Questions About Modern Humans What does it mean to be behaviorally modern What are the archaeological indicators of modern behavior How can we explain the appearance of modern behavior What does it mean to be behaviorally modern Examples exploitation of coastal resources complex use of fire for cooking higher population densities improved stone tool technology ecosystem management living structures long distance trade networks formal tools made of other materials music and art personal ornamentation high degrees of in group cooperation treatment of the dead with burials What are the archaeological indicators of modern behavior Upper Paleolithic technology 45 000 10 000 ya Aspects of UP fit with what many recognize as modern behavior o Elaborate composite tools o Personal ornamentation difficult to make Blade tools have longer cutting edge but are more Carved polished bone antler tools Composite tools made of many different materials Early non utilitarian objects 80 kya and were found Ex holes in shells teeth and stone created by stone Body ornamentation is a form of communication first in Africa tool by gouging or carving o Fancy burials An elaborate Upper Paleolithic burial from Sunghir Russia o Art Mobile art sculpture decorated tools Parietal art paintings drawings on walls of caves Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines Famous cave sites confined to France and Spain and from 36 15kya Ex Le Chauvet 36kya Carved atlatl weights Even tools were sometimes decorated and embellished Earliest musical instruments found Paleolithic art is neither na ve nor naturalistic It is Another big question with no answer yet highly stylized Does recognizable art mark the origins of symbolic language or just the first translation of symbolic language into material culture o Accelerated rates of cultural change regional diversification How can we explain the appearance of modern behavior How did modern human behavior evolve Competing hypotheses about the origins of modern behavior o Revolution o Evolution Product of a sudden change in cognitive ability Product of gradual change in cultural repertoire Food Production Revolution Evolutionary By Product or Big Mistake Domestication and Agriculture Intensification and Intentionality Biocultural Consequences of Agriculture Domestication agriculture o Domestication genetic modification of plants and animals so that they cannot survive and reproduce without human assistance process o Agriculture is an economy and way of life based on domesticated plants and or animals economy behavior o Almost everyone on earth today is a part of an economy based on domesticated plants and animals o Domesticates and the changes in lifestyle they afford continue to affect our allele frequencies to this day o We take things like grocery stores for granted food supply o Evolution of corn because of selection for a tough stem and a thick husk corn plants cannot reseed themselves anymore o Four questions about domestication Where did it occur When did it begin How did it happen What effects did it have on humans o Where did it occur Southeast Asia Mediterranean and Southwest Asia Africa South America Central America North America many staples in modern cuisine were domesticated far from home Original place doesn t matter anymore o When did it begin Earliest domestication of Staple foods o Southwest Asia 10 000 12 000 ya Wheat barley lentils sheep goat pig o East Asia 7 000 9 000 ya Millet rice chicken o Central America 4 500 7 000 ya Beans squash corn Intensification Intentionality o How did it happen An ingenious invention faced with mouths to feed and fewer resources to collect some smart individuals figured out how to domesticate plants and animals An unintended evolutionary by product more accepted thought initially human modification of wild resources was unintentional an inadvertent by product of more intensively utilizing wild resources o What effects did it have on humans An unintended evolutionary by product o People looked for the biggest and most nutritious plant making a sort of natural selection that humans were a part of which gradually caused food to get bigger o When they ate plants inside of their settlements the seeds would grow closer to the settlement and would be larger so eventually domestication started to take place o Most likely domestication was started by coincidence and then was taken over by actual intent once it was far along Animal domestication o Intensive hunting disrupts the social system of herds o Remove the most dominant aggressive animals o Encourage animals to breed at younger ages fostering o Six prerequisites for domestication paedomorphism or docility Their diet has to be easily supplied by humans Fast growth rate and generally short inter birth interval Agreeable disposition can t just tame a lion Ability to breed in captivity Hierarchical social system follow the leader or herd Do not flee at first sight of predator Horses v Zebra Sheep v north American mountain goat Cow v African buffalo mentality o Yes v no domestication Biocultural consequences of agriculture Genetically engineered foods o Domestication is a form of genetic engineering through o Genetically engineered foods are everywhere most of the selective breeding not gene splicing world relies upon them Large sedentary settlements o Permanent settlements o Reasons for increased sedentism Need to care for crops During non growing season people are dependent on stored food too much in storage to carry Rise of institutionalized religion o Agriculture produces surplus but it is also prone to o Some farmers win some lose unequal distribution of catastrophic failure resources results in social friction and conflict within and between communities o Religion can provide an unquestionable narrative to make sense of random events some supernatural being is responsible for all of this at Gobekli Tepe o Ex Early Neolithic temple with 3m high carved stone pillars o Ex goddess figurine and murals o Not all rituals was public amulets idols ad figurines abound o ancestor worship plastered and decorated skulls from Jericho Neolithic burial customs became increasingly elaborate Ancestor worship is one way to lay claim to a piece of too land very important for farmers Trade economies o Agricultural surplus can be invested in the labor and materials needed to make elaborate costly goods which can serve as material markers of success and status in a community distance of over 1000 km during the