Our journey is nearly ended. It is a journey that has taken us from first becoming bipedal, adapting to savanna environments and adopting stone tools as a cultural means by which to succeed in that environment, changing our stature to be able to increase our mobility, moving from one continent to another and adapting to more different climates and environments, inventing things like fire and shelters and becoming a hunter and forager, and finally we now turn to becoming us - modern Homo sapiens. Our transformation was to take a dramatic step. One that shaped a new course and leaves us with a number of questions.
The story of how we became modern Homo sapiens is a complex one. Let use begin with three readings that will set the stage for understanding who we are and how we are different than our predecessors. The first reading is by Alison Brooks and reviews that first step Out of Africa. The second reading is one adapted from James Shreeve's book The Neandertal Enigma. It sets the stage for exploring what makes us modern Homo sapiens. It is the story of differences from a burial from the site of Dolni Vestonice. The third reading also is from Shreeve's exploration of Neandertal and poses an intriguing question: are we really a new species?
What we know for certain is that dramatic changes occurred in human lifeways around 40,000 years. So lets begin with an exploration of the Great Leap Forward.....
Are we all AFRICANS? a recent review on the initial migration out of Africa by Homo Erectus.
To get one perspective on an African Origin read this.
Ancestral Roots for Europeans?
Relationship between the last Neandertals and Modern Europeans
Neandertals Take a 180 Degree Change