Encyclopedia of Evolution.pdf - Online Reading Center

Homo rudolfensis
This harpoon tip, carved from ivory almost 0,000 years ago, was found
in Katanda, Zaire. It demonstrates that Homo sapiens had the capability
of producing complex craftsmanship at this early date. (Courtesy of Chip
Clark, Smithsonian Institution)
Homo rudolfensis See Homo Habilis.
Homo sapiens The modern human species Homo sapiens
is the only surviving evolutionary lineage of hominins.
H. sapiens evolved in Africa from Homo HeiDelbergensis
ancestors. Several examples have been found, such as the
Kabwe and Bodo skulls, of human remains that are intermediate
between H. heidelbergensis and H. sapiens (see missing
links). Humans had reached their modern anatomical form
by about 200,000 to 100,000 years ago.
Cultural evolution of Homo sapiens in Africa began
early and progressed slowly. Remains of modern humans
who lived 100,000 years ago at what is now the Klasies River
Mouth at the tip of South Africa provide no evidence of artistic
culture beyond that of H. heidelbergensis. However, a
harpoon tip made from bone about 90,000 years ago, found
at Katanda in Zaire, exhibits workmanship far in advance of
the Acheulean technology of H. heidelbergensis (see photo at
left). A piece of red ochre, found in Blombos Cave in South
Africa, was inscribed with intersecting lines 77,000 years ago
(see figure on page 195). Ostrich egg shell beads inscribed
with patterns date back 50,000 years. Artistic productions in
Africa before 10,000 years ago are rare, perhaps because of
the decomposition of the media in which they were produced.
Shell beads discovered in the Middle East may be 100,000
years old and may represent the oldest art of H. sapiens.
Some Homo sapiens populations migrated out of Africa.
When they did so, they often encountered other human species.
By 90,000 years ago, they had already moved northward
into what is now the Middle East. They coexisted for almost
60,000 years with Neandertals who had evolved in Europe
and moved southward. Although anatomically distinct and
apparently not interbreeding, modern humans and Neandertals
at that time had similar tool technologies and lifestyles.
Pierced shells, suitable for bodily decoration, date back
70,000 years. A 50,000-year-old flint plaque inscribed with
concentric circles was found in Israel. The shells and plaque
were probably from H. sapiens but the possibility that Neanderthals
made them cannot be discounted. Modern humans
encountered Homo erectus (and perhaps also the Flores
Island people) in Indonesia and may have arrived near what
is now Mungo in Australia more than 60,000 years ago.
Almost immediately, H. sapiens began producing rock art in
Australia.
When populations of Homo sapiens migrated from
the Middle East into Europe beginning about 50,000 years
ago, their encounter with European Neandertals may have
stimulated an explosion of artistic productions such as cave
art, sculptures, ceramics, and body adornments (see Cro-
Magnon). Many anthropologists (such as Christopher
Stringer and David Lewis-Williams) suggest that this rapid
cultural explosion of H. sapiens may have resulted first from
competition with Neandertals, then, after the extinction of
the Neanderthals, from competition among human tribes,
to establish their distinctiveness and their superiority over
others. Eventually, advanced art, culture, and in many cases
agriculture evolved independently in H. sapiens populations
in every part of the world (see agriculture, evolution of).
Racial Diversity
It has always been difficult to either classify or explain the
diversity of human appearance. Before the development of
Mendelian genetics, it was not clear to most observers that
racial characteristics passed from one generation to another
without environmental modification (see Lamarckism).
From Greek philosophers such as Aristotle to 18th-century
scientists such as the botanist Karl von Linné (see Linnaeus,
Carolus) and the anatomist naturalist J. F. Blumenbach, the
prevailing idea was that dark skin was caused by the bright