ANT-202/ FALL 2014/Fact Sheet Week 3 /1 ANT-202 Fact Sheet Week 3 October 6, 2014 VI Out of Africa: Middle Homo (Homo ergaster, Homo erectus and the Dmanisi skulls)) A Classification of species: Homo ergaster is present in Africa—about 1.8 million years 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 humans C Climate and environment 1 Effects of Pleistocene 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 Paleolithic : 2.5 (Gona River central Ethiopia) –1.8 million Olduwan Pebble tools (and flakes) only –Homo habilis and Australopithecus garhi 2 Lower Paleolithic is defined by Acheulian hand axes 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 Fossil and Artifact Records 1 Africa: The oldest Homo ergaster finds are from Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, dating 1.6-1.8 MYA—found by the Leakeys. 2 SE Asia i Java: (a) Trinil site. Java Man. Eugene Dubois 1890s found a tooth, a skullcap, and a thigh bone (femur). 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 brain size 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. Jaw, 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 fossils 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 (Homo Heidelbergensis) ANT 202 -- Fact Sheet FALL 2014 - p. 4 i Mauer site, Germany. A mandible 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 human skeletons dumped in a cave- 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 stone tool technologies. Acheulian hand axes and Clactonian choppers show some refinement. 4. Wooden spears 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, jaws, 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 Neanderthal 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 Neanderthals) 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 animals Discovered in 1886 iii La Quina, France, 35ky. A female skull was recovered right at the end of Neanderthal times. b SW Asia i Shanidar Cave 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 technology is commonly known as Mousterian. These show refined working of flakes into various cutting and scraping tools. Named after Le Moustier 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 Middle Paleolithic 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 “Upper Paleolithic 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 hunting 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, harpoons, clubs, stone missiles, throwing sticks, harpoons, and probably bows and arrows and spear throwers (atlatl) vi Grinding tools first developed vii Long-distance trade (shells and stone) viii Fantastic art (a) Cave Paintings 1. Lascaux – Fantastic cave discovered in 1940 in southern France . Cave paintings are about 17,000 years old. This is the Magdalenian 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 Denisovans E The last hominin: Homo floresiensis (38,000-18,000 BP) .