Sites:
South Africa: Klasies River Mouth (120,000 to 80,000 ya), Florisbad (~18,000 ya). Near East: Skhul (115, 000 ya), Qafzeh cave (100,000 ya) Central Europe: Vindija and Mladeč (33,000 ya) Western Europe: Cro-Magnon, Abrigo do Lagar Velho (24, 500 ya) Asia: Zhoukoudian, Ordos (18,000 to 10,000 ya), Tianyuan Cave (40,000 ya) Australia: Lake Mungo (~ 50,000 ya), Kow Swamp (15,000 to 9,000 ya) Age: ~ 200,000 years ago to present Type specimen: Cro-Magnon I (Western Europe) Specimens: Skhul, Qafzeh, Oase, Cro-Magnon Cranial capacity: 1700 cm3 Cranial architecture: Distinguished from from earlier homo groups by:
Dentition: A trend towards a decrease in robusticity Postcranial: The postcranial skeleton is very lightly built relative to earlier species and lacks the adaptations to cold environments found in Homo neanderthalensis. These features of the postcranial skeleton are thought to reflect the fact that Homo sapiens evolved in tropical, African environments before migrating across the globe. In these tropical environments, long and lean body proportions were favored because they maximized surface area (and therefore maximizing heat dissipation) while maintaining the same body mass. Environment: Tropical Length and weight: Tools: Aurignacian/Chatelperronian (upper palaeolithic): 30 000 ya; Gravettian: 27 000 ya; Solutrean (21 000 ya); Magdalenian (17 000 ya) Cultural innovations: Awl/bone needle; Use of materials such as bone, ivory and antler to make tools; Aesthetic goods such as Solutrean blades, Venus figurines; Cave paintings (horses, deer, wild bulls, ) Ancestor: Archaic Homo sapiens sapiens Descendants: Modern humans General: The two theories pertaining to the origin of anatomically modern humans include the regional continuity model and the complete replacement model (aka Out of Africa or the Eve Hypothesis). |