Who are we

1
Who are we?

• NOT the title of a song by The Who.
• A question of taxonomy or cladistics
• Using fossils and, more lately, DNA evidence
• Material culture finds, archeology
• Anthropology, descriptions of primitive
  cultures
• Highly controversial, contested area of study

2
Great Apes or Pongids

• Includes gorillas, chimps, baboons
• And all pre-hominid and hominid species
• And YOU!

3
Human Paleontology

• Between 6 and 4 million years ago, there were
  many different species of hominids in Africa
• Modern humans evolved from one of these species,
  but we cant know for sure which one.

4
Primate family tree
5
With help from everything2.com
6
From the Smithsonian Institution Human Family
Tree
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Austrolopithecines

• Omnivorous apes
• Some fully bipedal
• Many species, several million years in existence
• Famously Lucy

8
FromThe Ape that Took Over the World BBC Two tv
program 9.00pm Thursday 4 October 2001
(Forensic reconstruction)
In 2001, scientists announced an amazing
discovery the oldest skull of a human ancestor
ever found. The 31/2 million year old fossil was
remarkably complete, and unlike any previous
fossil find. Its discovery - by a team led by
Meave Leakey of the famous Leakey fossil-hunting
family - has revolutionised our understanding of
how humans evolved. (BBC.com)
9
FromViewpoint Is It Time to Revise the System
of Scientific Naming? Lee R. Berger for National
Geographic News December 4, 2001
An anthropologist works on a model of an
Australopithecus skull in a still from a
television special on human origins Photograph
by Karen Huntt
10
From www.modernhumaorigins.com, Photograph by
John Reader.
Footprints of an autralopithecine family group
crossing volcanic debris at Laetoli in Kenya
11
From www.modernhumaorigins.com, Photograph by
John Reader.
Close up of a footprint at Laetoli in Kenya
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The Paleolithic

• Paleo old
• Lithic stone
• The Old Stone Age, the age when humans used crude
  stone tools

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From the Smithsonian Institution Human Family
Tree
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Homo habilis

• Olduvai Gorge site
• Leakey excavations
• Proximity of tools
• A possible shelter
• Omnivore, scavenger
• Using tools to fend off cats, dogs, other
  predators
• Paleolithic (old stone age) culture

15
Artists impression from Washington State
University general education program The Long
Foreground
16
Photograph of a Homo habilis skull from Origins
of Human Kind Web Page
17
OLDOWAN CHOPPER CORES OLDUVAI GORGE, TANZANIA
AFRICA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA--BERKELEY AND
CRAFT RESEARCH CENTER COLLECTIONS
18
OLDOWAN FLAKE TOOL OLDUVAI GORGE, TANZANIA
AFRICA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA--BERKELEY, DEPT.
OF ANTHROPOLOGY COLLECTION
19
Homo erectus

• Rapid dispersion
• Occupied much of Africa, Europe, Asia
• Several different species
• First use of fire

20
From the Smithsonian Institution Human Family
Tree
21
Artists impression of Homo erectus from
http//www.geocities.com/palaeoanthropology/Herect
us.html
22
From http//www.geocities.com/palaeoanthropology/H
erectus.html
23
From http//www-personal.une.edu.au/pbrown3/zhk.
html
24
Evidence of fire

• From about 400 000 years ago proper
  hearths--rings of stones--burnt bones, and other
  clear evidence of fire become common throughout
  Europe. New finds are made nearly every year with
  recent discoveries, soon to be described in more
  detail, including Beeches Pit in Suffolk,
  Britain, and SchØ ningen in Germany.
• the 400 000 year old SchØ ningen site is
  particularly significant because beautifully
  carved wooden spears and butchered horse remains
  were also found there. The wooden spears have
  been a huge shock to researchers, forcing them to
  accept that late Homo erectus was a skilled
  hunter and skilled tool maker.

From New Scientist, John McCrone, May 2000
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The Mesolithic

• Meso middle
• Lithic stone
• The Middle Stone Age, the age when humans used
  advanced stone tools
• More dense populations, more intense utilization
  of resources
• See movie later Hianim Cave site, Israel

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Homo sapiens neandertalis

• Most recent relative
• Advanced stone tools
• Cold hardy survived glacial climates
• Successful and widely dispersed
• Highly sensationalized
• Higher culture possibly religion, music

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From the Smithsonian Institution Human Family
Tree
28
From poster for The Neanderthal Man, a B-grade
movie from 1953
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From Channel 4 TV program Neanderthal,
http//www.channel4.com/history/microsites/N/neand
erthal/
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From scientific illustrator Jay Matternes, from
the October issue of Science 81
31
This reconstruction depicts the adult male
Neanderthal unearthed at the Amud cave site in
Israel.
From Scott J. Brown Neanderthals and Modern
Humans A Regional Guide
32
The Neolithic

• Neo new
• Lithic stone
• The New Stone Age, the age when humans used
  advanced stone tools
• Also agriculture

33
MtDNA from this Ice-Age skeleton from Wales
suggests that modern humans living just after
Neanderthals had vanished were already
genetically like us
From Scott J. Brown Neanderthals and Modern
Humans A Regional Guide
34
From Scott J. Brown Neanderthals and Modern
Humans A Regional Guide

• For tens of thousands of years, the Neanderthals
  roamed as hunters and gatherers over the plains,
  forests, and mountains of northern and western
  Eurasia. Then during the middle of the last Ice
  Age, over a period of about 10 millennia, from
  roughly 40,000 to 30,000 years ago, a new type of
  human began to proliferate in the Neanderthals'
  domain.

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Homo sapiens sapiens

• Us
• Not much different from neandertalis, but genetic
  variation is measurable
• Competes with and excludes neandertalis?
• Share 98 of DNA with chimpanzees
• Appears 100KYA or so
• Advanced stone tools, culture, language

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From the Smithsonian Institution Human Family
Tree
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Scara Brae A neolithic village site From Orkney
government http//www.orkneyjar.com/history/skara
brae/
38
From Orkney government http//www.orkneyjar.com/h
istory/skarabrae/
39
From Orkney government http//www.orkneyjar.com/h
istory/skarabrae/
40
Oetzi, the Iceman, from NOVA onine, PBS
41
Einkorn wheat, from Oetzis clothes. From NOVA
online.
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Oetzi

• In glacial ice for 5,300 years
• Well-preserved, including DNA
• An adze or ice-axe
• Bow, arrows a hunter
• Grass cloak
• Einkorn wheat had contact with agricultural
  community

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Where Oetzi was found, the Schnalstal glacier
From South Tyrol Museum of Archeology
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a cap, hide coat, grass cloak, leggings, belt,
loincloth and a pair of shoes. It is remarkable
that no woven materials were used, only tanned
leather and a grass coat. The stitching threads
were made mainly of animal sinews and only in
part of plants, above all grasses and to a lesser
extent bast. From South Tyrol Museum web pages
45
The Iceman was fully and efficiently equipped
for his last trip into the high mountains. This
enabled him to look after himself for a long time
while he was away from home. He was also in a
position to repair or replace by himself any
piece of equipment which got damaged. In
particular, the rationality and functionality of
his equipment are worth emphasising. From South
Tyrol museum webpage
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Oetzis last day (from the BBC)

• According to the present DNA analysis, the last
  journey of the warrior/hunter was made through a
  coniferous woodland at an intermediate altitude,
  where he possibly had a first meal, composed of
  cereals, other plant food, and ibex meat, and
  ended with his death in a rocky basin at over
  3,200 metres above sea level, not before his
  having had a further meal based on red deer meat
  and, possibly, cereals.
• Dr Rollo added "We were very impressed by the
  quality of the meals he had. The diet of people
  living at this time included rabbit, rats,
  squirrel - all sorts of things. But the iceman,
  in his last two meals, had red deer and ibex
  meat. It was a real medieval banquet!"

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Oetzis last day (from the BBC)

• Scientists have already established that Oetzi
  was about 159 centimetres (five feet, 2.5 inches)
  tall, 46 years old, arthritic, and infested with
  whipworm at the time of death.
• High levels of copper and arsenic in his hair
  indicate he had been involved in copper
  smelting.

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Oetzis last day (from the BBC)

• The wound in the hand suggests Oetzi may have
  been engaged in hand-to-hand combat very shortly
  before he died.
• The injury to the back of the shoulder has led
  some researchers to the view that Oetzi was shot
  as he fled the confrontation.

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A last battle?
From the BBC
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Conclusions?

• Solid scientific conclusions?
• Not many
• We probably came out of Africa
• We arent too far from our closest relatives,
  genetically speaking
• Theres probably no such thing as race

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Possible scientific conclusions

• We are animals
• We are not peaceful animals
• We are omnivorous
• We have communities
• We have religion
• We die out and become extinct like other animals

52
Possible cultural/political conclusions

• We are animals
• We are not peaceful animals
• We are omnivorous
• We have communities
• We have religion
• We die out and become extinct like other animals