Chapter 12 Flashcards
Irhoud 10
Morrocan cranium found in Morocco
What important conclusion were anthropologists able to draw about humans after finding Irhoud 10
Our key evolutionary changes from the archaic Homo sapiens of the previous chapter to our species today
happened 100,000 years earlier than what we had thought. In addition, the new information suggests that our home
region covered more of the vast African continent instead of being concentrated in the east.
Mosaic
gradually and out of sync with
one another
How did modern traits in humans evolve?
it appeared gradually
Gracile
the modern skeleton structures are thinner and smoother.
How have human skeletons changed over time?
less robust
Globular
rounder
Supraorbital torus
the brow ridge
Mental eminence
The chin on the mandible of modern H. sapiens.
Why did the mental eminence (chin) develop in modern humans?
our mandibles have pulled back so far from the prognathism of earlier hominins that we gained
an extra structure at the most anterior point,
In a few words, describe the “trend” human skeletons have undergone.
The trend of shrinking face size across hominins reaches its extreme with our species as well.
How does the rest of the human modern skeleton compare to the skeletons of archaic people? Site some specific parts of the skeleton that are notably different.
Overall, a modern Homo sapiens
post-cranial skeleton has thinner cortical bone, smoother features, and more slender shapes when compared to archaic
Homo sapiens. For example, the modern pelvis has gracile features along its surface and is narrower in overall width. Our elbow and knee joint surfaces are also narrower. Even the individual fingers and toes are more slender
in modern humans. Comparing whole skeletons, modern humans have longer limb proportions relative to the length and width of the torso, giving us lankier outlines.
What might people have developed a more gracile skeleton?
A slender frame is adapted for
the efficient long-distance running ability that started with Homo erectus. Furthermore, slenderness is a genetic adaptation for cooling an active body in hotter climates,
which aligns with the ample evidence that Africa was the home continent of our species.
Generalist-specialist niche
Our species is an expert at living in a wide array of environments, with populations culturally specializing in their own particular surroundings
Why is it difficult to determine how archaic peoples perceived culture?
How do we determine how early peoples likely lived?
Archaeology tells us much about the behavioral complexity of past humans by interpreting the significance of material
culture. In terms of evolved advanced culture, items created with an artistic flair, or as a decorative piece, speak
of some abstract thought process
What is a good way to measure the complexity of earlier cultures?
one way to track the complexity of past behavior
through artifacts is by measuring the variety of tools found together.
What do archaic and modern brain cases say about how human ability to think has changed over the years?
modern human braincases mean that we can do more complex thinking regarding memory and
social ability than the Neanderthals could. In contrast, the Neanderthal brain prioritized
the visual regions where the occipital bun was located, with fewer neurons in the frontal
area for complex thinking.
Why are people able to live in many different types of environments?
Our species is an expert at living in a wide array of environments, with populations culturally specializing in their own particular surroundings
Middle Stone Age
Time period known for Mousterian lithics that connects African archaic to modern Homo sapiens.
Later Stone Age
Time period following the Middle Stone Age with a diversification in tool types, starting around 50,000 years ago.
Where is it likely modern humans originated?
Africa
Early Modern Homo sapiens
the presence of some modern traits means that they illustrate the origin of the modern type.
Terms used to refer to transitional fossils between archaic and modern Homo sapiens that have a mosaic of traits. Humans like ourselves, who mostly lack archaic traits, are referred to as Late Modern Homo sapiens and simply Anatomically Modern Humans.
What does it mean that early fossils show that some humans had both archaic and modern traits?
That early modern humans had a combination of old and new traits and new humans with completely new traits didn’t just appear
Below are the names of places where human remains were found. After the name of each place, describe what kind of remains were found there and what conclusions about early humans anthropologists were able to draw.
Omo Kibish in Ethiopia-
These Omo Kibish hominins were represented by braincases and fragmented postcranial bones of three individuals found kilometers apart, dating back to 195,000 years ago. ne interesting finding was the variation in braincase size between the two more-complete specimens
Herto in Ethiopia-
There were fossilized crania of two adults and a child, along with
fragments of more individuals. The dates ranged between 160,000 and structure is within the modern human range,154,000 years ago.
African multiregionalism
The idea that modern Homo sapiens evolved as a complex web of small regional populations with sporadic gene flow among them.
How were traits of modern humans and archaic humans represented in fossils throughout Africa?
fossils have different mosaics of archaic and modern traits in different places and even within the same area.
What do we know about tool use among these early peoples?
Middle Stone Age tools of the same flaked style as archaic assemblages, even though they were separated by almost 150,000 years. The apparent stability in technology may be evidence that behavioral modernity was not so developed back then, though there was a high variety of tool types used throughout that time
What do we know about art? Since we haven’t found evidence of art or religion in early peoples, can we conclude they did not create art or have a religion? Why or why not?
As for the lack of art, maybe works from that time were made with media that deteriorated or perhaps such
works were removed by later humans.
Levant
eastern Mediterranean
Southern Dispersal Model
Theory that modern Homo sapiens expanded from Africa to cover the rest of the world without interacting with archaic humans.
Describe the two ways humans likely entered the Middle East.
- From North Africa, they could have crossed the Sinai Peninsula and moved north to the Levant, or eastern Mediterranean
- the Southern Dispersal model, with a crossing from East Africa to the southern Arabian Peninsula through the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.
Humans likely didn’t move all at one time. How is it most likely that they moved?
In reality, there were likely multiple waves of movement producing gene flow back and forth across these regions.
Caves of Mount Carmel
have preserved
skeletal remains in Israel and artifacts of modern Homo sapiens, the first-known
group living outside Africa
Misliya Cave
The skeletal presence at Misliya Cave is
represented by just part of the left upper jaw of one individual, but it is
notable for being dated to a very early time, between 194,000 and
177,000yearsag
Ochre
mineral-based pigment
Es-Skuhl and Qafzeh, Israel-
The
skeletons had many modern Homo sapiens traits, such as globular crania
and more gracile postcranial bones when compared to Neanderthals.
Still, there were some archaic traits. The high level of preservation is due to the intentional burial of some of
these people. Besides skeletal material, there are signs of artistic or symbolic behavior.
Al Wusta, Saudi Arabia-
one finger bone, but it greatly enhanced our view of modern Homo sapiens just outside Africa. Dating methods converged on a range between 130,000 and 90,000 years ago, overlapping the Skhul and Qafzeh range. The AW-1 bone and its associated stone tools added to evidence of many sites dotted throughout the Arabian Peninsula that contained stone tools but not skeletal remains.
What are theories about what happened to these early people?
Competition with Neanderthals may have accounted for the disappearance of modern human occupation since the Neanderthal presence in the Levant lasted longer than the dates of the early modern Homo sapiens. Perhaps they could not succeed due to competition with the Neanderthals who had been there longer and had both cultural and biological adaptations to that environment.
Fuyan
paleoanthropologists found 47 adult teeth associated with cave formations dated to between 120,000 and 80,000 years ago. It is currently the oldest-known modern human site in China, though other researchers question the validity of the date range. The teeth have the small size and gracile features of modern Homo sapiens dentition. No lithics have been found in Fuyan Cave.
Liujiang
the Liujiang hominin had a taller forehead than archaic Homo sapiens but also had an enlarged occipital region. Other parts of the skeleton also had a mix of modern and archaic traits: for example, the femur fragments suggested a slender length but with thick bone walls
Tianyuan
a few transitional traits between archaic and modern categories, such as deep tooth measurements the anteroposterior or front-to-back dimension) and a robust tibia. The Tianyuan fossils also had some antemortem tooth loss which happened during life), osteoarthritis of a left-hand finger joint, and enlargements to muscle attachment sites of the tibia and femur. The evidence pointed to a physically demanding life.
Zhoukoudian
Homo erectus and archaic Homo sapiens have also been found, there were three crania that fit the modern Homo sapiens set of traits. The crania were all more globular than that of archaic humans but still lower and longer than later modern humans. These findings again show that human variation was very different from what we see today.
Balangoda Man
The Balangoda hominins refer to around 36 modern humans as far back as 38,000 years ago whose fossils were found in numerous cave sites around Sri Lanka. Measurements of Balangoda Man show a closeness to the modern-day Vedda people who live in Sri Lanka, suggesting a direct ancestral relationship. Ornamentation such as pendants and beads, and the presence of shark teeth far from the coast, supported the presence of modern behavior as they were possibly transported for their aesthetic or symbolic value rather than their practical use
Mal’ta
A double-infant burial dated to 28,000 years ago was found in 1928 at the site of Mal’ta in southern Siberia, north of Mongolia Raghavan et al. 2014). Researchers named the three- to four-year-old individual MA-1. This burial was decorated with Later Stone Age decorations: a beaded necklace, pendants, and a headband. Other accessories and lithics were buried with the pair. Genetic analysis of MA-1 found a connection with both present-day Western Europeans and Native Americans but not East Asians. This finding hints at the complex routes people took in the expansion of the species.
What major discoveries were made in Sri Lanka?
Measurements of Balangoda Man show a closeness to the modern-day Vedda people who live in Sri Lanka, suggesting a direct ancestral relationship. Ornamentation such as pendants and beads, and the presence of shark teeth far from the coast, supported the presence of modern behavior as they were possibly
transported for their aesthetic or symbolic value rather than their practical use
What major discoveries were made in Mal’ta?
Researchers named the three- to four-year-old individual MA-1. This burial was decorated with Later Stone Age decorations: a beaded necklace, pendants, and a headband. Other accessories and lithics were buried with the pair. Genetic analysis of MA-1 found a connection with both present-day Western Europeans and Native Americans but not East Asians. This finding hints at the complex routes people took in the expansion of the species.
What conclusions can we make about human migration from these discoveries?
What major conclusions can we draw about human migration from remains found in Asia?
Sunda
Sunda was a landmass made up of the modern-day Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. Lowered sea levels connected these places with land bridges, making them easier to traverse.
Wallacea
the archipelago that includes the Indonesian islands east of Borneo.
Megafauna
Large prehistoric animals that may have been hunted to extinction by people around the world.
Sahul
New Guinea and Australia as one contiguous continent. This land had never seen hominins or any other primates before modern Homo sapiens arrived.
Lake Mungo
The skeletal remains at Lake Mungo are the oldest known in the continent.
Kow Swamp
also in southern Australia, contained human crania that looked distinctly different from the ones at Lake Mungo. The frontal bones had extremely linear slopes from the brow to the top of the cranium, resembling intentional cranial modification seen in other parts of the world. If the crania were shaped on purpose, they are another sign of symbolic behavior, as the practice has linked to ideas of group cultural identity
Describe how people migrated into Australia.
Through large landmasses that had lowered sea levels. Expansion of the first modern human Asians, still following the coast, eventually entered an area called Sunda by researchers before continuing on to modern Australia. Sunda was a landmass made up of the modern-day Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo.
Even though no bones have been found in the North Territory of Australia, what has been found there and what does it reveal about the people who left them?
more than 10,000 artifacts found there show both behavioral modernity and variability. They include a diverse array of stone tools and different shades of ochre for rock art, including mica-based reflective pigment
Describe the major discoveries at Lake Mungo and Kow Swamp. Make sure to indicate if the remains found there show traits of modern humans, archaic humans or both.
What might cranial modification reveal about the people who engaged in it?
Describe how people moved across the continent of Australia.
The presence of the first humans in Australia along the current northern and southern coasts suggests that they used a route that wrapped around the perimeter of the continent
What did they eat?
Megafauna was a likely source of food and other resources.
What modern-day evidence is there to connect the diets of these early people to megafauna?
Predation by humans may be why the megafauna became extinct, leaving the oral tradition of their existence.
What proof do we have that early Australians had a rich culture?
The abundant evidence matching the criteria for
behavioral modernity shows that the early Australians had
a rich artistic and symbolic life
Upper Paleolithic
Time period considered synonymous with the Later Stone Age
Pestera cu Oase
Romania (Cave of Bones) had the oldest known remains of modern Homo sapiens in Europe, dated to around 40,000 years ago
Cro-Magnon
The term “Cro-Magnon” has entered public usage as a name for any prehistoric modern European Homo sapiens, and maybe any “caveman” of our species, but it technically refers to four adults three male and one female) and an infant found in the Cro- Magnon rock shelter in France in 1868
Predmosti
Předmostí near Přerov
in the Czech Republic was a site where people buried over 30 individuals along with many artifacts
What are possible reasons modern human migration into Europe was slow?
As the evidence from the Levant suggests, modern human movement to Europe may have been hampered by the presence of Neanderthals. Another obstacle was that the colder climate was incompatible with the biology of African modern Homo sapiens, which was adapted for exposure to high heat and ultraviolet radiation.
Aurignacian
The style associated with the start of the Upper Paleolithic is the Aurignacian, starting around 40,000 years ago and ending around 27,000 years ago. Items in this tradition include stone blades as well as beads made from shell, bones, and teeth
Gravettian
Next is the Gravettian, which lasted from 6,000 years to 21,000 years ago. This culture is associated with most of the known curvy female figurines, often assumed to be “Venus” figures. Hunting technology also advanced, such as with the first known boomerang, atlatl spear thrower), and archery.
Atlatl
spear thrower
Solutrean
The Solutrean, marked by further innovation in delicate tool work
Magdelenian
After that time, the Magdalenian tradition spread. This culture further expanded on fine bone tool work, including barbed spearheads and fishhooks.
What common belief about Neanderthals has been proven false?
three Homo sapiens groups interbred with one another: modern Homo sapiens and two archaic groups, the Neanderthals and the Denisovans
Introgression
the entrance of small, uneven portions of Neanderthal DNA into modern humans, rather than an even hybridization over time
What early evidence indicates that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred?
DNA samples from Neanderthal fossils have been compared to DNA from both prehistoric and present-day modern Homo sapiens to trace the amount of gene flow between these groups.
How has aDNA shed light on the question of whether or not humans and Neanderthals interbred?
What modern groups are most likely to have DNA from Neanderthals?
Today, non-Africans have around 1%–2% Neanderthal DNA in their genomes, with Asians having more than Europeans.
Which modern humans are most likely to have Denisovan DNA?
The highest amount is in some modern Melanesians and aboriginal Australians, between 4% and 6%
What is the current theory about where modern humans and Denisovans likely interbred?
DNA originating from Neanderthals and Denisovans was found in prehistoric modern humans and is present in some Europeans and Asians of today.
What do we know for sure about interbreeding between modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans?
What is still mysterious or unclear?
What is still mysterious or unclear?
Blombos Cave
Blombos Cave is located along the present shore of the Cape of Africa facing the Indian Ocean and is notable for having a wide variety of artifacts. The material culture shows that toolmaking and artistry were more complex than previously thought for the Middle Stone Age
Border Cave
On the eastern coast of South Africa, Border Cave shows new African cultural developments at the start of the Later Stone Age. The researchers hypothesize that hunting technology moved from large crafted spearheads to smaller bone arrow points that were adhered to shafts and even tipped with poison for more effectiveness
Microlith
small stone tools
What conclusion can we make about human thought based on developments in weapons and art?
Summarize the major ideas about modern people in Africa.
Amerindians
Paleoindians
Paleoamericans
When did Neanderthals and Denisovans disappear?
20,000 years ago.
Beringia
prehistoric land bridge
Ice-Free Corridor Model
Theory that the first prehistoric Native Americans crossed to the Americas through a passage between glaciers.
Coastal Route Model
Theory that the first Paleoindians crossed to the Americas by following the southern coast of Beringia.
Kelp Highway hypothesis
Addition to the Coastal Route model that focuses on the use of kelp-based environments as a resource.
Beringia Standstill Model
Theory that people were genetically isolated in Beringia before expanding to the Americas.
Summarize the ice-free corridor model and the arguments against it.
Summarize the coastal Route Model and evidence that suggests it is true. Include archeological and DNA evidence.
What challenges has the warming trend posed to collecting evidence of the migration into North America?
What does analysis of modern Native American languages tell us about migration events through Beringia?
Why was the expansion of humans across the Americas so rapid?
Our species took advantage of the lack of hominin competition and the bountiful resources both along the coasts and inland.
What does the Monte Verde site tell us about human how humans lived?
including human footprints, animal hides, and wooden tools. T
Why is the Clovis stone tool style significant?
First example of the widespread of culture. The stone points found at this site match those found as far as the Canadian border and northern Mexico, and from the west coast to the east coast of the United States. After the spread of the Clovis style, it diversified into several regional styles, keeping some of the Clovis form but also
Figure 12.20 Lifesize reconstruction of a woolly mammoth at the Page Museum, part of the La Brea Tar Pits complex in Los Angeles, California. Outside of Africa, megafauna such as this went extinct around the time that humans entered their range.
developing their own unique touches.
What did we learn from the infant found in Anzick?
Genetic analysis found that Anzick-1’s people were related to all later Native Americans, proving a direct ancestral connection and supporting the model of one large wave of migrants populating the Americas with Paleoindians.
Sum up the major points regarding H. sapien spread in the Americas.
This finding matches the sudden appearance of the homegrown Clovis culture, its rapid expansion, and the radiation of descendant cultures in North America. A few thousand years after arrival into the hemisphere, people had already covered the Americas from north to south.
Out of Africa Model
Supporters of this model saw evidence that modern Homo sapiens first evolved in Africa, then expanded into the other continents without interaction with the archaic Homo sapiens of Europe and Asia
Multiregionalism
TThe view of the data by scientists on this side was that modern Homo sapiens evolved from the archaic humans in Africa, Europe, and Asia simultaneously
Assimilation model
The Assimilation model proposes that modern Homo sapiens evolved in Africa first and expanded out but also interbred with the archaic Homo sapiens they encountered outside Africa.
What questions are still remaining about human origins?
What were the patterns of migration in each part of the world? Why did the archaic humans go extinct? In what ways did archaic and modern humans interact? How large were the past populations? How did biological, cultural, and environmental factors influence the material culture found in different parts of the world?
Consider books you have read or movies you have watched that feature people in prehistoric times and/or consider what you have grown up believing about “cavemen” or early people. Based on what you know now, what beliefs did you hold that were inaccurate? What about early people most surprised you in this chapter?
Nomadic
moving through the landscape without a singular home
How are our lives markedly different now than they were for early peoples?
we procured nutrition and other resources as needed based on what was available in the environment. Instead of collecting and displaying stuff, we kept our possessions at a minimum for mobility
Foraging
the search for resources in the environment
Subsistence Strategy
method of finding sustenance
Agriculture
we shape the environment to mass produce what we need.
Bands
groups of around 50, and rarely over 100.
Egalitarian
flexible hierarchy based on an individual’s age, level of experience, and relationship with others. Everyone would have a general knowledge of the skills assigned to their gender roles, rather than specializing in different occupations
What traits do we currently have that likely came from our history as foragers?
Describe the likely structure of a band. Include gender expectations and travel habits.
What challenges did foraging groups likely face?
How might a foraging lifestyle explain why people migrated?
Neolithic Revolution
Time of rapid change to human cultures due to the invention of agriculture, starting around 12,000 years ago.
Halocene
The epoch of the Cenozoic Era starting around 12,000 years ago and lasting arguably through the present.
Carrying capacity
number of people a location can reliably support.
Last Glacial Maximum
The time 23,000 years ago when the most recent ice age was the most intense.
Younger Dryas
How long ago, and in what epoch, did agriculture likely begin?
Describe each of the two major likely reasons people changed from foraging to agriculture.
Mesopotamia
South and East Asia
New Guinea
Mesoamerica
The Andes
Sub-Saharan Africa
Eastern North America
What were some risks of converting to agriculture?
Read about the agricultural practices of these regions of the world. Select a region and summarize what the people of that region grew.
Sedentarism
Urbanization
Institutions
Monumental architecture
Dental caries
Malocclusion
Globalization
What changes did sedentarism cause?
How did having a few people produce food for a population change how people spent their time and energy?
How did agriculture affect human culture?
What health issues did urbanization cause for human populations?
What impact has the rise of states in Europe had on the world?
What has happened to societies who still forage as a primary life-style?
Why is it unlikely that humans will develop larger braincases and other adaptations that help us use technology more efficiently?
Why are biological adaptions less significant now than they used to be?
What factors will lead to greater mixing of populations? How will this affect current patterns?
