Journal ArticleDOI
Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia
Tim D. White,Berhane Asfaw,David DeGusta,Henry Gilbert,Gary D. Richards,Gen Suwa,F. Clark Howell +6 more
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Fossilized hominid crania from Herto, Middle Awash, Ethiopia are described and provide crucial evidence on the location, timing and contextual circumstances of the emergence of Homo sapiens.Abstract:
The origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens and the fate of Neanderthals have been fundamental questions in human evolutionary studies for over a century. A key barrier to the resolution of these questions has been the lack of substantial and accurately dated African hominid fossils from between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago. Here we describe fossilized hominid crania from Herto, Middle Awash, Ethiopia, that fill this gap and provide crucial evidence on the location, timing and contextual circumstances of the emergence of Homo sapiens. Radioisotopically dated to between 160,000 and 154,000 years ago, these new fossils predate classic Neanderthals and lack their derived features. The Herto hominids are morphologically and chronologically intermediate between archaic African fossils and later anatomically modern Late Pleistocene humans. They therefore represent the probable immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans. Their anatomy and antiquity constitute strong evidence of modern-human emergence in Africa.read more
Citations
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A critical view of the evidence for a southern african origin of behavioural modernity
TL;DR: The authors examines the strengths and weaknesses of this hypothesis and ultimately rejects the idea of a monocentric southern African origin in favour of a model for a historically contextualized, polycentric rise of cultural modernity.
Journal ArticleDOI
On the industrial attributions of the Aterian and Mousterian of the Maghreb
Harold L. Dibble,Vera Aldeias,Zenobia Jacobs,Deborah I. Olszewski,Zeljko Rezek,Sam C. Lin,Esteban Álvarez-Fernández,Carolyn Barshay-Szmidt,Carolyn Barshay-Szmidt,Emily Hallett-Desguez,Denné Reed,Kaye E. Reed,Daniel Richter,Teresa E. Steele,Anne R. Skinner,Bonnie A.B. Blackwell,Ekaterina V. Doronicheva,Mohamed El-Hajraoui +17 more
TL;DR: Several additional characteristics of these assemblages, such as distinctive stone implements and the manufacture and use of bone tools and possible shell ornaments, suggest a closer affinity to other Late Pleistocene African Middle Stone Age industries rather than to the Middle Paleolithic of western Eurasia.
Journal ArticleDOI
Paleoanthropology of the Kibish Formation, southern Ethiopia: Introduction.
TL;DR: A detailed stratigraphic analysis of the Kibish Formation is provided and a series of new radiometric dates are provided that indicate an age of 196+/-2 ka for Member I and 104+/-1 for Member III, confirming the antiquity of the lower parts of the Hominid Formation and, in turn, the fossils from Member I.
Journal ArticleDOI
“15 Minutes of Fame”: Exploring the temporal dimension of Middle Pleistocene lithic technology
TL;DR: Investigation of how the process of lithic production was organised on several Middle Pleistocene sites in northwest Europe is investigated, suggesting a more dynamic approach to tool-making and using activities than has previously been recognised.
Journal ArticleDOI
Relevance of Connexin Deafness (DFNB1) to Human Evolution
TL;DR: This paper showed that assortative mating can accelerate dramatically the genetic response to relaxed selection and also played a key role in the joint evolution and accelerated fixation of genes for speech after they first appeared in Homo sapiens 100,000-150,000 years ago.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Mitochondrial genome variation and the origin of modern humans
TL;DR: The global mtDNA diversity in humans is described based on analyses of the complete mtDNA sequence of 53 humans of diverse origins, providing a concurrent view on human evolution with respect to the age of modern humans.
Journal ArticleDOI
The phylogeography of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations
Peter A. Underhill,Giuseppe Passarino,A. A. Lin,Peidong Shen,Marta Mirazón Lahr,Marta Mirazón Lahr,Robert Foley,Peter J. Oefner,Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza +8 more
TL;DR: A set of unique event polymorphisms associated with the non‐recombining portion of the Y‐chromosome (NRY) addresses this issue by providing evidence concerning successful migrations originating from Africa, which can be interpreted as subsequent colonizations, differentiations and migrations overlaid upon previous population ranges.
Journal ArticleDOI
Australopithecus ramidus, a new species of early hominid from Aramis, Ethiopia
TL;DR: The antiquity and primitive morphology of A. ramidus suggests that it represents a long-sought potential root species for the Hominidae.
Journal ArticleDOI
Out of Africa again and again.
TL;DR: A coherent picture of recent human evolution emerges with two major themes: first is the dominant role that Africa has played in shaping the modern human gene pool through at least two—not one—major expansions after the original range extension of Homo erectus out of Africa, and second is the ubiquity of genetic interchange between human populations.
Book ChapterDOI
Progress and Prospects
TL;DR: Improvement in understanding has led in some cases to better management with improved outcome for the patient, whereas in other areas the way is now clear towards a better prospect for the future.
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