Since Three Million Years Ago

Recently I discussed the evolution of pre-human primates, bringing the story up until about 3 million years ago.

Today, I'll say something about the timeline since then.

Three million years ago the most human-like species around was the australopithecus (southern apes). There has been a lot of focus in recent years on Australopithecus Afarensis. Afarensis had a variegated diet, adapted it seems to plants both of the forest and the savanna. It likely ate meat too, judging from the stone tools it had available.

The heel bone was adapted for bipedality.

Did the afarensis give rise to homo-something-or-other? The transition, if there was one, is difficult to pin down, but the two species have a close relationship of some sort. An abstract from a paleontological paper written in 2015, concerning the discovery of a partial mandible with teeth from circa 2.8 MYA, reads in part: "This specimen combines primitive traits seen in early Australopithecus with derived morphology observed in later Homo, confirming that dentognathic departures from the australopith pattern occurred early in the Homo lineage. The Ledi-Geraru discovery has implications for hypotheses about the timing and place of origin of the genus Homo."

The new hominids were confined to the vast continent of Africa from the time of the fossilization of those teeth to about 200,000 years ago. So we have moved from MYA units to KYA. Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, and Homo erectus came and went during this time.

Homo sapiens developed around 300 KYA.

Large portions of the species had departed Africa by 200 KYA along the migratory routes indicated in the map. They split into at least three subspecies around 80 thousand years after that.

One of the subspecies of this new species is known as homo sapiens neanderthalis. Another, homo sapiens denisovans. The other, homo sapiens sapiens (they have given themselves the flattering title "the wise wise men.") We will follow only the third in what remains to be said.

About 70,000 years ago there was a super eruption of a volcano at Lake Toba in Indonesia. This seems to have had catastrophic consequences that resulted in the death of most of the humans then on the planet. It created a "population bottleneck."

And until about 25,000 years ago, none of these creatures lived in the sort of place that leaves a lasting archaeological mark. The oldest settlement available for preservation and study by our contemporaries is in the Czech Republic. It is known as Dolni Vestonice.

The usual stories run, "paleolithic humans, hunting mammoths, paused in the chase here and built a place of habitation. Perhaps at first only because they expected to come back to it when their hunt was complete, they built with materials that would last. They used stones, and the bones of mammoths already conquered. Over time, this hunting camp became a town, the buildings becoming more elaborate "

There was a kiln found here, where ceramics were created. They are the oldest ceramics known from anywhere.

We will end here, because we have made the cross from paleoanthropology into archeology. The next time I return to a deep past timeline, I will be working my way toward actual HISTORY.

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