ANTH 201 Full Course Notes

2022‐11‐2




CHAPTER 12


THE EMERGENCE OF
ANATOMICALLY MODERN
HUMANS




ANATOMICALLY MODERN HOMO SAPIENS
(AMH)
 Appear in fossil record 150‐
200,000 years ago skull isverysimilartoinfantsofotherapesmonkeys
 Higher, more rounded cranium
 Average cranial capacity 1,500
cc
Domesticanimalsalsoshowthisprocessalsosuggestthat
 More vertically oriented
forehead
bonobos are
 Small brow ridges
 Smaller and flatter face
veryprosocial
 Smaller teeth
 Well‐developed chin
 More lightly built postcranial
skeleton with straighter, less
robust limb bones




mm




AMH APPEAR IN AFRICA THEN MIGRATE OUT Migrationhappend in wavesoutofAfrica
 Oldest Homo sapiens are in Africa
 Omo 195,000 ya 1stwaveHomoerectus
2ndwave
 Herto, Ethiopia 160,000 ya
 In the “near East ” (ex Israel) by 100,000 ya

3rdwavehomosapiens
 Many locations
 In Western Europe by 45,000 ya
 Many locations




Imekindofwatercraftwasused
Cro-magnon

, 2022‐11‐2




GENETICALLY VS ANATOMICALLY VS BEHAVIOURALLY
MODERN HUMANS s to e n t
 Fossil record: 150 – 200,000 ya (although modern human brain size
300,000ya)
DNAispronetoissuesandinterpratationespeciallyinAfricaasitisexposed
 Modern human DNA: 265 – 350,000 ya
 Behaviourally modern humans: 50‐65,000 ya thenewerfossilsinEurope
totheelementsunlike
awaysofthinking
 What ’s going on here? Why do anatomy, genes and behaviour seem
disconnected from one another?
3differentdatesdueto evi
dance
 Brain size not necessarily same as brain architecture/cognition
 Fossil record is patchy
 DNA evidence relatively new and open to interpretation
 Modern intelligence can exist without material evidence (ie. brain vs cultural
evolution




MITOCHONDRIAL EVE Anotherversionofthegenetic
view
 Cann et al. (1987)
Anymutationsare andspreadapart
random
 147 modern women from around the world
 Little mDNA genetic variation – small pop that expanded rapidly
Africanwomenhave
nighvariationmeaningtheyaretheoldestmeaning
 All living women share a common ancestor 180–90 ka
 mtDNA of African women, most variation
theoldestmodernhumanisfromAfricaAll
humans havedecended
might
fromAfricaspecificallyher
population




3 theories
ANATOMICALLY MODERN HOMO SAPIENS AND ARCHAICS ultimatelumpersweareanhomoerectusthenspreadoutand
becamelocal
homosapienspeciesregionaldifferencesareduetoeach
a  Multiregional evolution
on
 Evolution from Homo erectus into Homo sapiens
everywhere
 Morphological continuity in each region
 Balance of local adaptation with some gene flow
totheirenvironmentsThisisanoldviewevi
groupadapting dance that
s nows

formsatthesametimesAllother
themigrationoutofAfricasnowsdifferent
b
 Out of Africa (with complete replacement)
 Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and spread out (as above)
with no interbreeding
no
mospeciesweredeadendsandwereplacedallofthemwithnointer
breadin

c  Out of Africa (with assimilation)
M
 Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and spread out (as above) ofbothwedidinter
combination breadandthespecificregionalgroups
with some interbreeding

becamethe
dayhumansinthatregionthroughoutcompeting
modern
different
species