1. Window on Humanity Conrad Phillip Kottak Third Edition
Chapter 6
The First Humans
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2. Overview Evolution of Homo Settling the Americas Early Homo H. erectus
Archaic H. sapiens
Neandertals
Anatomically modern humans
Settling the Americas
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3. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Early Homo
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
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.
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4. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Early Homo
Competing models of the relationship between KNM-ER 1470 and H. habilis:
KNM-ER 1470 represents a species (H. rudolfensis) separate from H. habilis
Rudolfensis was earlier than, ancestral to habilis
Rudolfensis and habilis were contemporaneous (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)
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5. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Early Homo
H. habilis was not very different from australopithecines in terms of body size and form
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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6. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Emergence of H. erectus
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)
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7. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Paleolithic tools
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)
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8. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Paleolithic tools
Acheulian – 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
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9. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Adaptive strategies of H. erectus
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
Average H. erectus brain size was double that of australopithecines, within the low range of modern humans
Fire
Hearths found at various sites
Fire allowed H. erectus to colonize a wider range of climates, provided protection against predators, made cooking possible
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10. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Evolution and expansion of H. erectus
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.
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11. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
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
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12. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Archaic H. sapiens
300,000? to 28,000 B.P.
Include the earliest members of our species
Also Neandertals (H. sapiens neanderthalensis) of Europe and the Middle East and their Neandertal-like contemporaries in Africa and Asia (130,000 to 28,000 B.P.)
Brain size within the modern human range
Lived during the second and third glacials (ice ages) and 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
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13. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Neandertals
Discovered in Western and Central Europe and the Middle East
Archaic human fossils with Neandertal-like features found in Africa and Asia
Neandertals 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)
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14. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Neandertals
Became less robust through time
Improving tool technology may have assumed some of the burdens formerly placed on the anatomy
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15. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Neandertals and modern humans
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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16. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Neandertals and modern humans
Alternative view: Neandertals were ancestral to modern Europeans
Evidence: fossils from sites in Western and Central Europe (e.g., Mladeč, l’Hortus, and Vindija) exhibit both Neandertal robustness and modern features
Fossils from Skhūl 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
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17. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Homo sapiens sapiens (AMHs)
Most scholars believe AMHs evolved from an archaic H. sapiens ancestor in Africa and 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
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18. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
“Out of Africa” hypothesis
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
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19. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Technological advances
Upper Paleolithic tool-making traditions
Associated with early AMHs
Emphasized blade tools
More efficient than Mousterian techniques
Some composite and bone tools
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20. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Technological advances
Increasing technological differentiation, specialization, and efficiency – allowed humans to adapt to a wider range of environments
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21. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Glacial retreat
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
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22. CHAPTER 6 The First Humans
Settling the Americas
Bering land bridge (Beringia) exposed during periods of glacial advance
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.
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