INTRODUCTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY Nancy White - Touro Institute

hominids all over the Old World. Replacement is considered to include everything from violent
conflict to genetic superiority, from no mating with “the other” to some exchange of genes. The
“multiregional” model has modern humans evolving in place all over the world; in other words,
gradually developing from whatever hominid is there because there would be enough gene flow
(translation: mating across geographical regions) to assure continuity of the evolution of the
species all over the map.
How can archaeology contribute to the debates on
modern human origins? In this class, we will not
discuss very much the details of biological evolution
nor the evidence from both fossil skeletal remains and
molecular evolutionary studies such as changes
through time in DNA. There have been a couple of
DNA studies done on European Neanderthals which
found that there was enough difference from modern
humans so as to make them not ancestral. But this is a
small sample size, and those individuals may have
simply had family lines that died out. There will be
more such studies soon. Meanwhile, the archaeology is
not simple either. There have been Upper Paleolithic
tools found with Neanderthal skeletal remains and
Middle Paleolithic artifacts with modern humans. The
question of whether Neanderthals or even earlier
hominids could talk is also difficult to solve. How could Homo erectus have made it across the
hemisphere without language? Can you teach someone to chip fancier stone tools without
talking? There is even debate on whether skeletal remains can demonstrate that the vocal
apparatus was present in earlier hominids; it is not
there in apes.
What behavior can we attribute to Neanderthals from
the archaeological remains? Mousterian tools of the
Middle Paleolithic were made on flint flakes; they
were scrapers and gravers and many other types,
including triangular, unifacial points. Deliberate
burials are known, possible evidence for cannibalism,
and many features that are interpreted as “ ceremonial,”
often including deposits of cave bear bones or other
items.
What evidence is known from Shanidar Cave? This
famous site in Iraq produced, among other things, a
Neanderthal skeleton of an older adult male who had been severely disabled from birth yet
apparently cared for within his society. Another burial had pollen from plants in different kinds
of environments, suggesting the placement of flowers over the dead. This has been disputed
lately too, however.