Chapter 6 The First Humans © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Window on Humanity Conrad Phillip Kottak Third Edition

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Human Family Tree © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

Overview © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Evolution of Homo Early Homo H. erectus Archaic H. sapiens Neandertals Anatomically modern humans (AMH) Settling the Americas

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Early Homo © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Distinctive early Homo trends – exhibited by H. habilis and later H. erectus: Major increases in brain size and complexity Increasingly elaborate tool making Greater reliance on hunting (in addition to gathering)

H. rudolfenis and H. habilis © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. KNM-ER 1470 – skull found at Koobi Fora, Kenya Large cranial capacity of the skull suggests it belonged to Homo, but its molars are similar to those of hyperrobust australopithecines Dating the skull is problematic – either 1.8 or 2.4 m.y.a. KNM-ER 1813 (H. Habilis) What differences do you see in the skulls? KNM-ER 1470 (H. Rudolfensis)

Different theories about H. rudolfensis © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. KNM-ER 1470 represents a species (H. rudolfensis) separate from H. habilis Rudolfensis was earlier than, ancestral to habilis Rudolfensis and habilis lived at the same time (from about 2.4 to 1.7 m.y.a.) Rudolfensis and habilis were simply male and female members of the same species (H. habilis)

Punctuated Equilibrium Model © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. H. habilis was not very different from australopithecines in terms of body size and form (H. habilis was very simliar to Lucy) Major and rapid change with the emergence of H. erectus (between 1.8 and m.y.a.) Cranial capacity, body shape, and height of H. erectus were comparable to those of modern humans H. habilis to H. erectus transition may support a punctuated equilibrium model of the evolution of early hominins

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Punctuated Equilibrium Model is the idea that evolution involves short periods of rapid change interspersed with longer periods of relative stability

Emergence of H. erectus © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Major change in adaptive strategy – greater reliance on hunting Rapid increase in the number and diversity of stone tools used for hunting and gathering Increasing reliance on cultural means of adaptation Dietary changes eased the burden on the chewing apparatus – smaller dentition favored Hunting of large prey encouraged the development of thicker skulls Larger body size and cranial capacity (within range of modern humans)

Paleolithic tools © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Three divisions of the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age): Lower Paleolithic roughly associated with H. erectus Middle Paleolithic roughly associated with archaic H. sapiens, including the Neandertals Upper Paleolithic roughly associated with early members of H. sapiens sapiens (anatomically modern humans)

Acheulian Tools © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Primary tool-making tradition of H. erectus during the Lower Paleolithic Various tool types, including oval-shaped hand axes More complex than earlier Oldowan pebble tools Acheulian tradition illustrates trends in the evolution of technology: Greater efficiency Manufacture of tools for specific tasks Increasingly complex technology

© 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Hand Axes Scrapers Blades

Adaptive strategies of H. erectus © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Interrelated biological and cultural changes Improved tools and “modern” skeleton permitting long-distance walking and endurance – allowed H. erectus to increase its range and hunt more efficiently Brain size was double that of australopithecines, within the low range of modern humans Study of chewing muscles and molars indicate they were more dependent on hunting

© 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Lived in Rock Shelters and Caves Use of Fire Hearths found at various sites Fire allowed H. erectus to colonize a wider range of climates, provided protection against predators, made cooking possible – less strain on chewing

Evolution and expansion of H. erectus © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Important H. erectus sites: East and West Turkana, Kenya – 1.6 m.y.a. Dmanisi, former Soviet Republic of Georgia – 1.75 to 1.7 m.y.a. Indonesia (e.g., “Java man,” the first H. erectus find) – at least 700,000 B.P. – perhaps 1.6 m.y.a. Zhoukoudian cave, China (e.g., “Peking man”) – 670,000 to 410,000 B.P. Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and South Africa – 1 million to 500,000 B.P. at Olduvai Ceprano, Italy – 800,000 B.P.

Evolution and expansion of H. erectus © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Evolution and expansion of H. erectus Widespread distribution of H. erectus fossils and stone tools – indicates expansion out of tropics into subtropical and temperate zones of Asia and Europe

Archaic H. sapiens © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. 300,000? to 28,000 B.P. Include the earliest members of our species Neandertals (H. sapiens neanderthalensis) of Europe and the Middle East Neandertal-like contemporaries in Africa and Asia (130,000 to 28,000 B.P.) Brain size within the modern human range Large jaw of Heidelberg man; transitional hominin, between H. Erectus and archaic H. Sapiens

© 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Lived during the second and third glacials (ice ages) a warmer interglacial period – last part of the Middle Pleistocene Distribution of fossils and tools in Europe, Africa, and Asia reflects increased tolerance of environmental diversity Ice age conditions in the northern hemisphere during the Pleistocene (persistent glaciers with tundra and cold forests at lower elevations farther south)tundra

Neandertals © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Discovered in Western and Central Europe and the Middle East Archaic human fossils with Neandertal-like features found in Africa and Asia

Neandertal Adaptation In Western Europe were biologically and culturally adapted to an extremely cold climate (Würm glacial) Made clothes and elaborate tools (Mousterian tradition) Hunted reindeer, mammoths, and woolly rhinos Anatomy (e.g., stocky build, massive nasal cavities) reflected adaptation to cold climate Massive faces and heavy wear on front teeth – evidence that teeth used for various purposes (e.g., chewing animal hides to make winter clothing) © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

Mousterian Tradition The Mousterian Tradition was marked by the progressive reduction in the use of large core tools, such as hand axes, as specialized flake tools became more common.core toolsflake tools © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Mousterian tradition unifacial hide scraper (left) and spear point (right) (both were made from Levallois flakes) Mousterian tradition hand ax Oldowan tradition core tool (chopper )

Neandertals © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Became less robust through time Improving tool technology may have assumed some of the burdens formerly placed on the anatomy

Neandertals and modern humans © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Debate over whether Neandertals were ancestral to modern Western Europeans Current prevailing view: H. erectus split into two groups One group was ancestral to Neandertals Another group was ancestral to anatomically modern humans (AMHs) AMHs evolved in Africa, Asia, Central Europe, or the Middle East, then colonized Western Europe and displaced Neandertals around 50,000 B.P.

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Neandertals and modern humans © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Alternative view: Neandertals were ancestral to modern Europeans Evidence: fossils from sites in Western and Central Europe (e.g., Mlade č, l’Hortus, and Vindija) exhibit both Neandertal robustness and modern features Fossils from Skh ū l and Qafzeh in Israel Suggest that archaic H. sapiens was evolving directly into AMHs in the Middle East more than 50,000 years before Neandertals disappeared Implication: Neandertals and AMHs overlapped in time, rather than being ancestor and descendant

Homo sapiens sapiens (AMHs) © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Most scholars believe AMHs evolved from an archaic H. sapiens ancestor in Africa deny that Neandertals were ancestral to AMHs in Western Europe and the Middle East According to this view, AMHs spread out from Africa In Western Europe, they replaced or interbred with the Neandertals Colonized America

“Out of Africa” hypothesis © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages Everyone alive today has mtDNA descended from a woman (“Eve”) who lived in sub-Saharan Africa around 200,000 B.P. Eve’s descendants left Africa no more than 135,000 B.P., displacing Neandertals in Western Europe and colonizing the rest of the world Other evidence for African origin of AMHs: Three anatomically modern skulls dated to 154, ,000 B.P. found in Ethiopia Fossils and tools found at several South African sites Neandertals coexisted with AMHs in the Middle East for thousands of years Chinese Skulls

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Technological advances © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Upper Paleolithic tool-making traditions Associated with early AMHs Emphasized blade tools More efficient than Mousterian techniques Some composite and bone tools Adapt to more environments

Click for video on Lascaux Prehistoric Cave Paintings © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

Glacial retreat © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Retreat of ice sheet in northern Europe (17,000-12,000 B.P.) Tundra and steppe vegetation replaced by shrubs, forests Reindeer and other large game replaced by more solitary animals Southwestern Europe – economies became less specialized Humans began to exploit a wider range of plant and animal life Broad-spectrum revolution

Settling the Americas © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved. Bering land bridge (Beringia) exposed during periods of glacial advance (15,000 years ago) Gradual migration of big-game hunters from northeast Asia into North America Southward migration via unglaciated corridors

Clovis points – used by Paleoindians to hunt large game in North America (12,000 to 11,000 B.P.) Monte Verde site, Chile Dated to 13,500 B.P. First migration of humans into the Americas may have occurred as early as 18,000 B.P. © 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.