1. Homo sapiens Origin Theories Evidence
Modern Humans
Homo sapiens
Origin Theories
Evidence

2. Time Line

3. Homo sapiens (ca. 200 kya…) Fully modern humans
Upper Paleolithic tool technology
Elaborate Cave Art

4. Homo sapiens sites in Europe

5. Transformation Reduced robusticity Everything gets smaller
Back teeth continue to reduce, so do front teeth
Cranial buttresses much less in evidence
loss of brow ridge
development of chin
Skeletal robusticity markedly less
Sexual dimorphism reduces to modern levels

6. Homo sapiens

7. What causes this overall reduction?
Teeth and cranial buttresses: food processing
Especially cooking technology
Earth ovens maybe during late Neanderthal times
Reduced selection for big molars
Skel. robust. & sex. dimorph.: projectiles & string
With a.m. humans, first projectile weapons
Atlatl (spear-thrower) & bow and arrow
No close quarter killing of big-game
Selection reduced for maintaining big bones
Sex. dimorph: males get relatively smaller

8. Les Eyzies, Dordongne, France
Cro Magnon
Species:
Homo sapiens
Age:
~30,000 years
Date of Discovery:
March 1868
Location:
Les Eyzies, Dordongne, France
Discovered by:
Louis Lartet

9. Cro Magnon
During construction for a railroad in 1868, a rock shelter in a limestone cliff was uncovered.
Near the back of the shelter, an occupation floor was recognized, and when excavated, it revealed the remains of four adult skeletons, one infant, and some fragmentary bones.
Cro-Magnon 1 preserved the skeleton of an adult male.
The individual was probably middle-aged (less than 50 years old) at his death on the basis of the pattern of closure of cranial sutures.
The bones in his face are noticeably pitted from a fungal infection.

10. Cro Magnon without teeth reconstruction.

11. Skuhl 5 Species: Homo sapiens Age: ~ 90,000 years Date of Discovery:
May 2, 1932
Location:
Mount Carmel, Israel
Discovered by:
T. McCown and H. Moivus, Jr.

12. Skuhl 5
The remains of this male individual, known as Skhul V, were recovered from the Skhul Cave near Mount Carmel, Israel, along with the skeletons of nine other adults and children.
The anatomical features of this skull are reminiscent of earlier, "archaic" humans. One notable example is the bony torus over the orbits.
It has a high forehead and an expanded frontal portion of the braincase. These are features typical of modern human skulls.

13. Wadjak 1 Species: Homo sapiens Age: *** Date of Discovery: 1888
Location:
Wadjak, Java, Indonesia
Discovered by:
Miners near Wadjak, Java

14. Wadjak 1
This cranium was discovered in a rock shelter by miners near Wadjak, Java, in 1888
The cranium shows an expanded forehead that rises near vertically from above the orbits.
This is associated with either a repackaging of brain tissue in the cranial braincase or an actual expansion of the frontal lobe of the brain.

15. Omo 1& 2 Herto, Ethiopia

16. Omo 1 & 2

17. Omo 1 & 2
Two early humans were found in 1967 near Kibish, Ethiopia, they were thought to be 130,000 years old. A few years ago, researchers found 154,000- to 160,000-year-old human bones at Herto, Ethiopia.
Now, a new study of the site indicates the earliest known members of our species, Homo sapiens, roamed Africa about 195,000 years ago. (The fossils were closer to a layer dated to 195 kya, than the upper layer dated to 130 kya).

18. Modern Human Origin Theories
Multiregional Evolution Model
Wolpoff
Replacement Model
Stringer and Andrews
“Mostly” Out of Africa Model
Relethford

20. Multiregional Theory
After H. erectus left Africa, spread to other areas of the world, and evolved into modern humans.
Human populations linked throughout the world were linked by gene flow.
Caused modern humans to evolve as a single species from H. erectus to Archaic H. sapiens to H. sapiens all over the world.
Also separated by distance and environment so had considerable regional variation in morphology.
All genes arose in many parts of the world and were mingled together as people from different regions mated.

21. Replacement Theory (Eve Hypothesis)
Hominid populations genetically separated during the Middle Pleistocene (before 200,000 B.P.), evolving independently.
Between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago modern humans evolved in Africa and spread out, replacing archaic H. sapiens.
Little or no gene flow as modern humans replaced local populations, all genes necessary for moderns assembled in Africa.

22. “Mostly” Out of Africa
Modern Humans evolved in Africa around 150, ,000 years ago.
Spread to Asia, Middle East and Europe and replaced earlier settlers.
In Europe, with Neanderthals, this may have been complicated by absorption of Neanderthals into the Modern gene pool.
This allowed a very few Neanderthal traits to persist in living populations in very small percentages.

23. Evidence: Fossils
Evidence from Europe and Middle East is inconsistent with Multiregional model.
long period of overlap between Neanderthal and moderns in this area.
anatomically modern people appeared 60,000 years before Neanderthals disappeared.
Most recent Neanderthal found at St. Cesaire ca. 30 kya, earliest anatomically Modern in Europe dates to 60,000.

24. Evidence: Archaeological
Cave sites in Israel, most notably Qafzeh and Skhul date to nearly 100,000 years and contain skeletons of anatomically modern humans.
Furthermore, Neanderthal remains are known from sites such as the 110,000-year-old Tabun cave, which predates the earliest Homo sapiens by about 10,000 years in the region. 
The presence of Neanderthals at two other caves in Israel, Amud and Kebara, dated to roughly 55,000 years means that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens overlapped in this region.
Therefore, if Homo sapiens were in this region prior to the disappearance of the Neanderthals, there is no reason to assume that Neanderthals evolved into modern humans.

25. Evidence: Archaeological
Archaeological evidence from Europe suggests that Neanderthals may have survived in the Iberian Peninsula until perhaps as recently as 28,000 to 35,000 years ago.
Fully modern humans first appear in Europe, bringing with them an Upper Paleolithic tool tradition referred to as the Aurignacian.
Hence, Neanderthals and fully modern humans may have overlapped in Europe.
Again, with fully modern humans on the scene, it is not necessary to have Neanderthals evolve into modern humans, further bolstering the view that humans replaced Neanderthals. 

26. Evidence: Tools
Tools associated with moderns are not found with Neanderthals.
Overlap of tools suggest that the modern morphology arrived in Europe due to the movement of people, not of genes.
A remarkable diversity in stone tool types 
tool types showed significant change over time and space 
artifacts were regularly fashioned out of bone, antler and ivory, in addition to stone 
stone artifacts were made primarily on blades and were easily classified into discrete categories, presumably reflecting specialized use 
Burials were accompanied by ritual or ceremony and contained a rich diversity of grave goods 
Living structures and well-designed fireplaces were constructed
Hunting of dangerous animal species and fishing occurred regularly 
Higher population densities 
Raw materials such as flint and shells were traded over some distances 

27. Paleolithic Tool Traditions In Europe
 Paleolithic Stage  of Development
Beginning (years ago)
Cultural Tradition
Upper Paleolithic
 17,000 
Magdalenian
21,000
Solutrean
27,000
Gravettian
33,000
  Aurignacian/Chatelperronian  
Middle Paleolithic
75,000
Mousterian
Lower Paleolithic
      700,000+ ?   
   Acheulian * 

28. Evidence: Biological Distance
In plots of cranial measurements, modern European forms at ca kya look more similar to early modern African forms at kya.
In contrast, Neanderthals are considerably distant from both.

29. Evidence: Genetic
Contemporary patterns of genetic variation provide clues to origins of modern humans mtDNA, mitochondrial DNA passed from mother to her children, an exact copy of genetic material.
Humans are less genetically variable than other populations-suggests population explosion.
Studies of contemporary DNA, especially mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which occurs only in the cellular organelles called mitochondria, reveal that humans are astonishingly homogeneous, with relatively little genetic variation. 

30. Evidence: Genetic
In support of an African origin for Homo sapiens the work of Cann and Wilson has demonstrated that the highest level of genetic variation in mtDNA occurs in African populations.
This implies that Homo sapiens arose first in Africa and has therefore had a longer period of time to accumulate genetic diversity.
Using the genetic distance between African populations and others as a measure of time, they furthermore suggested that Homo sapiens arose between 100,000 and 400,000 years ago in Africa. 

31. Evidence: Genetic
Scientists recently succeeded in extracting DNA from several Neanderthal skeletons.
After careful analysis of particularly the mtDNA, but now also some nuclear DNA, it is apparent that Neanderthal DNA is very distinct from our own but not entirely different.
Genetic data suggests that Neandertals may have been absorbed by the larger population of Moderns coming into Europe, with the Neandertal “type” disappearing around 28 kya. 

32. Lagar Velho 1 Skeleton

33. Neandertal/Human Hybrid??
Analysis of the skeletal remains of this four-year-old boy has revealed that he may be a Neandertal-Cro-Magnon hybrid.
Found in a Portuguese rock-shelter and dating to 25,000 to 24,500 years ago has yielded startling evidence that early modern humans and Neandertals may have interbred.
While the boy's prominent chin, tooth size, and pelvic measurements marked him as a Cro-Magnon, or fully modern human, his stocky body and short legs indicate Neandertal heritage, according to Erik Trinkaus, a paleoanthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

34. Lagar Velho 1 Skeleton

35. Chin-on Lagar Velho Specimen, not on Neandertals

36. Implications Suggestions from mtDNA
Human populations spread out across the globe well before any major population expansion took place.
Size of pop before expansion was between 10 and 50,000 people.
Major expansion of people beginning around 100,000 years ago in Africa and 50,000 years ago in the rest of the world.