October 1st 2019
The emergence and expansion of Modern Humans throughout the Old World
Pedro Horta
Humans as a species (Homo sapiens) appeared sometime in the middle late Pleistocene in Africa. The finds in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco have pushed the date of the emergence of modern humans as early as 300 000 years ago (Hublin et. al 2017). In that same moment the Old World was inhabited by several other species of hominins. Africa was populated by a mix of derivatives of Homo ergaster, Homo heildelbergensis and Homo naledi in the South. Western Eurasia was occupied by both Neanderthals and possibly other groups like Denisovans and Homo heildelbergensis. While Eastern Eurasia, was populated by both Denisovans and Homo erectus populations. From that moment onwards humans started to expand their territory throughout Africa and in soon after into Eurasia slowly replacing all species that populated these areas.
This replacement wasn’t sudden likely happened in waves as it took at least 260 thousand years for humans to be the only hominin species left on Earth. But how did this replacement happen? When did humans start moving into these territories? What made them thrive and what contact did they have with the inhabitants of these territories? Genetics show that to some extent these some of these species met and interbred. Furthermore, how different were these modern humans from the rest? From a biological, ecological and cultural point of view? What made humans different? This talk will aims explore these topics by taking into consideration the most current data available in the literature. It serves as a continuation of the previous talk (Modern Humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans) and will focus on the emergence and expansion of Homo sapiens as a species. From the earliest culture and finds through to the replacement of all other hominin species throughout the old World.
References
Hublin, J. et al. New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature 558, (2017).
Pedro Horta is a Paleolithic archaeologist interested in the evolution of hominin adaptation and migration strategies from the earliest stone tool industries to the more complex stone tools used by modern humans. He is currently a PhD student and a Research fellow at ICArEHB, University of Algarve, where he completed his MA and BA. His ongoing PhD project is generating new data on how bipolar stone tool strategies impacted the arrival and settlement of early modern humans in Europe through a combination of controlled experiments, 3D scanning software and stone tool analysis. He has excavated a number of Paleolithic sites in Europe and North Africa and is currently involved with projects in Southern Portugal (Vale Boi and Gruta da Companheira) and Bulgaria (Bacho Kiro). Both projects are focused on hominin adaptations just prior and after the arrival of modern humans in Europe, a subject which Horta has mainly focused and published on.
Pedro is a student at the University of the Algarve (UAlg) to whom the AAA has previously awarded a grant to talk about his archaeological research at a conference in Barcelona. The Estácio da Veiga Prize distinguishes, annually, the best MA dissertation work in Prehistory and Human Evolution (by a
Portuguese student or a foreign student in a Portuguese institution), within the scope of the disciplines of Archaeology, Anthropology, Primatology and Palaeoanthropology. The prize consists of the payment of tuition fees for the PhD in Archaeology at the University of Algarve.
Pedro won the 2019 prize with his thesis "Tecnologia e funcionalidade das peças esquiroladas do Paleolítico Superior de Vale Boi, Vila do Bispo", the main results of which have already been published in Volume 2 of the Journal of Palaeolithic Archaeology
(see the link https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41982-019-0022-5).
For his PhD, Pedro Horta will continue to study the role of bipolar lithic technology in the adaptation of the first Modern Humans in Europe.
This replacement wasn’t sudden likely happened in waves as it took at least 260 thousand years for humans to be the only hominin species left on Earth. But how did this replacement happen? When did humans start moving into these territories? What made them thrive and what contact did they have with the inhabitants of these territories? Genetics show that to some extent these some of these species met and interbred. Furthermore, how different were these modern humans from the rest? From a biological, ecological and cultural point of view? What made humans different? This talk will aims explore these topics by taking into consideration the most current data available in the literature. It serves as a continuation of the previous talk (Modern Humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans) and will focus on the emergence and expansion of Homo sapiens as a species. From the earliest culture and finds through to the replacement of all other hominin species throughout the old World.
References
Hublin, J. et al. New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature 558, (2017).
Pedro Horta is a Paleolithic archaeologist interested in the evolution of hominin adaptation and migration strategies from the earliest stone tool industries to the more complex stone tools used by modern humans. He is currently a PhD student and a Research fellow at ICArEHB, University of Algarve, where he completed his MA and BA. His ongoing PhD project is generating new data on how bipolar stone tool strategies impacted the arrival and settlement of early modern humans in Europe through a combination of controlled experiments, 3D scanning software and stone tool analysis. He has excavated a number of Paleolithic sites in Europe and North Africa and is currently involved with projects in Southern Portugal (Vale Boi and Gruta da Companheira) and Bulgaria (Bacho Kiro). Both projects are focused on hominin adaptations just prior and after the arrival of modern humans in Europe, a subject which Horta has mainly focused and published on.
Pedro is a student at the University of the Algarve (UAlg) to whom the AAA has previously awarded a grant to talk about his archaeological research at a conference in Barcelona. The Estácio da Veiga Prize distinguishes, annually, the best MA dissertation work in Prehistory and Human Evolution (by a
Portuguese student or a foreign student in a Portuguese institution), within the scope of the disciplines of Archaeology, Anthropology, Primatology and Palaeoanthropology. The prize consists of the payment of tuition fees for the PhD in Archaeology at the University of Algarve.
Pedro won the 2019 prize with his thesis "Tecnologia e funcionalidade das peças esquiroladas do Paleolítico Superior de Vale Boi, Vila do Bispo", the main results of which have already been published in Volume 2 of the Journal of Palaeolithic Archaeology
(see the link https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41982-019-0022-5).
For his PhD, Pedro Horta will continue to study the role of bipolar lithic technology in the adaptation of the first Modern Humans in Europe.
