Widdekind

2.5 Mya an australopithecus ("bipedal chimpanzee") in east africa created the first shaped stone tool on earth, when he placed a piece of bone, on top of an "anvil stone", picked up a "hammer stone", and smashed the latter down onto the former. Missing the bone, he broke the stone instead, somehow noticed the utility of the sharp edge, and started a revolution in stone tool technology. The simple Oldowan stone tools were mono-facial, with an anvil-cum-core-stone being struck once, to produce a single-sided edge. The Oldowan tool makers evolved into the first hominids (homo habilis & homo erectus). About 2 Mya, homo erectus began capturing, controlling, and eventually creating, fire. By 1.8 Mya, homo erectus carried Oldowan tools to east Asia, and to Europe by 1.0 Mya. Marginal bands of homo erectus continued making Oldowan scrapers until after 0.5 Mya.

Meanwhile, back in east Africa, then the hub of hominid high-technology, innovating homo erectus improved on the older stone tools, by crafting bi-facial scrapers, whose edges were twice flaked from both front & back. The new-and-improved Achulean tools appeared 1.7 Mya, and gradually replaced the older tool tradition, first across Africa, and then across Europe, by 0.5 Mya.

Then, about 0.4 Mya, an Achulean group of homo erectus in Britain innovated a new technique for creating scrapers, by flaking them off around the rim of a core, which then became a chopper. This new Clactonian culture plausibly evolved into Neanderthals, who by about 0.3 Mya had developed the prepared core Levallois technique, vaguely similar to the Clactonian technique, but crafting the shaped core into a spear-point, instead of a hand chopper. The older Clactonian & younger Mousterian cultures plausibly hafted their points onto shafts -- if so, then Neanderthals may have crafted the first hafted-tools on earth. By 0.1 Mya, the Mousterian Neanderthals had expanded across Europe, and across North Africa.

Meanwhile, back in east Africa, emerging modern humans continued employing the Achulean tools. Before 0.1 Mya, humans had added bone & antler picks to their toolkits, thereafter called Sangoan. Then about 0.1 Mya, humans plausibly encountered expanding populations of Neanderthals, aping their then-advanced Mousterian tools. Imitation-Mousterian "Mousteroid" tools were used by humans until the Upper Paleolithic Revolution about fifty thousand years ago, which combined bone & stone into a vast & versatile toolkit, with which humans expanded out of Africa.




reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synopti...toric_cultures

caldrail

It seems unlikely that neanderthals evolved in Britain, bearing in mind that during the Ice Ages Britain was not an island but part of the european continent, with the floor of the North Sea forming a tundra plain known to paleontologists as 'Dogger Land'. Britain was in fact sparsely populated during these ice ages and usually only along the coast or river valleys until the warming period after, and for long periods, there were no human populations in Britain at all.

Widdekind

Clactonian technology, transitional between Achulean & Mousterian, is known from Britain, about 400 Kya. According to archaeology, "proto-Neanderthals" employing "proto-Mousterian" technology first emerged in Britain, about 400 Kya. And, according to mtDNA, Neanderthals & humans last shared a common ancestor about 450 Kya. Thus, a consistent & plausible picture emerges, namely that Achulean late-type homo erectus (homo heidelburgensis) had spread across Africa, and then across Europe, by about 500 Kya. Then, in Europe, a group of "Achuleans" developed prepared core flint-knapping, thereby becoming the "proto-Mousterian" Clactonian culture, of "proto-Neanderthals", who gradually diverged evolutionarily & culturally (and linguistically?) into Mousterian-culture Neanderthals, as they spread across Europe & central Asia, and then across North Africa, by about 100 Kya -- when & where they encountered early modern humans, still employing Achulean stone tools, along with home-grown bone & antler picks. Early modern humans aped the Neanderthal "high-technology", combining it with bone & antler technology, into the Upper Paleolithic Revolution about 50 Kya -- about when genetic Adam lived, and about where-from fully modern humans emerged from Africa.

Summary:
in Europe (Britain?), Achuleans --> Clactonians --> Mousterians from 500-300 Kya, as European Neanderthals diverged evolutionarily from ancestral proto-humans.

caldrail

My point is that whilst certain remains have been found in Britain, that does not necessarily mean the remains are especially significant other than they've been found.

As for modern humans 'aping superior neanderthal technology', I will need to be convinced of that. The wave of migrants from eastern europe/asia minor were succesful in their own right and more or less swept neanderthals aside, although since we share something like 1-4% DNA with neanderthals according to recent studies, clearly some interbreeding went on in small numbers and isolated areas.

Widdekind

Genetic Eve was the first artist on earth ?

Genetic Eve lived 200 Kya in east Africa. From 200-100 Kya, her "L-clan" (L0,L1 mtDNA lineages) gradually spread across Africa, displacing all other then-extant female lineages. Given the common culture of women marrying out of their own groups, and into those of their husbands, Eve's "genetic takeover" suggests that her daughters were "bewitchingly" attractive, gradually displacing all others, over the ages.

Now, about the same time, early modern humans began employing pigments to decorate & ornament themselves, their caves, and/or their belongings. For example, ancient pigments from Zambia are a quarter million years old. By 70 Kya, some stylized decorative symbols are preserved in African caves, and by 30 Kya diverse symbols adorn caves in Europe.

Thus, the "genetic takeover" of Genetic Eve's "L-clan" coincides with the increasing adoption of decoration, ornamentation, and symbolism. Ipso facto, Eve's lineage was the first on earth to manifest art & symbolism. If so, then her lineage's "home decoration" in African caves amounts to a "territorial graffiti" marking the expansion of her clan, and her clan's artistic culture, plausibly handed down mothers-to-daughters. The earliest pigments may have been the earliest "makeup kits".

Widdekind

humans evolved from walking & carrying primates

From 6-4 Mya, some "chimpanoids" (LCA of chimps & humans) emerged from the rain-forests of central Africa, into the broken woodlands of the Great Rift Valley spanning the length of eastern Africa

They adapted to the new environment, evolving into the ardipithecenes, who could be called "waddling chimps". With increasing capability to walk upright, they could carry food & tools in their arms, across longer distances than their contemporary chimpanzees, back in the central African rain-forests. Carrying capability was apparently an asset, perhaps for acquiring & sharing calories:

By 4 Mya, ardipithecenes had evolved full bipedality, becoming australopithecenes, who could be called "walking chimps", like Lucy.

They expanded & diversified across sub-Saharan Africa by 3 Mya, when some of the "walkers" specialized into robust forms feeding on tough tubers; and gracile forms who began scavenging carrion, breaking open bones by modifying the common "chimpanoid" nut-cracking technique, of pounding nuts between a hand-held hammer-stone, and an anvil stone. After a quarter million years, of breaking open bones between stones, one such "walker", who could be called "rock breaker", broke an anvil stone, creating the first sharp-edged stone tool on earth (which he/she immediately employed in scraping scraps off the bones before him/her?). Their Oldowan culture, of Mode 1 pebble-core tools, expanded across Africa, and on into Asia (1.8 Mya), and then on into Europe (1.0 Mya). Marginal bands of Oldowans existed until 0.5 Mya. Mode 1 "scrapers" would have helped in scraping scraps off of carcasses already abandoned by other predators -- who apparently preyed upon early hominids:

Meanwhile, as the gracile "walkers" evolved into our early hominids, the robust "walkers" became increasingly marginalized, finally going extinct more than a million years ago. And, back in east Africa, some early hominids improved upon their already ancient tool tradition. By using larger rocks, and chipping off more flakes, they created the first large "choppers" 1.8 Mya. Their Achulean culture, of Mode 2 tools, expanded across Africa, and on into the Middle East (a million years ago), and then on across Europe (a half million years ago). Mode 2 "choppers" would have helped butcher fresh carcasses, puncturing through thick hide, and slicing meat off bones. Indeed, other predators apparently increasingly competed for carcasses (and caves), implying that Achuleans were becoming primary scavengers, or perhaps even hunters (and were capable of driving away other predators):

By a million years ago, Oldowan & Achulean hominids had displaced the last robust australopithecines marginalized in Africa. By half a million years ago, Achuleans had displaced the last Oldowans everywhere except eastern Asia. Achuleans, who may have inhabited the Middle East a million years ago, may have innovated fire-starting, where the earliest convincing evidence of controlled fire dates to 0.8 Mya in Israel.

From a half million years ago, Achuleans in Europe diverged, evolving & adapting to their new northern climate. Their lineage evolved into heidelbergensis (0.5-0.3 Mya), and then into neanderthals (0.3-0.03 Mya), "neanderthal-izing" as neanderthal features became increasingly prominent (e.g. increasing brain size). From 0.4-0.3 Mya, heidelbergenses in Britain pioneered prepared-core flint-knapping techniques. By 0.3 Mya, their transitional Clactonian technology had become the full-fledged Mousterian Mode 3 toolkit. Neanderthals spread their Mousterian culture back across Europe, and then across northern Africa, by 0.1 Mya. For nearly a quarter million years, neanderthals may have had the biggest brains of all primates, and wielded the most advanced stone tool technology, on earth.

Meanwhile, back in eastern Africa, Achuleans resembling modern Australian aborigines (e.g. Herto man) evolved into the earliest modern humans 0.2 Mya.

Then, a new culture of symbolic art, and ritualistic behavior (e.g. burial of dead), gradually spread along the Great Rift Valley, and across sub-Saharan Africa, by 0.1 Mya, by which time humans had added bone & antler picks to their toolkit. The expanding "Shaman culture" -- ultimately characterized by belief in "Spirits" capable of guiding & protecting people & influencing their terrestrial environment -- corresponds with the expansion of Genetic Eve's L-clan lineages.

By 0.1 Mya, plausibly due to contact with expanding neanderthal populations, humans had imitated their Mousterian Mode 3 stone tools. Then, about 0.06 Mya, humans improved upon their Mousteroid toolkit, creating a vast & versatile toolkit, with which they soon expanded out of Africa. The emergence of the "Revolutionary" upper paleolithic toolkit, corresponds to Genetic Adam, who lived in east Africa about that time, and is most directly reflected, in modern San bushmen.

References:
Haywood. Gods & Beliefs.
Haywood. Historical Atlas of the Ancient World.
DK History: the definitive visual guide.
Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History.

Genographic Project

Widdekind

schematic chart of human evolution & expansion

About 3 Mya, "walking chimps" (australopitheces), living in the mixed woodlands/savannah environment of the Great Rift Valley in east Africa, adapted their chimpanzee nut-smashing skill, to breaking bones, thereby acquiring the marrow in the middle. For a quarter million years, "bone breakers" expanded across Africa, gradually marginalizing other "walking chimps" into specialized niches relying on tough tubers (robust australopithecenes). Then, 2.7 Mya, one of the "bone breakers" broke their round river-cobble hammer-stone, creating a cracked rock with a sharp cutting edge. For over two million years, those "bone & stone breakers" grew in size, and expanded their populations across Africa, then across Asia, then across Europe. Meanwhile, after a million years (1.7 Mya), back in eastern Africa, one of the "stone breakers" grabbed a bigger rock, chipped off more flakes, and produced the first large hand-axe "chopper" -- implying that the evolving early hominids had begun consuming fresh carcasses, plausibly as primary scavengers, perhaps as hunters. The hominids gradually expanded across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, by a half million years ago, learning to start fires along the way. The hominids in Europe diverged into their own evolving lineage (heidelbergensis, neanderthals), as they developed Mode 3 tools. For over a hundred thousand years, the neanderthals were apparently the biggest-brained, and most advanced, hominids on earth, expanding across Europe and northern Africa. But a quarter million years ago, a group of hominids in eastern Africa began developing an increasing sense of symbolism & spirituality, coinciding with the expansion of Genetic Eve's lineages across Africa. They adopted neanderthal technology, eventually improving upon the same, and expanded across Africa, and around the world, coinciding with the expansion of Genetic Adam's lineages:

caldrail

You keep saying this. On what basis do you claim neandrthals had superior technology, which in my view is stretching the phrase to the point of absurdity. Tool use perhaps, but 'technology'? There's very little we can claim is technical about stone age culture. In any case I see no authorative evidence that Neanderthals were superior tool users and since they were already in decline when other human species swept them aside (or bedded them) I would have to say superior technology certainly wasn't responsible for the success of their successors.

Widdekind

According to Wikipedia, "Mode 3" technology evolved in Europe about 300 Kya, and was associated first with neanderthals, who expanded across Europe & northern Africa. Only about 100 Kya did early modern humans, in eastern Africa, adopt "imitation Mousterian" technology -- plausibly from contact with expanding neanderthal populations in northern Africa.

Logically, M3 technology only evolved one time, in one place; and, anybody else who wound up with M3 technology must, most plausibly, have borrowed & adopted the same. Do you deny that European hominids were the first to field M3 technology ? If so, then -- barring simultaneous evolution of exactly the same flint-knapping technique in two places on earth -- neanderthals invented M3 "prepared-core" techniques about 300 Kya, and early humans only later adopted the same, from some sort of cultural contact, in Africa, where they both lived (neanderthals in the north along the Mediterranean coast, humans in the east & south, along the Great Rift Valley system). Apparently, humans adopted, and then eventually adapted & improved, neanderthal-derived M3 technology. That "technology revolution" is the UPR, conventionally about 50 Kya, about the time of Genetic Adam.

caldrail

Firstly, as useful as the website is, Wikipedia is not the last word in accurate information.

Secondly, the phrase 'M3 Technology' is meaningless to me. I suspect it doesn't mean that much to you other than a handy phrase with which to bamboozle me.

Thirdly, the word 'technology' is supposed to mean something derived from science, which I cannot apply to neanderthals in any way. Now whilst archaeologists feel the need to categorise levels of advancement, in what way is M3 a significant advance over M2?

Fourthly - I don't see any evidence that this M3 technology was picked up by the migrants. neanderthals were unlikely to hold classes in M3 Technology leading to diplomas in exploration, cave decorating, big game hunting, nuts and berries of lowland Europe, or indeed any academic discipline. Apart from being slightly facetious, my point is that the communication of technique requires time, effort, and cooperation which seems somewhat lacking in the migratory period overall.

Fifth - it is entirely plausaible that flint knapping was advanced in technique in two places quite seperately. Since certain techniques would seem to work better, it would be only a matter of time before someone found them and communicated those skills to their peers.

Sixth - Your whole idea about moving 'technology' as a unique package is one derived from assumption and parallel with the modern world where techniology is sufficiently diverse to be compartmental and taught as such.