Homo sapiens (100,000 years ago to present)
Species Description:
The modern form of Homo sapiens first appeared about100,000 years ago. This species is distinguished by large brain size, a foreheadthat rises sharply, eyebrow ridges that are very small, a prominent chin, andlighter bone structure than H. heidelbergensis.
Even in those 100,000 years, anatomical trends toward smallermolars and decreased bone mass can be seen in the Homo sapiens fossilrecord. For example, contemporary humans in Europe and Asia have bones that are20 to 30 percent thinner and lighter than those of upper Paleolithic humansdating from about 30,000 years ago.
About 40,000 years ago, with the appearance of the Cro-Magnonculture, tools became markedly more sophisticated, incorporating a wider varietyof raw materials such as bone and antler. They also included new implements formaking clothing, engravings, and sculptures. Fine artwork, in the form of decoratedtools, beads, ivory carvings of humans and animals, clay figurines, musicalinstruments, and cave paintings, appeared over the next 20,000 years.
| Fossil Finds: | |
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| Qafzeh IX This specimen is one of about 21 individuals found inQafzeh Cave. The skull and nearly complete skeleton that accompanied itbelonged to a male Homo sapiens who was about 20 years old whenhe died. It was found buried next to the remains of a small child. | |
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| Klasies River mouth The name of this find refers to the mouth of the KlasiesRiver where the fossils were found. This is the best-dated South Africanspecimen from the Upper Pleistocene. If all of these fossil fragments belongto H. sapiens, they demonstrate that early members of our speciesvaried in size more than contemporary humans. | |
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|  | Cro-Magnon 1 This specimen is a skull that is nearly identical to thatof a modern human. It came from a site that has yielded a half dozen skeletons,along with stone tools, carved reindeer antlers, ivory pendants, and shells. |
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| Evidence of Culture: | |
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| Aurignacian stone tools This technology consists of sharp-edged blade tools usedfor cutting and scraping. Homo sapiens employed a wide variety ofmaterials during this period, including stone, ivory, bone, and antler, tocreate knives, scrapers, and spear points. People also began using thesematerials to make non-utilitarian items, such as jewelry. | |
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| Magdalenian stone tools This technology produced the widest variety of toolsyet known, including bone needles, harpoons, and microliths (small blades1-3 cm). The people who employed the technology were reindeer huntersduring the last Ice Age. When the glaciers receded, the culture and theindustry dissipated. | |
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| Cro-Magnon culture Cro-Magnon people were nomadic hunter/gatherersand had elaborate rituals for hunting, birth, and death. Artifacts theyleft behind include carvings of people and animals. Symbolic representationthrough adornment of the dead also became more common during this period. | |
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|  | Chauvet cave art Chauvet Cave holds some of the oldest and most sophisticatedexamples of cave art in the world. The age and advanced nature of the paintingssuggest that carved and engraved objects did not necessarily precede paintedimages, as archaeologists once believed. |
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| Altamira cave paintings The paintings at Altamira in northern Spain are uniqueamong cave paintings in many ways. Artists employed many different colorsand often used facets of the rock to give their designs more dimension. Thetechnical skill of the Magdalenian people set the Altamira paintings apartfrom other early human art that has been found. | |
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