The Great Journey - 11/3

Out of Africa (and back again; Hypothesis)

  • In anthropological and human bio context it is accepted that

    • The human species emerged in Africa sometime around 300 kya (thousand years ago)

    • Multiple - at least 3 - major migrations (or clusters of migrations) out of Africa occurred

      • 1. 120 kya

      • 2. 70 kya

      • 3. 40 kya

    • There was also a significant amount of travel out of the African continent in between

    • There also appear to have been multiple return waves back into Africa, with evidence pointing to one return wave from Levant and Asia and another from Europe

Anthropologists and other researchers are uncovering evidence of broader trends in migration that were multidirectional, painting a picture of human movement that is evermore complex. Some of these movement patterns also likely included species such as neanderthalensis

Multiregional

  • Modern humans (homo sapiens sapiens) appear to be a product of multiple migration patterns and encounters that produced offspring such that the pattern of emergence cannot simply be identified or limited to one single site or region

  • Some anthropologists argue that multiple regions (typically Africa, through an alternative view greatly expands this argument to encompass Asia and Levant) contributed to emergence of our species in a mosaic of change and encounters across time and geographic space

How do we Identify Human Occupation

  • Human remains - Presence of skeletal remains deposited at the site

  • Structures - fossilized remains or indications of any materials related to the construction of housing or shelter (or other buildings)

  • Geoworks - modifications to the natural topography of a region

  • Tools - bone or stone tools (or, if we’re approaching more modern times, metallurgy) are clear indicators of human presence

  • Artifacts - stone wares, adornment, and other items that survive into the archaeological record

  • Fire-Cracked Rock - rack that has been exposed to temperature gradient increases come with fire will show splitting often along side color variation depending on the kind of rock (often reddening or blackening) identification is often heavily context dependent

Emergence - 350 kya to 195 kya

  • Omo Kibish - Omo I and Omo II, for a time were considered the oldest anatomically modern Homo sapiens remains, placed initially at 150 kya now around 230 kya

  • Jebel Irhoud - recently dated remains place this site at 315 kya ± 34 kya, now stands as the oldest site for H. sapiens

Omo Kibish

  • one of our oldest H. sapiens sites, Omo Kibish features three distinct individual skeletons. Significant differences between Omo I and Omo II and the wide date range for occupation points to significant variation and possible intraspecies changes that would have been early indicators of the emergence of modern H. sapiens

Jebel Irhoud

  • Found around the same time as the discovery of Omo Kibish, the recent dating of remains found at this site pushed back the emergence of H. sapiens substantially (early dating showed a much later occupation and was hypothesized as a Neanderthal site)

  • Analysis of skeletal remains indicates no fewer than five individuals present at the site with the latest dating to 315 kya ± 34 kya

Early Migration (195 kya to 100 kya)

  • Spread continues throughout Africa with a smaller, bottlenecked population entering into the Levant and SE Asia

  • Groups entering into the Levant during this period seemingly vanish between 90 kya and 45 kya

Herto

  • Discovered in 1997, “Herto Man” was initially identified as a transitional subspecies between archaic and modern H. sapiens, through this classification is now largely rejected

  • Tool evidence from this site demonstrates technical activity that would have spanned the late Acheulian period into the middle stone age with more advanced chipping and flaking techniques evident in the recovered artifacts

  • The Herto site also shows clear evidence of burial and mortuary practices with heavy modification of cranial remains possibly indicating ritual practices associated with death

Es Skhul

  • First excavated in 1929, the cave site of Es Skhul shows early H. sapiens occupation dating to 140 kya. When the remains were first uncovered, difficulties establishing a clear species led Arthur Keith and Theodor McCown to label it Palaeoanthropus palestinensis

  • As recently as July of 2025, further research into the cranial remains of Palaeoanthropus palestinensis (specifically the neurocranium and jaw bone) has revealed the likelihood that the individual was a hybrid, with the braincase demonstrating typical features of H. sapiens and the jawbone indicating features associated H. neanderthalensis

Fuyan Cave

  • The Fuyan Cave site is the series of excavations around a cave network in present-day Hunan province, China. The chief feature of this site was the discovery of 47 human teeth

  • The finding is not without controversy- through dated initially to 120 to 80 kya, genetic and radiocarbon dating appear to place the teeth at 10-16 kya. One tooth used in the later study, FY-HT2, was challenged however, and eventually revealed unlikely to be human (probably belonging to a local species of deer)

Into Europe, Asia and Australia

  • Migration continue into modern-day Europe, central Asia, and into the pacific islands, including the first migration into Australia

  • DNA evidence indicates one of several likely returns into Africa during this periods with groups that have experienced some degree of genetic drift coming back into contact and producing offspring

Liujiang

  • The remains of Liujiang Man, uncovered in 1958 in Guangxi province in China, demonstrate cranial features associated with modern humans but the postcranial skeleton including 2 femoral fragments, show more archaic features including thicker compact bone

  • The remains date minimally to 67 kya but could potentially be older, indicating alongside Fuyan a possible early migration into present-day China (A 2024 study using U-series dating puts the range at 23 kya to 33 kya, however)

Pestera cu Oase

  • Currently the oldest site for European Early Modern Humans in Europe, it dates between 42 kya to 37 kya. Cranial remains from the site exhibit a range of early modern and archaic features

  • Genetic analysis of Oase I and Oase II, 2 individuals collected from the site, demonstrates higher than expected presence of neanderthal DNA. Up to 9% of Oase I DNA is neanderthal, placing it at the highest percentage detected in any modern human sample

Lake Mungo

  • Lake Mungo is not the oldest site for human occupation in Australia, it is a site that provides excellent skeletal data with three individuals recovered and likely the first evidence of cremation

  • One site of remains, LM1, shows clear sign of cremation with the body having been burnt and crushed post mortem

  • Another set, LM3, was found near the hearth and appears to have had red ochre applied to it and its hands placed at the waist with fingers interlocked

Northern Asia and the Americas

  • The last major expansions before the beginnings of history

  • Are populated via the land bridge Beringia (other routes are theorized but highly contested)

  • The northers Asian continent sees migration.

  • All but parts of the polar regions are occupied

Mal’ta

  • Occupied between 24 kya and 23 kya, Mal’ta appears to have been a potential intermediary point between Eurasian and Native American populations

  • Artifactual evidence from the site points to a highly complex culture capable of detailed lithic work and highly sophisticated burial practices

  • Artwork including carved figures and engraved ivory indicates the presence and maintenance of complex symbolic traditions and creative industries

Clovis

  • Perhaps best known more its lithic technocomplex of arrow- and spearheads with their telltale fluted shape, Clovis occupation began at 13 kya. The tool complex spread throughout much of what is now North America and similar tools appear as far south as modern-day Venezuela

  • Current hypotheses around Clovis point to a wide ranging, highly mobile hunter-gatherer society with the capacity to hunt megafauna including mammoths (one site in Colorado uncovered a mammoth skeleton with Clovis points embedded)

  • The Rapid spread of Clovis technology points also to the equally rapid movement of modern humans throughout the Americas

Quebrada Jaguay

  • The oldest known fishing site in the Americas, Quebrada Jaguay shows earliest occupation at 13 kya to 8 kya

  • Evidence from the site shows a complex fishing tradition center on specific species of fish and shellfish

  • Archaeological remains of housing and other architecture point to prolonged occupation