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Chapter 11: Modern Homo sapiens (Upper Palaeolithic Culture 40k-14kya (Art…
Chapter 11: Modern Homo sapiens
Modern Human Origin Theories
Single Origin Hypothesis
"Out of Africa" or "Replacement theory"
Modern humans replace archaic h. sapiens and neandertals
Thought to be because of cultural advantages to original population
Common ancestor: mtDNA ~200kya. Y chromosome ~100kya
Multiregional Hypothesis
Modern humans developed in different parts of the world separately after h. Erectus spread out
Have to look for gene flow which maintains single human population
Cultural developments --> biological traits
Evidence: h. Erectus traits in SE Asia populations
Assimilation Hypothesis
Combination of replacement by modern H. sapiens groups with interbreeding between early modern humans and local populations
E.g. Neandertal extinction, possible reasons:
1) Interbred with modern human populations, modern human DNA includes 1-6% Neandertal and Denisovian DNA, as well as mixed traits in some Neandertal Skeletons
2) killed off?
3) Driven to extinction due to competition
Upper Palaeolithic Culture 40k-14kya
Europe: Mesolithic
Art: paintings, carvings, personal adornments
Tools: atlatl, bow and arrows, replaceable projectile point heads
Change to a focus on diverse resources, increased sedentism, widening of cultural sphere through trade
Dolni Vestonice, Czech Republic: open air settlement, 4 tent-like humswith 100-125 people. Possible ritual structure, with oven and musical instruments (hollow bones)
Africa: later Stone Age
Hunter Gatherer lifestyles maintained
: cave and open air habitation sites, further reduction in stone tool kit size
Asia: Ocean resources became vital, seafaring and navigation
Effects of the Ice Age: tundra ecology with Pleistocene Megafauna in N.A And Europe; Northern Africa was wetter, SE Asia was drier
Tool Kit
Innovation: blade tool kit
Change in tool making technology and thought processes
Blade technology requires:
indirect percussion
to drive blades off prepared core;
pressure flaking
: to sharpen blade edges
Technology
Increase in diversity and sophistication
Burins graving tools (tools for making tools)
works with bone, wood and antler
Bone and wood handles on tools
Atlatl/spear throwers had a longer range than thrusting spears (18-27m)
Art
Oldest serving art is from Australia, best known is from Western Europe
Portable art: beads, carvings. depicts animals , tally marks
Fixed Art: paintings
Art was sophisticated, may reflect shamanism, or "hunting magic"
Types of Cave art: 1) entrance to inhabited caves; 2)"galleries"; 3) deep in caves, hard to access
Venus figures 28-22kya: fertility cults?
Populating the New World
By land: Beringia land bridge, 14 000ya
By Sea: Coast ice free from 16 000ya
Oldest sites 14000ya or earlier: Yukon, Chile, Oregon
Three waves of migration from Asia, based on linguistic evidence and incisor shape
Amerind
Na-Dene
Inuit- Aleut
First Peoples
Pre-Clovis: Texas, 13 000 to 15 000 BP. Bifaces, flake tools
Clovis: Complex, megafauna kill site, bison drives, broad spectrum foraging. Tool kit: Clovis points, scrapers, knives, bone tools
Eastern Woodlands: Plant processing technology, increasing sedentism, campsite specialization, woodworking tools
Palaeo-Arctic Populations
Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia
Finely made tools: microblades, burins, scrapers, blades, bow and arrows. Used bifaces
Dorset Culture
Stable, long lived, eastern arctic culture
Subsistence: seal, caribou, muskox, fish
Bone and lithic technology: bone harpoons, stone lamps
Had sleds but not dogs; had the kayak
Thule Culture
Developed from Norton in Alaska, migrated east. Ancestral to Inuit
technology: native iron, bone, ivory, stone
flotation gear, harpoon heads, bladder balloons to hunt sea mammals
Used dogs to pull sleds
Crude ceramics and soapstone in different regions