Part I:Referring to Module 8 Content(see the attachments), discuss either what is most remarkable about human entrance into Australia or human entrance into the Americas or the peopling of the Pacific Islands thousands of years ago. (One brief paragraph [3-4 sentences] and one brief paragraph {3-4 sentences] responding to another's post).
I'll post it once you finished the other parts.
Part 2:Referring to Module 8 Content (including powerpoint slides) see the attachments, answer the following:a. Discuss what the scrapers and perforating blade tools (Slide 4 ) would have been used for during the late Pleistocene (1 brief paragraph [3-4 sentences] )b. Discuss what types of animals were being hunted and what type of weapon was being used, as seen in cave wall art (Slides 6-7) in the late Pleistocene. (1 brief paragraph [3-4 sentences] )c. Discuss the similarities and differences between the Solutrean laurel leaf point (Slide 5) and the Clovis fluted point (Slide 11 )(1 brief paragraph [3-4 sentence] )
Anatomically Modern Homo sapiens The evolution of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Africa about 200,000 years B.P. apparently only involved an alteration of the shape of the skull. The cranium is high (the greatest width near the top of the skull) and rounded, that is, short from anterior to posterior. There was no increase in cranial capacity, however. The mandible (lower jaw) now has protruding chin. This is significant because this resulted from the retreat of the row of teeth in the mandible; the chin is a leftover of the lower part of the mandible. (Slide 2) The three models of how modern humans supplanted Neandertals (see Module 7) continue to compete with each other. For many years, the Single Origin (Out of Africa) model of total replacement of Neandertals in Europe by modern humans entering through the Middle East was predominant. Recently, the Assimilation model (some interbreeding between archaic and modern humans) has gained adherents as supporting data from genetics has been produced. The Multiregional model, that modern humans evolved from Homo erectus in different parts of the world has some supporters; in light of continuing discoveries of fossil hominins, anthropologists should keep an open mind. Tool types The trend towards greater efficiency (i.e., more cutting edge produced from the flint nodule resource) continued with flake tools becoming blades (thin flakes). (Slides 3, 4). Why did this trend start and then continue? We can only speculate, but, human nature being what it is, we can assume that necessity was the mother of invention. Access to raw resource material may have been limited by environmental change (such as glacial advance) and/or slight increases in population on the landscape. The tools in Slide 4 are simple utilitarian scrapers and awls or other perforating tools; these were for working a variety of natural materials, such as skins and wood. The people of the late Pleistocene ("Upper Paleolithic") wore tailored (sewn) clothing, as evidence from bone needles, and, like later archaic humans, lived in caves or in mammoth bone huts covered with skins. In addition to utilitarian tools, it is possible that some lithics (stone tools) were for ceremonial purposes, at least at time. The Solutrean laurel leaf point (Slide 5) from southwestern Europe (21,000-17,000 B.P.) was a finely made point that had aerodynamic properties and could have been used as a projectile (spearpoint) or knife, but might have been for symbolic or status purposes only. A controversial hypothesis that this artifact has been found in North America, pre- dating the Native American Clovis culture (see below). Art Parietal art Traditionally, the parietal (cave wall) art of southwestern France and northern Spain has been associated with modern humans from the Upper Paleolithic (Slides 6-9) from 40,000 B.P. to the end of the Pleistocene epoch (c. 10,000 B.P.), although late archaic Homo sapiens may have been the artists, as well, since evidence of an artisitic sensibility may reach back into the time even before archaic humans. Slide 6 is a polychrome (multicolored) depiction of a hunting scene, which may have been a record of a past hunt of large Ice Age game animals, like the horse and auroch (cattle), or may have been examples of sympathetic magic (ritual to effect a particular event) to insure a successful hunt in the future. Slide 7 is a simple outline of what appears to be bison with spears thrust at it. Slide 8, silhouettes of handprints (possibly from one person) may be reaching up out of a depth or towards a height, or may simply be a signature. It is important to note that depictions of humans and animals on rock surfaces is not limited to southwestern Europe, but is worldwide. Stick figures of men are found on rock art globally. There are also abstract designs, some of which may be calendars, with depictions of the crescent moon. Portable art includes Venus figurines, like the one in Slide 9, are found across Europe with the common features of minimal details of the head, no hands or feet, and exaggerated proportions of female characteristics of breasts, bellies and buttocks. The similar diamond shape to these figurines suggests that there is a common culture from which these originate. Whether they are fertility goddesses or aesthetic appreciations of feminine beauty. Portable art also includes sculptures or etchings of animals on bone and antler. Expansion from Africa to Asia and Australia, to Europe, to the Americas, to the Pacific Islands Australia Australia, far from Africa, was inhabited by anatomically modern humans before Europe, close to Africa, was. This is likely due to the fact that northern Europe was still glaciated and that southern Europe was populated by Neandertals; another option was to expand along a southern route across Asia, through Indonesia (as earlier hominins had), and to Australia. This southern continent was first inhabited at least 50,000 B.P., possibly as long ago as 65,000B.P. Entry into Australia was enabled by the lowered global sea levels (due to massive glaciation): humans could almost walk from southeast Asia (in which the Malay peninsula and most Indonesian islands were part of one landmass) into the land- mass referred to as Sahul (New Guinea,Australia and Tasmania), but for one or two narrow straits of open water. It may be that this crossing was accomplished by the first watercraft, perhaps rafts or canoes. Numerous archeological sites have been found around Australia, most notably, the Lake Mungo site, burials with red ochre from c. 40,000 B.P. and possibly from much earlier, c. 60,000 B.P. suggest that there may have been two waves of human migration into Australia. The Americas In contrast to modern humans who travelled a southern route to Australia, other humans came into the Americas from the far north, that is from Siberia to Beringia (a broad plain of land exposed when world sea levels were lower) into North and South America (see Slide 10). The route into North America was apparently through Alaska and down through an "ice-free corridor" between two continental glaciations just east of the Rocky Mountains; the route into South America as apparently directly down through Mexico and Central America. More recently, a coastal route has been hypothesized, with evidence based on sites along the west coast of South America. The traditional hypothesis that held sway for many decades was the "Clovis First" hypothesis, that the makers of the Clovis fluted spearpoint (see Slide 11). This spearpoint, used to hunt mammoths and mastodons, appeared in the Americas c. 13,000 B.P. and spread rapidly across both North and South America, ending its dominance as the defining artifact of the hemisphere as the Pleistocene ended and the megafauna (large Ice Age animals) died out about 10 millennia ago. A side issue has been raised,that the Clovis point was actually derived from the Solutrean laurel leaf point making its appearance in eastern North America prior to 13,000 B.P. While there are some similarities between the two styles, this hypothesis is not at this time widely accepted. Another hypothesis, however, has gained supporters over the years, is that there was human presence in the Americas before Clovis. Sites have been found as far south as southern Chile and as far east as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that clearly pre-date the Clovis tradition. The Pacific Islands The vast Pacific Ocean was populated by humans in stages, with the western Pacific islands near Southeast Asia, Australia and New Guinea populated very early and the far-flung islands in the middle of the ocean popu- lated only in the last few millennia. There are different hypotheses as to whether humans came from Southeast Asia or Australia and New Guinea. Presumably, increasing populations were the basis for the geographic expansion. Thirty thousand years ago, people reached the Solomon Islands, east of New Guinea. That was the extent of human colonization until 3000 years ago. The voyages to the distant islands were accomplished with by the use of double-hulled canoes . These stabilize the canoes and allowed large numbers of people, animals, and artifacts, (such as Lapita pottery, stone tools, and ornaments) to travel thousands of miles to Tonga and then to other Polynesian islands, such as Easter Island and Hawaii. HUMAN EVOLUTION HUMAN EVOLUTION MODERN HUMANS AND PEOPLING OF THE GLOBE ANATOMICALLY MODERN HUMANS UPPER PALEOLITHIC BLADE TECHNOLOGY UPPER PALEOLITHIC BLADE TOOLS SOLUTREAN LAUREL LEAF POINT UPPER PALEOLITHIC PARIETAL ART UPPER PALEOLITHIC PARIETAL ART UPPER PALEOLITHIC PARIETAL ART VENUS FIGURINES BERINGIA CLOVIS FLUTED SPEARPOINT