Chapter 11
The Origin and
Dispersal of Modern Humans
• Is it possible to determine when and where
modern people first appeared?
• How would you go about this?
Homo sapiens
• All contemporary populations are placed
within H. sapiens.
• Most paleoanthropologists agree that several
fossil forms, dating back as far as 100,000 ya,
should also be included in the same fully
modern group as us.
Questions About the Origin and Dispersal
of Modern Humans
• When (approximately) did modern humans first
appear?
• Where did the transition take place?
Theories of Human Origins
• Complete Replacement Model
• Regional Continuity Model
• Partial Replacement Model
Complete Replacement Model: Recent
African Evolution
• Developed by British paleoanthropologists
Christopher Stringer and Peter Andrews.
• Proposes anatomically modern populations arose in
Africa in the last 200,000 years.
• They migrated from Africa, completely replacing
populations in Europe and Asia.
• Does not account for the transition from premodern
forms to H. sapiens anywhere except Africa.
Partial Replacement Model
• Various perspectives suggest that modern
humans originated in Africa and then, when
their population increased, expanded out of
Africa into other areas of the Old World.
• This model claims that interbreeding occurred
between emigrating Africans and resident
premodern populations.
Regional Continuity Model:
Multiregional Evolution
• Associated with paleoanthropologist Milford
Wolpoff of the University of Michigan.
• Populations in Europe, Asia, and Africa
continued evolutionary development from
archaic H. sapiens to anatomically modern
humans.
Time Line of Modern Homo Sapiens
Discoveries
Early Homo sapiens Discoveries From
Africa and the Near East
Dates
Site
Qafzeh
110,000 ya
Israel
115,000 ya
Skhul
Hominin
Evolutionary Significance
H.
Large sample; modern,
sapiens but some individuals fairly
sapiens
robust; early date
H.
sapiens
sapiens
Minimum of 10
individuals; earliest
modern humans known
outside of Africa
Early Homo sapiens Discoveries From
Africa and the Near East
Dates
Site
154,000 Herto
160,000 ya Ethiopia
Omo
195,000 ya Ethiopia
Hominind
Evolutionary
Significance
H.
sapiens
idaltu
Well-preserved
cranium; bestpreserved early
modern human found
anywhere
H.
sapiens
Oldest modern human;
two crania found, one
more modern looking
than the other
Herto Cranium
• Herto cranium from Ethiopia,
dated 160,000–154,000 ya.
• Adult
• Very large, and extremely long
cranial vault
• 1450 cm3
• Large, arching browridge and
projecting occipital protuberance
• H. sapiens idaltu, “idaltu” is Afar
language meaning “elder”
Specimens From Israel
• Skhül 5. (a) and Qafzeh 6
(b).
• These specimens from
Israel are thought to be
representatives of early
modern Homo sapiens.
• The vault height, forehead,
and lack of prognathism are
modern traits.
Key Early Modern Homo sapiens from
Europe and Asia
Dates
Site
24,500
ya
Abrigo do
Lagar
Velho
Portugal
30,000
ya
CroMagnon
France
Hominin Evolutionary Significance
H.
sapiens
sapiens
H.
sapiens
sapiens
Child’s skeleton; possible
hybrid of Neandertal and
modern human, it is
controversial
Most famous early
modern human find;
earliest evidence of
modern humans in
France
Key Early Modern Homo sapiens from
Europe and Asia
Dates
40,000 ya
40,00045,000 ya
Site
Tianyuan
Cave China
Niah Cve
Borneo,
Indonesia
Hominin
Evolutionary
Significance
H.
sapiens
sapiens
Partial skull and a
few postcranial
bones; oldest
modern human find
from China
H.
sapiens
sapiens
Partial skull recently
redated more
accurately; oldest
modern human find
from Asia
Australia
• 50,000 ya modern humans inhabited Sahul, area
including New Guinea and Australia
• Lake Mungo, SE Australia (60,000?) 30,00025,000 ya
• Kow Swamp 14,000-9,000 ya fossils with archaic
features, including receding foreheads, heavy
supraorbital tori, and thick bones
Mladec and Dolní Crania
• The Mladec (a) and Dolní
Věstonice (b) crania from
the Czech Republic, is a
good example of early
modern Homo sapiens in
central Europe.
• Along with Oase in
Romania, the evidence for
early modern H. sapiens
appears first in central
Europe, then later in
western Europe.
Cro-Magnon
• European H. sapiens associated with an
Aurignacian tool assemblage, Upper
Paleolithic industry
Aurignacian
• Pertaining to an Upper Paleolithic stone tool
industry in Europe beginning at about 40,000
ya.
Cro-Magnon I
• Cro-Magnon I (France).
• In this specimen,
modern traits are quite
clear.
• (a) Lateral view, (b)
Frontal view
Location of the Flores Site,
Indonesia
Cultural Periods of the European
Upper Paleolithic
Magdalenian
• Pertaining to the final phase of the Upper
Paleolithic stone tool industry in Europe.
• Burin
– Small, chisel-like tool with a pointed end, thought
to have been used to engrave bone, antler, ivory,
or wood.
Question:
• Are we all originally Africans?
Answer:
• Yes, all the early hominids evolved first in Africa and
migrated to other parts of the world only after
several million years of evolutionary history confined
solely to Africa.
• In every meaningful evolutionary and biocultural
aspect, we are all Africans.
• The next time you seriously consider the meaning of
race, think about your African roots.