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Home , Homo ergaster, Homo heidelbergensis

ANT-202/ FALL 2014/Fact Sheet Week 3 /1

ANT-202 Fact Sheet Week 3 October 6, 2014

VI Out of : Middle (, and the

Dmanisi skulls))

A Classification of : Homo ergaster is present in Africa—about

1.8 million ago. Homo ergaster is very very similar to Homo

erectus that appears in Asia almost the same time (1.8 MYA) The

two are sometimes referred to as “Middle Homo”

B Homo ergaster traits:

1 Generally very robust

2 Cranial capacity of 800-1000 cc

3 Massive supraorbital tori (brow ridges)

4 Thick cranial wall

5 Almost no forehead—low and sloping

6 No chin

7 Almost fully modern post-cranially (below the neck)—

indistinguishable from modern

C Climate and environment

1 Effects of glaciation:

a Glacial coverage

b Sea levels lower than present

D Classification of Stone Tools ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 2

1 Basal : 2.5 (Gona River central Ethiopia) –1.8

million Olduwan Pebble tools (and flakes) only –Homo

habilis and garhi

2 is defined by Acheulian hand and

non-handaxe (choppers)– the tools associated with Middle

Homo begin at 1.8 million and continue to dominate

assemblages up to about 200,000 years ago

E The and Artifact Records

1 Africa: The oldest Homo ergaster finds are from Lake

Turkana in northern , dating 1.6-1.8 MYA—found by

the Leakeys.

2 SE Asia

i Java:

(a) Trinil site. . Eugene

Dubois 1890s found a tooth, a

skullcap, and a thigh bone

(). The dating of this site is

very uncertain. Most people think

between 0.8 And 1.0 MYA, but it

may be 1.7MYA, based on a

newly obtained potassium argon

date. The of the

specimens is about 900cc. ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 3

(a) The Sangiran site. Poorly dated,

but some parts of this site are

1.8My by K/Ar dating. , skull

with teeth, juvenile jaw, child’s

skull cap). No definite tools have

been found yet at Sangiran. c China.

i Zhoukoudian Clearly Homo erectus

known as Beijing (Peking) man. Dated to

around 0.6-0.4 MYA by several

methods. Brain size average of

1000cc.The teeth are intermediate in

size between those of early Homo and

Homo sapiens The postcrania, including

pelvis and femur, is totally modern.

Zhoukoudian lost during WWII. d SW Asia: The Dmanisi Skulls and their Implications

i 5 Skulls , discovered by David

Lordkipanidze

ii Carnivore den

iii Skull 5: Adult Cranial capacity only 546

cc e Europe () ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 4

i Mauer site, Germany. A usually

called the Heidelberg jaw 0.5 millon. Also

known as Homo Heidelbergensis

(Archaic or Transitional)

ii Gran Dolina, Atapuerca region, northern

Spain reported in 1995-- about 0.8

million years old. Mostly stone tools and

(flakes) and faunal remains—with the

remains of 5 or six hominins (Archaic or

Transitional)

iii Sima de los Huesos (The Pit of Bones),

Atapuerca region, northern Spain, over

30 skeletons dumped in a -

dating 350,000-500, 000 B.P.

iv Clacton in England – 0.25 million non

Acheulian hand axes and choppers.

v Ambrona and Torralba, Spain 0.4-0.2

MYA, hand axes and elephant bones

E Lifeways of Middle Homo

1. Fire—800,000 Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (GBY), Israel – An

Israeli team

2. Clothing. ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 5

3. Improved . Acheulian hand axes

and choppers show some refinement.

4. Wooden recovered from a site in Germany

(Schoningen) (0.4 million years old) Meat would have

been an important resource in the northern latitudes in the

winter when plant foods are not available.

5. Gender division of labor

6. Food sharing and mutual cooperation within groups.

7. Pair –bonding ?

8. Incest taboo

9. Cannibalism ?

VII. The emergence of modern humans (Late Homo or Homo sapiens)

A. Species classification

1. Homo sapiens neanderthalensis : A special line that

developed in Europe and western Asia about 200,000

years ago most likely from Homo heidelbergensis

2. Homo sapiens sapiens or anatomically modern humans

(AMHS).

3. Late Homo differs from Middle Homo in having a larger

brain, 1200-1400 cc. Less sloping forehead. The vault is

higher. Smaller face, , and teeth

4. Homo sapiens idaltu (Known from Africa- apparent

precursor to Homo sapiens sapiens, Modern skull with a ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 6

few primitive traits, 160,000 BP, Cranial capacity 1450 cc,

lacks most features

______

Homo sapiens neanderthalensis Homo sapiens sapiens

Cranial capacity 1450 cc. Some up to 1850 1400

Brow ridges Present Absent

Overall appearance Robust Gracile

______

Neanderthals were replaced by anatomically modern Homo sapiens sapiens in

Europe about 35,000 years ago.

B Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (The )

1 Sites

a Europe

i Neander Valley in Germany 40ky. The

first fossil non-modern human ever

discovered. A fairly complete skeleton

recovered in 1856. The remains

represented what today we recognize as

classic Neanderthal: Large brow ridges

Large brain Sloping forehead Robust ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 7

skeleton representing short stocky

individual (5 ft tall)

ii Cave of Spy (Spee) Belgium Two similar

skeletons and remains of many extinct

Discovered in 1886

iii La Quina, France, 35ky. A female skull

was recovered right at the end of

Neanderthal times.

b SW Asia

i in Iraq Ralph Solecki

started investigations here in the 1950s.

100,000 – 30,000 years old.

2 Stone Tools: Neanderthals are associated with Middle

Paleolithic technologies, dating 200,000 –35,000 years B.P..

In Europe the specific stone is commonly known

as . These show refined working of flakes into

various cutting and scraping tools. Named after

Cave Site in SW France. The Mousterian is marked by tools

made from flakes—including scrapers and points. BY

100,000 years ago it appears that Neanderthals were

making composite tools: -- simple stone points were hafted

on to wooden shafts. ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 8

a One technique that shows remarkable ability in

stoneworking is the Levallois—which is a technique

that involves heavy preparation of the core—in order

get a particular shape of flake that was a ready-made

tool. Only one flake would be obtained from each

prepared core.

b Environment: Climate and Resources in Europe

during the Isotope-defined glacial

sequence

C Precursor to Anatomically modern Homo sapiens (AMHS)

1 Africa

a Herto, Modern skull with a few primitive traits,

160,000 BP (Homo sapiens idaltu)

D Anatomically modern Homo sapiens (AMHS)

1 Asia

a Skhul, Israel, 90ky. The remains of 10 people were

recovered. Both Homo sapiens and Homo sapiens

neanderthalensis. The two may have been

interbreeding.

2 Laos 63,000 years olad

3 Europe (Cro Magnon:Homo sapiens sapiens) , 35,000 BP

a Climate and Environment (50,000-15,000 years ago)

Northern latitudes much colder than today; temperate ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 9

latitudes less effected, but drier, greater expanses of

grasslands. Sea levels much lower than today. Last

glacial maximum (LGM) 20,000 years ago b Technology and the “ Revolution”

(35,000-12,000 years ago)

i Extensive use of stone blades—which

are flakes that are at least twice as long

as they are wide.

ii Manufacture of objects from a wider

variety of raw materials including bone,

ivory, and wood.

iii Greater specialization and

standardization in tools and tool function

iv Increase in the number of tools used to

make other tools. They especially had a

lot of burins (delicate chisels), borers

(drills), and scrapers, which were used

for engraving and carving bone, wood,

and antler

v A great increase in the number of

weapons. Lower paleothic

peoples had handaxes, Middle

Paleolithic peoples had spears and ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 10

handaxes, but Upper Paleo peoples had

spears, javelins, , clubs, stone

missiles, sticks, harpoons, and

probably bows and and

throwers (atlatl)

vi Grinding tools first developed

vii Long-distance trade (shells and stone)

viii Fantastic art

(a) Cave Paintings

1. – Fantastic cave discovered in 1940 in southern

France . Cave paintings are about 17,000 years old. This

is the Period --the last period of the Upper

Paleolithic (Beautiful depictions of animals, many of them

now extinct from Europe

2. Grotte de Chauvet- Recently discovered cave art in

France, 36,000-25,000 years B.P.

3. Cosquer Cave, France

(b) Portable art -- Venus figures

carved from bone and stone and

occasionally of fired clay dating

ca. 25,000 years ago. a Lifeways: Successful adaptation to harsh and

unpredictable conditions- especially winters. Sites like ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 11

Abri Pataud (reindeer) produce abundant bones from

large animals . Recent research is also showing that

these people also collected and processed plant foods.

They must have had storage capabilities. There art

demonstrates sophisticated symbolic expression and

communication.

D Theories about evolutionary relationships

1 The Out of Africa: Proposes that Homo sapiens evolved from

Middle Homo (Homo erectus) in southern Africa and spread

out from. Stringer and Gamble 1993

2 Multi-regional theory: Suggests that Homo sapiens evolved

from Middle Homo in a number of places and the populations

all inter-bred so that modern human beings are all similar.

Wolpoff et al. 1984, Alan Thorne

3 New findings from DNA!!

a Europeans and Asians have Neanderthal DNA

b Africans do not

c The

E The last hominin: (38,000-18,000 BP)