Post by zarahan on Aug 4, 2012 0:30:51 GMT -5
Classic article debunks numerous Eurocentric assertions on Africa,
human progress and evolution- Check out link for full article.
Long but well worth the read. 20-30 excerpts over
time to be posted. Subsequent studies such as Brace 2005
only confirm what the authors are saying. On count after
count (technology, symbolic thought, art, food
production, the epoch-making influence of fire,
etc) the authors document that innovations
flowed from and are centered in Africa, not the
inflated "revolution" claimed by assorted Eurocentrists.
-------------------------------------------------------
The revolution that wasn’t: a new interpretation of the origin of
modern human behavior
McBrearty and Brooks
Journal of Human Evolution (2000) 39, 453–563
-------------------------------------------------------------
Proponents of the model known as the ‘‘human revolution’’ claim
that modern human behaviors arose suddenly, and nearly simultaneously,
throughout the OldWorld ca. 40–50 ka. This fundamental
behavioral shift is purported to signal a cognitive advance, a possible
reorganization of the brain, and the origin of language. Because the
earliest modern human fossils, Homo sapiens sensu stricto, are found in
Africa and the adjacent region of the Levant at >100 ka, the ‘‘human
revolution’’ model creates a time lag between the appearance of
anatomical modernity and perceived behavioral modernity, and
creates the impression that the earliest modern Africans were behaviorally
primitive. This view of events stems from a profound Eurocentric
bias and a failure to appreciate the depth and breadth of the
African archaeological record. In fact, many of the components of
the ‘‘human revolution’’ claimed to appear at 40–50 ka are found in
the African Middle Stone Age tens of thousands of years earlier.
These features include blade and microlithic technology, bone tools,
increased geographic range, specialized hunting, the use of aquatic
resources, long distance trade, systematic processing and use of
pigment, and art and decoration. These items do not occur suddenly
together as predicted by the ‘‘human revolution’’ model, but at sites
that are widely separated in space and time. This suggests a gradual
assembling of the package of modern human behaviors in Africa, and
its later export to other regions of the OldWorld. The African Middle
and early Late Pleistocene hominid fossil record is fairly continuous
and in it can be recognized a number of probably distinct species that
provide plausible ancestors for H. sapiens. The appearance of Middle
Stone Age technology and the first signs of modern behavior coincide
with the appearance of fossils that have been attributed to H. helmei,
suggesting the behavior of H. helmei is distinct from that of earlier
hominid species and quite similar to that of modern people. If on
anatomical and behavioral grounds H. helmei is sunk into H. sapiens,
the origin of our species is linked with the appearance of Middle
Stone Age technology at 250–300 ka.
2000 Academic Press
LINK- full article:
www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/mcbrearty/Pdf/McB%20&%20Brooks%202000%20TRTW.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPT 1:
The earliest modern Europeans were Africans
Who were the earliest modern Europeans? It
is becoming increasingly difficult to deny
that they were Africans. Although the
‘‘mitochondrial Eve’’ hypothesis, first
articulated by Cann et al. (1987), has been
revised in light of criticism (Templeton,
1992; Hedges et al., 1992; Ayala, 1995), and
population size and structure have effects on
the distribution of genetic characters that
were not taken into account in early reconstructions
(Harpending et al., 1993, 1998;
Sherry et al., 1994; Relethford, 1995;
Relethford & Harpending, 1995), genetic
data either directly support or are consistent
with an African origin for modern humans
(Wainscoat et al., 1986; Cann, 1988;
Stringer & Andrews, 1988; Vigilant et al.,
1991; Stoneking, 1993; Stoneking et al.,
1993; Relethford & Harpending, 1994;
Ayala, 1995; Nei, 1995; Goldstein, 1995;
Tishkoff et al., 1996; Ruvolo, 1996, 1997;
Irish, 1998; Pfeiffer, 1998; Zietkiweicz et al.,
1997; Pritchard et al., 1999; Quintana-
Murci, 1999; Relethford & Jorde, 1999;
Tishkoff et al., 2000; see Relethford, 1998
and Jorde et al., 1998 for recent reviews).
As Howell (1994:306) observes, ‘‘The
phylogenetic roots of modern humans are
demonstrably in the Middle Pleistocene.
The distribution of those antecedent
populations appear to lie outside of western
and eastern Eurasia, and more probably
centered broadly on Africa.’’1
The fossil evidence for an African origin
for modern humans is robust. It is clear that
modern humans (H. sapiens sensu stricto)
were certainly present in Africa by 130 ka
(Day & Stringer, 1982; Deacon, 1989), and
perhaps as early as 190 ka if specimens
such as Singa are considered modern
(McDermott et al., 1996; Stringer, 1996).
Modern humans do not appear in Europe or
Central Asia before ca. 40 ka; earliest dates
for the Levant range between ca. 80 ka and
120 ka (Day, 1969, 1972; Day & Springer,
1982, 1991; Stringer, 1989, 1992;
McBrearty, 1990b; Stringer et al., 1989;
Bra¨uer, 1984a,b, 1989; Stringer & Andrews,
1988; Valladas et al., 1988; Gru¨n &
Stringer, 1991; Miller et al., 1991; Foley &
Lahr, 1992; Mercier et al., 1993; Deacon,
1993b; Brooks et al., 1993a,b; Stringer,
1993a; Schwarcz, 1994; Straus, 1994;
Bar-Yosef, 1994, 1995a, 1998; but see
Howells, 1989). Recent evidence suggests
that modern humans were present in
Australia as early as 62 ka (Stringer, 1999;
Thorne et al., 1999).
Although some, notably Bra¨uer (1984a,b,
1989), favor a scenario involving some interbreeding
among Neanderthal and modern
human populations, the successful extraction
and analysis of fragmentary mitochondrial
DNA (mtDNA) from both the
Neanderthal type fossil (Krings et al., 1997,
1999) and additional material from the
northern Caucasus (Ovchinnikov et al.,
2000) appears to remove the Neanderthals
from modern human ancestry.
Body proportions of early European H. sapiens fossils
suggest a tropical adaptation and support an
African origin (Holliday & Trinkaus, 1991;
Ruff, 1994; Pearson, 1997, 2000; Holliday,
1997, 1998, 2000). A single migration or
population bottleneck was originally envisaged
in the ‘‘African Eve hypothesis’’ (Cann
et al., 1987), but a succession of population
dispersals, subsequent isolation induced by
climatic events and local adaptation may
better account for the complexity of the
1. The Middle to Late Pleistocene boundary is the
beginning of the last interglacial, at approximately
130 ka; the base of the Middle Pleistocene is the shift
from reversed to normal magnetic polarity at the
Matuyama–Brunhes boundary, dated to about 780 ka
(Butzer & Isaac, 1975; Imbrie & Imbrie, 1980; Berger
et al., 1984; Martinson et al., 1987; Shackleton et al.,
1990; Deino & Potts, 1990; Cande & Kent, 1992;
Baksi et al., 1992; Tauxe et al., 1992). Further evidence
may confirm recent suggestions (Schneider et al., 1992;
Singer & Pringle, 1996; Hou et al., 2000) that the age
of this geomagnetic polarity reversal be revised to
ca. 790 ka. fossil record and the genetic composition of
present human populations (Howells, 1976,
1989, 1993; Boaz et al., 1982; Foley & Lahr,
1992; Lahr & Foley, 1994, 1998; Ambrose,
1998b).
It can be deduced from the archaeological
evidence that on a continent-wide scale the
African record differs markedly from that
of Europe in its degree of population continuity.
While parts of Africa, such as the
Sahara or the interior of the Cape Province
of South Africa, do appear to have experienced
interruptions in human settlement
during glacial maxima (Deacon &
Thackeray, 1984; Williams, 1984; Butzer,
1988b; Brooks & Robertshaw, 1990;
Mitchell, 1990), climatic reconstructions
suggest that the contiguous expanse of
steppe, savanna and woodland biomes available
for human occupation, especially in the
tropical regions of the continent, was always
substantially larger than the comparable
regions in Europe. Perhaps as a result,
hominid populations in Africa, while probably
widely dispersed, appear to have
been consistently larger (Relethford &
Harpending, 1995; Jorde et al., 1998;
Relethford & Jorde, 1999; Tishkoff et al.,
2000).
human progress and evolution- Check out link for full article.
Long but well worth the read. 20-30 excerpts over
time to be posted. Subsequent studies such as Brace 2005
only confirm what the authors are saying. On count after
count (technology, symbolic thought, art, food
production, the epoch-making influence of fire,
etc) the authors document that innovations
flowed from and are centered in Africa, not the
inflated "revolution" claimed by assorted Eurocentrists.
-------------------------------------------------------
The revolution that wasn’t: a new interpretation of the origin of
modern human behavior
McBrearty and Brooks
Journal of Human Evolution (2000) 39, 453–563
-------------------------------------------------------------
Proponents of the model known as the ‘‘human revolution’’ claim
that modern human behaviors arose suddenly, and nearly simultaneously,
throughout the OldWorld ca. 40–50 ka. This fundamental
behavioral shift is purported to signal a cognitive advance, a possible
reorganization of the brain, and the origin of language. Because the
earliest modern human fossils, Homo sapiens sensu stricto, are found in
Africa and the adjacent region of the Levant at >100 ka, the ‘‘human
revolution’’ model creates a time lag between the appearance of
anatomical modernity and perceived behavioral modernity, and
creates the impression that the earliest modern Africans were behaviorally
primitive. This view of events stems from a profound Eurocentric
bias and a failure to appreciate the depth and breadth of the
African archaeological record. In fact, many of the components of
the ‘‘human revolution’’ claimed to appear at 40–50 ka are found in
the African Middle Stone Age tens of thousands of years earlier.
These features include blade and microlithic technology, bone tools,
increased geographic range, specialized hunting, the use of aquatic
resources, long distance trade, systematic processing and use of
pigment, and art and decoration. These items do not occur suddenly
together as predicted by the ‘‘human revolution’’ model, but at sites
that are widely separated in space and time. This suggests a gradual
assembling of the package of modern human behaviors in Africa, and
its later export to other regions of the OldWorld. The African Middle
and early Late Pleistocene hominid fossil record is fairly continuous
and in it can be recognized a number of probably distinct species that
provide plausible ancestors for H. sapiens. The appearance of Middle
Stone Age technology and the first signs of modern behavior coincide
with the appearance of fossils that have been attributed to H. helmei,
suggesting the behavior of H. helmei is distinct from that of earlier
hominid species and quite similar to that of modern people. If on
anatomical and behavioral grounds H. helmei is sunk into H. sapiens,
the origin of our species is linked with the appearance of Middle
Stone Age technology at 250–300 ka.
2000 Academic Press
LINK- full article:
www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/mcbrearty/Pdf/McB%20&%20Brooks%202000%20TRTW.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPT 1:
The earliest modern Europeans were Africans
Who were the earliest modern Europeans? It
is becoming increasingly difficult to deny
that they were Africans. Although the
‘‘mitochondrial Eve’’ hypothesis, first
articulated by Cann et al. (1987), has been
revised in light of criticism (Templeton,
1992; Hedges et al., 1992; Ayala, 1995), and
population size and structure have effects on
the distribution of genetic characters that
were not taken into account in early reconstructions
(Harpending et al., 1993, 1998;
Sherry et al., 1994; Relethford, 1995;
Relethford & Harpending, 1995), genetic
data either directly support or are consistent
with an African origin for modern humans
(Wainscoat et al., 1986; Cann, 1988;
Stringer & Andrews, 1988; Vigilant et al.,
1991; Stoneking, 1993; Stoneking et al.,
1993; Relethford & Harpending, 1994;
Ayala, 1995; Nei, 1995; Goldstein, 1995;
Tishkoff et al., 1996; Ruvolo, 1996, 1997;
Irish, 1998; Pfeiffer, 1998; Zietkiweicz et al.,
1997; Pritchard et al., 1999; Quintana-
Murci, 1999; Relethford & Jorde, 1999;
Tishkoff et al., 2000; see Relethford, 1998
and Jorde et al., 1998 for recent reviews).
As Howell (1994:306) observes, ‘‘The
phylogenetic roots of modern humans are
demonstrably in the Middle Pleistocene.
The distribution of those antecedent
populations appear to lie outside of western
and eastern Eurasia, and more probably
centered broadly on Africa.’’1
The fossil evidence for an African origin
for modern humans is robust. It is clear that
modern humans (H. sapiens sensu stricto)
were certainly present in Africa by 130 ka
(Day & Stringer, 1982; Deacon, 1989), and
perhaps as early as 190 ka if specimens
such as Singa are considered modern
(McDermott et al., 1996; Stringer, 1996).
Modern humans do not appear in Europe or
Central Asia before ca. 40 ka; earliest dates
for the Levant range between ca. 80 ka and
120 ka (Day, 1969, 1972; Day & Springer,
1982, 1991; Stringer, 1989, 1992;
McBrearty, 1990b; Stringer et al., 1989;
Bra¨uer, 1984a,b, 1989; Stringer & Andrews,
1988; Valladas et al., 1988; Gru¨n &
Stringer, 1991; Miller et al., 1991; Foley &
Lahr, 1992; Mercier et al., 1993; Deacon,
1993b; Brooks et al., 1993a,b; Stringer,
1993a; Schwarcz, 1994; Straus, 1994;
Bar-Yosef, 1994, 1995a, 1998; but see
Howells, 1989). Recent evidence suggests
that modern humans were present in
Australia as early as 62 ka (Stringer, 1999;
Thorne et al., 1999).
Although some, notably Bra¨uer (1984a,b,
1989), favor a scenario involving some interbreeding
among Neanderthal and modern
human populations, the successful extraction
and analysis of fragmentary mitochondrial
DNA (mtDNA) from both the
Neanderthal type fossil (Krings et al., 1997,
1999) and additional material from the
northern Caucasus (Ovchinnikov et al.,
2000) appears to remove the Neanderthals
from modern human ancestry.
Body proportions of early European H. sapiens fossils
suggest a tropical adaptation and support an
African origin (Holliday & Trinkaus, 1991;
Ruff, 1994; Pearson, 1997, 2000; Holliday,
1997, 1998, 2000). A single migration or
population bottleneck was originally envisaged
in the ‘‘African Eve hypothesis’’ (Cann
et al., 1987), but a succession of population
dispersals, subsequent isolation induced by
climatic events and local adaptation may
better account for the complexity of the
1. The Middle to Late Pleistocene boundary is the
beginning of the last interglacial, at approximately
130 ka; the base of the Middle Pleistocene is the shift
from reversed to normal magnetic polarity at the
Matuyama–Brunhes boundary, dated to about 780 ka
(Butzer & Isaac, 1975; Imbrie & Imbrie, 1980; Berger
et al., 1984; Martinson et al., 1987; Shackleton et al.,
1990; Deino & Potts, 1990; Cande & Kent, 1992;
Baksi et al., 1992; Tauxe et al., 1992). Further evidence
may confirm recent suggestions (Schneider et al., 1992;
Singer & Pringle, 1996; Hou et al., 2000) that the age
of this geomagnetic polarity reversal be revised to
ca. 790 ka. fossil record and the genetic composition of
present human populations (Howells, 1976,
1989, 1993; Boaz et al., 1982; Foley & Lahr,
1992; Lahr & Foley, 1994, 1998; Ambrose,
1998b).
It can be deduced from the archaeological
evidence that on a continent-wide scale the
African record differs markedly from that
of Europe in its degree of population continuity.
While parts of Africa, such as the
Sahara or the interior of the Cape Province
of South Africa, do appear to have experienced
interruptions in human settlement
during glacial maxima (Deacon &
Thackeray, 1984; Williams, 1984; Butzer,
1988b; Brooks & Robertshaw, 1990;
Mitchell, 1990), climatic reconstructions
suggest that the contiguous expanse of
steppe, savanna and woodland biomes available
for human occupation, especially in the
tropical regions of the continent, was always
substantially larger than the comparable
regions in Europe. Perhaps as a result,
hominid populations in Africa, while probably
widely dispersed, appear to have
been consistently larger (Relethford &
Harpending, 1995; Jorde et al., 1998;
Relethford & Jorde, 1999; Tishkoff et al.,
2000).
