Current data suggest that modern humans evolved from archaic
humans primarily in East Africa. About
195,000 ya according to fossil found in Ethiopia that shows early
changes in the human skull, changes that
we associate with modern people. More advanced transitional forms have
been found at Laetoli in Tanzania dating to about 120,000 years ago. By
115,000 years ago, early modern humans had expanded their range to South Africa
and into Southwest Asia (Israel) shortly after 100,000 years ago. There
is no reliable evidence of modern humans elsewhere in the Old World until
60,000-40,000 years ago, during a short temperate period in the midst of the
last ice age.
The archeological evidence that we have today leads to
believe that Homo sapiens began
migrating to Asia by at least 70,000 years ago. Homo sapiens who had
once reached Asia, decide to travel to Australia about 46,000 ya. Because
Australia was not connected to Southeast Asia by land, it is probable that
these first Australian Aborigines arrived by simple boats or rafts.
Modern humans reached the Japanese Islands more or less around 30,000 ya. It’s
believed that around 35,000 to 30,000 ya, moved to Siberia and then from there
around 20,000 – 15,000 ya they decided to come to America through via Beringia.
The Beringia would be an intercontinental land connection between Siberia and
Alaska during the ice, so the area was covered in ice, allowing for crossing. That
was the first time modern humans had contact with the new world (there are some
controversies on that but the Beringia hypothesis is the most accepted). By
11,000 ya, several species of animals in the new world were exterminated, which
might have been a combination of the cold temperatures of the ice age, along
with the result of human hunts with use of tools.
As we all know the Upper Paleolithic was a period of
incredible diversity and technological innovation. During this period, the
trends were leading towards creation of very efficient stone tools, including
the development of blades. These two blades were from this period of time:
Along with these technological advances, came great
innovations in artistic expression. The Upper Paleolithic transition
brings the first great works of art to the world, including the remarkable cave
paintings in Southwest Europe and the small “Venus figurines”. The “Venus
figures” is a term used to combine into the same group, prehistorical little sculptures
representing. Mostly found in Europe dating the Upper Paleolithic period, these
statuettes had features representing a woman’s body with some anatomic exaggerations.
During the Upper Paleolithic, we can also find evidences
that people decorated their bodies. Some of elements would be necklaces and
what appear to be tattoo kits, to mark their skin. In the Upper
Paleolithic the kind of cultural variation that we see today started. The
ability to use highly complex language from this time is indisputable, but it
is known that they used some sort of symbolic method of communication.
Now, let’s take a look at the places where these early
modern humans were found, going back in time about 100,000 ya, to understand
the earliest modern human found and where things took place. Dating the period
of time, the specimens come from Africa, more specifically Ethiopia. Using
advanced technology, they were able to identify that the skull found at that
location dated about 195,000 ya, which would be the earliest modern human ever
found.
In Israel, at Mt. Carmel the fossils found date 130,000 to
100,000 ya while the Qafzeh has been dated around 120,000 and 92,000 ya. In
China, there are seven early anatomically modern human localities found, with
the earliest one dating 200,000 ya.
In Central Europe there is evidence of the earliest
anatomically modern human found in Europe dating 35,000 ya.
Personal
Input
Taking a look at the Upper Paleolithic feels like looking to
ourselves nowadays. Although this time period happened thousands of years ago, it
is so evident that they began a cultural tradition that has carried on until
today. As we mentioned in class, they probably had a plan when started to
disperse, because they were looking for something new that could also be
dangerous and put them in risk. Have survived to the modern human expansion, is
a clear result of a plan that worked.
I found it particularly interesting the art present at this
period of time. Although not proven that the ability to develop a culture,
create art and communicate is not 100% proven to be related to the bigger size
of the brain in modern humans, I do believe something led them to start
thinking about life as an interesting experience rather than just being.
Additional
Information
This first article I found right after we watched the movie
in class related to the modern humans having a certain amount of Neanderthal
DNA, but I thought I should hold on to this article and share it on this blog
post. This article will talk about a research from scientists from University
of Cambridge who believe our “Neanderthal” part of DNA did not come from the
result of an interbreeding between both species, but actually from a possible
common ancestor we shared.
This is a very interesting interactive timeline from the Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History’s website. This timeline allows you to click
on each species and it will show you an explanation about the species with
images.
This is another interactive link to PBS.org. It is a toolbox
from the Upper Paleolithic and as you click on each tool, a multiple choice
question will come up for you to identify the tool and its use.
My last link I will share with you for this blog post is
about a very beautiful statuette part of the “Venus Figurines” and I really
loved this one so I decided to research a bit more on it and share with you here.
No comments:
Post a Comment