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Chapter 9

Chapter 9. Archaic Homo Sapiens and the Middle Paleolithic. Chapter Outline. Who was “archaic” Homo sapiens ? What was the culture of archaic homo sapiens like? Who were the Neandertals and what became of them?. Archaic Homo sapiens.

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Chapter 9

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  1. Chapter 9 Archaic Homo Sapiens and the Middle Paleolithic

  2. Chapter Outline • Who was “archaic” Homo sapiens? • What was the culture of archaic homo sapiens like? • Who were the Neandertals and what became of them?

  3. Archaic Homo sapiens • Species with modern sized brains in skulls that retained ancestral features. • Descended from Homo erectus, transition took place between about 400,000 and 200,000 y.a. • Neandertals, the best known, lived in Europe and western Asia between about 200,000 and 35,000 y.a.

  4. Culture of Archaic Homo sapiens • Made a variety of tools for special purposes. • Made objects for symbolic purposes. • Engaged in ceremonial activities. • Cared for the old and disabled.

  5. Appearance of Homo sapiens • At sites in Europe, Africa, and East Asia, fossils have been found that date between 400,000 and 200,000 y.a. • These fossils show a mixture of traits of both H. erectus and H. sapiens. • Indicates an evolution from the older into the younger species.

  6. Levalloisian Technique

  7. Levalloisian Technique • Flake tools produced by this technique were found in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and China. • Could be a case of independent invention or the spread of ideas from one part of the world to another.

  8. Invention of Hafting • Affixing small stone bifaces and flakes in handles of wood to make spears and knives. • Involved three components: handle, stone insert, and binding materials. • Regional stylistic and technological variants are clearly evident, suggesting emergence of distinct cultural traditions.

  9. Skull of Classic Neandertals

  10. Shift in Characteristics of Neandertal to Modern Features • Between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago, we would expect to find individuals with characteristics such as those of the Saint Césaire “Neandertal” (A) and the almost modern Cro-Magnon(B).

  11. Upper Paleolithic and Aurignacian Industries

  12. Archaic Homo sapiens • 200,000 y.a. populations of archaic H.sapiens lived in all parts of the inhabited world. • The brains of archaic H. sapiens were no different in size and organization than our own. • Utilized culture as a means of adaptation to a greater extent than their predecessors. • They were capable of complex technology and sophisticated thought.

  13. Mousterian Tradition • Named after the Neandertal site of Le Moustier, France. • Tools were lighter and smaller than the Levalloisian and included hand axes, flakes, scrapers, borers, wood shavers, and spears. • Mousterian peoples buried their dead, cared for the disabled, and made objects for symbolic purposes.

  14. Archaic Homo sapiens AndModern Human Origins • Multiregional Hypothesis - all populations of archaic H. sapiens are easily derivable from earlier populations of H. erectus from the same regions. • “Eve” Hypothesis - transition from archaic to anatomically modern H. sapiens took place in one population, probably in Africa.

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