middle east

• AMH at skhul/qafzeh share behavior, technology, and burials with neandertals

• suggests behavioral overlap and possible interaction, not immediate replacement

neolithic revolution

• hunter/gatherers → farming/herding

• sedentism

• increased food supply → population boom

• domestication:

  • wheat/barley (levant)

  • rice (china)

  • corn (mexico)

  • potatoes (s. america)

  • animals (dogs, cattle)

• more compelx tools

• evidence of religion, social stratification, specialization of labor

• jericho (8500-7500 BP): one of oldest walled cities; unique burial customs, ancestor worship

biological changes with agriculture

• bone more gracile over time

• osteoarthritis = joint wear

• bone hypertrophy = bone thickening from heavy labor

disease

• sedentism + animals = zoonotic disease rise

  • influenza, smallpox, measles, TB (with periosteal bone reaction)

diet and dental health

• more carbohydrates → dental caries (cavities)

• caries → abcesses → potential death

nutrition issues/deficiencies

• iron: anemia → porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia

• vitamin c: scurvy → weakened periosteum, plaques

• vitamin d: rickets → soft/unmineralized bone

growth indicators

• harris lines: stunted growth episodes

• linear enamel hypoplasia: stress lines in teeth

why stay despite problems?

• farming = more calories = high fertility

• allowed population growth despite poorer health