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Lecture 6 : The Palaeolithic Overview

Lecture 6 : The Palaeolithic Overview. OBJECTIVES SOURCES LOWER PALAEOLITHIC Early hominins Archaic hominins Pre-Modern Homo MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC Neanderthals ( Homo neanderthalensis ) Homo sapiens UPPER PALAEOLITHIC Dispersal. Objectives.

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Lecture 6 : The Palaeolithic Overview

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  1. Lecture 6 : The PalaeolithicOverview OBJECTIVES SOURCES LOWER PALAEOLITHIC • Early hominins • Archaic hominins • Pre-Modern Homo MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC • Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) • Homo sapiens UPPER PALAEOLITHIC • Dispersal

  2. Objectives There are two reasons for taking a historical approach: • To explore how changes in the nature of society in the past created new risks from infectious diseases. • To demonstrate how infectious diseases have influenced the course of history.

  3. Sources • Traditionally our understanding was based on archaeology, palaeontology, physical anthropology, etc. – studies of fossils, skeletal fragments, artefacts, etc. • This has been supplemented in recent years by genetic analysis of DNA. Two main types of study: • Analysis of fossil DNA • Analysis of modern populations • Two types of DNA especially important: • Mitochrondial mtDNA (female line) • Y chromosome Y-DNA (male line)

  4. Origins • The world is about 4.5 to 5 billion (i.e. 5,000 million) years old. • The ancestors of humans (hominins) split from apes. • Our nearest relatives are chimpanzees, from whom we split about 5-8 million years ago. • We split from gorillas about 9-11 million years ago. • Further back we split from the other great apes (e.g. orangutans), lesser apes (e.g. gibbons) and other primates (e.g. monkeys, baboons).

  5. Chimpanzee Gorilla Gibbon Orangutan

  6. Hominin Evolution • Fossil evidence suggests there were many branches and evolutionary dead-ends. • Possible hominins have been found dating back to 6-7 million years ago, but the oldest definite hominins (archaic hominins) date to about 4 million years. • The first hominins classed as belonging to our genus (pre-modern Homo) date to about 2 millions years ago. • Modern humans (Homo sapiens) only evolved about 200,000 years ago.

  7. Early And Archaic Hominins • Our ape-like ancestors descended from trees in Africa about 5-9 million years ago. • Australopithecus (‘southern ape’) is found in east and southern Africa from about 4 million years ago. • Australopithecus was confined to tropical and semi-tropical parts of Africa. • Australopithecus could stand upright and was bipedal. However, it could still climb trees. It may have used crude tools. • Australopithecus was succeeded by Paranthropus, which became extinct about 1 million years ago.

  8. Early And Archaic Hominins

  9. Pre-Modern Homo • Paranthropus overlapped with the first Homo which evolved down a different line. • Homo habilis evolved about 2.5 million years ago. Small in stature. • Homo ergaster is thought to have evolved from H. habilis. • Homo erectusevolved about 1.9 million years ago. Similar in size to modern humans. First to be found outside Africa in the Middle East. • Homo erectus is found in tropical Asia about 1 million years ago and in temperate parts of Asia and Europe by 500,000 years ago. Ate meat and may have become a hunter.

  10. Homo habilis Homo erectus Homo ergaster

  11. Pre-Modern Homo Sites

  12. Diseases Three major implications for diseases: • Descent from the trees – exposure to new vectors and agents. • Omnivorous diet – exposure to zoonoses. • Expansion into new regions – new zoonoses, but fewer helminths. Low population density and mobility provided protection against extinction.

  13. Neanderthals • H. neanderthalensis predominated in Europe and Middle East 200,000 to 30,000 years ago when they became extinct. • Neanderthals were quite advanced. They had large brains, and adapted to colder climates. • They buried their dead and hunted in groups. • They appear to have looked after their injured and may have even developed medicine.

  14. Neanderthal Man

  15. Neanderthal Sites

  16. Modern Homo Sapiens • Homo sapiens evolved around the same time in Africa. • Around 50,000 years ago they developed weapons which could be used to hunt large mammals. • They colonised the Near East by 90,000 BP and Western Europe by 40,000 BP (Cro-Magnon man). • Developed cave art (e.g. Lascaux, France). • Neanderthals disappeared shortly after emergence of Cro-Magnons.

  17. Dispersal • Species of big game became extinct in Africa around 50,000 BP – this may have prompted colonisation of Europe. • Australia was colonised 30,000-40,000 BP. Big game species disappeared around the same time. • Siberia was colonised about 20,000 BP. • North America and South America were colonised by 12,000 BC via Bering Straits and Alaska. Big game species became extinct around 11,000 BC.

  18. Sunda Sahul

  19. Health And Disease • Palaeolithic hunter gatherer societies had a balanced diet and probably enjoyed good health. • Population densities were low. This prevented many diseases becoming endemic. • Population numbers were kept in check by food supplies. • Life expectancy was probably around 40.

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