Biological Anthro Ch 13

1. The Origin, Dispersal and
Bioarchaeology of
Homo sapiens
Chapter 13
ATH 255

2. Chapter goals
Examine three sources of evidence:
1)hominid fossils
2)archaeological record
3)Genetic - DNA [modern and ancient]
4)See handout [from Auerbach, B.,
ed. Human Variation in the Americas]

3. Anatomical ‘signals’ of Homo
sapiens in the cranium

4. Homo sapiens Crania
 High domed
[rounded] cranium
 Retracted face
 Delicate jaw
Modern Skull

5. Bulging of Parietal Region
Cro Magnon Modern

6. Cranial Vault - Modern Crania
 1350 cc – varies
 Vertical forehead
 Rounded occipital
contour
 loss of
transverse
Qafzeh

7. Mandible - Modern Crania
 No retromolar gap
 Always a
distinctive chin
Qafzeh

8. Modern Crania
 Face tucked
under anterior
braincase
 Flexed cranial
base
Qafzeh

9. Modern Crania
Brow ridges reduced
 Males > Females
 Brow ridges separated

10. Modern Crania
Canine Fossa
 None in Neanderthals
 Present in African H.
heidelbergensis

11. Cranial Features of Moderns
 Variability in features
living people Qafzeh

12. Postcrania
 Reduction in robusticity
 Reduced muscle markings
 Thinner cortical bone
 Early are warm adapted
 Tall and thin
 Later morphology reflect Bergman’s and
Allen’s rules

13. Reconstructions
•French anatomist & sculptress,
Elisabeth Daynes
•From specific fossil individuals:
examples: H.s.s., Mechta Afalou,
Algeria; H.s.n./H.n. La Ferrasie 1,
Dordogne, France.

14. Homo sapiens sapiens ~ 25,000 years
ago; Mechta Afalou, Algeria

15. Homo sapiens sapiens ~ 25,000 years ago

16. La Ferrassie 1, Neandertal
Dordogne, France

17. Neandertal male based on La
Ferrassie 1

18. Neandertal male based on La Ferrassie 1 –
profile

19. Incisor Wear: this image from chapter 12
powerpoint– see next two slides !

20. H. neanderthalensis “Classic male”
Museum of Natural History – NYC diorama

21. H. neanderthalensis “Classic female”
Museum of Natural History – NYC diorama

23. On the Verge…
 Herto, Ethiopia Fig
13.3
 Two adults
 One juvenile
 Nature 2003
 About 160,000 years
ago
 H. sapiens sapiens or
 H. sapiens idaltu

24. Homo sapiens
 120k to about 50k
 South Africa
 Klassies River Mouth
Klassies River Mouth

25. Near East Homo sapiens
 Qafzeh and Skhul, Israel
 110,000- 90,000 years ago
 Logical place for movement out
of Africa
 Mammalian fossil composition
similar to African
Qafzeh

27. European Homo sapiens
 Oase 1
 Romania
 36-34,000 years ago
 40,000 years ago to
present
 Upper Paleolithic Tools

28. European Homo sapiens
 “Cro Magnon”
 France
 27,000 years ago
 Typical - Other Cro
Magnon fossils more
mosaic?
Cro Magnon

29. Qafzeh
Skhul
Omo Kibish
Klassies River Mouth
Die Kelders
Border Cave

30. Earliest Asian H. sapiens
 Niah Cave, Borneo
 40,000 years ago
 Debated – stratigraphy
& provenience
 Wadjak, Java
 Eugene Dubois -
recovered late 1800s
 40,000?

31. Modern H. sapiens migration to
Australia

32. Australian Homo sapiens
 Lake Mungo
 40kya
 1 adult female
cremated
 1 old male, buried,
covered in red
ochre
 Flake tools
 50kya

33. Australia, Lake Mungo ~ 40,000
years ago

34. Australian Homo sapiens
 Kow Swamp
 Willandra Lakes
 More robust than
Lake Mungo
 13,000 to 9,500
 H. erectus traits?

35. From Where Did We Come?
Bodo
KNM ER 3733
Amud

36. From Where Did We Come?
Two major models:
 Multi-Regional
 Replacement, aka,
Out-Of-Africa, or
OOAII, or OOA2
Cro Magnon

37. Multi-Regional
Hypothesis
Out of Africa 2

38. Multi-Regional Hypothesis
General Concerns:
 Regional characteristics may be parallel
evolution for similar environmental pressure
 Strong variability in key features combined
with small sample size

39. Multi-Regional Hypothesis
By Region:
 Europe – lacks
transitional fossils
 abrupt change at 40 k
 Neanderthals overlapped
Cro Magnon for 10k

40. evidence for interbreeding?
 Portugal – 25,000
years ago
 4-year-old
 modern
 chin
 tooth size
 pelvis
 Neanderthal
 short limbs

41. Multi-Regional Hypothesis
By Region:
 Africa – evolutionary series from H.
ergaster to H. sapiens
 (This applies to both hypotheses)

42. Multi-Regional Hypothesis
 Aborigines to
Javanese H. erectus
 brow ridges
 receding forehead
 facial prognathism
 Living Chinese
 upper face flatness
 sagittal keel?
 shovel-shaped
incisors Kow Swamp

43. Replacement: Out of Africa 2
Rapid Replacement Model

44. An ‘out of Africa’ phylogeny

45. Replacement: Out of Africa 2
 Africa –130 k
 160 kya
 Israel – 100 k
 Europe 40 k to 30 k
 Asia – 50 k
 Australia – 40 k
Skuhl

46. 0k
100 k
Homo sapiens
Homo
neanderthalensis
400 k
• H. sapiens in Africa antedate end
of Neanderthals
• Overlap
• Disappearance of Neanderthal
with anatomically modern
800 k

47. Technology

48. Upper Paleolithic Tools
 40 – 27 K [Europe]
 Chatelperronian (35 – 30 k)
 Aurignacian (34 – 27 k)
 blades
 burins
 compound tools
 novel materials
 variable assemblages
 rapid pace technological
development

49. Upper Paleolithic blade tools in flint

50. L: Skhul, Israel; R: Cro-Magnon, France
Upper Paleolithic technology

51. Upper Paleolithic Tools –Magdalenian

52. Upper Paleolithic Tools –Solutrean Laurel
leaf blades and engravers

53. Upper Paleolithic -Solutre, France
Horse Kill Site

54. Upper Paleolithic burials and settlements
in Europe

55. Upper Paleolithic burials and settlements
in Dordogne, France

56. Sungir, Burial Upper Paleolithic 23,000 years ago
~ 130 miles East of Moscow
Grave goods – headband carved ivory & teeth of Arctic fox;
beads, bracelets

57. African Evidence
 Archaeological evidence in MSA looks
‘modern’
 E.g. blades – 75,000; microliths – 65,000
 ‘more evolutionary than revolutionary’ p.
343 [McBrearty and Brooks]

58. The Spread of Image Making

59. Homo sapiens
“Art”
 Wall paintings
[parietal]
 Portable art
 Rare or never for
Neanderthals

60. Homo sapiens Art
Cave painting
 E.g.s - Altamira, Spain
Lascaux, France
 32,000 years agok
 mixed ores and oils to
extend paint life

61. Homo sapiens Art
Meaning?
 art for art’s sake
 magic
 religion
 territorial boundaries
 choice of animals
 identity

62. Homo sapiens Art
Portable Art
 45,000-38,000 years ago
 Mumba Cave, Tanzania
 Border Cave, South
Africa
 ostrich shell beads

63. ‘Modern’ Behavior in MSA
 Blombos Cave, South
Africa, 75,000 cross-
hatched ochre
 Blombos Cave -Shells
drilled with holes – beads,
73,000 – adornment?
 Katanda, DRC, Harpoon-
like bone points, 90,000+
years ago

64. Burial and Cremation
 Upper Paleolithic Europe
 Grave goods: beads, animal teeth [time &
labor intensive – vignette]
 Symbolic behavior – ochre
 Australia – Cremation, Lake Mungo –
ochre
 Israel – Qafzeh - ochre