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
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.