1. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Human Evolution and PREHISTORY Chapter Ten: HOMO SAPIENS AND THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC Link to the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology Link to the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology

2. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Chapter Preview When Did Anatomically Modern Forms Of Homo sapiens Appear? What Was The Culture Of Upper Paleolithic Peoples Like? What Were The Consequences Of The New Upper Paleolithic Technologies?

3. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CRO-MAGNON European modern Homo sapiens after 36,000 years ago are referred to as Cro- Magnons, after the first fossil forms discovered in Cro-Magnon rock shelter at Les Eyzies, France in 1868 © David Brill

4. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPLES: THE FIRST MODERN HUMANS Cro-Magnons and Upper Paleolithic people from Africa and Asia are now referred to as anatomically modern Brain size has reduced by 10% from archaic H. sapiens but with a reduction in body size – we now have the modern brain/body size ratio Technological improvements meant less selective pressure on massive teeth and bodies

5. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Homo floresiensis  Flores Island, Indonesia, about 18,000 ya  Archaeological evidence to 95,000 ya  Cranial capacity 380 cc, 1 m. tall  Flake tools, use of fire, hunters [insert illustration p. 10-5A]

6. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Homo floresiensis One explanation for this unique member of the genus Homo: They evolved from larger hominins, in isolation on the island; size reduction is a trend found in other island species of animals A second explanation: They were modern humans who suffered from microcephaly, and early populations were never isolated

7. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Upper Paleolithic Tools – Innovations in Techniques 1.Blade technique of core preparation to produce long, parallel-sided flint flakes, twice as long as they were wide [insert illustration p. 10-6A]

8. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Upper Paleolithic Tools – Innovations in Techniques 2.Pressure flaking technique to make small flakes by pressing with a bone, antler or wooden tool, which allows for greater control than by striking 3.Blade-core technique for producing small tools efficiently (Northeast Asia)

9. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Upper Paleolithic Tools -- Innovations 1. Microliths, tiny blades used to make bone and stone composite tools; widespread in northern regions during last glaciation 2. Burins, with chisel-like edges for working with bone, horn, antler, and ivory 3. Spear thrower, for increasing the velocity of the spear when thrown 4. Knotted nets, for net hunting of hare, fox, e.g. 5.Bow and arrow

10. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Upper Paleolithic Tools Changes in hunting and weaponry resulted in people becoming weaker and less robust, with reduced nutritional requirements Wide variety of food resources were exploited, e.g. plants, fish, birds [insert illustration p. 10-10A]

11. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Upper Paleolithic Art Precursors found in the Middle Paleolithic, e.g. use of ochre, carving, possible musical instrument In southwest Asia, figure of volcanic tuff, 250,000 years old Earliest evidence of figurative pictures goes back to 32,000 ya in Europe and likely equally as old in Africa Humans and animals in association with geometric and other abstract motifs

12. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Art and Shamanism Scenes with visions seen in a state of trance Distortions of figures represent sensations felt during a trance Geometric designs depict entoptic phenomena, pulsating designs seen as one enters the trance Animals in this art are most often not eaten, but are powerful beasts in the surrounding habitat

13. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Rock Art Goes back at least 45,000 years ago in Australia, entirely entoptic In Europe, the earliest art took the form of sculpture and engravings of animals such as reindeer, horses, bears, and also of humans Venus figures, emphasizing female traits, have been found from Europe to as far east as Siberia [insert illustration p. 10-16B]

14. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Cave Paintings On the walls of caves in southern France and northern Spain, dating from about 32,000 years ago Accurate portrayals of Ice Age mammals Humans and scenes of events are not common Often in hard-to-get-at places where lamps were needed

15. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ORIGINAL STUDY Paleolithic Paint Job The “spitting” technique of rock painting is used today by the aboriginal peoples of Australia Michel Lorblanchet sees evidence for this technique in the Upper Paleolithic cave of Pech Merle, 18,400 ya He uses charcoal ground with limestone (wet with his saliva) and red ochre [insert illustration p. 10-14B]

16. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Hypotheses Accounting for Cave Art Art for art’s sake Ceremonial purposes Success in the hunt To promote fertility in the herd Initiation rites for youngsters Depictions of trance experiences, painted after the fact [insert illustration p. 10-16A]

17. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Ornamentation Necklaces of animal teeth, shells, bone beads, etc. Rings, bracelets, anklets Clothing adorned with beads Probably much art was executed in perishable materials, e.g. wood carvings, bark paintings Courtesy of Mesa Community College, Anthropology

18. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OTHER ASPECTS OF UPPER PALEOLITHIC CULTURE Construction of huts with floors Tailored clothing Long-distance trade, e.g. seashells traded several hundred kilometres from the source [Insert illustration p. 10-19B]

19. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE SPREAD OF UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPLES Expansion into previously uninhabited regions of the world Siberia by 42,000 years ago Australia and New Guinea, by 60,000 years ago, which involved a 90-kilometre sea voyage [insert illustration p. 10-19C]

20. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Australia Earliest sophisticated rock art Ritualistic burial of the dead, 40,000 to 60,000 years ago Tools that are very similar to those of the Eurasian Middle Paleolithic Medicinal use of ochre for healing and cleansing

21. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The Americas – First Peoples Archaeological evidence suggests that the roots of aboriginal populations are in northeast Asia, but the biological affiliations are unclear The few preserved crania older than 8,000 years do not resemble recent aboriginal populations

22. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. First Peoples – Physical Evidence Before 10,000 years ago people migrating from East Africa would have been of the generalized Asian type (Sundadont), who lived in Southeast Asia during the Paleolithic After 10,000 years ago, the specialized, modern Asian type (Sinadont) arose in Northeast Asia, and migrating populations would have been of this type

23. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. First Peoples – Molecular Evidence 1.mtDNA analysis indicates five haplotypes (a set of closely linked genes inherited as a unit) in all populations of First Nations ancestry 2.Several migrations with considerable mixing of populations? OR, only migration? 3.Analysis of mtDNA mutations indicates the initial emergence of modern First Nations ancestral lines to be between 14,000 and 11,000 years ago (assuming a constant mutation rate)

24. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. First Peoples – Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence People were settled in south Chile (Monte Verde) by 12,500 years ago, and in Pennsylvania (Meadowcroft) as early as 20,000 years ago Based on the time it takes for languages to spread from their homelands, it has been suggested that the first people arrived in North America by 20,000 years ago

25. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. First Peoples – Technology It has long been thought that people travelled over the Bering Strait land bridge (Beringia) from Northeast Asia into Alaska A blade-making tradition dating to 40,000 years ago in Northeast Asia is historically related to the Northwest Microblade Tradition in North America, dating from 11,000 to 6,000 years ago [insert illustration p. 10-23A]

26. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Fluted Point Tradition The Clovis Tradition was used by the Paleoindians for hunting big game such as mammoth, caribou and extinct forms of bison, about 12,000 years ago, throughout North and Central America [insert illustration p. 10-24A]

27. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Route into the Americas Glaciers blocked movement southward in North America until 13,000 years ago People were living on Beringia (Siberia, Alaska, Yukon Territory) by 15,000 years ago, as evidenced by the discovery of Bluefish Caves, Yukon However, people were already living south of the glaciers by this time [insert illustration p. 10-23A]

28. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Other Routes into the Americas If people were living in Monte Verde by 12,500 years ago, could they have arrived by boat from Japan and down the coast of the Americas? The fluted point was made nowhere else in the world, but bears similarities to the technology of the Upper Paleolithic of France and Spain It has been hypothesized that Upper Paleolithic people cold have made it to the Grand Banks, due to lowered sea levels, and migrated westward

29. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Clovis Sites Debert site, Nova Scotia, was occupied about 10,200 years ago to take advantage of migrating caribou It appears that these Clovis peoples migrated from the south, e.g. Vail site in Maine

30. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Other Early Sites Kilgii Gwaay, Ellen Island, British Columbia, 9,500 to 9,400 years ago  Coastal food resources (no salmon)  Stone flakes and bone tools Charlie Lake Cave, B.C., 10,500 to 9,500 years ago  Earliest tools were based on fluted point tradition  Later tools were microblades Courtesy of Dr. Jon Driver

31. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE AMERICAS The current picture is that through a combination of many migrations over time and gene flow, we see the characteristics of the First Nations peoples of today

32. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Kennewick Man – who owns him?  9,300-year-old skeletal remains found in Washington state  Conflict between the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, a group of scientists (including anthropologists), and the U.S. government  In 2002, courts ruled in favour of the scientists who wished to study him in order to learn such information as the biological linkages to modern First Nations peoples [insert illustration p. 10-26A]

33. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WHERE DID UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPLE COME FROM Transition from archaic to anatomically modern H. sapiens took place in one specific population OR Several populations living in Africa, Asia and even Europe 100,000 to 40,000 ya evolved together Mix of features in Upper Paleolithic populations does not fit with complete extinction of the older population [insert illustration p. 10-26A]

34. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Old World Since Homo erectus cultural adaptation had become the means of handling environmental stress and, thus. the major thrust in the evolution of Homo has been toward improved cognitive capacity, or “brain power” Gene flow was occurring from east to west, and vice-versa, and has contributed to the low level of genetic differentiation among modern humans

35. COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MAJOR PALEOLITHIC TRENDS 1.More sophisticated, varied and specialized tool kits 2.Population growth and spread, enabled by technology 3.Loss of heavy physical features 4.Development of conceptual thought 5.Amount of sexual dimorphism greatly reduced 6.Importance of and proficiency in hunting 7.Marked regionalism

36. COPYRIGHT © 2007 Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NEXT TIME: Cultivation and Domestication