ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 ANTH 1001 HUMAN EVOLUTION Niche Construction of Language Cognition 11 30 23 Gilbert Tostevin Department of Anthropology University of Minnesota Chauvet Cave France 35 ka 38 ka pentatonic flutes of the Aurignacian culture Germany Ivory Figurine of the Aurignacian culture Stadel Cave Germany 40 35 ka 1 Practicalities The Discussion Post 2 assignment on Hominins Archaeology and the Origins of Agriculture opened at 9 00am on Monday 11 20 You must submit your discussion post and respond to another student s post by 5 00pm THIS Friday Dec 1 2 1 2 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 1 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 Topics for Today The two phases of modern human expansions out of Africa The connection between art symbolism and language Peirce s Typology of Signs icon index and symbol Language as the Release from Proximity Niche Construction in human evolution Language as Niche Construction of the human brain Consequences of the Cognitive Niche for our evolutionary responses to environmental change Brain Hypothesis Quantal Speech Hypothesis A primatological argument for when language had to have evolved The Social A skeletal argument for when accurate speech had evolved The Hyoid and the 3 3 4 Which hominin showed more genetic diversity at the end of the exercise in Tuesday s class What was the exercise about 4 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 2 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 An exercise in differential lineage extinction due to different levels of prosociality during climate change Neanderthals river valleys A Thames England B Meuse Belgium C Loire N France D Dordogne S France Moderns river valleys A Upper Rhine Netherlands B Upper Danube Germany C Middle Danube D Lower Danube Austria Bulgaria 5 H sapiens dispersed from Africa several times during the Late Pleistocene 5 6 210 80 ka It took 100 000 years for anatomically modern humans to evolve behaviorally before they were able to compete with hominins in Eurasia Image Bae et al 2017 6 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 3 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 First dispersal begins 210 190 000 years ago reaching the Near East mainland Greece Fragmentary Cranium of Apidima 2 Greece 210 ka Image Harvati et al 2019 NATURE Partial Maxilla from Misliya 1 Israel 190 ka Image Hershkovitz et al 2018 NATURE 7 First dispersal ends 100 90 000 years ago Burials with symbolism at Qafzeh and Skhul suggest behavioral modernity Cranium of adult male Skhul 5 from Es Skhul cave Mount Carmel Israel Image Ronen 2012 Explorations Wikimedia Commons Cranium of Qafzeh 9 from Qafzeh Cave Israel 8 7 8 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 4 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 First dispersal did not go far beyond the Middle East and was succeeded by a Neanderthal occupation No evidence that they contributed to the genetic ancestry of modern humans today Did competition with Neanderthals limit this first expansion These moderns did NOT have projectile technologies Burial of Qafzeh 11 a juvenile modern with healed trauma and a deer antler placed over his torso Image Explorations 9 Second dispersals from Africa occurred 55 000 years ago heralding the Upper Paleolithic In this second dispersal archaeological evidence suggests three separate waves of modern humans move into Neanderthal Eurasia with different toolkits of projectile symbolic technologies Image Bae et al 2017 10 9 10 210 80 ka University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 5 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 Second dispersal from Africa led to some genetic admixture with local Homo erectus descendant populations i e Neanderthal and Denisovan hominins 210 80 ka Image Bae et al 2017 11 The sublime use of symbols by Modern Humans when in contact with other late Homo 11 12 38 ka flute in modern human Aurignacian culture Germany Chauvet Cave France 12 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 6 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 What s the big deal with symbolic art What does it have to do with the evolutionary biology of humans 19 14 If we can find animals with simple antecedents for all other complex human behaviors why can we not find an animal with a simple language 1997 13 14 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 7 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 Of all reference systems symbolic reference is the one missing from the non human world Charles Peirce s Types of Signs Icon ties the referent to the sign by similarity association Meow Index ties the referent to the sign by CAT Symbol ties the referent to the sign by convention alone Of all reference systems symbolic is the one missing from the non human world 15 16 15 16 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 8 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 Of all reference systems symbolic is the one missing from the non human world Of all reference systems symbolic is the one missing from the non human world 17 18 17 18 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 9 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 Icon index or symbol Icon index or symbol 19 20 19 20 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 10 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 Icon index or symbol Icon index or symbol 21 22 21 22 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 11 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 What adaptive advantage does symbolic referencing give us What are the repercussions of symbols The ability to represent things and to manipulate their relationships despite limitations of resemblance direct association or simple correlation Relationships can be recreated projected into the future or hypothesized in alternate contexts Planning for the future The release from proximity the evolutionary charades exercise 23 24 23 24 University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus 12 ANTH1001 Human Evolution Nieves Col n Tostevin Fall 2023 Language provides us a Release from the Limits of Proximity Careful A lion many animals have this as an index There is a lion near the river tracking bison not here There MAY be a lion near the river not now The lion is the guardian spirit of our tribe not real collective fiction Ivory Figurine Stadel Cave Germany 40 35 kya 25 represents are used 26 Features of Language Vehicle for expression of cognition Spoken humans have anatomical
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