Archaic Homo sapiens and Neandertals

1
Archaic Homo sapiens and Neandertals

• Informal labels
• No consensus as to what they mean.
• Human evolution in mid-Pleistocene
• Mid-Pleistocene
• 900,000 years ago (earliest glaciation of
  continental Europe)
• to 125,000 years ago
• Latter half fossils transitional between H.
  erectus and anatomically modern H. sapiens.
• 800,000 to 200,000 ybp
• Homo heidelbergensis has been used for certain
  reps of this group
• (Late Pleistocene 125,000 ya to 10,000 ya)

2
Skull characteristics
1,000 1400 cc brain
3
Archaic Homo sapiens showing a mix of erectus
and-sapiens-like features
Petralona, Greece Bodo, Ethiopia
Dali, China
Oldest 600,000 ybp,
4
Ancestors of Neadertals
Likely ancestors of modern humans
archaic Homo sapiens sites
5
Neandertals

• Appear in Europe at c. 150,000 ya
• Youngest fossils 30 27,000 ya
• Overlap with anatomically modern H. sapiens for
  several k yrs.

6
(No Transcript)
7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
56 M 53 F
10
1909
AMNH
11
(No Transcript)
12
First evidence of burial of the dead Always in
caves
Used fire Had to have clothing to survive Animal
skins No evidence of needles or awls
Tools 1. anterior dentition 2. wooden spears
(130,000 y) 3. blade-based stone tools
13
Genetic differences
14
H. sapiens and Neandertal divergence
15
Relationship between Neandertals and modern humans