Final Exam Study Guide Neanderthals A historical perspective o First Neanderthal fossil found in Neander Valley near Dusseldorf Germany during 1856 while workmen were quarrying for lime This was BEFORE Darwin s Origin of Species 1859 o Some scientists disputed the finds Fossil looked more like apes than Homo sapiens did Fossil called some poor idiot or hermit Suggested fossil was a human with rickets who had been a Mongolian Cossack belonging to one of the hordes driven by Russia through Germany in 1814 Rudolph Virchow infamous for disputing a lot of fossils ex Homo floresiensis found in Indonesia o With more fossils and time Neanderthals were eventually accepted but scientists held the idea that Neanderthals were stupid and primitive Neanderthal creation o African premoderns evolved into Homo sapiens o While European premoderns evolved into Neanderthals by 400 000 years ago or earlier The Upper Pleistocene 125 000 10 000ya o Classic Neanderthals Lived 75 000 30 000ya Were cold adapted Ice Age Mostly from Western Europe Had large brains Looked very dramatic o La Chapelle 1908 50 000ya Nearly complete skeleton Buried in a flex position o Bison leg above the head o Flint tools animal bone fragments Occipical bun shape of the back of the head in the shape of a bun Only had one tooth at time of burial Midfacial prognathism 40 year old man 1600cc braincase Long vault low retreating forehead Big brows double arches Marcellin Boule s interpretation Dumb hunched over creature Based this interpretation on ALL Neanderthals o Also found in Central Europe Krapina Croatia 130 000ya One of the oldest burials with class morphology Vindija Croatia 42 30 000ya Smaller browridges developed chin o Showed signs of evolving toward Homo sapiens controversial o One of the youngest Neanderthal fossils ever found o Less robust than classic Neanderthals Israel Tabun 120 000ya Kebara 60 000ya o Large male Thorax is barrel shaped Hyroid bone exactly like modern humans Possibility of speech Iraq Shanidar 70 000ya 9 individuals o Shanidar 1 Disabled 30 45 year old male 5 7 1600cc Blow to the left side of his head most likely caused blindness on that side Probably limped Withered arm Overall not a healthy individual most likely needed help from group missing lower arm and hand members to stay alive as long as he did Possible that grave was covered in flowers as shown by pollen samples in the dirt Trimmed and retouched scrapers pointed knives not many bone tools Neanderthal culture o Lived in caves rock shelters and open tents Regularly used fire o Mousterian tools 2011 in Russian s far north at 32k Improved prepared core Levallois techniques More flakes than Acheulian tool kits o Food and clothes Big game hunters hunted up close and personal No long distance spears Gathered nuts berries etc Yes they wore clothes o First to bury their dead 16 20 burials have laid dead in a flexed position Grave goods Stone tools Animal bones Some with slabs on top some with flowers o Neanderthals were strong BUT 2011 study of heel bones show the bones were long therefore not efficient for persistence running Rodeo injuries Neanderthals constantly received injuries much like those who perform in rodeos because they constantly hunted large game up close Neanderthals and contemporary humans o Richard Green and the Neandertal Genome Genes from 3 Neanderthal individuals 40 000ya were compared with human genes from people of Yoruba New Guinea Chinese and French descent DNA was found to be closer to non Africans than Africans Eurasians have 1 4 Neanderthal DNA No one that lives in Africa has Neanderthal DNA Gene flow from resident Neanderthals into colonizing Homo sapiens before the latter diverged into European and Asian groups Divergence of Neanderthal and Homo sapien between 270 000 440 000ya This shows that Neanderthals DID interbreed with Homo sapiens o 73 genes derived in Homo sapiens after divergence from Neanderthals Perhaps related to healing wounds sperm flagellum movement sweat glands hair roots If damaged in Homo sapiens implicated in Down syndrome schizophrenia autism Skin morphology and physiology Brain function Cranial morphology Suture closure Premodern and Modern Humans regional continuity 4 fossils that support regions of the Old World from local archaic humans modern humans evolved more or less simultaneously in all major o Omo 1 Ethiopia 195 000ya Homo sapien Modern size brain 1430cc o Bodo Ethiopia 600 000ya Homo heidelbergensis 1200 1325cc Cuts on the skull cannibalism o Herto Ethiopia 160 000ya Homo sapien idaltu o Jinniushan China 200 000ya About the same time as Herto Fossils look similar to each other 1260 1400cc H h H s More derived advanced toward the Homo sapien condition Recognized that SOME of the features such browridges were not that advanced Regional continuity reference Out of Africa again and again Nature A R Templeton Western Europe Upper Paleolithic bias 40 000 10 000ya o Artwork in caves and fossil evidence especially in France and Spain Artwork has to do with hunting animals Initiation ritual Magical helps with the hunt Small portable figurines Venus figurines o Not much emphasis on the face o Arms are small if they are there at all o Generously endowed bigger ladies o Small legs Tools have become more refined Tools twice as long as they are wide Might be a status thing My good hunting shows in my lady s weight Humans were not living just in caves but in tents as well Bone needles were found production of clothing Some kind of rapid mutation into Homo sapien with new intelligence caused all of this o Concept inventive fossils artwork The peopling of Australia o Lake Mungo by 60 000ya Presumably came in from the North Got there by boat and spread out Region dry today but once teemed with fish 1700mi south of where first Australians would ve landed Burials included first signs of cremation 40 000ya Hearths lots of animal remains Fish emu eggs etc Simple stone tools A lot of grinding tools ochre possibly plants Art painted walls o Kow Swamp by 14 000ya People looked somewhat different from Lake Mungo Next stop The Americas 30 13 000ya o Colonizers came from Siberia over the Bering Land Bridge into N America o Clovis points DNA and dental evidence Either before 21 000ya or more recently than 14 000ya Following big game hunting food Named for town of Clovis New Mexico Not much art produced by these people Tradition spread quickly over North and Central America Began 13 000ya and lasted about 400