Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years

2019/08/01 by Julia Galway‐Witham, James Cole, Chris Stringer · 1 voice · 8 citations
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/jqs.3137

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper reviews some of the main advances in our understanding of human evolution over the last 1 million years, presenting a holistic overview of a field defined by interdisciplinary approaches to studying the origins of our species. We begin by briefly summarizing the climatic context across the Old World for the last 1 million years before directly addressing the fossil and archaeological records. The main themes in this work explore (i) recent discoveries in the fossil record over the last 15 years, such as Homo naledi and Homo floresiensis ; (ii) the implications of palaeogenetics for understanding the evolutionary history of, and relationships between, Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo sapiens ; (iii) the interplay between physiology and metabolic demand, landscape use, and behavioural adaptations in the evolution of morphological and behavioural innovation; and (iv) recent advances in archaeological understanding for the behavioural record, in particular that of the Neanderthals. This paper seeks to provide a broad‐scale, holistic perspective of our current understanding of human evolution for the last 1 Ma, providing a reference point for researchers that can be built upon as new discoveries continue to develop the landscapes of human evolution. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Citations

• Evidence for Neandertal Jewelry: Modified White-Tailed Eagle Claws at Krapina
• Correcting for Purifying Selection: An Improved Human Mitochondrial Molecular Clock
• Modern Human Origins and the Evolution of Behavior in the Later Pleistocene Record of South Asia
• Archaic Hominin Populations in Asia before the Arrival of Modern Humans

Cited by

• Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and speciation complexity in palaeoanthropology
• The earliest elephant-bone tool from Europe: An unexpected raw material for precision knapping of Acheulean handaxes
• Incised stone artefacts from the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic and human behavioural complexity
• Meaning-making behavior in a small-brained hominin, Homo naledi, from the late Pleistocene: contexts and evolutionary implications
• Hominin glacial-stage occupation 712,000 to 424,000 years ago at Fordwich Pit, Old Park (Canterbury, UK)
• 3.3 million years of stone tool complexity suggests that cumulative culture began during the Middle Pleistocene
• Homo luzonensis and the role of homoplasy in the morphology of hominin insular species
• Palaeolithic archaeology of the Bytham River: human occupation of Britain during the early Middle Pleistocene and its European context

Discussions

• In fact it’s from: Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years Galway-Witham, Cole & Stringer 2019 doi.org/10.1002/jqs.... [bsky, 31 points, 1 comments]

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