The Origins of Modern Humans (180¸000 to 150¸000 years ago
Homo sapiens sapiens means the “wise person.” We are the clever people¸ capable of subtlety¸ of manipulation¸ of self–understanding. What is it that separates us from earlier humans¸ us from earlier humans¸ scientists wonder? First and foremost must be our ability to speak fluently and articulately. We communicate¸ we tell stories¸ we pass on knowledge and ideas¸ all through the medium of language. Consciousness¸ cognition¸ self–awareness¸ foresight¸ and the ability to express oneself oneself and one´s emotions– these are direct consequences of fluent speech. They can be linked with another attribute of the fully fledged human psyche¦ the capacity for symbolic and spiritual thought¸ concerned not only with subsistence and technology¸ but also with the boundaries of existence and the relationships among the individual¸ the group¸ and the universe.
Fluent speech¸ the full flowering of human creativity expressed in art and religion¸ expert toolmaking–these are some of the hallmarks of Homo sapiens sapiens. With these abilities humankind eventually colonized not temperate and tropic environments but the entire globe. With the appearance of modern humans we begin the study of people anatomically identical to ourselves¸ people with the same intellectual potential as our own.
For hundreds of thousands of years¸ both Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens survived and evolved with the aid of multiple intelligence´s¸ separated by walls analogous to those dividing the chapels of a Medieval cathedral. As archaeologist Steven Mithen says¸ the thoughts in one chapel could barely be heard in another. Archaic humans lacked one vital component of the modern mind¦ cognitive flexibility¸ the ability to bridge the walls between their many intelligence´s. Such flexibility appears to have been the prerogative of modern humans¸ Homo sapiens sapiens. The controversies surrounding the origins of modern humanity¸ of ourselves¸ rank among the most vigorous in archeology.
Continuity or Replacement?
Over generations of debate¸ two major¸ and dimaetrically opposed¸ hypotheses have developed to explain the origins of modern humans
1) The so–called candelabra (or multiregional) model hypothesizes that Homo erectus populations throughout the Old World evolved independently¸ first to archaic Homo sapiens¸ then to fully modern humans. This continuity model argues for multiple origins of Homo sapiens and no migrations later than those of Homo erectus. Thus¸ modern geographic populations have been separated from one another for a long time¸ perhaps for nearly 2 million years. Under this scenario¸ continuous gene flow within the group meant that highly adaptive¸ novel anatomical features spread rapidly¸ thereby keeping all human populations¸ even if some evolved into fully modern humans before others.
2)The Out–of–Africa model take the diametrically opposite view. According to it¸ Homo sapiens evolved in one place¸ then spread to all parts of the Old World. This model¸ which assumes population movements from a single point of origin¸ implies that modern geographic populations have shallow roots and were derived from a single source in relatively recent times.
These two models represent extremes¸ which pit anatomical continuity against those who favor rapid replacement of archaic populations. Until recently¸ most anthropologists favored the multiregional model¸ as both human artifacts and fossil finds¸ from Europe and southwestern Asia appeared to document slow biological and cultural change over long periods of time. Today¸ however¸ a torrent of new discoveries has shown that archaic human populations displayed great variation and were morphologically more different from anatomically modern humans than once suspected. Advocates of the multiregional model rely heavily on anatomical traits from surviving fossils to argue their case¸ whereas out–of–Africa supporters make use not only of fossils but of genetics¸ an approach their opponents regard as highly controversial. The debate continues¸ despite a lack of new fossils¸ and is likely to continue for generations as both new discoveries and more refined genetic researches radically alter our knowledge of archaic Homo sapiens and its contemporaries and successors.
