“BECOMING HUMAN (OR JUST ABOUT):
THE RISE OF HOMO SAPIENS AND OUR NEANDERTHAL COUSINS”
1 million to 100,000 years ago
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| Almost human. Cranium of Homo heidelbergensis from Broken Hill Cave, Zambia ca. 500,000 years ago. These large-brained forms coould make beautiful handaxes and other tools.
Credit: Photo by Kathy Schick, courtesy of the Stone Age Institute. All rights reserved. |
This time period documents the spread of Homo erectus and their descendants through much of the Old World, and the first appearance of our species, Homo sapiens or anatomically modern humans, in Africa. A sister species found at this time in Europe and the Near East was Homo neandertalensis or “Neandertal Man,” which was contemporary with modern humans during the later range of this time period. It also appears that surviving populations of Homo erectus may have existed in East Asia throughout much of this period.
There are a number of new innovations that emerge in the prehistoric record at this time – more symmetrical and refined handaxes and cleavers, the first antler and bone soft hammers for delicate flaking of stone, the first known wooden spears (and probably more habitual hunting of larger game), possibly early ritualistic behavior, and by the end of this Time Scale, the widespread controlled use of fire. There is a slow shift from the Acheulean handaxe and cleaver technologies to technologies stressing smaller flake tools, some with prepared core strategies for producing special types of flakes, that are characteristic of the Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age.
Over this period of this time, our ancestors evolved much larger brains, settled in many tropical and temperate areas of Europe and Asia. Adaptation to cooler climates is unusual in primates, and these hominins probably used material culture (e.g. hides for clothing and blankets, fire) to adapt to these new conditions.
Event 41
“BIG BRAINS, BIG FACES”
HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS AND PROBABLY LANGUAGE
500,000 to 250,000 years ago
Around 500,000 years ago, prehistoric humans in Africa and Europe evolved into creatures with brains rivaling the size of modern humans (~1250 cubic centimeters), yet still retaining the massive faces (and robust limbs) characteristic of earlier Homo. These large-brained forms were formerly called “archaic Homo sapiens” but many anthropologists now put these fossils into their own species.
Event 42
“FEARFUL SYMMETRY”
LATER REFINED HANDAXES
500,000 to 250,000 years ago
Hundreds of thousands of years before the first representational art, ancient humans began to make drop-dead gorgeous stone tools, namely more refined handaxes often made by the use of a “soft hammer,” an object softer than the stone being flaked. Such soft hammers could have been made of wood, bone, antler, ivory, or even softer stone. These handaxe and cleaver forms, from the later Acheulean industry, show a mastery of craftsmanship that produced thinner, sharper, and more symmetrical tools, and many scientists would say these tools show a sense of aesthetics and even bravado on the part of their makers. These forms indicate that their tool-makers (probably mainly Homo heidelbergensis) had a stronger cognitive sense of style and symmetry than earlier hominins.
Event 43
“BRING OUT YOUR DEAD”
THE ORIGINS OF RITUAL BEHAVIOR
400,000 years ago
All modern human societies have cultural norms of how to treat the dead: burial, cremation, or some other treatment. How far back can we trace this treatment fo the dead (called mortuary practice)? At the amazing site of Atapuerca in Spain, dating to about 400,000 years ago, one locatlity, called “The Pit of the Bones,” the fossil human bones of over 30 individuals of Homo heidelbergensis were found deep in a cave at the bottom of a forty-foot shaft. This may be evidence of the earliest mortuary practice, and possibly the first known ritualistic behavior.
Event 44
“GET THE POINT?”
THE FIRST SPEARS
400,000 years ago
A long, pointed piece of wood can be a very lethal hunting weapon. A spear used as a thrusting or throwing weapon can greatly increase an individual’s hunting success, as compared to throwing rocks or using clubs. (Even in recent times, a bayonet fixed to the end of a rifle was a makeshift spear and a weapon of last resort). At the German site of Schoeningen, dating to about 400,000 years ago, five complete and partial wooden spears were preserved in waterlogged deposits associated with stone tools (a non-handaxe industry) and fossil mammal remains.
Event 45
“CHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCK”
PREPARED CORE TECHNOLOGIES
300,000 years ago
During the time period of later handaxe industries, around 300,000 years ago, hominin populations (Homo heidelbergensis) began to strike off special types of flakes from carefully-prepared cores. This ability to predict the outcome from one blow to a core indicates better conceptual abilities and a better control of flaking stone as well.
Event 46
“LIGHT MY FIRE”
THE CONTROLLED USE OF FIRE
300,000 years ago
Fire revolutionized early human societies. It extended light into the night, produced warmth in cold weather, helped to keep predators away, and cooked raw foods, making them more digestible and safer to eat. Although evidence for fire in the form of baked sediments and burnt bones and stone artifacts can be found at very early stone age sites (around 2.0 to 1.5 million years ago), these could be the product of natural brush fires or lightning strikes. It is not until the last 300,000 years that hominins began to control the manufacture of fire, and identifiable hearths and burnt archaeological remains begin to become common.
Event 47
“ALMOST HUMAN”
NEANDERTALS AND NEARLY MODERN HUMANS
Beginning 250,000 years ago
In some parts of the world, around 250,000 years ago, some proto-human populations evolved into physical forms more reminiscent of modern humans: they retained the large brains of Homo heidelbergensis but showed changes such as less robust facial features. In Europe these forms were the Neandertals or Homo neandertalensis, while in Africa they appear to have been evolving into forms on the line to anatomically modern humans. Some anthropologists have called these African forms a new species, Homo helmei, while others think they are just a slightly more robust form of Homo sapiens. These forms would co-evolve for the next 230,000 years, with the Neandertals finally disappearing.
Event 48
“WELCOME TO MIDDLE EARTH”
THE MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC
Beginning 250,000 years ago
With the rise of the lineages leading to Neandertals (Homo neandertalensis) and modern humans (Homo sapiens), technologies slowly shifted from the larger handaxe and cleaver technologies of the Acheulean (later Early Stone Age) to what is called the Middle Palaeolithic (or Middle Stone Age in Subsaharan Africa) characterized by more standardized and smaller flake tools, sometimes produced by prepared core technologies. As previously mentioned, fire becomes much more common in this period, indicating a mastery in the production and maintenance of fire. It is likely that hunting techniques became better developed and better organized during this time as well.
Event 49
“SEASHELLS BY THE SEASHORE”
INTENSIVE EXPLOITATION OF SEAFOODS
165,000 years ago
Modern humans tend to have a passion for seafood, although eating them in the wrong season (when natural “red tides,” algal blooms rich in microorganisms can contaminate shellfish) can make them dangerous to eat because of toxins produced. The intensive exploitation of shellfish suggests a profound knowledge of the natural history of shellfish, and probably novel technologies for collecting them. Excavations at a site on the South African coast, the cave of Pinnacle Point, indicates that Middle Stone Age peoples were beginning to systematically exploit shellfish such as mussels, periwinkles, and whelks here, showing an intensive use of such sea resources by at least 165,000 years ago. These shellfish deposits were associated with typical Middle Stone Age points and scrapers, and are roughly the age of early anatomically modern humans or Homo sapiens (see the next event).
Event 50
“A MODERN STONE AGE FAMILY”
THE EMERGENCE OF HOMO SAPIENS
160,000 years ago
Look in a mirror. You are a fine example of an anatomically modern human or Homo sapiens. You have a very large brain (probably with a volume of about 1350 cubic centimeters, or about 4 cans of soda), and have a more spherical cranium with a high vertical forehead, and a more delicate face and skeleton than earlier pre-modern human ancestors. You can communicate symbolically, which includes your ability to read and understand this text, and can talk about the past, the present, the future, and the hypothetical. About 160,000 years ago, our direct ancestors emerged from archaic populations in Africa and evolved into Homo sapiens, ultimately the only hominid species on the earth. You are a member of this exclusive club.
