PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY CHAPTER 13 PROFESSOR SOLIS

Pre-Modern Humans  Pre-Modern Humans  Refers to those hominids that are behaviorally and physiologically like Homo sapiens –  Still significant differences  Still can refer to them as “human” but distinguish them from “modern humans” – “Pre – Modern Humans”  Pre-Modern Humans include Neanderthals and other Homo species

Pre-Modern Humans  Pre-Modern Humans and the Ice Age  Most pre-modern humans lived during the Middle Pleistocene (780,000 to 125,000 kya)  Some, like Neanderthal, lived into the Late Pleistocene (125,000 to 20,000 kya)  The Pleistocene is called the Ice Age because of dramatic drops in temperature, major advances in continental glaciers, ice accumulation and increase in snow fall.  During the Pleistocene there were interglacial periods – warmer periods  During the Ice Age the glaciations were mostly confined to Europe, Asia, N. America, and Antarctica – the northern latitudes

Pre-Modern Humans  Homo heidelbergensis  Dating from 850,000 to 200,000  Named after a fossil found in Germany in 1907  This is believed to be a transitional species between Homo erectus and modern humans and probably an ancestor to Neanderthals as well  Has been found in Africa, Europe, and possibly Asia (though some argue these specimens are variants of Homo erectus)

Middle Pleistocene Evolution  Pre-Modern finds from Africa and Europe resemble each other more than they do hominids from Asia –  The African and European finds are referred to as Homo heidelbergensis.  It is hypothesized that in Africa, H. heidelbergensis evolved into H. sapiens; in Europe H. Heidelbergensis may have evolved into Neanderthals, and in Asia – there is no consensus- all pre-modern forms might have met with extinction or continued to evolve into modern humans, or where they replaced by an African population?

Middle Pleistocene Tool Technology  New Tool Technology  Levallois Technique  Co-existed with Acheulian technology  Less hand axes and more worked flakes  Continued living in caves and open air sites, but possible increase use of caves  Controlled use of fire  Evidence of temporary structures  Exploitation of various resources  Advanced hunting technology – spears found in 1995 in Schoningen, Germany

Middle Pleistocene Tool Technology  Eight wooden javelins found at Schoningen  400,000 to 380,000  Measure 6 ft long  Finely crafted – spruce, well balanced  Found with remains of horses

Neanderthals/Neandertals  Neandertals were originally found over a century ago  Originally thought to be the ancestor of Homo sapiens  Some anthropologists still classify them as a “sub species” to humans  Other scientists disagree – see Neandertals as a separate species Homo neanderthalensis  Lived from about 750,000 to 20,000 +/- during the last major glaciation  Most specimens have been found in Europe – we have some from western Asia Early evidence of cannibalism 9 individuals found in Spain Scientists have discovered the gene for red hair and fair skin

Neandertal Characteristics  Neandertals had a large brain – larger than H. sapiens today  Average brain size for humans is 1300 to 1400 cm 3  Neandertal brain size was around 1520 cm 3

Neandertal sites  La Chapelle-aux-Saints – burial of a 40 year old Neandertal male – purposely buried – grave goods in association (tools and offerings) buried in a flexed position  This individual suffered from osteoarthritis of the spine  Very large brain 1620cm3  Moula-Guercy Cave – clear evidence of cannibalism. Tool cut marks on possibly 6+ individuals, cut marks to extract marrow and the brain. Other animal bones in association processed in the same way (evidence of hammer on anvil tools)

Neanderthal Sites  St. Cesaire and Vindija sites: 33,000 to 32,000 ya.  Have anatomically modern humans living in close proximity  Borrowed tool technology from modern humans  New technology: Chatelperronian  Upper Paleolithic tool industry found in France and Spain – mostly blade tools.

Neanderthal Sites  Israel  Tabun – Excavated in the 1930’s  Female skeleton  Dated by thermoluminescence (TL) 120, ,000 ya  Contemporaries with H. sapiens found in nearby caves

Neanderthal Sites  Kebara Cave  Partial skeleton, dated to 60,000 ya  Complete Neanderthal thorax and pelvis and a hyoid bone – first ever found  Reconstruction of language capabilities among Neanderthals

Tool Technology  Mousterian Tools– associated with Neandertals and some modern H. sapien groups – more flake like tools  Shows up during the Middle Paleolithic  Mousterian culture spread across Europe, N. Africa, former Soviet Union, Israel, Iran, Uzbekistan and possibly China  Specialized tools for skinning and preparing meat, hunting, and wood working.  Neandertals subject to head and neck trauma – similar to modern rodeo performers (trampling by ungulates)  Hunting in close contact

Speech and Symbolic Behavior  When did full human language emerge?  Debated by scientists for decades  Did Neandertals have the capacity for speech?  Some believe that speech played a role in H. sapiens dominating and eradicating Neandertals?  A new find indicates that Neandertals and humans share the same version of a gene, FOXP2, which contributes to advanced language. The finding suggests that Neandertals might have talked like modern humans. Illustration courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Genome Programs

Lingering Questions  mtDNA extracted from Neandertal specimens indicate that they are genetically different from modern H. sapien populations  Suggested divergence with modern H. sapien ancestors around 690,000 to 550,000 ya.  See DNA patterns that are different from modern humans  Though considered a separate species, some argue that they were not a completely separate biological species and had the capacity to interbreed with modern humans  Was this likely- given high degree of geographic isolation?

Lingering Questions…  2010 Sequencing of European Neanderthal Genome  Conclusion: that some interbreeding with H. sapiens did occur (80,000-50,000 ya)

Conclusion  Middle Pleistocene (780,000 to 125,000)  Period of great transition in human evolution  Transitional hominids that are closer in relationship to modern humans than earlier forms – Pre-Modern Humans  Homo heidelbergensis  Neandertals  Neandertals exist well into the Late Pleistocene (20,000 ya)  Most scientists consider Neandertals a side branch of human evolution