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RETURN TO A105
 

 A105 Human Origins and Prehistory
Lecture 13: Modern Human Origins and the Upper Palaeolithic
 

Evidence for Regional Continuity
Fossils: archaic fossils from various regions differ in similar ways to the differences seen among modern geographic populations.
 

Neandertals are variable; some would suggest they grade into modern humans.

Teeth become smaller from Neandertals/archaics to modern people.
 
 
 

Evidence for Replacement
mtDNA: common ancestral population ~200 kya.
 

Modern humans very genetically similar to one another, and African populations show greater diversity than those in other areas.
 

Neandertal DNA: very different from average modern human, but cannot tell if a different biological species.
 
 

Fossils: "transitional" forms may be called "hybrids."  Some areas show a fast replacement, others a longer coexistence.
 
 

Stone Tool Evidence
Traditionally: modern humans with Upper Palaeolithic, archaics with Middle.
Near East, south Africa: early moderns with Middle Paleo/MSA tools.
Transitional assemblages are problematic.
 
 

Many scientists feel that some version of the Replacement model is most consistent with the evidence.
 

Transition to Modern Humans & Modern Behavior
Physical transition == reduced robusticity.  Cranial bones not so reinforced, teeth reduce, postcrania also.  Brains DO NOT become larger.
Environmental change often cited as reason for behavioral changes
 

Overview
Anatomical moderns appear ~100 kya in Africa
Begin to behave like moderns by  ~45-40 kya.
Their basic culture rapidly spreads over Europe, Near East.
 
 

Blombos Cave: 70 kya bone tools, very recent find.
 

Katanda: harpoons sugg. 90 kya; context questioned.
By 45 kya, modern culture including bone implements, ostrich eggshell beads known from East Africa (Kenya); by just before 40 kya, these elements seen in the Near East.  40 kya, Eastern Europe, 35 kya (approx.) in western Europe.
 
 

Upper Palaeolithic
Fully modern language.
 

Elaborate burials
 
 
 

Differences in subsistence practices.
 
 

Art: cave paintings, figurines, personal ornamentation, incised bones.  Animal carvings, "Venus" figurines, musical instruments (flutes).
 
 
 
 
 

Stone tools: more standardized; greater number of types; more efficient technology; development of regional styles.
 
 
 
 

Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition
New features do not appear all at once in every region.
Tool type transition may not be at same time as transition in technology; other cultural elements, transition even less clear.
 

Upper Palaeolithic tool kit
Specialized blade production
More efficient raw material use
End scrapers, burins, refined points
Bone tools appear

Cave art
Chauvet earliest, 32 kya
Lascaux, Altamira
Animals pictured most often: horses, bison; carnivores and people rare
 

Why? Hunting magic? Totemism? Rite of passage?
 

Burials
Personal adornments, stone tools, animal bones in graves
Some multiple burials
Dolni Vestonice

Sungir
 

Abri Pataud
 

Aurignacian, around 40 kya, Near East, Europe. Large blades, burins, split based bone points.

Then, in western Europe:
Gravettian: 27 kya, small blades, bone awls.

Solutrean: 21 kya, leaf points

Magdalenian: 16.5 kya, carved bone points

Longer raw material transport distances.

Hunters took advantage of prey seasonality
 
 

More extensive use of water resources, birds
 

Structures: Mammoth bone dwellings, Siberia
Mezhirich
 

FINAL EXAM INFORMATION
The final is on Wednesday, May 1 from 7:15-9:15 p.m. in SB 150.
 

  • Comprehensive, but with a focus on material covered since the last exam (Homo erectus and beyond).
  • 75 points total; 50 multiple choice, 6 very short answer, 3 short answer, 2 short essay.
  • About 30 possible points on material from each of the first two exams; about 40 points from material since the second exam.
  • You will have choices on the free response sections.
Things to review: Exam 1
  Natural selection theory in historical context -- i.e., Darwin's ideas and where they came from, along with the contribution of genetics post-Darwin
  Other major ideas in the history of evolutionary thought
  Level at which natural selection operates
  Be able to classify the primates mentioned in class into general groups (prosimian, monkey, ape).  There will also be an overhead with an unknown primate(s) for you to identify as to general group.
  Dating techniques: date ranges and materials dated for the very most emphasized techniques: these are K/Ar and radiocarbon; you should have passing familiarity with other techniques.
 

Things to review: Exam 2
     Very basic fossil primate information -- i.e., which one is the possible first primate, etc.  It's also a good idea to review primate evolutionary trends.
     Order in which hominids appear in the fossil record
     A. afarensis anatomy and bipedalism theories
     Basic information about the other australopithecines ­ you can safely treat all the robust australopithecines as a group.
     The earliest stone tools are found at GONA, ETHIOPIA, 2.5-2.6 MYA!!
 

Things to review since Exam 2
     Homo erectus: general anatomy and the possible hunting adaptation.
     Very basic regional differences in H. erectus populations.
     Modern human origins theories and evidence for each -- **You WILL have to write a short essay in support of one of the two theories, explaining which one you support ans why, using evidence.**
     Neandertals: cold adaptation; tool industries; behavior from the evidence
     Major innovations of the Upper Palaeolithic
 

Things to think about, overall course material
     In what order did the various parts of the body attain their modern configuration?
     What are the major technological/cultural phases starting 2.5 million years ago, and what characterizes each one?
     When do major technological innovations occur (i.e., working of stone, use of bone, etc.)?
     There will also be an opportunity to fill in the blanks on a hominid phylogeny -- you won't be asked to draw one from memory, but I'll give you a partial phylogeny and a list of hominids to fill into the blanks.