Human Evolution

Raging Questions????
How do humans differ from apes?
Skeleton, organs, culture

Why was Homo erectus so successful as an early hominid? What happened to Neandertals? Be able to briefly trace the cultural development of:
tools, fire, clothing, shelter, art

What is so important about the Upper Palaeolithic?

Theories of Evolution
Origin Myths/Cosmologies
Greek Prometheus Western examples Genesis

Left: Prometheus and Athena Top: God and Adam

Carl Sagans Universe Calendar

24 days = 1 billion years 1 second = 475 years
Milky Way Big Bang January 1 Milky Way May 1 Solar System September 9 Life on Earth September 25 Humanlike Primates December 31, 10:30pm

Theories of Evolution
Darwin and Wallace, 1850s
Evolution theory holds that existing species of plants and animals have emerged over millions of years from simple organisms. Darwin, On the origin of species, 1859 Influenced by the principle of uniformitarianism
Charles Darwin

Theories of Evolution - Corollaries

Darwins principle of natural selection
Natural selection is the gradual process by which nature selects the forms most fit to survive and reproduce in a given environment. For natural selection to work on a given population, there must be variety within that population and competition for strategic resources. The concept of natural selection argues that organisms which have a better fit within their environmental niche will reproduce more frequently than those organisms that fit less well.

Theories of Evolution - Corollaries

Random genetic drift is the loss of alleles from a population's gene pool through chance. Mutation introduces genetic variation into a breeding population. Gene flow occurs through interbreeding: the transmission of genetic material from one population to another. Gene flow decreases differences and inhibits speciation, the formation of new species.

Theories of Evolution - Corollaries

Mendels principle of inheritance, 1856
The science of genetics explains the origin of the variety upon which natural selection operates. By experimenting with successive generations of pea plants, Mendel came to the conclusion that heredity is determined by discrete particles, the effects of which may disappear in one generation, and reappear in the next.

Other Theories
Creationism accounts for biological diversity by referring to the divine act of Creation as described in Genesis. Catastrophism is a modified version of Creationism, which accounts for the fossil record by positing divinely authored worldwide disasters that wiped out the creatures represented in the fossil record, who were then supplanted by newer, created species. Intelligent Design states that modern physics and cosmology have uncovered evidence for intelligence in the structure of the universe and this intelligence seems to act with us in mind and that the universe as a whole shows evidence of design.

Early Primates
Prosimians (65mya) Monkeys (35mya) Apes (23mya) Hominids (5mya)

Early Primates - Traits

Common physical primate traits: Dense hair or fur covering Warm-blooded Live young Suckle Infant dependence Common social primate traits: Social life Play Observation and imitation Pecking order

Common Primate Traits

Primate Family Tree

Crown lemur

Orangutan

Evolution of Bipedalism
Anatomical changes
Neck (1), chest (2), lower back (3), hips and pelvis (4), thighs (5), knees (6), feet (7)

Theories
Tool use and bipedalism (Darwin/Washburn) Energy efficiency and bipedalism (Isbell/Young) Radiator theory (Falk) Body temperature and bipedalism (Wheeler) Habitat variability and bipedalism (Potts) Reproduction and bipedalism (Lovejoy) Canine reduction and bipedalism (Jolly)
(Click for interactive skeleton)

Pre-hominid Evolution
Ardipithecus ramidus A. anamensis A. afarensis A. bahrelghazali A. africanus P. aethiopicus A. garhi P. boisei P. robustus Bipedalism Tools Language 2.5 - ? 2.3 - 1.3 2.0 - 1.0 4.4 - ? 4.2 - 3.9 4.2 - 2.5 3.5 - 3.0 3.5 - 2.5 2.7 - 2.3 mya

Reconstruction of Australopithecin

Hominid Evolution
Homo habilis H. erectus
100kyBP) (2.0 1.6mya) (2.4-1.6mya)
Scale: Millions of Years BP

H. rudolfensis

(1.9-27kyBP) (800-

H. heidelbergensis

H. neanderthalensis
30kyBP)

(300-

H. sapiens

(130kyBP present)

Hominid Evolution
Major Homo advances:
Brain size Better bipedalism Hunting Fire (H. erectus) Tools
Oldowon (H. habilis) Acheulean (H. erectus) Mousterian (H. heidelbergensis) Solutrean (H. sapiens)

Built shelters (H. heidelbergensis) Clothing (H. neandertalensis) Language (Neandertals?)

Homo habilis
612 cc brain 2.3 - 1.6 mya first toolmaker prognathic face, brow ridge probable meat-eater possibly arboreal discovered in 1960 by Leakeys
Artists representation of a Homo habilis band as it might have existed two

no speech

H. habilis v. H. erectus
Finds in east Africa indicate that Homo habilis was not very different from the australopithecines in terms of body size and shape. The earliest Homo erectus remains indicate rapid biological change.
The fossil record for the transition from H. habilis to H. erectus supports the punctuated equilibrium model of evolution. H. erectus was considerably taller and had a larger brain than H. habilis.

Homo erectus
1891 - Eugene Dubois discovers H. erectus in Java Dubois calls it Pithecanthropus erectus initially, also dubbed Java Man finds in China called Sinanthropus dates from 1.9 mya to 27,000 years B.P. 994 cc brain size (compare to 612 for H. habilis) Acheulean tool industry

Photograph of Nariokotome boy, an early Homo erectus found near Lake Turkana, Kenya.

Homo erectus 1.9mya to 27k yBP

Why was H. erectus so successful?
Less sexual dimorphism = possible pair bonds, marriage Less hair on body = wearing of furs, other clothing Wearing of furs = ability to live further north

Quick adaptation to environment without physical changes Culture is main reason H. erectus was so successful
organization for hunting ability to protect against predators control of fire? possible campsites tools (Acheulean industry)

Distribution of H. erectus

Homo neanderthalensis
discovered in the Neander Valley (Tal) near Dusseldorf, 1856 massive brain--about 1,400cc on average large torso, short limbs, broad nasal passages later remains show decrease in robustness of the front teeth and face, suggesting use of tools replaced teeth retained occipital torus, some mid-facial prognathism

The skull of the classic Neandertal found in 1908 at La Chapelle-aux-Saints.

Neandertal Culture
Homesites In caves, also in the open (near rivers, framed with wood and covered with skins) Burial Is there evidence of purposeful burial and ritual? Language Could Neandertals talk or not? Tools Mousterian tradition
Top: Reconstruction of Neandertal burial from Shanidar cave Bottom: Mousterian tools

What happened to Neandertals?

H. neanderthalensis coexisted with H. sapiens for at least 20,000 years, perhaps as long as 60,000 years What happened?

Neandertals interbred with H. sapiens Neandertals were killed off by H. sapiens H. sapiens drove Neandertals into extinction by competition

Homo sapiens
Archaic 100,000 to 35,000 years BP

Sometimes called Homo sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis

Modern 35,000 years BP to present

Anatomically modern Sometimes called Homo sapiens sapiens

Cro-Magnon Man
Cro-Magnon humans 35,000 years B.P. in western Europe to 17,000 years B.P. 1,600 cc cranial capacity Name comes from a hotel in France Not a different species, just old Homo sapiens from Europe

Artists reconstruction of a Cro-Magnon ma

Archaic H. sapiens Culture

Art Traces of art found in beads, carvings, and paintings Cave paintings in Spain and southern France showed a marked degree of skill Female figurines 27,000 to 22,000 years B.P. Called venuses, these figurines depicted women with large breasts and broad hips Perhaps it was an example of an ideal type, or perhaps an

Archaic H. sapiens Culture

Cave paintings from 20,000 years ago at VallonPont-dArc in southern France (left) and from Lascaux, in southwest France

Cave paintings

Mostly animals on bare walls Subjects were animals favored for their meat and skins Human figures were rarely drawn due to taboos and fears that it would somehow harm others

Upper Palaeolithic Hotbed of Culture

40 10k yBP Shelters

15,000 yBP Ukraine Some made with mammoth bones Wood, leather working; carpentry From cores to blades Specialization Composite tools Bow and arrow

Top: Straw Hut Left: Mammoth bone hut Bottom: Tool progression

Tools

Domestication of dogs Gathering rather than hunting became the mainstay of human economies.

Modern Homo Sapiens

Regional-Continuity Model (Milford Wolpoff, UMich)

Humans evolved more or less simultaneously across the entire Old World from several ancestral populations. Humans evolved only once--in Africa from H. heidelbergensis ancestors--and then migrated throughout replacing their the Old World, archaic predecessors. Also called the Out of Africa and Killer Ape hypothesis.

Rapid-Replacement Model (Chris Stringer, NHM London)

Social Organization
Hunter-gatherer analogy

Small group, low population density, nomadism, kinship groups North America was the last colonized by hominids. Beringia (land bridge) between Russia and Alaska Asian origin of Native Americans 30,000 to 12,000 years B.P. was first migration

Migration

Human Variation
Modern humans vary in skin color, hair color, and eye color (phenotypes)