Biological Anthropology
Biological evolution is the
background for culture as a method
of adaptation to physical
environmental conditions.
 Human evolution is a story of coevolution: cultural and biological
change reinforcing one another.

1
Basic Hominid Adaptations
Bipedalism
 Orthograde posture
 Rotation and narrowing of the pelvis
 All were biological adaptations that
provided some of our ancestors with
unique reproductive advantages.

2
Orthograde apes

Those advantages came before the
increase in brain size that we
associate with the development of
humans. The earliest human
ancestors, then, were orthograde
apes.
3
Increase in Brain Size
Development of the brain case in
Australopithecus produced other
advantages – an increase in the
capacity for tool making, implying
better communication skills. Note
the italics.
 With Homo erectus, there is further
expansion of the brain and greater
control of lithic resources.

4
By the Middle Paleolithic, the
Levallois method had transformed
tool making into manufacturing.
 With the development of H. sapiens
sapiens, 40 kya, the point of
“cultural take-off” was reached (Harris

1999).
5
Cultural Take-Off
Major cultural changes prior to the
take-off point were tied to changes
in the skeleton.
 Since the Upper Paleolithic, cultural
change has been independent of
biological change – though biological
adaptations continue.

6
The Idea of Evolution
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)
publishes the first edition of
Systema Naturae (1735).
 Eleven pages. The 13th edition was
published in 1770, with 3000 pages.
 Whales with mammals, and
monkeys with humans
 No evolutionary scheme.

7
Georges-Louis Leclerc



Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
(1707-1788).
Discussed the similarities between
humans and apes in his Historie Naturelle
– 44 volumes (1749 – 1804).
Anticipated Charles Lyell’s work by
challenging the accepted age of the
Earth.
8
George Cuvier (1769-1832)


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Established the field of vertebrate
paleontology.
Established the fact of extinction.
In Discours sur les revolutions de la
surface du globe, et sur les changemens
qu'elles ont produits dans le regne animal
(1825), Cuvier argued for catastrophism.
A variety of catastrophism is the modern
explanation for the Cretaceous-Tertiary
(K-T) extinction event.
9
Jean Baptiste Lamarck



(1744-1829)
Established the field of invertebrate
zoology.
Proposed a theory to account for variation
in species, and hence, for evolution.
His theory of inherited characteristics was
wrong but Darwin credited Lamarck as
having been the first to assert that laws
govern the diversity of nature.
10
Malthus and Darwin
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834).
 In his book, Essay on the Principle of
Population as it affects the future
improvement of society (1798), he
proposed that resources grow arithmetically, while population grows
geometrically.

11
Malthus and Darwin

Malthus turned out to be wrong, but
his insight about the struggle for
resources across generations gave
Darwin the idea for natural
selection.
12

“In October 1838 … fifteen months after I had begun my
systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement
Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to
appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere
goes on from long- continued observation of the habits of
animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these
circumstances favourable variations would tend to be
preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The
results of this would be the formation of a new species.
Here, then I had at last got a theory by which to work“
(Darwin 1876).
13
Charles Lyell (1797-1875)
Principles of Geology: being an
attempt to explain the former
changes of the earth's surface, by
reference to causes now in
operation, (1830-1833).
 The principle of uniformitariansim –
that the forces shaping the Earth
today were the same from the
beginning of time.

14

Darwin was helped by Lyell's
observations about the age of fossils
in developing the reproductive
advantage theory of biological
evolution.
15
Darwin and Wallace



Charles Darwin (1809-1882) Origin of
Species by means of natural selection, or,
The preservation of favoured races in the
struggle for life (1859).
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was in
Malaysia, writing papers offering the
same theory of evolution that Darwin was
developing.
Darwin published first.
16
Darwin’s Breakthrough
Here is the famous passage from p.
64 of the 1859 edition:
 “As more individuals are produced
than can possibly survive, there
must in every case be a struggle for
existence, either one individual with
another of the same species, or with
the individuals of distinct species, or
with the physical conditions of life.”

17
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)





Versuche über Pflanzenhybiden (1866)
He planted a peculiar variety of
ornamental plant at a monastery next to
a typical specimen.
His idea was to test directly Lamarck’s
theory.
The traits of all offspring conformed to
those of the parent generation.
And of course, there were Mendel’s peas.
18
The First Primates



The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old.
Life appears at the end of the
Precambrian, ~540 million years ago.
The Paleocene begins about 65 million
years ago, with the disappearance of the
dinosaurs, the rise of mammals and the
development of the first primates.
19
Mammalian Traits
Distinctive mammalian traits
include:
 constant body temperature
 postpartum development of helpless
offspring
 internal reproduction and
fertilization
 greater reliance on learned behavior

20
More Reliance on the Brain


Cerebrum of more importance.
In humans, the cortex is convoluted, like
a wound coil, with specialized areas:


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
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frontal lobe for choice and decisions
lower parietal lobe for associations and
sensory data
temporal lobe for memory
lower frontal lobe for motor speech
occipital lobe for visual acuity
21
Nonhuman Primates

Linneaus identified primates as a
separate family, with four genera:



Homo, Simia, Lemur, and Vespertilio.
Pan named in 1816; Gorilla in 1847.
In 1863, Thomas Huxley’s book, Man’s
Place in Nature contained a conclusion
about the close relationship between
African apes and modern humans.
22
Nails, claws, and trees
Primates are mammals that climb by
grasping – nails, not claws – the
evolutionary correlate of arboreal
adaptation, along with stereoscopic
vision, a further increase in brain
size, and a shortened snout.
 Remember: teleological explanations
are not assumed.

23
Prosimians
Two suborders: Prosimians and
Anthropoids
 Prosimians include the lorises,
tarsiers and lemurs of Asia and
Africa.
 The special case of Madagascar. See
Kottak’s discussion of this.
 65 mya

24
Anthropoids
40 mya – anthropoids have bigger
brains, relative to body size than the
prosimians, a shorter snout, and
front-facing eyes enclosed in bone.
 Two types: catarrhines (Old World
monkeys and apes) and platyrrhines
(New World monkeys) separated
35mya in the Oligocene.

25
Catarrhines and the Hominoids
The catarrhines include
circopithecoids and the colobines, as
well as the hominoids.
 The hominoids include the
hylobates, the pongids, the genus
Pan, and the hominids.
 There is only one species of hominid
today, H. sapiens sapiens.

26
Cercopithecines

Cercopithecines (Old World monkeys)
have smaller brains relative to body size
than hominoids (apes and humans).



Cercopithecines’ molars are bilophodont while
those of the hominoids have several cusps.
Cercopithecoids have tails. Hominoids
have no tails.
Prehensile tails are found only in New
World monkeys.
27
Baboons



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Baboons are the largest of the monkeys.
Sexual dimorphism: males reach 35kg,
females reach 17kg
Baboons: terrestrial, live on the open
savannah, frugiverous and herbivorous.
They do eat a little meat, but this feature
is more important for the hominoids,
especially Pan.
28
Hominoids and Hominids

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Three families within the superfamily:
The hylobates include the gibbon and
siamang of Southeast Asia.
Brachiation
Orangutans reach 80kg (males), 40kg for
females
The pongids include the chimps, gorillas,
and bonobos.
Hominids are us.
29
Chimps and Gorillas



Chimps spend their days on the ground
and their nights in trees and live in
communities of 40-60.
Gorillas reach 160kg (males), 80kg for
females.
Gorillas are herbivorous and sleep on the
ground. They are at the top of the food
chain and have no predators – except us.
30
Chimps and Humans



Anatomical morphological data show the
close relationship.
Immunological reactions, amino acid
sequences, and DNA maps show close
association among the chimp, gorilla, and
human.
Best current estimate: humans split from
the line leading to chimps and gorillas
between 5-8 mya ago.
31
Summing up
H. sapiens is some ways like all
other animals, and in some ways
unique.
 We share traits with all vertebrates
– a spinal column – and we share
traits with all mammals – constant
body temp, for example – and we
share traits with all primates, our
closest relatives.

32
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The traits we share with all primates are:
prehensile hands
mobility of arms through the shoulder
stereoscopic color vision
a small number of offspring born at one
time, a long period of dependency and
learning
very large brains, relative to body size
social organization.
33



As we get closer to humans in terms of
DNA, we also share increased intelligence
and increased social life.
A distinctive feature of humans is our
nearly complete dependence on learning.
This implies a lot of social organization,
and the use of tools, language, and
culture.
34
Fossil Primates

Oligocene anthropoids –
Aegyptopithecus (33mya) had the
2-1-2-3 dental formula.

Early Miocene (from 23–16mya):
Proconsul was probably the last
common ancestor of the hominoids.
35
Middle Miocene Apes
16–10mya
 Ramapithecus (14mya) in Asia and
Africa
 Drypopithecus (Europe)
 Sivapithecus (India)
 Kenyapithecus (East Africa)
 Direct ancestors?

36
Late Miocene Apes 10–5 mya
The emergence of the hominids at
the end of the Miocene and
beginning of the Pliocene.
 Ouranopithecus and Oreopithecus
(Europe) and possible bipedalism.
 Possible return migration to Africa
from Europe during the late
Miocene.

37
Differentiation of Primates in Africa
Mid-Miocene, 16mya, the forests
that dominate Africa recede and the
savannas open.
 This favored the differentiation of
primates into arboreal and
terrestrial groups.

38
Theories for Differentiation
Freeing hands (hunting, safety)
 Tall grass (seeing predators)
 Sharing food between males and
females left females sedentary
 Using tools to capture food and as
weapons allows hunting by
otherwise puny animals
 Note use by contemporary chimps

39
Raymond Dart and the Taung Child
Dart was a primate paleontologist
 Stone quarry near the Kalahari
produced baboon fossils, 200 miles
from Johannesburg
 Crates arrive in 1924 and Dart takes
73 days to isolate the Taung Child’s
skull.

40
Dart’s reaction …

“No diamond cutter ever worked more lovingly or
with such care on a priceless jewel – nor, I am sure,
with such inadequate tools. But on the 73rd day, Dec
23, the rock parted. I could view the face from the
front, although the right side was still imbedded. The
creature which had contained this massive brain was
no giant anthropoid such as a gorilla. What emerged
was a baby’s face, an infant with a full set of milk
teeth and its permanent molars just in the process of
erupting. I doubt if there was any parent prouder of
his offspring than I was of my Taung baby on that
Christmas.”
41
Australopithecus
Dart names it Australopithecus
africanus, suggesting that it was an
intermediate species between apes
and humans.
 Focus on the downward-facing
foramen magnum

42
Robert Broom
It takes until 1936 until another
similar fossil is found.
 Two years later, in 1938, Broom
discovers the Swartkrans site: 528
fossils of 60 individuals, over 14
years, plus 195 nonindigenous
stones, some of which had been
worked by human hands.

43
The Foramen Magnum
Dart and Broom were rejected – the
prevailing view was that the brain
had evolved first.
 But there was that annoying fact of
the downward facing foramen
magnum
 The idea of the primacy of postcranial evolution eventually won out.

44
Two Australopithecines?
There were two kinds of
Australopithecine, a gracile and a
robust variety.
 The graciles were earlier, which
caused confusion at first, since
robust meant primitive to many
observers.

45
Hominid sequence I

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Sahelanthropus
Ardipithecus ramidus
Australopithecus anamensis
Australopithecus afarensis
Australopithecus africanus Taung
Australopithecus robustus (P. robustus
Australopithecus boisei (P. boisei, Zinj)
46
Hominid sequence II

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Homo
Homo
Homo
Homo
Homo
Homo
Homo
Homo
habilis (P. rudolfensis)
rudolfensis
ergaster
erectus Trinil (P. erectus)
heidelbergensis Mauer
rhodesiensis Kabwe
neanderthalensis
sapiens
47
The Miocene Fossil Gap Closes

Sahelanthropus tchadensis (Toumai)
has a brain the size of a chimp’s,
with a flat face. 6–7mya
48
Ramidus 1994 Ethiopia – slightly
forward foramen magnum. Perhaps
still partially arboreal
Anamensis 1965, not identified, 1994
Lake Turkana. Nearly full skeleton
shows full bipedalism
49
A. afarensis
Afarensis – Afar region of Ethiopia. Lucy at
Hadar. Some 40 individuals. 3.7–2.9mya
The afarensis footprints – 75 feet, Laetoli,
Tanzania.
Strong arch, well-defined ball, straight big
toe.
Brain case of 415cc (compare to chimp and
gorilla and modern human)
Canine diastema and protruding incisors.
Dentition of Miocene apes, but orthograde
50
The transition to H. erectus

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A. robustus – late, from 1.88–1.62mya
Some opposability in big toe
Saggital and nuchal crests, like chimps
Probably mostly a vegetarian, but
omnivorous
A. bosei – even more robust – 2.3–
1.3mya. The last of the Australopithecines
Enter H. ergaster 1.9mya
51
Homo ergaster
Thought to be the earliest of the H.
erectus line and the line that led to
modern humans.
 1.7mya cranial capacity 875cc
 Rounded cranium, large brow ridge,
reduced teeth, thinner bones than
Asian H. erectus.
 Acheulean hand axes and cleavers

52
H. erectus moves out of Africa to
Asia and then to Europe before the
advent of Acheulian tools.
 H. ergaster may be a link between
H. habilis and H. erectus or it may
be a type of H. erectus.

53
Punctuated equilibrium
Darwin thought that evolution
proceeded through phyletic
gradualism.
 Many fossil sequences have gaps
 Niles Eldridge and Stephen J. Gould
thought that this might simply be
the way evolution proceeded – with
stability followed by rapid change.

54
R vs K strategy
Stability confers no selective
advantage on major evolutionary
changes.
 Minor ones – speciation – continues.
 Note the case of cockroaches and
sharks. This is the so-called


r-strategy vs. K-strategy
55
Breeding isolates do occur and
evolution is then quick if the isolate
doesn’t quickly reestablish breeding
contact with its former population.
 If this happens, there may not be
enough time to produce a large
fossil record, and this may be why
there are so-called gaps.

56


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Of course, both gradualism and PE can
occur; in fact, PE is a form of gradualism
Some mutations and changes from
genetic drift may, in fact, feed to a whole
population if the changes are highly
advantageous.
This may have occurred with sickle-cell
trait in Africa.
57


But in PE, a geographic isolate can evolve
quickly away from a former population
and become a breeding isolate and a
species unless breeding is reestablished
quickly with the ancestral group.
So, gaps in the fossil record may be true
gaps, without any intermediate cases ...
or so few, over such as short time, that
they may never be found.
58

If a new population is then very
much more adapted to a changed
(or even a stable) environment), it
may replace the ancestral population
if they are competitors for the same
resources – and do so quickly.
59

This may have happened with H.
erectus and also with H. sapiens
sapiens replacing the Neanderthals.
60
Carbon-14
Carbon 14
 Ratio of C-14 is constant during life
 At death, C-14 decays at a constant
rate of 5730 years per half life.
 The method is good back to 80100,000 years

61
KA decomposition


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Much of the evidence for primate and
hominid evolution is too old for C-14
KA is used when fossils are found
between layers of volcanic ash. K decays
to A in 1.31 billion years per half life.
Gona River tools are the oldest so far, at
2.6mya, in the Afar region of Ethiopia.

They are not in direct association with
hominid fossils but have been found with cutmarked bone.
62
When did tool making start?
A. robustus and H. habilis show a
thumb metacarpal wider than that of
the earliest hominids.
 This supports the development of
tool making.
 But tool making must have been
earlier.

63
When a chimp bangs a rock against
a fruit, that is tool use.
 Tools are objects used to alter
something else.

64
Chimp Culture
Goodall and the Gombe chimps
 Chimps prepare a tool and carry it
around, looking for termite mounds
 Chimps also fish for ants in
underground nests

65
Chimp Culture
Chimps: 3 years to learn to fish for
termites; 4 years to learn to fish for
ants.
 Chimps

make leaf sponges (Tanzania).
 collect hammer stones up to 33 pounds
to open fruits (Ivory Coast).
 hurl projectiles and gang up to capture
baby bush pigs.

66
In captivity …
The famous banana and box and
stick experiment (1913-1917)
 Tulane Regional Primate Center
escape.

67
Early Human Life
Australopithecines must have made
and used a variety of tools, long
before afarensis.
 Chimps hunt and eat a lot of meat.
 Some Australopithecines were
probably herbivores, but hunting is
part of our hominid heritage.

68
Human sexuality and food sharing



Earliest hominid females probably had
estrus cycles.
With the exception of the bonobo,
primate sexuality is regulated by estrus –
the readiness of the female to copulate at
the peak of the ovulation cycle.
Many available males mount chimp
females during estrus.
69
Evolution of human sexuality
In humans, the peak of the
ovulation cycle is short, with no
outward signs.
 Human females are sexually
receptive throughout the year.
 This ensure that the egg is fertilized.
 What is the selective advantage?

70
Female sexual receptivity produces
stronger male-female bonds of
cooperation.
 Theory: frequent satisfying of
mutual sexual needs may account
for the unique bonding among
primates of male and female
humans.

71
Bonobo sexuality and food sharing


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Support for this theory: the mating
behavior of bonobo chimpanzees.
Female remains receptive all year.
Males and females copulate daily and,
more than other chimps, they tend to
share food with one another, with females
initiating food sharing by copulating with
males that have some food.
72
Early human culture
H. ergaster, in East Africa, is the first
H. erectus, about 1.9mya
 Acheulean hand axes are a major
advance in lithic technology, along
with the increase in brain size.
Compare to Oldowan pebble tools

73
The culture of H. erectus

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Hunting becomes more important in the
next stage
Australopithecines were omnivorous.
Coprolites with evidence for meat eating
at the Plio-Pleistocene boundary – but
this was probably scavenging
H. habilis and H. erectus hunted meat
The shift from H. habilis to H. erectus in
Africa and the Achulean hand axe
tradition
74
The Asian H. erectus finds


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Solo Man in Java first dated at .9mya
Peking man in China .85mya
Over 1000cc brain case in Zhoukoudian
No Acheulean tools with Asian H. erectus
With such big brains, why not?
Early migration and the Bamboo theory.
Java finds and Chinese finds now dated at
1.9 mya.
75
Java Man



First erectus discovered by Eugene
Dubois, a Dutch physician, at Trinil in
Java, 1891 – named Paranthropus
erectus.
Note the supraorbital ridges and
remnants of saggital crest in the Trinil
skull.
1.0-.7mya, but Ngangdong skulls, also in
Java, are at just 27-53kya, along with H.
sapiens sapiens.
76
Peking Man
Zhoukoudian, China 1930 –named
Sinanthropus pekinensis, or Peking
Man.
 .5–.23mya
 1950, Ernst Mayr collapsed
Sinanthropus and Paranthropus into
H. erectus

77
No Acheulean Tools in
Asian H. erectus: Dmanisi
With new dating tools, Java finds are
back to 1.9mya, the time of H.
ergaster.
 Dmanisi, in the Georgian Republic,
1.5–1.8mya
 H. erectus in Europe, .8–.3mya, with
Acheulean tools at .5mya
 Hence the bamboo theory

78
The Fialkowski Hypothesis




Lots of evidence for H. erectus the hunter
Olorgesailie, Kenya; Terra Amata, France;
Torralba and Ambrona, Spain – piles of
bones from single species.
Were they scavanged and collected?
H. erectus brain size is 800–1000cc,
which stradles H. habilis and H. sapiens
79




Better tools, more social behavior and
sharing of resources – highly adaptive for
getting through tough times
Brain size remained stable from 1.9–
.5mya
Konrad Fialkowski explains this with the
hunting hypothesis and protection from
the sun during the day.
This is not testable, however.
80


H. habilis and early H. erectus did not
produce projectile points. This would not
have been necessary for hunting with the
methods used by recent !Kung hunters.
So, larger brain size may have led
eventually to increments in language and
culture capacity, but that was not
required for the large brain size of H.
erectus.
81
Questions About H. sapiens




1. When was the transition?
2. Where was the transition?
3. Who were the Neandertals?
H. erectus evolved into H. sapiens
between .5mya and .2mya. The current
best estimate is that the transition took
place between 400,000 years ago and
200,000 years ago but had been started
perhaps 800,000 to 500,000 years ago.
82
Transition to H. sapiens



Occurs in several parts of the world.
Petralona skull, Greece, .4mya; AragoTautavel skull from southern France
.3mya; Kabwe, Zambia , between .3–
.124mya 1300cc
The Mauer specimen, from Germany
1300cc. The Mauer date is relative to
faunal remains around it.
May be .5mya. Kabwe at least .125mya,
but), but perhaps .3mya. Kabwe remains
are continually re-evaluated as older.
83
No occipital torus
Mauer and Kabwe skull lack saggital
crest or occipital torus, but do have
large supraorbital ridges and strong
prognathism, with a sloping
forehead and large mandible.
 These are type fossils, but are found
in Africa and Europe and Solo, in
Indonesia.

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Anatomically Modern Humans




Fully modern humans 35,000 years old in
Europe and 130,000 years in Africa, at
the Klasies River caves and Border Cave
in South Africa and Omo in Ethiopia.
Skhul and Qafzeh (modern Israel), H.
sapiens at 92,000 years.
40,000 years in Borneo and 30,000 years
in Australia
Earliest modern humans in the Americas
at 15,000
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H. Sapiens sapiens


Higher, bulging foreheads; lighter bones;
smaller faces and jaws; the chin (the
remnant of prognathism) and small or no
supraorbital ridges
In Qafzeh, as well as at Skhul, remains of
H. sapiens beginning at 92,000 years
ago. Nearby sites have Neandertals at
60,000 years ago. They coexisted for at
least 30,000 years in the Near East.
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Who Were the Neandertals?



Europe through western Asia (Israel,
Syria, Iraq, Uzbekistan) from about
200,000 to about 30,000 years ago.
1856, Neander Valley near Dusseldorf,
Germany.
A disfigured H. sapiens? More Neandertal
finds across Europe.
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Mitochondrial DNA



1950s, we found that the specimen had
suffered from rickets
By then, we had the Australopithecines
and H. erectus finds – and Neandertal
looked like us
1997, mtDNA extracted from the 1856
Neandertal. Mutation rate tells us (if the
measurements are correct) that it has
been 600,000 years since Neandertal and
AMH shared a common ancestor.
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Single and Multiple Origin



This supports the out of Africa, singleorigin theory of the development of
modern H. sapiens.
Single origin: mtDNA. 1987, comparison
of mtDNA from U.S., New Guinea, Africa,
and East Asia.
Cann et al. conclude: people shared a
common ancestor 200,000 years ago
from East Africa.
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


mtDNA and the co-existence of H. sapiens
and Neandertals in the Mt. Carmel for
30,000 years supports the out-of-Africa
theory.
The MR theory: H. erectus populations
evolved into varieties of H. sapiens in
place, across the globe.
Note continuities between modern
populations and H. erectus populations in
Southeast Asia and China
90
Muliregionalism vs. Out of Africa



Unbroken brow ridges, large molars and
cheek bones, some prognathism,
Multiregionalists argue that the mtDNA
evidence supports the out-of-Africa
migration of H. erectus, not H. sapiens
But this means that the mutation rate of
mtDNA would have to be slower than 2%
per million years. The 2% figure is
supported by some data, but not all.
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Where Did the Neandertals Go?
Three theories: absorption,
extinction, and slaughter
 Interbreeding is possible, but
genocide is unlikely
 The Neandertals appear in pockets –
regions of refuge – in Spain and go
extinct around 30,000 years ago.

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H. Sapiens and adaptive radiation

5 million years to first billion (1800)
125 years to two billion (1925)
 34 years to three billion (1959)
 15 years to four billion (1974)
 12 years to five 5 billion 12 (1986)
 15 years to 6 billion (2001)


6.5 billion in 2006.
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