ANTHROPOLOGY 365: HUMAN EVOLUTION
LECTURE 31
TRANSITIONAL HOMO SAPIENS
I. When we get to the transition between H. erectus and H. sapiens we have the same problem that we had at the early Homo/ erectus boundary. Where do you draw the line between the 2 species? The distinction between H. erectus and H. sapiens is even more difficult to make that the distinction between early Homo and H. erectus. The difference is more a matter of degree than of kind.
A. H. sapiens differs from H. erectus in having:
1. A slightly larger brain, but not much. Most H. erectus specimens have brain sizes of less than 1200cc and most H. sapiens specimens have brain sizes greater than 1200cc.
2. Less sloping forehead. The vault is higher.
3. More rounded skull in back. There is an occipital bun rather than a torus.
4. Smaller face, jaws, and teeth.
B. The first members of H. sapiens still looked quite a bit like H. erectus. They are classified as H. sapiens, but are often given the label "transitional" H. sapiens. There are many specimens of transitional H. sapiens from around the old world.
C. Subspecies. The various specimens of transitional H. sapiens and neanderthaloids are often assigned to their own subspecies. A subspecies is a division within a species, the idea being that there wasn't reproductive isolation, but there was enough anatomical difference to allow them to be separated. A subspecies implies somewhat more distinctiveness than a race.
The use of subspecies is an American tradition. In Europe, the subspecies are often promoted to full species. So, for example, in America we call the Neanderthals H. sapiens neanderthalensis, but in Europe they often call them H. neanderthalensis.
II. Europe. In Europe the H. erectus period lasted from maybe 1my to about 400ky, and the transitional period lasted from about 400ky to 130ky. In the past couple of years most people have begun to refer to the transitionals of Europe as "pre-Neanderthals"
A. Swanscombe site in England. Dated to 380ky. Most of a skull was recovered, but without a face. The brain size was 1250-1300cc.
B. Steinheim site in Germany. Dated to 330ky. Most of the skull, with a face. This specimen is similar to Swanscombe. Both Steinheim and Swanscombe are assigned to the subspecies H. sapiens steinheimensis. Steinheim had big brow ridges, rounded back to the skull, and brain size of 1150cc.
C. Arago site in France. Dated to 200-250ky. A skull and jaw were recovered. This specimen is similar to Swanscombe and Steinheim.
D. Atapuerca site in Spain. Dated to about 350ky (some evidence suggests maybe as old as 780KY. Several specimens that are intermediate between H. erectus and Neanderthals. There is an enormously wide range of variation at Atapuerca, which suggests that the transitionals were quite variable anatomically.
III. Africa. The H. erectus period in Africa lasted from 1.6My to 150ky. The transitional period lasted from 400ky?? To 100ky.
A. Broken Hill, Zambia. Dated to about 125ky. This specimen is nicknamed Rhodesian man, and assigned to the subspecies H. sapiens rhodesiensis. Rhodesian man must have been a male since no female could be that ugly. He had a huge face, huge brow ridges, and a retreating forehead. The brain size was about 1250-1300cc. Rhodesian man had terrible cavities in his teeth. In fact he had more cavities than teeth. Some people have suggested that his poor dental health and some other pathologies might have been caused by lead poisoning.
B. Bodo site in Ethiopia, not far from Hadar. Dated to about 125ky. The skull recovered here is very similar to Rhodesian man.
C. The Lake Ndutu site in Tanzania has produced a transitional, dating somewhere between 200ky and 400ky.
D. The Kapthurin site in Kenya has produced a couple of jaws that might be transitional and might date to over 500ky.
IV. Asia. The H. erectus period in Asia lasted from 1.9My-400ky. The transitional period is poorly dated with only 2 important sites.
A. Java. Transitional H. sapiens specimens are recovered from the Solo site, also known as the Notopuro beds and the Nangdong site. This site is dated very poorly, most guesses placing it between 100ky and 300ky. Eleven hominid skullcaps and some postcrania were recovered here. These fossils are nicknamed "Solo man", and assigned to the subspecies H. sapiens soloensis. These specimens were intermediate between H. erectus as found at the Trinil site and later H. sapiens.
B. China. Maba Site. A skullcap was recovered from a site in China called Maba (Mapa). This site is dated to about 100-125ky. The specimen looks similar to the transitional specimens from Solo.
V. Lifeways of transitional H.s. In many ways the transitionals kept the way of life of H. erectus.
A. Tools. Transitional H. sapiens preserved the same tool industries as H. erectus. There are the same 2 tool complexes, Acheulian and Chopper-Chopping. In fact, the transitionals seem to have preserved the local tool industry in many cases. For example, at Swanscombe, Acheulian tools exactly like those of H. erectus were found and at the Arago site in France Tayacian tools exactly like those of H. erectus were found.
B. Big game use. The transitionals seem to have preserved the big-game use lifestyle as well. At some European sites, such as Aridos and Torralba in Spain, which lie along big game migration routes, we see evidence for hunting or scavenging of elephants. There is enough evidence of human presence that we conclude that there must have been a fairly large cooperative effort involved in harvesting the elephant meat at these sites.
C. Ceremonialism and ritual. We have a few more clues about the ceremonial and ritual behavior of the transitionals that we had for homo erectus.
1. The suggestion of cannibalism also remains, especially in the Far East. All the skulls recovered from solo had their bases knocked out as did the Maba skull. The Bodo skull from Africa has cut marks on its head which suggest that it was scalped.
2. Use of red ocher. Lumps of red ocher were recovered at a few sites. Red ocher is a substance used by many peoples, which symbolizes blood because it is the same color as blood, having an iron containing compound similar to heme. Red ocher also has the ability to staunch bleeding, probably due to catalytic action on the clotting factors in blood. Use of red ocher usually accompanies ceremonies dealing with life, death, or healing. In most non-western cultures there is not a major distinction made between medicine and ceremonialism. The practice of medicine is usually seen as some aspect of ceremonialism, and considered within the province of the religious specialist. So, finding red ocher suggests some form of ceremonialism.
3. Possible totemism. Another item of information, from Lazaret Cave in France, is the suggestion of totemism. Totemism is a system of belief where a kinship group is considered (or considers itself) as allied in some way with some species of animal, even to the point of considering themselves as descendants of that animal. What was found at Lazaret was a wolf skull, if you remember that film it was the one that a fellow was putting back together. This wolf skull was placed by the mouth of the cave looking out, and visible from the outside of the cave. People have inferred that this was like hanging out your name in your front yard. It may have meant something like "here's the wolf clan".
D. Despite the similarities to the way of life of H. erectus, the transitional H. sapiens did have a few cultural innovations. One such innovation is the cold climate adaptation seen at Lazaret cave in France, dating to about 200- 250ky. Lazaret is an occupation site in a cave. There was a hut constructed inside the cave. Chemical analysis of the soil shows that the people probably put hides on the floor to walk on. It is also at Lazaret cave that we see the evidence of possible ritual or religion (other than possible ritual cannibalism). There were several wolf skulls near the door.
E. At Terra Amata on the French Riviera we find the first evidence that members of genus Homo ate things other than big game. The remains of several kinds of animals were recovered including big game (elephants, rhinos), birds, turtles, shell fish, and fish. Terra Amata was discovered while workers were building luxury apartments on the French Riviera. It is dated to about 300ky. The record is so good here that we can tell a lot about the people who lived there. We have information from a surprising source that people occupied Terra Amata on a seasonal basis. This implies that they had a seasonal round. A seasonal round is where people occupy different sites on a seasonal basis. The idea is that during one part of the year the hunting was good, so they moved to the hunting grounds; during another part of the year certain fruits might be ripe and they move to where these fruits are; during yet another part of the year the fishing might be good, so they move down to the river; etc. Seasonal rounds are recorded for all modern hunter/gatherer peoples. We can tell that the people at Terra Amata had a seasonal round from analysis of their coprolytes (fossilized fecal material). The coprolytes contain pollen which indicated that the people arrived at Terra Amata in the late spring or early summer and left before the summer was over. The traditional interpretation of Terra Amata is as follows. 21 Separate huts with hearths were found. From stylistic properties and locations of the huts and tools recovered it seems as if 2 families occupied the site for 11 consecutive years. Recently, however, this site has been re-examined and it seems as if this interpretation may not stand up. For something that old you just can't tell whether there were two families occupying the site for 11 consecutive years or whether there were fewer people over a longer period of time. One thing most people agree on is that the group size was probably small.
F. Evidence of a seasonal round. We are beginning to have enough evidence to conclude that during the big game use period of the lower Paleolithic, people had a seasonal round. A seasonal round is where people move their settlements to different places at different times of the year to exploit seasonal food items. Seasonal rounds are well known from the ethnographic record of modern people. They may have lived a life style similar to that described by Julian Steward for the Shoshone Indians of the Great Gasin. The Shoshone had a variable group size depending on the time of the year and the availability of resources. At some seasons the Shoshone split up into groups of 1 or 2 families to exploit certain resources (like pinon nuts), and at other times they got together into larger groups to exploit other resources (such as rabbit drives). We can use Torralba and Aridos as spring or fall sites, because they were used during the spring and/or fall game migrations. Game animals migrated to the highlands in the spring and back to the lowlands in the fall. Terra Amata can be used as a summer site, and we can use Lazaret as a winter site.
1. During the winter it must have been very cold indeed. During this season they seem to have taken refuge in caves, living in small groups. They probably did some hunting, and perhaps some gathering, but it is doubtful that there would have been many gatherable plant foods during the winter. They probably had at least some food stored up to see them through.
2. During the spring, they would get together into larger groups to harvest the herd animals that were migrating to the highlands as seen at Torralba. There would also have been lots of gatherable plant foods.
3. During the summer, they would have split up again, giving the small group sizes seen at Terra Amata. This is probably a pattern specific to mediterranean climates. In mediterranean climates, which occur at specific latitudes along the western edges of continents, the summers are very dry. This limits the food supply somewhat. So, they probably would have taken up a nomadic foraging pattern - moving from place to place looking for food. In non-mediterranean climates, summer is usually a very productive time of the year, and they might have been able to maintain their larger groupings.
4. Although we don't have an example of an autumn site, we can probably assume that they formed larger groups to again exploit the game animal migrations that would have been occurring during this season. There would have been plant resources as well, including some that are storable, such as berries, fruits, nuts, acorns, etc. That might help them make it through the winter.
VI. So, the picture we get of the transitionals is that they are somewhat advanced biologically over H. erectus. They are definitely H. sapiens, but are still not very modern looking. They were fairly conservative culturally. They used H. erectus tools to exploit big game. The adaptation to cold and the seasonal round might have been new discoveries, or it may just be that we can only see it for the first time with the transitionals.