Anthropology 2100 Lecture Notes - Stone Tool, Upper Paleolithic, Canine Tooth
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Published on 31 Jan 2013
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Oct, 29, 2012
Early Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals
Early/Archaic Homo Sapiens – ca 400,000-70,000:
-Increase in cranial capacity to 1125 to 1400 cc with an average of 1260 cc
-Homo erectus’ mean cranial capacity was only 960 cc
-Specimens between ca. 400,000 and ca. 200,000 years old are sometimes called Homo heidelbergensis
-Archaic Homo sapiens from Greece Petralona 1 (.4 my old?)
-Archaic Homo sapiens from France Arago XXI (.4 mya)
-Archaic Homo sapiens from Germany Steinheim (.25 mya)
-Archaic Homo sapiens from China Dali (.2 mya)
-Have a rounded cranial vault and cranial capacity of 1120 cc
-Archaic Homo sapiens from Zambia at Broken Hill (.3 mya)
Neanderthal Traits:
1. Prognathic lower face, large nasal cavity 2. Large cheekbones, prominent brow ridges
3. Large front teeth, strong chewing apparatus 4. No chin, or a very small chin
5. A long, low cranial vault with a cranial capacity 1250 - 1740 cc (mean 1480 cc)
6. Occipital bun on European specimens
7. Post-cranial skeleton is short but robust with thick, slightly bowed long bones
Neanderthal Economy:
-Hunted small-medium sized animals (reindeer were a major food source)
-Also hunted woolly mammoth and rhinoceros and La Cotte de St. Brelade in the Jersey Islands in the English
Channel shows 20 mammoths and 5 woolly rhinos were stampeded off a cliff
-We have limited evidence for plant foods
-Binford says Neanderthals captured food “on an encounter basis” and there was no planning but others disagree
Neanderthal Social Organization:
-Lived in small groups at small sites that were usually caves and open air structures
-Accumulation of debris suggest they were more sedentary than modern hunter-gatherers
-They had band organization and informal leadership
-Binford questions evidence for social structure and “family” life
Burial of the Dead:
-La Chapelle aux Saint has grave offerings of a bison leg and tools
-La Ferassie France has a man, woman, 2 children and 2 infants buried together that are possibly a family
-Amud cave Israel has a red deer maxilla buried with infant
-Shanidar Cave Iraq has a handicapped male who would have required a support network and this is a “flower
burial” because pollen from spring flowers was found in soil around the body
Neanderthal Culture:
-Intentional burial suggests belief systems but there is little evidence of art work
-Arcy-sur-Cure France has 142 grooved and perforated canine teeth and small ivory beads that were likely used for
personal ornamentation and this suggests symbol systems