Ice Age Humans (30,000 Years Ago)

2021 ◽  
pp. 113-143
Author(s):  
Lesley Newson ◽  
Peter J. Richerson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Great Leap ◽  
The Social ◽  
Great Leap Forward ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Complex Culture ◽  
Share Information

Starting about 35,000 years ago, humans seem to have made a great leap forward culturally. The authors argue that this wasn’t because of genetic changes that caused the human brain to have increased capacity. It was because some groups culturally evolved the “social tools” that allowed them to maintain connections and share information over long distances. The groups with the most effective social tools managed to stay connected and to survive, and their descendants inherited this culture of connectedness. It’s likely that forming greater connectedness and more complex culture was necessary in order to survive the periods of high climate variability that were a feature of the last ice age.

scholarly journals A note on the earliest distribution, cultivation and genetic changes in bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia) in ancient Europe

Genetika ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Mikic ◽  
Aleksandar Medovic ◽  
Zivko Jovanovic ◽  
Nemanja Stanisavljevic
Keyword(s):  
Modern Human ◽  
Grain Legumes ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Agricultural Revolution ◽  
Bitter Vetch ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Seed Testa

Bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia (L.) Willd.) was a part of the everyday diet of the Eurasian Neanderthal population and the modern human Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers at the end of the last Ice Age. The major criteria to determine the domestication in bitter vetch and other ancient grain legumes are non-dehiscent pods, larger seed size and smooth seed testa. Bitter vetch seeds were found among the earliest findings of cultivated crops at the site of Tell El-Kerkh, Syria, from 10th millennium BP. Along with cereals, pea and lentil, bitter vetch has become definitely associated with the start of the 'agricultural revolution' in the Old World. Bitter vetch entered Europe in its south-east regions and progressed into its interior via Danube. Its distribution was rapid, since the available evidence reveals its presence in remote places at similar periods. Recently the first success has been obtained in the extraction of ancient DNA from charred bitter vetch seeds. The linguistic evidence supports the fact that most of Eurasian peoples have their own words denoting bitter vetch, meaning that its cultivation preceded the diversification of their own proto-languages.

Health Trends in China Since the Great Leap Forward

1965 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 181-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Worth
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Social Philosophy ◽  
Health Trends ◽  
Great Leap ◽  
The Social ◽  
Great Leap Forward ◽  
The Great Leap Forward ◽  
Insight Into

Since illness has both socio-economic causes and effects, an analysis of public health problems and programmes can give some insight into the condition of a nation and into the social philosophy of its government.

A Great Leap Forward

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 56 (34) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. F. Chipman
Keyword(s):  
Great Leap ◽  
Great Leap Forward

The Great Leap Forward

The Synergist ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Jim Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Great Leap ◽  
Great Leap Forward ◽  
The Great Leap Forward

A bigger brain for a more complex environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 803-816
Author(s):  
Umberto di Porzio
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Molecular Genetic ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Cultural Challenges ◽  
Birth Canal ◽  
Newborn Brain ◽  
Neuronal Interactions ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe environment increased complexity required more neural functions to develop in the hominin brains, and the hominins adapted to the complexity by developing a bigger brain with a greater interconnection between its parts. Thus, complex environments drove the growth of the brain. In about two million years during hominin evolution, the brain increased three folds in size, one of the largest and most complex amongst mammals, relative to body size. The size increase has led to anatomical reorganization and complex neuronal interactions in a relatively small skull. At birth, the human brain is only about 20% of its adult size. That facilitates the passage through the birth canal. Therefore, the human brain, especially cortex, develops postnatally in a rich stimulating environment with continuous brain wiring and rewiring and insertion of billions of new neurons. One of the consequence is that in the newborn brain, neuroplasticity is always turned “on” and it remains active throughout life, which gave humans the ability to adapt to complex and often hostile environments, integrate external experiences, solve problems, elaborate abstract ideas and innovative technologies, store a lot of information. Besides, hominins acquired unique abilities as music, language, and intense social cooperation. Overwhelming ecological, social, and cultural challenges have made the human brain so unique. From these events, as well as the molecular genetic changes that took place in those million years, under the pressure of natural selection, derive the distinctive cognitive abilities that have led us to complex social organizations and made our species successful.

scholarly journals Climate Variability in Central Europe during the Last 2500 Years Reconstructed from Four High-Resolution Multi-Proxy Speleothem Records

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Sarah Waltgenbach ◽  
Dana F. C. Riechelmann ◽  
Christoph Spötl ◽  
Klaus P. Jochum ◽  
Jens Fohlmeister ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Elements ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Warm Period ◽  
Warm Period ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Cold Period ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Dark Ages

The Late Holocene was characterized by several centennial-scale climate oscillations including the Roman Warm Period, the Dark Ages Cold Period, the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. The detection and investigation of such climate anomalies requires paleoclimate archives with an accurate chronology as well as a high temporal resolution. Here, we present 230Th/U-dated high-resolution multi-proxy records (δ13C, δ18O and trace elements) for the last 2500 years of four speleothems from Bunker Cave and the Herbstlabyrinth cave system in Germany. The multi-proxy data of all four speleothems show evidence of two warm and two cold phases during the last 2500 years, which coincide with the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period, as well as the Dark Ages Cold Period and the Little Ice Age, respectively. During these four cold and warm periods, the δ18O and δ13C records of all four speleothems and the Mg concentration of the speleothems Bu4 (Bunker Cave) and TV1 (Herbstlabyrinth cave system) show common features and are thus interpreted to be related to past climate variability. Comparison with other paleoclimate records suggests a strong influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation at the two caves sites, which is reflected by warm and humid conditions during the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period, and cold and dry climate during the Dark Ages Cold period and the Little Ice Age. The Mg records of speleothems Bu1 (Bunker Cave) and NG01 (Herbstlabyrinth) as well as the inconsistent patterns of Sr, Ba and P suggests that the processes controlling the abundance of these trace elements are dominated by site-specific effects rather than being related to supra-regional climate variability.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document