Origins of Anatomically Modern Humans

347 Pages·1994·18.76 MB·English

by  Richard G. Klein (auth.)

Origins of
Anatomically Modern
Humans
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONTRIBUTIONS TOARCHAEOLOGY
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Origins of
Anatomically Modern
Humans
Edited by
MATTHEW H. NITECKI
and
DORIS V. NITECKI
FieldMuseum ofNaturalHistory
Chicago. Illinois
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Catalogingin Publication Data
Nitecki, MatthewH.
Origins of anatomically modem humans / edited byMatthewH. Niteckiand Doris
V. Nitecki.
p. cm.--{Interdisciplinarycontnbutions to archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Humanevolution-Congresses.2.Paleolithicperiod--Congresses.I.Nitecki,Doris
V. II.TItle. III. Series.
GN281.N565 1993 93·40104
573.2--dc20 eIP
ISBN978-1-4899-1509-2 ISBN978-1-4899-1507-8(eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-1507-8
© 1994SpringerScience+BusinessMediaNewYork
OriginallypublishedbyPlenumPress,NewYorkin1994.
Softcoverreprintofthehardcover 1stedition 1994
Allrightsreserved
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinretrieval system,ortransmittedinanyform
orbyanymeans,electronic, mechanical,photocopying,microfilming, recording,orotherwise,
withoutwrittenpermissionfromthePublisher
109876S432
Contributors
Paul G.Bahn • 428Anlaby Road, Hull, HU3 6QP England
OferBar-Yosef • Department of Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
RebeccaL. Cann •Department ofGenetics and MolecularBiology,John A.
Burns School of Medicine, UniversityofHawaii at Manoa, Honolulu,
Hawaii 96822
Catherine Farizy • Laboratoire d'Ethnologie Prehistorique, Universite de
Paris, 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, 44, Rue de I'Admiral Moucher, 75014
Paris, France
David»': Frayer • Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Law
rence, Kansas 66045
F. ClarkHowell • Department of Anthropology, University of California,
Berkeley, California 94720
Arthur1.Jelinek• Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tuc
son, Arizona 85721
RichardG.Klein •DepartmentofAnthropology, UniversityofChicago, 1126
East 59th Street, Chicago,Illinois 60637
1.KojiLum •DepartmentofGenetics and MolecularBiology,JohnA. Burns
SchoolofMedicine, UniversityofHawaii at Manoa, Honolulu,Hawaii
96822
Doris V.Nitecki•DepartmentofGeology,Field Museum of NaturalHistory,
Chicago, Illinois 60605
MatthewH. Nitecki • Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural
History, Chicago, Illinois 60605
v
vi CONTRIBUTORS
Geoffrey G. Pope • Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois,
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Olga Rickards • Dipartimento di Biologia, II Universita di Roma, Tor Ver
gata, Roma, Italia
TalSimmons • Department of Anthropology, Western Michigan University,
Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008
FredH. Smith • Department of Anthropology, Northern Illinois University,
DeKalb, Illinois 60115
s.
Olga Soffer • Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, 607
Mathews, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Christopher Stringer • Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History
Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW75BD England
Alan G. Thome • Department of Prehistory, Australian National University,
Canberra, ACf2601Australia
Milford H. Wolpoff· Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Preface
Thisvolume isbased on the Field Museum ofNaturalHistorySpringSystem
atics Symposium held in Chicago on May11,1991. The financial support of
Ray and Jean Auel and of the Field Museum isgratefully acknowledged.
When weteach or write,wepresent onlythose elements thatsupport
our arguments. We avoid all weak points of our debate and all the uncer
tainties of our models. Thus, we offer hypotheses as facts. Multiauthored
books like ours, whichsimultaneously advocate and question diverse views,
avoidthe pitfalls and lessen the impact of indoctrination. In thisvolume we
analyze the anthropological and biological disagreements and the positions
taken on the origins of modern humans,point out difficultieswith the inter
pretations, andsuggestthat the conceptofthe human origincanbe explained
onlywhen we first attempt to define Homo sapienssapiens.
One ofthe major controversiesin physicalanthropology concerns the
geographic origin of anatomically modern humans. It isundisputed, due to
the extensive research of the Leakeys and their colleagues, that the family
Hominidae originated in Africa, but the geographic origin of Homo sapiens
sapiens islessconcretelyaccepted. Twoschoolsofthought existonthistopic.
The received view,promoting an African origin for H. sapiens sapiens, is in
direct opposition to a multiregional model of anatomically modern humans,
which attempts to illustrate how anatomically modern human populations
evolved independently in various geographic areas instead of evolving in
Africa and then migrating and displacing other hominid populations else
where.
A short step awayfrom the interest in the geographic origin of ana
tomicallymodern humansisthe concernwiththe actualbiologicaldifferences
between ourselves and our predecessors. These differences, and the behav
ioral modifications are reflected in Ice Age art, a characteristic unique to
anatomically modern humans.
The commonlyhypothesized date for the origin of anatomicallymod
ern humans, approximately 200,000ybp,or more generally between 100,000
and 300,000,is derived not through the archaeological records, but through
the molecular clock,based on the human mitochondrial DNA
vii
viii PREFACE
We have tried veryhard not to favoranyviewpoint,but to present a
symmetricalshape of the argument. Weare neither advocatingnor denying
the African origin of modern humans. We are aware that the great pendu
lum of intellectual fashion is now swinging away from the mitochondrial
interpretationofhuman origin. Butweare alsoawarethat newquestions are
being constantly asked. We hope that this approach to the complexitiesof
our origin and who we are, and our attempt to provide both sides of the
medal, willbe of heuristic value.
Matthew H. Nitecki
Doris V. Nitecki
Contents
PART I. INTRODUcnON
Chapter 1 • The Problem ofModern Human Origins . . . . . . •. . . . •. 3
Richard G. Klein
Theories ofModern Human Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Relevance of Genetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Contribution of Geochronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Importance of Archeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 10
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 14
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 15
PART II. WHAT ARE MODERN HUMANS?
Chapter2 • TheContributionsofSouthwestAsia tothe Study
ofthe OriginofModernHumans 23
OferBar-Yosef
Summary of the Southwestern Asian Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
The Region and its Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 26
The Archaeological Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 28
Middle and Upper Paleolithic Human Behavior as Reflected in
Archaeological Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 43
Human Fossils and Long-Range Movements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47
Discussion 50
Concluding Remarks 56
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 58
ix