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Tom Austen Brown Professor of Australian Archaeology

Peter Hiscock

School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry

Presented to Heat and human evolution SFU Human Evolutionary Studies Program

3rd Annual Symposium Vancouver February 2014

ARCA1000

Week 6

The first humans? The emergence of Homo sapiens and of modernity.

Laetoli Hominid 18 (LH 18),

sometimes called Ngaloba man, is about 120,000 years old.

Herto, an archaic form labelled Homo sapiens idaltu, is about

160,000 years old.

At Klasies River Cave skull/mandible

fragments are dated to 90-100,000.

Homo sapiens

Genetic evidence shows origins of modern humans in Africa,

and an expansion of humans beyond Africa.

Scally, A. and R. Durbin. 2012. Revising the human mutation rate: implications for understanding human evolution. Nature Reviews Genetics, 13, 745-753.

* Initiation of working bone, ivory and shell.

* Appearance of art and ornamentation.

* Spatial organization of campsites.

* Transport of large quantities of desirable stone materials over tens or hundreds of kilometers.

* Initiation of ceremonies and rituals shown in evidence such as graves.

* Human ability to live in cold climates in Europe and Asia.

* Increase in population densities to levels seen in the historic period for similar environments and economies.

* Diversification of economies to extract energy, such as fishing.

* Significant increase in tool diversity and standardization within each type.

* Increase in the rate of tool variation through time and space.

Modernity:

The African Middle Stone Age (MSA) contains a variety of

distinctive industries that mark a change in the nature of

technological patterns.

Still Bay points

Key Howiesons Poort sites

Blombos Cave.

from Mellars 2006

Jurreru Valley, India

Scally, A. and R. Durbin. 2012. Revising the human mutation rate: implications for understanding human evolution. Nature Reviews Genetics, 13, 745-753.

Malakunanja II

Malakunanja II

Malakunanja II

* Sandy deserts (Puritjarra)

* Rocky deserts (Allens Cave)

* Semi-arid grasslands (Cuddies Spring)

* Tropical savannah (Malakunanja)

* Tropical woodland (Ngarrabullgan)

* Tropical coasts (Widgingarri)

* Alpine uplands (Parmerpar Meethaner).

Puritjarra Cuddie Springs Ngarrabullgan

Nawalabila

Susan Rule, Barry W. Brook, Simon Haberle, Chris

Turney, Peter Kershaw, Christopher Johnson 2012 The

Aftermath of Megafaunal Extinction: Ecosystem

Transformation in Pleistocene Australia, Science 335,

1483.

Monte Verde

Jerimalai

O'Connor, S, Ono, R & Clarkson, C. 2011, 'Pelagic Fishing at 42,000 Years

Before the Present and the Maritime Skills of Modern Humans', Science, vol.

334:1117-1121

The End