Anthropology Exam 3

Advantages of Stone Tools

Hominin teeth and nails are not strong enought o tear through tough animal skin, break open bones, etc expand the variety of foods cut through animal hide to get at meat, shave meat off of bones pound pant parts to make them softer and easier to eat Crack nuts used as weapons keep animals away from camp site Drive animals away from kills Interpersonal fighting

Endurance Hunting

Hominins can use endurance to chase animals in the heat of the day until the animals collapse from heat exhaustion BUT many animals can easily outrun humans and get far away from them very quickly Thompson's Gazelle (60mph speed) Research on this theory is questionable. Reenactments unsuccessful even with supplements. Lecture 12 Slide 66/67

Endurance Scavenging

Hominins could get meat by snatching kills from predators and running long distances from the predators they stole from BUT predators are much faster than hominins over short distances and could easily have caught and killed them quickly

How many species?

Homo erectus -asia -robust Homo ergaster -Africa -Gracile -More modern looking Homo antecessor -Europe -Modern faces

Pleistocene

Huge environmental changes Periods of warming and cooling= glacial and interglacial periods

Hominin

Humans and their ancestors (Bipedal primates) Includes human ancestors, bipedal locomotion, large brain, and culture

Big Brains

Humans have extremely large brains compared to other primate species BUT human brains did not start to enlarge significantly until around 2mya (very late in evolution) cannot be used as a criterion for distinguishing early human ancestors from other primate ancestors Comparison of Brain Sizes: Lecture 13 Slide 33

Denisovans

125-40kya Siberia 4 individuals Very few fossils -2 teeth -1 finger -1 Toe bone Sometimes called "Asian Neanderthals Importance=extraction of DNA

3. The Afar

1973 Donald Johnson Ethiopia luckiest man in paleoanthropology finds the oldest and most complete fossil human specimen to that date at the end of his first self directed project "Lucy" named Australopithecus afarensis "The First Family" nine individuals of all ages and sexes who seem to have died at the same time only find to date that enables us to see variation in one fossil species

Difference in opinions

1981 Leakey and Johnson had a heated argument on live TV on a program hosted by Walker Cronkite 2011 revisited the debate in light of the 30 intervening years of new discoveries

Paranthropus robustus

2.2-1.5mya South Africa Brain 520 cc Sagittal crest in males only

Homo rudolfensis

2.4mya known from only a few fossils sometimes called A. rudolfensis

Australopithecus garhi

2.5mya Ethiopia Possibly tranisitional between Australopithecus and Homo "garhi" means "surprise" The surpirse: -large molar teeth but the even bigger surprise was that this specimen was found near Gona where animal bones with cut marks from stone tools were also found dating to 2.5mya

Asia

200-125kya 1120-1350cc brain Jinniushan (China) -260kya -1330 cc brain -female Dali (China) -209kya -1100-1200 cc brain Lecture 17 Slide 53

Subsistence

2011 study of the carbon in the enamel of the teeth from 22 P specimens subsisted almost entirely on grasses not on fruits and nuts No modern primates of any sort exist so heavily on grass

Australopithecus afarensis

3.8-3.0mya Ethiopia, Tanzania Many Specimens Lucy=most famous -40% complete Similarities to apes suggest recent divergence Front teeth that are smaller than ape teeth but larger than modern human (molars very large) Massive Jaw bone Flaring cheekbones have a hint of a sagittal crest Brain: -430cc (440-550ml) -Slightly larger than a chimp's Smaller baby heads

Sahelanthropus tchadensis

6.7mya Outside of expected geographic area Small skull, small teeth, flat face, big brow ridge, thick tooth enamel= a combo of traits not seen in fossil apes Found far outside places fossil Hominins normally found (may have roamed all over africa) Most found in Eastern and Southern Africa ONLY because of the good conditions for preservation and discovery Biostratigraphy: found with fossil pig and hippopotamus that have been extinct in Kenya by 6mya. May no longer exist in Chad but don't know for sure Sediment Isotope Analysis: 7mya Integrity of sediment samples questionable Features: Lecture 13 Slide 46

Blades

A more sophisticated form of prepared core technique •Characteristic of Upper Paleolithic in Europe (post 30,000 ya) •Found 70 kya in Africa(possibly much earlier) •Core is prepared such that long, thin flakes can be removed •Bades are often removed with a punch which applies very precise pressure •Very conservative of raw material •Blades can be further retouched into other tools Flakes that are twice as long as they are wide

Weird Theories- Olorgesaille

A site in Kenya with hundreds of hand axes Evidently the women did not actually keep the axes after they had been lured into having sex with the men who made them

A Boisei vs. H erectus

A.boisei -large molars -small front teeth -parallel molars H.erectus -smaller molars -larger front teeth -parabolic dental arcade

Multiregional Hypothesis

AMH evolved independently across the old world out of H. erectus Evidence: •Continuity of physical traits •Timing: Questions the ability of a new species to migrate across the world in such a short time period Problems: •Speciation. If populations were isolated speciation would have occurred

Out of Africa Hypothesis

AMH evolved only once, in Africa and replaced Archaic populations throughout the Old World Evidence: •Oldest forms of AMH are found in Africa •Appearance of AMH associated with a complete change of technology and culture •Greatest genetic diversity is found in Africa Problems •Timing •Appearance of unusual specimens: floresiensis, luzonensis

South Africa

Advantages: Limestone caves=preservation Limestone Mining= exposure

How do the Hobbits fit into Human Evolution?

After Homo sapiens sapiens took over, everyone else seems to have died out Only the Hobbits, this unusual and primitive people, survived until around 13,000 years ago How and why, and what their relationships may have been with modern H.sapiens is unknown

Broca's Area

An area of the brain associated with speech present in H.erectus

Isotope Analysis

Analysis of Carbon and Nitrogen isotopes in the bones of humans and animals can determine the proportions of different foods in the diet Carnivores= more nitrogen Vegetarians= more Carbon Neanderthals have the nitrogen levels of carnivores

Use Wear

Analysis of the working parts of a stone tool Some Mousterian tools show wear on their bases (hafting) and impact fractures on their tips (thrusting)

Evidence from Limbs and Extremities

Apes developed their specialized forms of locomotion AFTER they split from the human line Apes appear to be as modern as the human traits that make us different from them

Dating

Archaics date 800-125kya Too young for Potassium Argon and too old for Carbon 14 Uranium series, Electron Spin Resonance, associations with other species and geological formations of known age Large error factors

Human Brain

Asymmetrical -left side= language: understanding symbols and abstract ideas -right side= spatial visual area: hand eye coordination

5. There is other evidence of human activity

At Olduvai, the tools were in purposeful accumulations mixed with broken bones could not have happened naturally no known animals are capable of using tools in this way

Hafting

Attaching a piece of stone to a stick to make a spear or projectile If the use wear data is being interpreted correctly, neanderthals may have been the first to make stone tipped projectiles or thrusting spears -a piece of stone is inserted into a notch in a wooden shaft -it is sometimes stabilized with natural gums and resins -secured in place by tightly wrapping the sinew or gut some points have bitumen residue on their bases suggesting they were hafted with adhesives Bitumen=natural tar

Australopithecus

Australo=Southern Pithecus=Ape "Southern Ape" Name coined by Raymond Dart who discovered The Taung Child 1924 Mainly found in East and South Africa A.barhrelgazalia found in Chad A. anamensis A afarensis A. africanus

Australopithecus and Paranthropus Extinctions

Australopithecus may have given rise to genus Homo through A. sediba Australopithecus disappeared around the same time early Homo emerged Australopithecus disappeared long before Paranthropus died out Paranthropus and Early Homo were around together for about a million years before Paranthropus went extinct

Australopiths

Best known, most widely distributed and most diverse of the early African hominins 4.2-1.2mya (the longest enduring hominins yet known) 2 genera -Australopithecus -Paranthropus Features: -bipedal -brain slightly larger than chimp -Reduction in front teeth -Increase in size of molars -Ancestral to genus Homo -Relationships not completely clear

Distinguishing Human Features

Big Brains Bipedal Walking

Endurance

Bipedal hominins have the endurance to walk long distances in search of food in patchy environments

Free Hands

Bipedalism frees the hands so it was easier to collect food and bring it back to a safe place to eat it Females could carry their babies while they went looking for food Became bipedal before we lost body hair

Height

Bipedalism increases height, so it is easier to reach food in trees BUT most animals don't seem to have much trouble gathering fruit Can see for predators but other animals can climb trees, stand or fly. Makes you more visible to predators

Advantages of Bipedalism

Can use hands while walking/running Taller for seeing and reaching things Endurance for walking longer periods without getting tired

Zhoukoudian

Cave site on "Dragon Bone Hill" A geologist and a paleontologist exploring the hill ground quartz that is not natural to the area decided it was a good place to look for fossil hominins lots of animal bones, stone tools, human remains 40km south of Beijing Several localities in caves on the hill At least 45 individuals of H.erectus 98 different mammal species and over 100,000 artifacts Dated by U-series and Thermoluminescence Short stocky individuals with brain less than 1100cc cave occupied 460,000-230,000ya -most likely carnivores and brought in food scavenged -evidence=cut marks overlying carnivore marks -cut marks not on the choicest part

Neanderthal- Art and Music

Chimps and other animals can be taught to paint Only humans do it of their own volition The is whether neanderthals had the intellectual, social, emotional capacity to create art and communicate symbolically through art

The Asian Erectines

China -Numerous H.erectus sites -Possibly the earliest dates for H.erectus

Post-Cranial Skeleton

Decidedly human Arms longer than humans Clearly bipedal (pelvis, hip, leg, foot)

Bipedal Locomotion

Developed first- before large brains and tool making Hominins are bipedal hominoids- all forms of primates that habitually walk on two legs Nonhuman primates have a tendency toward upright posture but humans only true bipeds Bonobos spend a lot of time moving bipedally but its not habitual. they knuckle walk mainly

Compassion

Dmanisi old toothless man he lived to be that old and was incapable of chewing hard food indicates that people took care of him H.erectus developed compassion

Tools

Early Homo's most important feature was its association with stone tools Suggests fundamental difference Larger Brain=larger capacity for culture Stone Tools= material evidence for problem solving Stone tools only first tools identified because of preservation

The Truth

Excavations were not rigorously done Field notes were more ambiguous than popular perceptions -"stone chest" appear to have been natural clusters of stone No evidence for butchering May have been natural clusters of bone

Weird Theories- Thrown as Discus

Experiments show that they always land point down Non Pointed Disk -A non pointed disk would roll off causing nothing more than an inconvenience and an opportunity for the animal to brace itself and/or run away Pointed Discus -When the axe spins, the pointy end is what stops it -When it stops in animal flesh it will cause sufficient injury to cause the animal to sit down or fall over

AMH- Anatomically Modern Homo sapiens

Features -flat face -do not usually have heavy brow ridges -forehead vertical -pronounced chin -smaller, narrower face

Java Man

First h.erectus ever found in 1891 1.6-1.8mya 800-1050ml brain the "type specimen" that defines how H.erectus looks LOTS of Herectus specimens have been found in Asia and Africa a lot of variation

The First Family

Found 1975- the year after Lucy 13-17 individuals 9 adults, 3 adolescents, 3 young children highly fragmentary Mainly jaws and teeth some postcranial remains Found eroding down hillside, died together in catastrophic event Unique opportunity to study variation and maturation slow maturation rates compared to apes so long period of dependency and emphasis on learning More sexually dimorphic than humans and chimps but not gorillas and orangutans

Hoax Revealed

Founders would not allow the Piltdown bones to be tested with any new techniques 1949 the last of them died and the bones were tested with Fluorine Analysis (measures how much fluorine the bones have absorbed from the soil) skull and jaw had different fluorine levels thus not the same age the jaw came from an orangutan and the cranium from a modern human. had been died to look old and teeth filed

The Piltdown Hoax

French and Germans were finding early human fossils in their own countries and the Dutch were finding them in Indonesia where they held territories, the British were finding nothing In 1912 they made the miraculous find of an early hominin right on British Soil The color of the bones and the associated fossil animals suggested a date of 500,000ya Fossil had large braincase and apelike jaw New fossils looked very different from Piltdown. Smaller braincases and more rugged features

Diastema

Gap in tooth row to accomodate large canine teeth. "lock" when mouth is closed smaller front teeth facilitate side to side motion while chewing Apes and early hominins not late hominins Dental Arcade Shape: Apes have parallel olars, modern humans have parabolic dental arcade which is wider in the back

Neanderthal Sites

NOT FOUND IN AFRICA There are a few sties older than 100,000 Most sites date between 80,000 and 40,000ya

Levallois Technique

One type of prepared core technology -Core prepared to a specific shape -3-5 flakes of a particular shape can be taken off

Technology

Paleolithic -Old stone age Lower Paleolithic -Oldowan and Acheulean tools In Europe far more H.erectus tools have been found than human remains

Middle Paleolithic Technology

Prepared Cores Levallois Technology Flake Tools Associated with Archaic H.sapiens

Fire

Protection Light Warmth Cooking Enables movement into cold climates (Europe, China) protection from large animals bears, saber tooth tigers and enables occupation of caves softens meat, breaks down vegetable fibers, makes starches edible, kills parasites extends the day beyond the sunset

H. Erectus Brain

Range from 750-1250ml (average=1000ml) =much bigger than early Homo Upper range is near the lower range for Homo sapiens asymmetrical= likely possessed the capacity for abstract thought and language

Wooden Tools

Schoningen spears Germany 400kya sharpened and fire hardened Size and balance suggests throwing spears

Cave Bear Ritual

The Evidence: -chests of stone in Drachenloch Cave containing the skulls of cave bears -arrangements of bear skulls in other caves

Basicranium

The bones that make up the base of the skull Complex mass of holes and channels for all the plumbing and wiring that goes into the skull Can get an idea about what the soft tissues were like by looking at the configuration

Reversed Polarity

The earth periodically reverses polarity so that south becomes north and vice versa The last full reversal was 780kya Bruhnes-Matuyama Reversal handy marker for geological dating

October 2009

Tim White Lecture 13 Slide 71

Robust and Gracile Australopiths

afarensis, africanus, sediba and prometheus are gracile paranthropus is a robust (more extreme face and skull indicating huge muscles) the main difference between Paranthropus and Australopithecus P appeared later than A and remained later coinciding with early Homo P was a specialized hominin that was not directly related to genus Homo

Sagittal Crest

find of bone at the top fo the skull for the attachment of chewing muscles Animals with large ones also have big jaws habitually chew tough foods

Oldowan Tools

first stone tools were found at Olduvai Gorge and this is still the best collection Associated with Homo habilis Pebbles with flakes struck off to make a sharp edge Aka: core tools, cobble choppers Flakes are removed from the core or cobble and the core or cobble is used as a tool were very crude and eroded and did not look much like stone tools at all simple tools but the people who made them had a good grasp of stone tool technology and put thought and planning into making them

Other Tools

flake tools= where flakes of stone were used for their sharp edges or retouched by taking small flakes off of an edge to change its shape of characteristics

Early Homo

has a smaller and flatter face than A It has larger brain but still has a sloping forehead Smaller teeth than A but still has parallel molars Postcranial skeleton similar to A Brain around 700cc Flatter face Smaller jaw

Supraorbital Torus

large brow ridges and post-orbital constriction large in Australipithecine less pronounced in modern humans

Natural Flaking

rocks that fall from height can produce flakes and cores with the characteristic features

Mousterian Technology

technology associated with Neanderthals Made flakes using the Levallois technique of preparing cores

Causes of Genetic Diversity

•Ancient populations have had more time for mutations to accumulate, creating a more diverse population •A population living in a diverse environment would have lots of different selective pressures that would result in diversity

Border Cave- South Africa

•Continuous stratigraphic sequence going back 200 Kya •Human remains and artifacts •Complete skeleton of an infant; bones of 5 adults •Clearly modern H. sapiens date to 74 Kya

Human Genome

•Studies of the MtDNA in populations find that Sub Saharan Africa has the most genetically diverse population on the planet

Ardipithecus

"Ardi" A. kadabba 5.8-5.2mya A. ramidus 4.4mya (more complete and know more about it) Found in Ethiopia Dated by KAr Found in Afar Rift- currently very arid -environment was wooded and moist back then Tooth enamel suggests diverse diet of fruit nuts leaves etc Blunt canines like modern humans Little sexual dimorphism in teeth Less violent male competition for mates? More cooperation among males and females? Prognathism= ardi had a projecting lower face but much less so than chimps Short palms and fingers Not adapted for knuckle walking no specialized anatomy for singing /hanging Hands similar to early apes (curved phlanges) Gluteal muscles enabled upright standing efficiently Four rigid toes and the Os Peronium (small bone in the feet of humans but not apes that keeps the toes rigid) Big toe diverges

Upper PaleolithicTechnology

"Lithic" means Stone, so the Paleolithic refers to stone tool technology.Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic are associated with differentkinds of lithic technology. The new lithic technology of the Upper Paleolithic is blades and pressure flaking •Lower Paleo - core tools, hard and soft hammer percussion •Middle Paleo - prepared core technology, flake tools •Upper Paleo - blades, pressure flaking, composite tools

Paranthropus

"Robust" Bodies like other A Brain slightly larger but within range Massively robust skull Sagittal crest very wide flaring cheekbones huge jaws and molars Huge flaring zygomatic processes Huge supraorbital tori Extreme post orbital constriction

Paranthropus aethiopicus

"The Black Skull" Kenya 2.8-2.2 mya 410 cc brain (smallest) very robust face huge molars sagittal crest

The Pleistocene

"The Ice Age' 2.5-12mya Characterized by a series of glacial advances and retreats Massive glaciers covered the Northen Hemisphere Seriously impacted global environment World temps changed around 3mya Increase in environmental variability Complex diverse habitats Different adaptations among populations of plants and animals

Uranium Thorium Dating

"U-series" Absolute (chronometric) dating technique A radiometric technique Measures the degree to which the two isotopes (uranium and thorium) meet equilibrium after deposition Upper age limit of 500,000 years Used to date minerals deposited at the time a site was occupied (usually caves) or encrustations on bones Uses small samples

Hunters or Scavengers?

- Bones with cut marks characteristic of butchering are strong evidence that early Homo was using stone tools to get meat off of the bones

Lower Limbs

- Longer for striding movement -more muscular to support the weight of the whole body -knees oriented toward center of the body *Birds do not have valgus knees

Competitive Exclusion

- The inevitable elimination from the habitat of one of two different species with identical needs for resources Early homo had larger brain and made and used stone tools Early homo was better equipped to solve problems and adapt to the changing environment Early homo likely out-competed Paranthropus by being able to take over more environmental niches Although H.habilis did not eat exactly the same food as Paranthropus they may have favored savannas or grasslands because of the animals that were attracted to them they therefore both needed grasslands but for different reasons

Sagittal Keel

- a thickening of the cranial bone along the sagittal suture- the suture that runs along the center of the skull is not for the attachment of muscles H.erectus had a very thick skull and lots of prominent muscle attachments but tis chewing muscles did not attach at the top of the skull Not unusual in modern populations found exclusively in adult males H.erectus populations everyone had them

2. Cut marks on the bone shafts of the bones not on the ends

-If a person dealing with a freshly caught animal, the first thing that generally do is disarticulate it - cut it apart at the joints -this activity leaves characteristic cut marks at the ends of the bones -the early homo bones have cut marks only on the shafts suggesting that the bones had already been separated from the carcasses and the hominins were cutting and scraping the meat off of them

3. Cutmarks overlie Carnivore Tooth Marks

-If early homo had got to the kill first, it would have jointed it and cut the meat off -carnivores who got the remains would have left their teeth marks over the cutmarks -the early homo bones show that the carnivore tooth marks were laid down first and the cutmarks second -this means that the carnivores were there first and early homo scavenged what they could

1. Non Meat Bearing Bones

-Most of the bones are the ones that do not have much meat on them -they have been smashed to remove the marrow -if they were killing their own animals they would have been primarily processing the bones that have the most meat on them -It is likely that the bones were scavenged from the carnivores that had already eaten the meat from the more productive bones

Neanderthal-Care for the Sick/Burials

-evidence for sick and elderly individuals who could not have survived or healed without intensive care from others -there is come evidence that they intentionally buried their dead, possibly with ritual

Spin Curves

-human spine is supposed to curve like an S. help balance upright. lumbar curve bears the weight of the torso

Occipital

-roughing and protruding occipital area -Nuchal area at the base of the occipital is for the attachment of the neck muscles -extreme in H erectus -Occipital Torus a protruding ridge of bone for muscle attachment -Indicates strong neck muscles widest part of the skull is low

H erectus. vs. H.ergaster

-thinner skull -smaller brow ridges -more rounded skull -occipital torus less pronounced -no sagittal keel

Paranthropus Oldest to Youngest

1. P aethiopicus 2. P. boisei 3. P. robustus

Why did Archaeologist think that Oldowan tools had been made by people and were not just naturally occurring broken rock?

1. The rock does not occur naturally in the area 2. The rock could not have been naturally transported to the area 3. The rock could not have broken naturally 4. Flake removals are systematic 5. There is other evidence of human activity

Neanderthals- Best Known Ancient Humans

1. They are Ancient Europeans -most paleoanthropologists are of European descent and they like to study their own people 2. They are Found in Europe -Dordogne River Valley in the south of France where lots of Neanderthals lived -LeMoustier, a famous Neanderthal site First true neanderthals appear 200-250kya but orgintaed much earlier Best known for dating sites much more recently 130-30kya Die out around 30kya "Classic" 70-35kya Only found in Europe and Southwest Asia First found in the Neander Valley in Germany 1856 Thought to be the ape-like "missing link" NOT FOUND IN AFRICA

Migration

1.8mya H. erectus appears almost simultaneously in Africa and west and east Asia Difficult to know the time frame given difficulties with dating Asian dates are consistent H.erectus was moving into different climatic and environmental zones: -new foods - cold weather Such rapid migration required technology and culture adapt During the glaciations when sea levels dropped many of the islands of southern Asia were joined by land People and animals could move around freely H.erectus has been found on the island of Flores which were separated by stretches of water that required watercraft Flores is separated from what would have been mainland by 19km of water

Homo Erectus

1.8mya but likely earlier the hominin that first left Africa and populated Asia and Europe

1. The Taung Child

1924 South Africa Raymond Dart interested in fossil monkeys so he had limestone mines from quarry at Taung bring him fossils when they found them found unusual monkey skull that had a much bigger brain than a monkey and its foramen magnum was underneath the skull it was a child the first Australopith-Australopithecus africanus At first not accepted because of its small brain and human like teeth opposite of Piltdown. finally accepted in 1947

Australopithecus anamensis

4.2-3.8mya Kenya Ape Traits: -Parallel molars -Diastema Human Traits: -Canine teeth vertical not angled Leg bones and big toe suggest bipedalism

Neanderthal Jewelry

42kya Neandertahl Items of personal adornment Perforated teeth, ivory, bone, and sheel -pendants -jewelry -charms -markers of identity?

Gran Dolina

80+ bone fragments from 6 individuals 200 stone tools 300 animal bones At nearby sites: -Earlier dates -H. antecessor bones -stone flakes -evidence of butchering No complete skull of H. antecessor has been found so it is hard to know if it is a separate species Available evidence suggests the H. antecessor have more modern faces than other erectines 800,000ya concluded that the animal and human remains were the result of "consumptive activities"

Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)

Chronometric technique Measures the cumulative damage done by radioactive decay of minerals Usually done on teeth Human teeth are small so the tests are usually done on animals with big teeth that are associated with them Can be used on specimens that are several thousand years old up to millions of years

Caves

Cold, Wet, Home to other creatures Most settlements are at the mouths of caves Southward Facing Important during coldest times of the year During warmer times of the year, they likely lived in tents f other shelters Caves are repeatedly occupied so refuse builds up over time Caves are protected from the elements and therefore have better preservation Therefore we have more EVIDENCE for people living in caves

Early Homo vs. H erectus

Early H -prognathic face -large brow ridge -avg brain (680cc) -low forehead -Body=australopiths Homo erectus -flatter face -smaller brow -avg brain(1000cc) -high forehead -Body=modern size & morphology

Debates about Early Homo

Early homo is physically so similar to Australopithecus that many researchers suggest that it should be assigned to that genus New evidence (Gona) suggest that tool making started before early Homo and is therefore not a strict dividing line between the two genera There are also some new much later specimens of early looking hominins that complicate the issue further

Genus Homo

Emerges at the Plio/Pleistocene boundary 2.5mya When the first member emerged there were several hominins in Africa -P. robustus (South A) -P. boisei (East A) -A. sediba (South A) -A garhi (East A) -Homo (East A)

Changes in body form increase endurance

Energetics -spring like tendons that generate force economically -longitudinal arch in the foot -stride length and long legs -smaller feet Strength -enlarged lower limb joints Stabilization -changes to the inner ear give better balance Thermoregulation -sweat, long body form, mouth breathing One hypothesis is that the rapid change in body size we see with Homo erectus/ergaster is related to endurance running as a hunting technique.

East Africa

Environmental Advantages: -Soft volcanic sediments=preservation -Rift Valley=exposure -Active Volcanoes=dating Volcanic Environment Volcanic sediments can be dated by Potassium Argon dating Gives a date in years

Homo antecessor

Europe Atapuerca, Spain at the site of Gran Dolina -several individuals Also at two nearby sites -1.4mya-772kya -Dating: U-series, ESR on tooth enamel, paleomagnetism Hypotheses: 1.Possibly ancestral to H.heidelbergensis which gave rise to Neanderthals 2.A version of H.ergaster 3.An early version of H.heidelbergensis 4.A sister lineage that died out

Why? Cannibalism

Food? -human bones were mixed with deer bones on the same living floor suggesting that game was available Ritual? -human bones were treated exactly the same as animal food bones in other Neanderthal sites

Sahelanthropus tchadensis Bipedalism

Foramen Magnum positioned much farther forward than that of a Chimp suggesting more upright Angle of Orbit foramen Magnum much more similar to that of humans than non human primates Quadrupeds have parallel Foramen Magnum while Bipeds have a FM that is at the top of a vertical spine no overlap between chimps and gorillas and humans in the angle Much more similar to the angle of primate quadrupeds than human bipeds Problem: Early hominins that are known to be bipedal have a less human-like angle than Sahelanthropus which is several mya fragmented skull reconstructed improperly but orbital angle much more in keeping with semi-upright quadrupeds similar to female gorillas

Relationship of Vertebrae and Skull

Foramen Magnum= big hole in bottom of skull where spinal cord and brain connect underneath biped skulls

Human Origins

Fossil finds in Europe and Asia got people interested in the "missing link" between humans and apes findings of Homo erectus and Homo neandertalensis which dated to less than a million years old

"Peking Man"

Found in 1923 near Beijing at the site of Zhoukoudian Now considered H.erectus Lots of excavations until 1937 when the japanese invaded China The remains were packed up and sent to America in 1941 for safe keeping during the war but they got lost Excellent casts had been made and the remains well described measured drawn and documented

Australopithecus prometheus

Found in 1988 in a box of bones Archaeologists returned to Sterkfontein and discovered 90% complete Australopithecus Took 20 years to extract the skeleton from the rock (limestone) Finally displayed in December 2017 Dated 3.67mya through stratigraphy, microstratigraphy and geochemistry

Homo naledi

Found in 2013 in South Africa 1550 bone pieces representing at least 15 individuals Brain size like Australopithecus Skull shape like early Homo Body similar to modern small-sized populations The bones and associated geology were subjected to intensive dating using many techniques Althought the skull of H. naledi is similar to that of hominins that were around 2 million years ago , the dates came back as very recent 335-235kya -teh bodies may have been intentionally place in the cave after death -no tools have been found with H. naledi but it seems to have possessed both the manual dexterity and the brain to have made tools Possibly an offshoot that was not part of the evolutionary line to modern H. sapiens A member of genus Homo that may have been around at the same time as the earliest modern humans, but was not modern itself

La Chapelle-aux-Saints

Found in France in 1908 and examined by Marcellin Boule in 1911 Boule reconstructed Neanderthal man as bent over and having divergent big toes In 1957 the remains were reexamined and it was discovered that Boule had ignored the fact that the La Chapelle specimen had severe osteoarthritis that contributed to its less than upright posture The divergent toes and some of the other primitive features were conjecture, as the specimen was very fragmentary Unfortunately by that time the damage had been done and the idea of a primitive, bent-up, depraved Neanderthal Man was firmly lodged in popular consciousness

Bone Marrow

Found in the shafts of long bones in birds and mammals It is composed primarily of fat A little marrow would have kept people satiated for a long time The smashed bones in archaeological sites are usually the result of trying to get the marrow

2. The rock could not have been naturally transported to the area

Glaciers, rushing water, landslide, erosion of cliffs can cause rock to move over distances Smaller particles will move farther with less energy At Olduvai, there is no natural way for the type of rock from with Oldowan tools were made, to have moved from its place of origin to where it was found expect through people Animals can and do move stones in their guts or feet. But they do not move such large stones such long distances

Dmanisi, Georgia

H. erectus 1.8mya 775-650cc Oldowan-like tools Very primitive form of H.erectus with primitive tools

Turkana Boy

H. ergaster East Africa 1.65mya 9-12yrs old modern body 5'6" tall would have been 6' Died of infection from a teeth abscess most complete specimen of the era knowmore about the post cranial skeleton of H.ergaster -tall -long legs, narrow hips, narrow shoulders -robust and heavily muscled -shorter arms then earlier hominins -sexual dimorphism reduced Body proportions=modern humans in tropics

H. ergaster ate meat

Hand axes well suited for cutting up carcasses Teeth well suited for biting and tearing food animal bones show cut marks from stone tools skeleton shows amorphous bone growth associated with vitamin A poisoning -carnivore liver as source This is probably the first time in human evolution where we can state these points. Not certain is killed the animals they ate

The Fossils

Have features of both H.erectus and H.sapiens Larger brain than H.erectus Smaller features than H. erectus but larger than H. sapiens Main Species: -Homo heidelbergensis (Europe) -Homo rhodesiensis (African versions) -sometimes H. antecessor -Homo neanderthalensis (specialized European and SW Asian version) -Denisovans (asia)

Neanderthal Speech

Hominins have had the Broca's Area since H. erectus Neanderthals had the capacity for abstract thought(music, artworks) Neanderthals communicated with each other in complex ways(hunting, group living, art and music) But could they make the range of sounds that we make when we talk? Hyoid Bone from Kebara is fully modern so some researcher say "yes" Others say the hyoid is not the best indicator

Species for Class

Homo heidelbergensis -includes all European and African specimens -some Asian specimens are likely variants of H.heidelbergensis Homo neaderthalensis -a late, specialized form of Archaic H. sapiens found only in Europe and SW Asia Denisovans -a lte, specialized form of Archaic H. sapiens found only in Central and possibly Eastern Asia

Paranthropus boisei

Hyperrobust 2.6-1mya last of the A to die out Brain 515cc East Africa Zinjanthropus the name of the original

Endocasts

Inside surfaces of the skull are negative impressions of the surface of the brain Sometimes that occur naturally

Likelihoods

It is likely that focusing the diet on meat reduced the need for huge dentition Possibly increasing meat reduced the amount of time early hominins had to spend finding food and eating it Although it is killing us now it may have been highly beneficial early on in our evolution

Ologesailie

Kenya 900-700kya 60 baboons Large unmodified stones likely for throwing Lots of Acheulean tools likely for butchering Organized hunting of Baboons Cooperation, coordination, communication

Evidence of Fire

Koobi Fora- Kenya 1.6mya Red stain in soil with phytoliths from many plants Phytoliths= silica structures in the cells of plants, durable Plant variety suggests they were intentionally gathered to make fire

Joseph Mawle

Large brow ridge Sloping forehead Plays an Eastern European bad guy in most English TV shows Benjen Stark on Game of Thrones

Milford Wolpoff

Leads the field in Neanderthal research

Limestone

Limestone forms from the skeletal fragments of marine organisms and is largely compsoed of Calcium Carbonate in various forms Limestone is full of cracks and fissures and is easily dissolved by rainwater Limestone deposits are often filled with caves and tunnels Frequently filled with marine fossils can also contain more recent fossils of organisms that fell into fissures and caves and became preserved as casts or moulds or became mineralized Sediments can not be dated with KAr Often dated with U-series dating techniques

2. Olduvai Gorge

Louis and Mary Leakey left Cambridge under a cloud of scandal in 1933 Hit the jackpot in 1959 with Zinjanthropus later named Paranthropus boisei the gorge has been a goldmine for fossils and many finds have been made throughout Tanzania and Kenya Olduvai Gorge -in the Great Rift Valley -Tanzania -Old lake bed -Soft volcanic sediments preserved dead animals of all sorts -rift valley pulling apart exposed them mary the scientist "Disclosing the Past"

Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating (OSL)

Measures the time elapsed since Quartz rich sediments have been exposed to light Can date back to 350kya

Why the differences between Neanderthal and Human Skulls

Mid Facial Projection and Large Nasal Passages -an adaptation to glacial conditions as they help warm the air before inhalation -teeth as tools lots of people used their teeth as tools right up to modern times The Latest Theory -Genetic Drift

Archaic Homo sapiens

Middle Pleistocene Middle Paleolithic Middle Stone Age Sometimes called "Archaic" Homo sapiens or "transitionals" Not much is known about this time period Overlapping the end of H.erectus to the beginning of Modern H. sapiens Skulls share features with both 800-125kya

Primate Events- Each Epoch of Cenozoic Era

Miocene (23mya) -Age of Apes -Proconsul, Sivapithecus, Dryopithecus, Gigantopithecus Oligocene (33.9mya) -Age of Monkeys -Fayum desert Aegyptopithecus Eocene (55.8mya) -First True Primates -similar to prosimians: Adapis, Eosimias, Necrolemur Paleocene (65.5mya) -First Mammals with primate-like features -Plesiadapiformes

Cenozoic Era

Miocene: earliest hominin ancestors appear late in Miocene -Sahelanthropus -Orrorin Pliocene: earliest true hominin forms appear -Ardipithecus -Australopiths Pleistocene: earliest members of genus Homo appear, most human evolution take place -name 2 species?

Inuit

Modern inhabitants of arctic tundra environments Subsist on an almost entirely meat diet No plants are available during much of the year Meat and fat are necessary for maintaining the body in a cold environment

Disadvantages to Bipedalism

More visible to predators Exposes soft underbelly Run Slower Can't change directions very fast More susceptible to gravity Lower Back problems Hernias Hemorrhoides Leg and foot injuries can be incapacitating

Savanna Based Theory

Most suggest bipdelaism was an adaptation to savanna environments It has patchy distribution of food, a very hot environment, and predators Advantages: Endurance to get food from long distances and run animals to death Hands freee to carry babies while gathering food Added height for food gathering and seeing predators Heat Dissipation

Cannibalism

Moula Guercy, France Evidence for Neanderthal Cannibalism 6 Individuals -2 children -2 teenagers -2 adults Excavations since 1991 Published evidence 1999 Hard to prove -many people burn or eve delfesh their dead as part of the funeral ritual -some bury them in or near households in the archaeological records the remains appear to be mixed with household trash Moula Guercy -cut marks on bones -identical to placement o bones of game animals -bones smashed to extract marrow same as game animals -the only intact bones were ones that have little flesh on them

Neanderthals vs. Homo

Neanderthals and Archaics have a more pronounced dip between the browridges then H. erectus Skull is higher and more rounded (no sagittal keel) Face and jaw not so massive Neanderthals have bigger skulls Long, low crania Bigger Brains than moderns 1300-1640cc (modern humans average 1350cc) Organization of the brain is different- Larger frontal lobes and larger occipital area than H.sapiens Neanderthals have mid facial projection and Large nasal passages -no chin -large front teeth, bony faces, large brow ridges -occipital bun

New Replacement Model

Partial Replacement •AMH were able to interbreed with local populations •At least some interbreeding took place

Pharynx & Larynx

Pharynx- is part of the throat, located behind the mouth and nasal cavity Larynx (voice box)- connects the pharynx with the trachea (air passage). it protects the trachea against inhaling food and houses the vocal folds which control pitch and volume in the voice develop with age human babies have a high pharynx and larynx makes it possible for them to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time- something adults cannot do the high pharynx also gives them high pitched voices and they can only make a limited range of sounds as humans grow the pharynx and larynx descend into the throat giving humans the ability to make a wide range of sounds Neanderthal pharynx was similar in length to that of a human baby They likely had high pitched voices and were probably restricted in the range of sounds that they could make

H erectus vs. H sapiens

Physical Features (H.erectus) -long low skull -prognathus face -sagittal keel -projecting nose (like modern humans) -angled occipital -occipital torus -supraorbital torus

Ochre

Pigment containing iron oxide Shades of yellow, brown and red Often used to make paints, color clothing, skin and hair Has medicinal properties and is found at Neanderthal sites Usually found in rocks or sediments, ground Applied dry or added to liquids and fats to make dyes and paints Use of Ochre by Neanderthals have been dated to around 250k Manganese - a black pigment in France Neanderthals (may have been used for lighting fires) Both materials were brought to the sites from more than 10 miles away

Earliest Hominins from Africa

Pre Australopths 6-4.4mya -Sahelathropus tchadensis -Orrorin tugenensis -Ardipithecus ramidus Australopiths 4.2-1.2 mya -Australopithecus anamensis -Australopithecus afarensis -Australopithecus africanus -Australopithecus prometheus -Paranthropus boisei -Paranthropus robustus

Animal Bone from Neanderthal Sites

Predominantly upper leg bones -choicest cuts -would not be left by cernivores Few carnivores gnaw marks but lots of cut marks Breakage for marrow removal Focus on a single animal type

Middle Paleolithic

Prepared core technologies enable a flintknapper to remove many flakes of similar size and shape The flintknapper then retouches the flake by taking small flakes off of an edge to strengthen it or change its shape The retouched flakes are the tools, not the chunk of stone form which they were removed

Importance of Meat

Primates, especially human ones are omnivorous- they can eat anything In many environments it is difficul to get protein and fat Many protein and fat rich plant foods such as nuts and seeds were only available seasonally without the technology for storing and cooking them some foods such as dried beans and other legumes would not have been an option Dairy foods were not available until animals were domesticated

Out of Africa or Multiregional

Prior to DNA evidence, there was a debate about whether modern humans had come from Africa or developed in several places including Eastern Asia DNA evidence seemed to support Out of Africa and put an end to Multiregional BUT the Chinese evidence continues to defy expectations and give a very different picture of human evolution

Dikika, Ethiopia

Produced bones with stone tool cut marks dating 3.4mya A. afarensis is the only species known from this area at this time so they must have been the makers and users

Killer Ape Hypothesis

Raymond Dart Proposed that violence and aggression are what separated the earliest hominins from other primates and explain humanity's murderous and warlike tendencies broken bones and missing teeth of fossil finds as evidence of violence developed tools for murder

Key Parts of Body that Accomodate Upright Movement

Relationship of vertebrae and skull Spin Curves Pelvis Lower Limbs Feet

3. The rock could not have broken naturally

Rocks break through thermal shock but such breakage is characteristic. The Olduvai rocks were subject to excessive heat that could have fractured them but that type of fracture would be easily recognized The other way rocks break is when they collide with each other in rushing water, landslides or falling off cliffs Olduvai Gorge is a low energy environment where rocks do not naturally fall on each other and break Broken by humans

Bonobo vs. H. habilis

Scientists wondered if chimps were capable of making stone tools similar to H. Habilis Chim brain size: 370cc H. habilis brain size: 700cc experiments with Kanzi lexigram bonobo

The Movius Line

Separates the Acheulean hand axe cultures of the west from those that made only simple chopping tools in the East once believed to represent differences in advancement Now believed to be difference in technology Possibly the cutting duties of the axes were replaced with bamboo tools that have not survived

Africa

Several skulls Much variation Bodo (Ethiopia) -600kya -1250cc within the range of modern humans -skull has cutmarks indicating that it was defleshed soon after death Kabwe (Zimbabwe) -300-125kya -1300cc Human range -Long low vault -sagittal keel -earliest skull known to have dental caries (cavities) -10 caries on the upper teeth

Europe

Several specimens 500-160kya 1200-1325cc Arago (France) -450kya -Two individuals, male and female -1150cc -Tools and animal bones Steinheim (Germany) -250-350kya -950-1280cc -Gracile, so possibly female -a scan of the inside of the skull showed that it had a rare tumor of meninges (membranes that enclose the brain) Petralona (Greece) -350-150kya -difficulty dating limestone deposits Petralona Cave -a major tourist attraction because of its impressive stalactites and stalagmites -lots of fossil animals and humans -the petralona skull was embedded in limestone -the remains of a stalactite were sticking out of the skull when it was first found

The Pit of Bones, Spain

Sima de los Hosos Atapuerca- near Gran Dolina (known for H. antecessor) Over 6,000 human bones At least 28 individuals of all ages Date 400kya -A natural 45 foot shaft inside a cave -It has bones of animals that evidently fell in there while seeking shelter -Archaeologists think that the human bones are the result of intentional deposition

Bouri, Ethiopia

Site of Bouri has produced animal bones with stone toll butchering marks dating to 2.5mya Again no associated human remains but A or early form of Homo?

Neanderthal Flute

Slovenia 82,000-43,000 years A bear femur with four holes in it Has been interpreted as a flute Similar flutes have been found in Europe but in much later contexts associated with Homo sapiens < 30,000 ya

Australopithecus sediba

South Africa Found 2010 2mya Brain 420cc Chimp sized, long arms Much more human brain, face, teeth, pelvis and legs, and hands Possibly ancestors to modern humans Found in Malapa nature reserve by a 9y old boy son of Lee Berge of University of Wittwatersrand in South Africa

Australopithecus africanus

South Africa possibly East Africa 3.3-2.1mya Body and brain like A. afarensis Less prognathus face No sagittal crest No diastema Brain 440cc Slightly longer arms than afarensis Curved finger bones, possibly more arboreal Diet mostly mixed vegetables possibly some meat (scavenging, catching) Taung Child= endocranial cast- silica had penetrated the skull and made a cast of the inside of the cranium

Torralba and Ambrona

Spain 400kya Animal bones in swamp Acheulean Tools Tool marks on bones Possibly H.erectus drove the animals into the swamp and killed them Suggests group hunting, cooperation, skill Evidence inconclusive Most bone too weathered to detect tool marks Possibly animals died in swamp and occasionally H.erectus butchered them

Trouble with Tools

Stone tools cannot be dated directly so it si imperative that the association between the tools and what is being dated is solid Early stone tools can be very rudimentary, so it is necessary to demonstrate that these are actually produced by humans and did not break naturally There were several species of hominins in Africa 1-3ma. the association between the tools and who made them is not always clear

Shanidar

Suffered a serious injury that resulted in blindness Had lost the use of one arm He lived like this for many years indicating that he was cared for by his people flexed burial pollen samples show he was lying on pine boughs and covered with wildflowers

Laetoli

Tanzania Footprints preserved in volcanic ash Ash dated to 3.6mya A. afarensis Bipedal gait 3 individuals -one large -one small -one walking on the footprints of the large one and obscuring them Male and Female Sexually Dimoprhic -males 12" taller -males weigh 2x females Smaller on is burdened on one side so possibly had a baby on her hip Feet similar to modern human, impressions show similar strides waled the same as obligate biped

Miocene Recap

The Age of the Apes Radiate out of Africa and all over Europe and Asia Over 30 kinds of apes No Tails, ape like teeth But: fore and hind limbs similar length Forelimb adaptation to suspension not developed until relatively late with Dryopithecus

Kanzi: The Stone Tool Making Chimp

The Experiment: Kanzi is shown good food and the food is put into a tightly roped box. Kanzi is shown how to srike two rocks together to make a flake and that a sharp flake can cut the rope. Kanzi left with a tied up box of food and some rocks She makes stone flakes and opens the box. Finds it is easier to throw rocks against the tile floor to break them than it is to break them by banging them together Added a mat to here floor and continues to break rock by throwing it. soft floor kanzi resumes striking rocks together. Can pick the sharpest and best flake for cutting 9/10times

Weird Theories- Handaxe Symmetry

The Sexy Handaxe Theory -handaxes are too big and clumsy to hae functioned as tools -found unused ones -some purpose other than cutting •Psychological studies indicate that people find symmetry aesthetically pleasing in human faces and design •Men who could make symmetrical handaxes could attract women and have sex with them

Cut vs. Teeth Marks

The argument goes that stone tools are sharper than teeth and will leave V-shaped marks Teeth are bunter and will leave U-shaped marks The diagram shows that marks left by different types of stone tool edges Early people did not retouch their stone tools so their cut makrs would mainly look jagged ambiguous evidence must look at whether the cut marks are systematic or random

Dinaledi Cave

The bones were in far chamber accessible only by a chute that is 49 feet high and 7.5 inches wide An All Woman Excavation Team •The cave is so small that a call was sent out specifically for women small enough to work in the tiny space •The media made much of this •This is not the first or only all woman team of paleoanthropologists, as the media seemed to imply •The women were not hired just because of their size as the media seemed to imply •These were fully qualified graduate students and scientists who had physical attributes that made them uniquely suitable for working in this unusual environment •This was not a job for people with claustrophobia

Intelligent Design?

The descent of the larynx into the throat makes humans much more susceptible to choking than any other mammal Such a dangerous adaptation would never have evolved unless there was a strong selective advantage for it. Since the larynx contains the vocal cords and is critical for speech it seems that there was a very strong advantage for humans to speak

Homo erectus is the first hominin to move out of Africa

The earliest dates for H. erectus are in Asia We know it did not orginate there because there are no previous hominin forms Dates suggest rapid movement the physical difference between African and Asian forms suggest it was the african forms that evolved into modern humans

Neanderthal Culture

The environment of Europe was Tundra -low bushes and shrubs, moss, lichen

Neanderthal Hand Print

The famous cave paintings of Europe were done by anatomically modern peoples less than 30 KYA. But a handprint in a cave in Spain has been dated to 68 KYA, suggesting that it is Neanderthal Just as tools were what were thought to define Genus Homo, abstract expression in language and art were thought to define modern Homo sapiens This find suggests otherwise

Cores

The piece that the flake came off of it has the negative impression of the detached flake If the core is used as a tool it is a core tool It the flake is used as a tool then it is a flake tool

Neanderthals Burials

The pollen got into the cave naturally (archaeologist debate this endlessly) Other neanderthal graves have been even more ambiguous Some researchers report that around 40% of Neanderthal grave contain some sort of grave goods Other researchers dismiss the evidence and suggest that the bones and stones that wound up in the graves were deposited accidentally

The Island Effect

The reasoning: Dwarfism:Resources are limited so small bodied large animals have a selective advantage Gigantism: On the mainland, small body size enables some species of herbivores to escape carnivorous predators. Large carnivores are rare on islands. Without the threat, herbivores such as rodents are able to grow to a large size •Other animals such as flightless birds and reptiles also grow with adequate food sources and an absence of predators Examples of Island Dwarfism and Island Gigantism on the Island of Flores. The Elephant is a Stegodon - a type of elephant that lived from the Miocene to thePleistocene in Africa, Asia and North America. Flores had a dwarf population thatwas dramatically smaller and persisted until at least 12,000 years ago.The rodent is the Flores Giant Rat

1. The rock does not occur naturally in the area

The type of rock used to make the tools is found several miles from the place that the tools were found

Composite Tools

Tools made from more than one piece- Hafted points- detachable shafts - spear throwers

Composite Tools

Tools that consist of two or more parts Hafted tools=working edge (stone), haft (wood or bone), adhesive (gum, sap, tar), binding (sinew, bark)

Orrorin tugenensis

Tugen Hills, Kenya 6mya Small teeth (modern) Large canines with evidence for sectorial honing (ancestral) Thick enamel (ancestral) Very Fragmented -Teeth, mandible, femur, humerus, toe bone, thumb bone Thumb bone similar to genus Homo (refined precision grip) Capable of making tools but no evidence for tool making this early Most conclude very dexterous climber and used its fine motor skills for food related activities Head of femur suggests bipedalism with similarities to miocene apes Lecture 13 Slide 66: sexist photos

Quadrupedal Humans

Turkish family habitually walks quadrupedally suggested to be subjects of pre bipedal humans anomaly in their brains that affects coordination and balance

Bipedal Walking

Unique to hominins Appears early the ONLY characteristic that distinguishes hominins from other primate ancestors establish bipedal then look at other anatomical features of the skull and jaws

Early H.erectus

Used and Developed Oldowan technology -cobble tools -some bifacially flaked -more variety

Scrapers

Useful for scraping hides Likely had lots of other purposes as well Name describes where the retouch is "side scraper"

Soft Hammer Percussion

Using a bone, antler or other softer material. **Makes thinner, flatter and more finely flaked tools. More control diffuses the impact making flakes with a less pronounced bulb of percussion. thinner and often wider flakes Occurs after Hard Hammer to more precisely shape the tool -to make it thinner overall -to straighten and sharpen edges

Hard Hammer Percussion

Using an impactor that is of a material harder than the stone you are trying to break.

4 Venomous Mammals

Vampire bats saliva Shrew saliva Platypus venomous spurs Solenodon saliva

Miocene

Very early forms of possible hominins appear at the end of the Miocene -Sahelanthropus -Ororrin Human evolution takes place in Pliocene and Pleistocene Earliest true hominin forms appear in Pliocene Homo genus members appear in the Pleistocene

Pleistocene Maegafauna

Very large versions of modern animals Now extinct Cave Bear -neanderthal love/hate with cave bear is fiction Woolly Rhino Woolly Mammoth Sabre Toothed Tiger Muskox Bison Reindeer Tarpan-Wild European Horse -went extinct in the 1800's -genetically recreated in the 1900s

H. heidelbergensis

Widespread in time and space First named for a specimen found in Germany at Mauer, near Heidelberg Date 800-400kya The last common ancestor between Modern H. sapiens and Neanderthals Likely originated in Africa, Europe or SW Asia at least 600kya Spread out and differentiated into local populations (genetic drift) Features: -larger brain than H. erectus (1265ml) -Higher forehead -Smaller face, thinner bones -Less prognathic than H. erectus -Less extreme Supraorbital tori -Less post orbital constriction due to expansion of the frontal part of the brain -Tall and muscular -Some populations average 6 feet and 220 lbs -Extensive wear on teeth=used as tools -Wear patterns suggest they held things with their teeth and sliced or scraped with their right hands

Interglacials

World temps rise Polar ice caps melt Water becomes available -sea level rises -rainfall increases -desert shrinks -forests expand Africa became very humid and Sahara replaced with rivers, lakes and wooded grasslands

Cannibalism

Zhoukoudian several of the skulls were broken at their bases, suggesting that Homo erectus may have intentionally broken them open to eat the brains Many of the specimens from Zhoukoudian were also missing their faces and some had carnivore puncture marks in their brow ridges One piece of human bone was etched with stomach acid, indicating that it had been in something's stomach. Something much bigger than a human. The most recent interpretation is that the H. erectus at Zhoukoudian were victims of the giant pleistocene Heyenas that brought their kills back to the cave. The broken skull bases were where the heyenas had broken open the skull to get to the brain

Rift Valley

a major fault line where two continental plates meet and is in the process of pulling apart as it pulls apart it exposes layers of fossil bearing geological strata making a great place to find fossils Goes from the Afar Depression in Ethiopia through Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi

Why did Hominins Become bipedal?

advantages must have been sufficient to overcome the disadvantages

Valgus knee

angled underneath the body like humans

Hominoids

any human-like animals including humans, human ancestors and anthropoid apes, and fossil apes

Acheulean Hand Axe

become smaller, thinner and more standardized through time They likely functioned as cutting, pounding and sawing tools unfinished rounded ends to protect the hands when applying pressure during chopping sawing pounding or cutting •Hand axes all have the same proportions (H:W:T), regardless of size Hand axes became thinner and more refined over time but the proportions did not change for nearly 1 million years all over world -Such regularity implies that toolmakers had common plan in their heads -Knowledge may have been passed along by teaching and imitation, but teaching and imitation much different than in modern humans

Retouching

chipping off little flakes to change the shape of an edge or make it stronger In mousterian technology, flakes by the levallois technique are retouched into a variety of tools

Obligate Bipeds

committed to bipedalism and cannot locomote efficiently any other way

Hard Hammer Percussion

creates flakes with a pronounced bulb of percussion, these are larger thicker flakes Often used for the initial shaping of the core -to remove unwanted bits of stone -to produce the overall shape of the tools

Dikika

cut markets on animal bones dated to Australopithecine times New research argues that the so called "cut marks" are actually crocodile tooth marks

Post Orbital Constriction

distance measured on the top of the skull right behind the orbits H. erectus has a significant post orbital constriction very pronounced in the great apes reduces in genus homo expansion of the front part of the brain At the frontal lobes of the brain expand the post orbital constriction goes away. it is absent in modern humans

Plio/Pleistocene Muddle

earliest Homo not much different from A They have: -shorter arms but similar postcranially -flatter faces -bigger brains (700 cc) They are the first hominins associated with Tools!

Earliest Forms of AMH

earliest forms appear to be transitional between Archaic and AMH They are found in Eastern and Southern Africa They have many modern features but still have brow ridges, low skull, big face Ethiopia -Omo and Herto specimens -Some archaic features -high cranial vault characteristic of AMH Left Africa around 60,000 years ago

Homo habilis

earliest hominin named as "Handy man" by the Leakeys who found him in Olduvai Gorge Dated 2.1-1.5mya Had a bigger brain than A Found with TOOLS Capacity for tool making makes them different HOWEVER: 3.5-2mya with evidence of tool making and tool use Homo would fit better with our idea that larger brains were necessary for tool making and that tool making defines members of our genus

Bifacial Flaking

flaked on both faces to make the tool thinner and to shape it The "faces" are the two sides of the tool the "edges" are where the sides come together to make a sharp cutting edge

Studying Human Origins

fossil record is fragmentary and partial bits and pieces, widely distributed in time and space estimates given of where they fit into overall scheme new discoveries reassess old ides

Acheulean Tools in the Americas

hand axes found in Charleston SC evidence that humans also evolved in the New World A surprising number of non-archaeologists say "yes" Alternate Explanation: -ships coming from Europe used to put rock in their hods to make empty ships stable at sea Flint ballast sometimes come from ancient quarries

Meat

high quality protein Marrow and fat have lots of calories and minerals easy to digest stay full longer would have been a preferred food source to hominins just as it is for many human groups around the world

Feet

human feet bear the full weight of the body need to distribute to absorb shock must be flexible enough to maintain balance in uneven terrain rigid enough to propel body forward 1.)Larger Heel= better for walking 2.) Expanded in three ares (Big Toe, Ball, Heel) 3.)Short Toes 4.)Straight Metatarsals 5.)Big Toe Alignment (Apes have apposable big toes) 6.)Rigid Feet= less flexible 7.) Proximal Metatarsal Bases= rounded for apes as mobile joints but flat for humans 8.) Feet Arches(Anterior Transverse, Lateral Longitudinal, Medial Longitudinal)

Precision Grip

is the ability to grasp something between the thumb and first finger a. tip to tip b. pad to pad (humans primarily use) c. pad to side (apes primarily use)

Power Grip

is the ability to grasp something with the whole hand

Lewis Binford

lived among the Nunamuit to understand life in the tundra learned about the distribution of cut marks on bone when it has been butchered patterns of cutmarks from from Neanderthal sites in France are similar to those from modern Nunamuit site Umm el Tlel, Syria -mousterian point embedded in the neck of a wild ass

Pelvis

located under trunk and have thicker bones 1.)Lliac blades flare out 2.)wider and thicker to support weight hip joint/acetabulum reoriented forward making striding gait possible Ischium shortens making striding gait possible when monkeys climb or walk they are bent forward and stretch their legs behind them quadrupedals cannot extend their legs backward very far. Ischium and hamstrings make it impossible Humans have more muscle at hips (only ones to have a butt)

Acheulan Technology

made by H.erectus Named for Ste. Acheul, a site in France where the technology was first defined 1.4mya-250kya Includes aces, cleavers and flake tools Improvements -straighter edges -thinner tools for sharper edges -specialized -more complex

Early Hominins

may have lived throughout Africa, but in East and South Africa we have both preservation and exposure

Later H.erectus

more complex and sophisticated technology dominated by hand axes

Post-orbital constriction

narrowing of the skull behind the eyes pronounced in non-human primates Absent in modern humans

Kanzi vs. Oldowan Tools

never reached the level of sophistication of Oldowan tools Kanzi just broke rock and used the edges Conclusion: a chimp can make usable tools and innovative way of breaking stone A chimp can recognize and choose useful flakes out of a pile Chimp tools are opportunistic. Chimps do not put planning into their tool making and use the way early hominins did -Hominins selected good rocks and brought them to the site -suggests planning and a good understanding of the properties if stone

Zhoukoudian- Evidence for Fires

not necessarily in the sames trata as evidence for humans "ash" falsely identified fire relatively late in the sequence likely that H. erectus used fire but questionable evidence

Levallois Technology

one type of prepared core technology Core prepared to a specific shape 3-5 flakes of a particular shape can be taken off Advantages -conserve raw material -more cutting edge per pound of raw material -faster -sharper -more standardized

2.1 MYA Humans in China?

published July 2018 China's loess plateau- wind blown sediments Broken rock that could not have broken unless by humans cobble choppers, flakes, animal bones no human remains Dated with Paleomegnetism Issues: -western scientists were skeptical about the early dates from China -Difficulties with dating -Some finds turned out to be Apes not hominins -Large international projects also find evidence to support Chinese findings

We Did Not Evolve From Chimpanzees

shared a common ancestor from which we both split evolving in different directions ever since apes not frozen in time traits are modern adaptations and not primitive traits that humans evolved away from

Bone lissoirs

smoothing tools probably for working leather

Cleavers

straight sharp edge instead of a pointed one

Paleomagnetic Dating

the earths magnetic field has varied in orientation and intensity through time magnetic minerals line up with the earths polarity when they are being formed A date can be derived by measuring the orientation of magnetic minerals in rocks and sediments

The Teeth as Tools

the enormous amount of bony architecture to the Homo erectus face and head may suggest that it habitually used its teeth as tools necessitating large muscle attachments

Prognathism

the lower face projected forward

Gona, Ethiopia

the site has produced around 3,000 stone tools that date to around 2,5mya No human remains were found at the site but A.garhi was found nearby suggesting it may have made the tools

Basicranium

the underside of the skull very complex area associated with the throat there is a correlation between the degree of flexion of the basicranium and the location of upper respiratory structures such as the pharynx and larynx relationships are used to suggest whether early hominins had the capacity for complex speech H.erectus basicranium similar to modern humans possibly had the physical capacity for speech

In the News-Slow Lorises

they can bite with a flesh rotting venom worlds only venomous mammals and they even use it on one another Two Toxins: Saliva Inside the elbow When mixed they form a toxin that prompts severe allergic reactions and rots flesh

Heat Dissipation

vertical position cools the body by: Presenting a smaller surface to the sun gives more of the body access to the cooling breezes gets the face and head away from the hot ground HUmans also lost their hair and developed a lot of sweat glands suggesting thermoregulation is important brain generates a lot of heat so may have effect on the ability of hominins to develop big brains BUT bipedalism developed before brains, hominin brain was able to develop AFTER becoming bipdeal HOWEVER humans had been bipedal for several years before seeing a dramatic increase in brain size

Post Cranial Skeleton

very similar to modern humans often shorter (not always) Stockier More muscular rib cage= suggests that H.erectus had a much smaller gut than earlier hominins -due to a different diet that did not require processing enormous amount of fibrous plant material Australopithecus much shorter than H.erectus H.erectus should and back gluteal muscles nearly modern -lucy in comparison would have had a slightly more chimp pattern

Habitual Bipeds

walking on two legs is their standard and most efficient means of locomotion

Bipedal Efficiency

walking uses pendulum-like mechanics Swinging the legs and forward movement require very little energy on flat surfaces Sled dogs can travel around 10mph pulling loads of 85lb per dog for 8-10 hours/day Lecture 12 Slide 59 (Dogs on Strike) Camels can carry 400 lb 40 miles/day (Dromedaries 1 hump, Bactrians 2 humps)

Paranthropus

was a highly specialized vegetarian the pleistocene was a time of rapid environmental change had difficulty adjusting to the changing environmental conditions of the pleistocene

4. Flake removals are systematic

when a rock gets broken by colliding with rocks in a landslide or rushing water, the flaes are knocked off randomly from all sides Humans who are trying to make an edge will remove flakes purposefully from only one or two sides Olduvai tools were systematically flaked, working edge was flaked opposite was smooth to prevent cutting themselves

Confirmation Bias

when expectations, hopes and desires cause people to accept any evidence that confirms their beliefs and reject any evidence that doesnt

Flakes

when people make stone tools they strike the stone sharply with another stone producing a characteristic fracture pattern Flake will have a striking platform and a bulb of percussion showing where the blow landed and the strongest force was applied

Retouch

when the edge of a stone flake is modified by taking off a series of small flakes strengthens the edge of the flak so that is can be used for cutting and scraping tasks that need a lot of force sharpest edge is an unmodified flake but the edge is delciate and can easily chipped during use -retouching for tasks where strength is more important than sharpness unmodified obsidian flakes are many times sharper than the sharpest blade humans can manufacture (used in eye surgery)

Glaciations

world temps drop Polar ice caps increase in size -cover most of the northern hem -ice was up to 2.5miles thick Much of the worlds water in ice so -sea levels drop -rainfall crops -deserts expand -forests retreat Africa became extrememly dry

Stone Tool Technology

• •Mainly expediently used flakes= flakes that have been used for their sharp edges and then discarded •There are stone tools on the island that date to almost 1 mya and are most likely the work of H. erectus •The floresiensis tools share some similarities with them, there are far more expediently used flakes •The brain of H. floresiensis clearly had the capacity to make stone tools •The tools were not as sophisticated as Upper Paleolithic ones, even though H. floresiensis may have lasted until 13,000 years ago

Australia

•50 kya (possibly as early as 65 kya) •Earliest fossils from Lake Mungo 30-25 kya •Kow Swamp 14-9 kya •Interestingly the earlier forms are more gracile, and the later ones are more robust •DNA evidence indicates Australia was populated by modern humans in one migration around 50 kya

Microcephaly

•A developmetal condition where adults achieve a brain size of 400-500 cc and are moderately to severely retarded •Microcephaly has a low but consistent frequency in all populations world wide •The Zika virus is responsible for a recent outbreak of microcephaly •Studies of Microcephalic brains and H. floresiensis endocasts show that despite the small size of the floresiensis' brain, it is more similar in shape to a normal human brain than it is to a microcephalic brain •The floresiensis brain does differ from a modern brain in other respects. It is likely more similar to H. erectus than to AMH

Asian Neanderthals- Denisovans

•Announced in 2010 •A single juvenile finger bone, later two teeth and a toe bone from Siberia •Later half a mandible from Tibet •Dated: 41 Kya •The cave where the original find was made had also been inhabited by Neanderthals and Modern Humans •DNA on the bones and teeth was genetically distinct from Neanderthals and Modern humans •There is Denisovan DNA in the populations of Southeast Asia •3%-5% of the DNA of modern Melanesians and Aboriginal Australians is Denisovan •Suggests they came from a separate exodus from Africa: After Homo erectus but before modern Homo sapiens •They appear to have moved East into Siberia and Southeastern Asia

Out of Africa

•Around 40 KYA new technologies emerged in Eurasia •Neanderthals = Mousterian •Later Neanderthals = Chatelperronian •Modern H. sapiens = Aurignacian

Genetic Evidence

•As a species, Humans exhibit comparatively little genetic variation •Suggests a relatively recent common source •Consistent with the Replacement Model •Uses DNA that is not controlled by selective pressures- Mitochondrial DNA (Women)- Y Chromosome DNA (Men) •These types of DNA change only because of random mutations.

Klasies River Mouth-South Africa

•Blade tools by 100,000 •Geometric microliths •65,000 ya •Blades don't appear in Europe until 40 KYA. •Microliths don't appear in Europe until 12 KYA •The microliths were hafted into shafts to make composite tools (tools with more than one part) of various sorts

Upper Paleolithic Tool Kit

•Blades •Finely worked bifaces •Composite Tools •Bone tools •Items of adornment Antler, Bone and Wood •The Upper Paleolithic also had a lot of tools in materials other than stone •These are delicately worked points, harpoons, needles and other materials •Earlier peoples had access to these same materials, but evidently they did not have the need to make these kinds of tools

Molecular Clock

•Calculates the rate of genetic change •Mutations occur constantly •Populations accumulate mutations over time •We can look at how different populations are by the differences in their DNA due to the accumulation of mutations over time •A "Molecular Clock" estimates the amount of time elapsed since the populations separated and began to independently accumulate mutations •Estimates ancestral genomes by analysing the DNA of their descendents •We can trace the line of descent through mtDNA because it passes unmixed from mothers to children of both sexes •Matrilineal descent goes back to our mothers, grand mothers, great grandmothers etc. etc. until all female lineages converge •mtDNA accumulates mutations at a rate of approximately one every 3500 years •Some more recent variants survive into modern times and are identifiable as distinct lineages •Some branches, including very old ones, come to an end when the last family in a distinct branch has no daughters •By looking at the number of mutations which have been accumulated in different branches of the family tree, and looking at which geographical regions have the widest range of least related branches (the most diversity), we can identify the region where Eve lived. •The date when mtEve lived can be estimated by determining the most recent common ancestor of a sample of mtDNA lineages. •Scientists believe that mtEve may have lived 140-280 thousand years ago •The movement of modern H. sapiens out of Africa can be charted the same way by looking at other genetic markers that define other haplogroups

May 2010

•Continued work on the Neanderthal Genome provides the first Genetic evidence that Neanderthals and humans could and did interbreed •Scientists compared Neanderthal DNA to living humans from China, New Guinea, Southern Africa and Western Africa •They found that Neanderthal DNA is 99.7% identical to modern human DNA (vs. 98.8% for humans and chimps) •They also found that all modern peoples, with the exception of Africans carry 1-4% Neanderthal DNA. •Homo sapiens neanderthalensis

Western Europe

•Cro Magnon (France) •28 kya •We know a LOT about them because they are European, found in France....

Body Hair and Lice

•DNA studies of lice tell us that humans lost their body hair about 3.3 million years ago •When humans were covered with hair, body lice could get all over the human body with no problem. •When they lost their hair, lice became isolated in the head and pubic areas the only patches of hair that remain. •Studies show, however that head and pubic lice are not related •In fact the closest relative of the pubic louse is the Gorilla louse •DNA studies show that gorilla lice and human pubic lice separated some 3.3 million years ago •This gives us a date for the time at which this particular lice infected humans and became isolated in the pubic area. •Nobody knows how early hominins got lice from gorillas

Katanda, Democratic Republic of Congo

•Finely Worked Bone Tools •Found 90,000 ya in Africa •Not found until after 40,000 ya in Europe

Floresiensis brain

•Floresiensis has a Cranial Capacity of only 380 ml. •This is the lower range for Chimpanzees •Earliest members of Genus Homo (Homo habilis) has 600 cc minimum •Although the brain is small, they were intelligent •Advanced behaviours: - fire- cooperative hunting- sophisticated tools

Hypotheses

•For most of the history of Paleoathropology researchers relied on fossils and artifacts •DNA has added a new dimension to our understanding •Although in 2010 DNA seemed to have eliminated the Multi regional hypothesis, new DNA evidence and new discoveries have complicated the picture

Homo floresiensis

•Found 2003 •Island of Flores •Tiny humans •Skeletons Date 94,000-13,000 •Partial skeletons of nine individuals •Height: 3.6 feet •Smaller than the average height for even the smallest modern human populations (ie: Mbuti, Semang and Andamanese = 4'11" (male); 4'6" (female) •Even smaller than any known fossil hominid. •Otherwise resemble Homo erectus. Small Stature •No agreement on why they are so small •One suggestion:Insular Dwarfism "Foster's Rule" or "The Island Rule" or "The Island Effect" •When mainland animals colonize islands, small species tend to evolve larger bodies and large species tend to evolve smaller bodies.

Nuclear DNA

•Found in the cell nucleus •Nuclear DNA consists of three billion base pairs and an estimated 70,000 genes. •Contains most of an individual's genetic information •Is inherited from both parents and is therefore a combination of both parents' DNA

Homo sapiens idaltu

•From Herto in Ethiopia •160-154 kya •Three well preserved crania •Very large skull •Long cranial vault •1450 cc •Heavy bone •Arching brow ridges •Occipital protuberance •No mid facial projection Much narrower faceHigh foreheadChinRetains large brow ridge but not as massive

Big Feet

•Hobbit feet are 20% longer proportionally than modern human feet. •The Hobbit foot is about 70% of the length of the tibia (shin bone) •Modern human feet are only about 50%

Homo sapiens neanderthalensis

•Implies that modern humans and Neanderthals are the same species, separated at the sub species level and that the could interbreed

Behavioral Modernity

•In Europe the arrival of modern Homo sapiens sapiens is evident as the complete replacement of Neanderthals and their way of life with new humans, technologies, lifestyles and forms of abstract expression •In Africa we see modern human behavior much earlier and it appears gradually, over a longer period of time, as would be expected where it evolved

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)

•Mitochondria are located outside the cell nucleus •Consists of 16,000 base pairs containing 37 genes •MtDNA is passed on, unchanged, only through the mother •mtDNA is selectively neutral. It changes occasionally because of mutations but it does not change because of Natural Selection •mtDNA can provide an accurate record of the genetic history of divergent lineages While female eggs contain lots of mitochondria, male sperm contains only a few, which are lost after fertilization.

Border Cave

•Modern human bones and tools dating to around 75 Kya •Hunted wild pigs, zebra and buffalo •Artifacts from Border Cave •These very modern tools date to 44 Kya •Bone Awls and Points; Ostrich Eggshell Beads; Shell Beads; digging sticks; Organic material bound with vegetal fibers •Border Cave: Warthog Tusk Tools

Neanderthal DNA is Patchy

•Neanderthal DNA is not spread evenly throughout the modern human genome •There is a significant amount in some places (keratin) but none at all in large areas of the genome •Suggests very infrequent mating. •One scientist says as few as 4 hybrids

Eurasia: Three Technologies

•Neanderthals = Mousterian -retouched levallois flakes •Later Neanderthals = Chatelperronian -more finely worked -blade-like -36,000-34,000 •Modern H. sapiens = Aurignacian -very fine -blades -fine retouch -43,000-38,000ya •Aurignacian overlaps with later Neanderthals •Possible influence on Mousterian resulting in Chatelperronian •Possibility of Neanderthal and Modern exchange of technology and possible interbreeding

Y-Chromosome DNA

•Only males have the Y chromosome •It is passed virtually unchanged from fathers to sons •It is also used to trace lines of descent

Pressure Flaking

•Rather than striking the stone with a percussor to remove flakes, a sharp, strong tool is used to apply pressure to the edge •Very thin flakes can be removed with this technique •This is the technique that is used to finish bifaces and turn them into very refined, finely worked bifacial tools

Denisovan DNA in 34 KYA Mongolian AMH

•Researchers thought this was a Neanderthal or H.erectus skull - heavy brow ridges •Dates suggest Neanderthal •DNA analysis showed it is an AMH woman with DNA from Western Asia and the Denisovans. •The Denisovan DNA is similar to that which appears in modern Eastern Asian populations but different from that which appears in the peoples of Oceania •Suggests Pleistocene people traveled widely and mixed with Denisovans multiple times •We do not know much about the Denisovans •The DNA results show that they had brown skin, eyes and hair •We do not have enough bones to know what they looked like •While Africans do not have Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA, Africans DO have DNA from as yet unidentified Archaic Homo populations from Central and Western Africa

How?

•Scientists suggest that modern humans came into contact with Neanderthals shortly after they left Africa, probably around 60,000 years ago in Southwest Asia. •From there modern humans migrated throughout the Old World and into the New World carrying 1-4% Neanderthal DNA •Although the presence of Neanderthal DNA in human populations suggests that they bred with modern Humans, the very small amount of their DNA suggests that this did not happen very frequently •There is some evidence that the Neanderthal DNA fortifies a class of immune genes (Human Leukocyte Antigens - or HLAs), which play a vital role in protecting people against viruses and infections •This would be advantageous to people migrating into new areas where they were exposed to new pathogens •Modern human individuals carry 1-4% Neanderthal DNA but not all people have the same Neanderthal DNA •The population as a whole has about 20% Neanderthal DNA which scientists are using to reconstruct the Neanderthal Genome

Not All Neanderthal Genes are Beneficial

•Several genes make us susceptible to: Type 2 DiabetesLupus Crohn's Disease •So much for the myth of the healthy Neanderthal! (Sorry Paleodieters) •There is virtually NO Neanderthal DNA in modern men's testes, and none in the X chromosome •This would happen if males with Neanderthal and modern parents were infertile, and therefore incapable of passing on their single Neanderthal X chromosome •It is therefore likely that only female Neanderthal/Human hybrids were fertile and that all Neanderthal DNA was passed through the female line. •Anything related to maleness in the Neanderthal has been purged from our genomes

Isreal

•Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel •Dated to 80-120 KYA •Have both archaic and modern traits •Faces = Neanderthals •High, rounded crania of modern humans. •Qafzeh has a chin. •Neanderthals dating to 61-48 KYA have been found nearby •These forms therefore may not have come into contact with each other

Omo

•The earliest fossils with modern traits date to 195 - 160 kya •Two partial skulls, 4 jaws, 1 leg bone, several hundred teeth* •Lots of Middle Paleolithic tools

Lineages and Branches

•The female lineage has branched many times •Branches are identified by one or more mutations that give a mtDNA signature or haplotype. •Each marker is a DNA base pair that has resulted from a particular type of mutation known as a "Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism" •It is referred to as a SNP (pronounced "snip") mutation •Scientists sort mtDNA results into related groups with more or less recent common ancestors •This leads to the construction of a DNA family tree where the branches are clades •Common ancestors sit at the branching points •Major branches define haplogroups •A haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor having the same SNP mutation in both haplotypes

2009

•The first draft of the Neanderthal genome said that it is unlikely that humans and Neanderthals interbred •Neanderthals were a genetic dead end •Homo neanderthalensis

Cultural Evidence

•The new AMH brain was different from the Archaic brain •With the arrival of AMH there is a concomitant explosion of creativity and technological skill •This is the Upper Paleolithic •The Upper Paleolithic is frequently called The Great Leap Forward because it was such a dramatic shift in human cognition and achievement

Speciation

•The old models were based on the idea that when H.erectus left Africa it became isolated in pockets throughout the Old World •Isolation led to speciation. These populations could not have interbred with AMH, and may not have been able to interbreed with each other •If Archaic H.sapiens developed independently in those areas, and if Archaic H. sapiens could interbreed with AMH, then these populations could not have been isolated. •It is most likely, then, that H. erectus was continuously distributed throughout the Old World. As populations expanded into new territory, they left behind relatives with whom they were indirectly in contact •Continuous gene flow would have kept them from speciating •The fossil record is patchy so we have not been able to see the full distribution of H. erectus and Archaic peoples throughout the Old World •It has only been since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 that the fossil record of central Asia has started to come to light •Dmanisi and the Denisovans are evidence of that link between east and west •The Hobbits (H. floresiensis) are also evidence for the continuous distribution of human populations

Speciation

•The question of whether Neanderthals and modern humans could interbreed was a question of whether they were reproductively isolated and thus different species •The fact that they could interbreed indicates that they are not reproductively isolated and therefore not separate species •BUT there is evidence that they were not entirely reproductively compatible •Most Neanderthal DNA in people today relates to Keratin, the protein that makes up hair, skin and nails •It likely had an advantage in the colder climates in thicker hair and lighter skin

Mitochondrial Eve

•The recent ancestor of modern humans on the mother's side (matrilineal) •The woman from whom all living humans today are descended, on their mothers' side •Because all mtDNA is passed from mother to offspring without recombination, all mtDNA in every living person is directly descended from her by definition •There is also a DNA Adam traced through the Y Chromosome which gets passed intact between father and son. •The principles are similar, but Y-Adam lived many thousands of years after Eve •mtEve sits at the branch that defines the species modern Homo sapiens sapiens

Evidence for Human/ Neanderthal Interbreeding

•This was a big question for a long time •Were they separate species and incapable of interbreeding? •Could they and did they interbreed? •Were Neanderthals absorbed into the modern human lineage?

Blombos Cave

•Three periods of occupation 140-78 kya (OSL and TL dating) •Earliest evidence for fishing and collecting shellfish in earliest layers First evidence of pressure flaking. Previously not known until 20 kya in France. Impact fractures at the tips suggest use as projectiles 75-80 kya Engraved ochre is the earliest known artwork in the world. Bone tools, pierced shell beads •Only a few human teeth have been found in the cave, but no human bone

Europe

•Widely distributed in central and western Europe by 28 kya Earliest: •Romania (Oase)35 kya •Czech Republic(Mladec) 31 kya

China

•Zhoukoudian and Ordos •< 40 kya •Fully modern

Homo neanderthalensis

•implies that modern humans and Neanderthals are separate species that could not interbreed