Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 372 (6549) ◽  
pp. 1429-1433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yossi Zaidner ◽  
Laura Centi ◽  
Marion Prévost ◽  
Norbert Mercier ◽  
Christophe Falguères ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Lithic Analysis ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Production Technologies ◽  
Radiometric Ages ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Two Populations ◽  
Shed Light

Fossils of a Middle Pleistocene (MP) Homo within a well-defined archaeological context at the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel, shed light on MP Homo culture and behavior. Radiometric ages, along with cultural and stratigraphic considerations, suggest that the fossils are 140,000 to 120,000 years old, chronologically overlapping with H. sapiens in western Asia. Lithic analysis reveals that MP Homo mastered stone-tool production technologies, previously known only among H. sapiens and Neanderthals. The Levallois knapping methods they used are indistinguishable from that of concurrent H. sapiens in western Asia. The most parsimonious explanation for such a close similarity is the cultural interactions between these two populations. These findings constitute evidence of contacts and interactions between H. sapiens and MP Homo.

scholarly journals Constraining the Likely Technological Niches of Late Middle Pleistocene Hominins with Homo naledi as Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrit L. Dusseldorp ◽  
Marlize Lombard
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Structural Part ◽  
Core Technology ◽  
Ecological Principles ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Late Middle Pleistocene

AbstractWe develop a framework to differentiate the technological niches of co-existing hominin species by reviewing some theoretical biases influential in thinking about techno-behaviours of extinct hominins, such as a teleological bias in discussing technological evolution. We suggest that some stone-tool classification systems underestimate technological variability, while overestimating the complexity of the behaviours most commonly represented. To model the likely technological niches of extinct populations, we combine ecological principles (i.e. competitive exclusion) with physical anthropology and the archaeological record. We test the framework by applying it to the co-existence of Homo naledi and Homo sapiens during the late Middle Pleistocene in southern Africa. Based on our analysis, we suggest that tool use was probably not an essential part of H. naledi’s niche, but that technology occasionally provided caloric benefits. In contrast, tool use was a structural part of the H. sapiens way of life. We provide reasoning for our interpretation that the latter population is associated with more sophisticated reduction strategies and the development of prepared core technology. The method also has applicability to cases such as the co-existence of different toolmakers during the Earlier Stone Age (ESA) in East Africa and the co-existence of Neanderthals and H. sapiens in Eurasia.

Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 360 (6384) ◽  
pp. 90-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison S. Brooks ◽  
John E. Yellen ◽  
Richard Potts ◽  
Anna K. Behrensmeyer ◽  
Alan L. Deino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Red Pigment ◽  
Associated Fauna ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Tool Materials ◽  
Uranium Series

Previous research suggests that the complex symbolic, technological, and socioeconomic behaviors that typifyHomo sapienshad roots in the middle Pleistocene <200,000 years ago, but data bearing on human behavioral origins are limited. We present a series of excavated Middle Stone Age sites from the Olorgesailie basin, southern Kenya, dating from ≥295,000 to ~320,000 years ago by argon-40/argon-39 and uranium-series methods. Hominins at these sites made prepared cores and points, exploited iron-rich rocks to obtain red pigment, and procured stone tool materials from ≥25- to 50-kilometer distances. Associated fauna suggests a broad resource strategy that included large and small prey. These practices imply notable changes in how individuals and groups related to the landscape and to one another and provide documentation relevant to human social and cognitive evolution.

Hominin transition to Upper Pliocene

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco J. Ayala ◽  
Camilo J. Cela-Conde
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Evolutionary Significance ◽  
Australopithecus Afarensis ◽  
Phylogenetic Significance ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Surprising Discovery

This chapter analyzes the transition of the hominins from the Middle Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene. Two alternative models are explored, the “Multiregional Hypothesis” (MH) and the “Replacement Hypothesis,” and how each model evaluates the existing relationships between the taxa Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. Next is the investigation of the transitional (or “archaic,” if this grade is taken into account) exemplars found in Europe, Africa, and Asia and their evolutionary significance. In particular, the comparison between H. erectus and H. sapiens in China and Java is investigated, as the main foundation of the MH. The chapter ends with the surprising discovery of Homo floresiensis and its description and interpretations concerning its taxonomic and phylogenetic significance. The correlation between brain development and technological progress is at odds with the attribution of perforators, microblades, and fishing hooks to a hominin with a small cranial volume, similar to that of Australopithecus afarensis.

scholarly journals Directional changes in Levallois core technologies between Eastern Africa, Arabia, and the Levant during MIS 5

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Blinkhorn ◽  
Huw S. Groucutt ◽  
Eleanor M. L. Scerri ◽  
Michael D. Petraglia ◽  
Simon Blockley
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Reduction Activity ◽  
Core Technology ◽  
Geographic Expansion ◽  
First Time ◽  
Mis 5

AbstractMarine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, ~ 130 to 71 thousand years ago, was a key period for the geographic expansion of Homo sapiens, including engagement with new landscapes within Africa and dispersal into Asia. Occupation of the Levant by Homo sapiens in MIS 5 is well established, while recent research has documented complementary evidence in Arabia. Here, we undertake the first detailed comparison of Levallois core technology from eastern Africa, Arabia, and the Levant during MIS 5, including multiple sites associated with Homo sapiens fossils. We employ quantitative comparisons of individual artefacts that provides a detailed appraisal of Levallois reduction activity in MIS 5, thereby enabling assessment of intra- and inter-assemblage variability for the first time. Our results demonstrate a pattern of geographically structured variability embedded within a shared focus on centripetal Levallois reduction schemes and overlapping core morphologies. We reveal directional changes in core shaping and flake production from eastern Africa to Arabia and the Levant that are independent of differences in geographic or environmental parameters. These results are consistent with a common cultural inheritance between these regions, potentially stemming from a shared late Middle Pleistocene source in eastern Africa.

scholarly journals Elephant bones for the Middle Pleistocene toolmaker

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256090
Author(s):  
Paola Villa ◽  
Giovanni Boschian ◽  
Luca Pollarolo ◽  
Daniela Saccà ◽  
Fabrizio Marra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Bone Tools ◽  
Lithic Industry ◽  
Taphonomic Analysis

The use of bone as raw material for implements is documented since the Early Pleistocene. Throughout the Early and Middle Pleistocene bone tool shaping was done by percussion flaking, the same technique used for knapping stone artifacts, although bone shaping was rare compared to stone tool flaking. Until recently the generally accepted idea was that early bone technology was essentially immediate and expedient, based on single-stage operations, using available bone fragments of large to medium size animals. Only Upper Paleolithic bone tools would involve several stages of manufacture with clear evidence of primary flaking or breaking of bone to produce the kind of fragments required for different kinds of tools. Our technological and taphonomic analysis of the bone assemblage of Castel di Guido, a Middle Pleistocene site in Italy, now dated by 40Ar/39Ar to about 400 ka, shows that this general idea is inexact. In spite of the fact that the number of bone bifaces at the site had been largely overestimated in previous publications, the number of verified, human-made bone tools is 98. This is the highest number of flaked bone tools made by pre-modern hominids published so far. Moreover the Castel di Guido bone assemblage is characterized by systematic production of standardized blanks (elephant diaphysis fragments) and clear diversity of tool types. Bone smoothers and intermediate pieces prove that some features of Aurignacian technology have roots that go beyond the late Mousterian, back to the Middle Pleistocene. Clearly the Castel di Guido hominids had done the first step in the process of increasing complexity of bone technology. We discuss the reasons why this innovation was not developed. The analysis of the lithic industry is done for comparison with the bone industry.

Evolution, Societal Sexism, and Universal Average Sex Differences in Cognition and Behavior

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Industrial Countries ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
Shed Light

During the past century, social scientists have documented many cross-cultural sex differences in personality and behavior, quite a few of which now appear to be found in all human societies. However, contrary to most scientists’ expectations, these so-called universal sex differences have been shown to be more pronounced in Western industrial societies than in most non-Western developing societies. This chapter briefly reviews the evidence bearing on these findings and offers a biologically based theory that could help shed light on why cross-cultural sex differences exist. The following hypothesis is offered: The expression of many genes influencing sexually dimorphic traits is more likely among descendants of couples who are least closely related to one another. If so, societies in which out-marriage is normative (i.e., Western industrial countries) will exhibit a stronger expression of genes for sexually dimorphic traits compared to societies in which consanguineal marriages are common.

Isolation and Insulation, 22000 BC–3000 BC

The Great Sea ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abulafia
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Species ◽  
American School ◽  
Wild Pigs ◽  
Classical Studies ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Two Populations

Carved out millions of years before mankind reached its coasts, the Mediterranean Sea became a ‘sea between the lands’ linking opposite shores once human beings traversed its surface in search of habitation, food or other vital resources. Early types of humans inhabited the lands bordering the Mediterranean 435,000 years before the present, to judge from evidence for a hunters’ camp set up near modern Rome; others built a simple hut out of branches at Terra Amata near Nice, and created a hearth in the middle of their dwelling – their diet included rhinoceros and elephant meat as well as deer, rabbits and wild pigs. When early man first ventured out across the sea’s waters is uncertain. In 2010, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens announced the discovery in Crete of quartz hand-axes dated to before 130,000 BC, indicating that early types of humans found some means to cross the sea, though these people may have been swept there unintentionally on storm debris. Discoveries in caves on Gibraltar prove that 24,000 years ago another species of human looked across the sea towards the mountain of Jebel Musa, clearly visible on the facing shore of Africa: the first Neanderthal bones ever discovered, in 1848, were those of a woman who lived in a cave on the side of the Rock of Gibraltar. Since the original finds were not immediately identified as the remains of a different human species, it was only when, eight years later, similar bones were unearthed in the Neander Valley in Germany that this species gained a name: Neanderthal Man should carry the name Gibraltar Woman. The Gibraltar Neanderthals made use of the sea that lapped the shores of their territory, for their diet included shellfish and crustaceans, even turtles and seals, though at this time a flat plain separated their rock caves from the sea. But there is no evidence for a Neanderthal population in Morocco, which was colonized by homo sapiens sapiens, our own branch of humanity. The Straits apparently kept the two populations apart.

scholarly journals Rhetorics of Radicalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 726-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Karell ◽  
Michael Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Social Ties ◽  
Relational Understanding ◽  
Social Domains ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Networks Of Support

What rhetorics run throughout radical discourse, and why do some gain prominence over others? The scholarship on radicalism largely portrays radical discourse as opposition to powerful ideas and enemies, but radicals often evince great interest in personal and local concerns. To shed light on how radicals use and adopt rhetoric, we analyze an original corpus of more than 23,000 pages produced by Afghan radical groups between 1979 and 2001 using a novel computational abductive approach. We first identify how radicalism not only attacks dominant ideas, actors, and institutions using a rhetoric of subversion, but also how it can use a rhetoric of reversion to urge intimate transformations in morals and behavior. Next, we find evidence that radicals’ networks of support affect the rhetorical mixture they espouse, due to social ties drawing radicals into encounters with backers’ social domains. Our study advances a relational understanding of radical discourse, while also showing how a combination of computational and abductive methods can help theorize and analyze discourses of contention.

The nature of technological changes: The Middle Pleistocene stone tool assemblages from Galería and Gran Dolina-subunit TD10.1 (Atapuerca, Spain)

2015 ◽  
Vol 368 ◽  
pp. 92-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula García-Medrano ◽  
Andreu Ollé ◽  
Marina Mosquera ◽  
Isabel Cáceres ◽  
Eudald Carbonell
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tool ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Technological Changes ◽  
Gran Dolina

scholarly journals Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurélien Mounier ◽  
Marta Mirazón Lahr
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
North African ◽  
East African ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Source Populations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Late Middle Pleistocene

Abstract The origin of Homo sapiens remains a matter of debate. The extent and geographic patterning of morphological diversity among Late Middle Pleistocene (LMP) African hominins is largely unknown, thus precluding the definition of boundaries of variability in early H. sapiens and the interpretation of individual fossils. Here we use a phylogenetic modelling method to predict possible morphologies of a last common ancestor of all modern humans, which we compare to LMP African fossils (KNM-ES 11693, Florisbad, Irhoud 1, Omo II, and LH18). Our results support a complex process for the evolution of H. sapiens, with the recognition of different, geographically localised, populations and lineages in Africa – not all of which contributed to our species’ origin. Based on the available fossils, H. sapiens appears to have originated from the coalescence of South and, possibly, East-African source populations, while North-African fossils may represent a population which introgressed into Neandertals during the LMP.

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