The last Neanderthal
• Emerged about 300,000 ybp most likely from
Homo heidelbergensis
• Cold adapted bodies; short stocky 20% heavier
than modern humans of same stature.
• Larger brains, but possibly smaller frontal and
parietal lobes.
Demise of the Neanderthals: 30,000ybp
Hunting, Toolmaking
• Close in kills, not projectiles
• Injury patterns similar to rodeo
riders
• Smaller ranges, little evidence of
raw material exchange
• Levallois technique
• Mousterian tools: hafting
Social life
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Smaller, more local groups
Less organized camps, more temporary
Less organized hearths
Abundance of ochre, other oxides
Chatelperronian controversy
No sexual division of labor?
Emergence of Homo sapiens
First anatomically modern
humans (behaviorally?)
Omo Kibish Ethiopia
190,000
Herto 160,000 ybp
(defleshing)
Homo sapiens more derived
than Neanderthals.
Rounded crania diagnostic
feature; some face
characteristics remain
archaic
Middle Paleolithic or Middle Stone Age: 250,000 –
35,000 ybp
• Emergence of two new species (possibly both descended from Homo
heidelbergensis: Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals in Europe), and
Homo sapiens sapiens (AMH in Africa).
• Levant event: First (failed) excursion of AMH out of Africa
Toba eruption: 73,000 ybp
Population bottleneck: 1-5,000 breeding females
The fortuitous mutation?
• Stanford archeologist Richard Klein: Ultimate reason for
the emergence of symbolism -- a fortuitous genetic
mutation that reorganized brain structure and function
thus giving Homo sapiens a cognitive advantage over other
archaic hominid forms.
• Psychologist Frederick Coolidge and archeologist Timothy
Wynn: extended Klein’s hypothesis -- most likely target of
this mutation would have been an enhancement of
working memory capacity. In this context, working
memory capacity refers to the ability to hold information
in mind, especially information about behavioural
procedures and intended goals, in spite of interfering
stimuli or response competition
Social solution to resources stress?
• Paul Mellars cites genetic evidence to
argue for a “relative” population
explosion among specific human groups
around 80-60,000 ybp in Africa (the
“chosen few”)
• Howiesons Poort & Still Bay industries:
evidence of trading networks
Tsodilo Hills snake rock: first evidence of religion?
Beads and body ornaments: evidence of trade networks?
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Tsodilo Hills of Botswana. It was here
in 2006 that University of Oslo
archeologist Sheila Coulson
discovered a ritually-modified snakerock, dated to around 70,000 ybp
(Minkel, 2006). The 6 meter long by 2
meter high boulder had a natural
snake-like appearance that had been
intentionally modified so that
incoming natural light gave the
impression of scales on its surface
while firelight gave the impression of
undulating movement. For Coulson,
these modifications strongly
suggested use of the site for
consciousness altering rituals. The
python plays an especially prominent
role in San creation myths and
Tsodilo hills are thought to be sacred.
Blombos beads, social marking and
gift giving
AMH: Expansion out of Africa (about 60,000
ybp)
• Genetic evidence:
• Interbreeding with
Neanderthals
60,000ybp in Levant –
on to Europe and Asia
• About 50,000ybp
same with
Denisovians in East
Asia -- on to
Melanesia (Denis: pinky
and one tooth!)
Upper Paleolithic
• Aurignacian tool kit: blades vs.
Levallois flakes; Upper Paleolithic
(35-10kya) vs. Middle (250-35kya)
Effects of EMW
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Increased phonological storage capacity
Recursion
Cross-modal thinking
Long range planning (subjunctive “what if”
thinking)
• Episodic buffer capacity (mental time travel)
Archeological evidence for EWM
• Alloying metals: 5,000 ybp
• Traps and weirs: hard evidence: 9-12,000 ybp; implications
20,-25,000 ybp.
• Harpoons: 17,000ybp
• Managed foraging: burning, Niah Cave, Borneo 30,000ybp
• Colonization: Australia 40,000? 30,000 New Guinea
• Abstract artifacts: Hohlenstein-Stadel; Lartet Plaque;
30,000ybp
Blombos beads
• Why not evidence for EWM
• Social categorization based on expanded parietal
cortex, but not abstract, and not combination of
categories (as is true with H-S figurine).
Modern Cognition: Cave art, abstract artifacts,
religious/symbolic imagery