Chapter 4 Flashcards
Where did the Neanderthals time peirod
Pleistocene era (Ice Age)
Pleistocene
began 1.8 mya and consisted of frequent build up and retreating of continental ice sheets
An unstable climate overtime period
4 major cycles
ice sheets based on features in landscape (initially geologist)
Additional evidence
core drilled from the ocean floor or glacial advance and retreat (many glacial and interglacial)
Gran Dolina
- massive cave in Spain with 11 archaeological levels and stone tools and hominin remains dating to 800,000 years ago
- hominins occupied Spain as early as 1 mya
- animal bones dating 700,000 years ago in Italy
Bose site
hand axes and other tools in China 800,000 years ago
Acheulian site in Israel
evidence of cracking nuts for consumption 780,000 years ago
Eurasia
acheulian sites common across Europe and the Middle East and India 500,00 years ago
Beeches Pit Site
England provides evidence of a concentration of charred bones and stool tools that dates to 400,000 years ago
Unique wooden spear
In Germany date to 400,000 years ago
Artwork or ritual behavior
pebble with a design from 230,000 years ago in Israel
shell with grid design in Indonesia dating from 540,000-430,000 years ago
Special treatment for the dead
found in Spain to 300,000 years ago
small crevice opening
27 hominin individuals were too small for carnivores to drag them in
- Single quartz hand axe no evidence of burial and one skull had 2 blows to the upper forehead
2 major questions
- Are Neanderthals a subspecies of Homo Sapiens or are they their own species (Homo neanderthalensis)?
- Who was the shared ancestor of both modern humans and Neanderthals?
3 possible scenarios for a common ancestor of mondern humans and Neanderthals
- Both evolved separately from Homo erectus (they evolved at the same time but in a separate geographic area)
- The common ancestor was a distinct species that evolved from Homo erectus, possibly Homo heidelbergensis (both then evolved separately in parallel and in different geographic areas)
- There was a constant exchange of genetic material and they didn’t evolve in isolation of each other (yet, Neanderthal skeletal traits are distinct), so they are a single species