Archaic H. sapiens Zambia Modern H. sapiens Ethiopia

160,000 ybp300,000 ybp

Earliest modern humans

Africa: c. 200,000 ybpAsia: c. 90,000 ybpEurope: c. 35,000 ybp

90,000 ybp

Klasies River Mouth CaveSouth Africa

chin

Early modern humans more robust than present populations fromthe same regions

Zhoukoudian, China29,000 ybp

Lothagam, Kenya9,000 ybp

Cro Magnon, France30,000 ybp

No trace of Neandertal features

ModernCroatian

Neandertal;

But, Neandertal features in other populations of modern humans

Chauvet Cave, France: c. 20,000 ybp

Evolution in isolation

Homo floresiensis ?

Dwarfism and Gigantism on Islands

• Not universal but fairly common• Natural selection

– Dwarfism: food energy constraint– Gigantism: availability of large prey

Gigantism: Komodo Dragons

StegodonFlores dwarfEst. 800 pounds

Dwarfism

Liang Bua cave

Specialized tools, possibly hafted

Note Small size

2003 Skeleton Discovery

• Unearthed a skull, jaw, pelvis, and leg bones.• Bones from an adult female.• Homo erectus-like features (sloping forehead, arched

brow ridges, but much smaller.• Smallest brain of genus Homo

– 1/3 size of modern humans.• Specimen was radiocarbon and luminescence dated

at about 18,000 years old.

Two dating methods: 35,000 – 18,000 ybp

Brain smallerthan that of smallestAustralopithcines

380-420 cc

Homo floresiensis reported in 2004

c 3 ft tallc. 55 lbs.

Did H. floresiensis interact with H. sapiens?

• Modern humans arrived in Borneo roughly 43,000 years ago

• Liang Bua site in Flores was buried by a volcano 11,000 years ago.

• 20,000 years of possible co-existence.