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Behavioral modernity

Upper Paleolithic (16,000-year-old) cave painting from Lascaux cave in France
The Paleolithic
↑ Pliocene (before Homo)
Lower Paleolithic
 (c. 3.3 Ma – 300 ka)
Middle Paleolithic
 (c. 300–50 ka)
Upper Paleolithic
 (c. 50–12 ka)

Fertile Crescent:

Europe:

Africa:

Siberia:

↓ Mesolithic

Behavioral modernity is a suite of behavioral and cognitive traits believed to distinguish current Homo sapiens from other anatomically modern humans, hominins, and primates.[1] Most scholars agree that modern human behavior can be characterized by abstract thinking, planning depth, symbolic behavior (e.g., art, ornamentation), music and dance, exploitation of large game, and blade technology, among others.[2][3]

Underlying these behaviors and technological innovations are cognitive and cultural foundations that have been documented experimentally and ethnographically by evolutionary and cultural anthropologists. These human universal patterns include cumulative cultural adaptation, social norms, language, and extensive help and cooperation beyond close kin.[4][5]

Within the tradition of evolutionary anthropology and related disciplines, it has been argued that the development of these modern behavioral traits, in combination with the climatic conditions of the Last Glacial Period and Last Glacial Maximum causing population bottlenecks, contributed to the evolutionary success of Homo sapiens worldwide relative to Neanderthals, Denisovans, and other archaic humans.[3][6]

Debate continues as to whether anatomically modern humans were behaviorally modern as well. There are many theories on the evolution of behavioral modernity. These approaches tend to fall into two camps: cognitive and gradualist. The Later Upper Paleolithic Model theorizes that modern human behavior arose through cognitive, genetic changes in Africa abruptly around 40,000–50,000 years ago around the time of the Out-of-Africa migration, prompting the movement of some modern humans out of Africa and across the world.[7]

Other models focus on how modern human behavior may have arisen through gradual steps, with the archaeological signatures of such behavior appearing only through demographic or subsistence-based changes. Many cite evidence of behavioral modernity earlier (by at least about 150,000–75,000 years ago and possibly earlier) namely in the African Middle Stone Age.[8][3][9][10][11] Anthropologists Sally McBrearty and Alison S. Brooks have been notable proponents of gradualism—challenging Europe-centered models by situating more change in the African Middle Stone Age—though this model is more difficult to substantiate due to the general thinning of the fossil record as one goes further back in time.

  1. ^ Korisettar, Ravi (1998). Early Human Behaviour in Global Context. Routledge.
  2. ^ McBrearty, Sally; Brooks, Allison (2000). "The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior". Journal of Human Evolution. 39 (5): 453–563. Bibcode:2000JHumE..39..453M. doi:10.1006/jhev.2000.0435. PMID 11102266. Proponents of the model known as the 'human revolution' claim that modern human behaviors arose suddenly, and nearly simultaneously, throughout the Old World ca. 40–50 ka. [...] 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.
  3. ^ a b c Henshilwood, Christopher; Marean, Curtis (2003). "The Origin of Modern Human Behavior: Critique of the Models and Their Test Implications". Current Anthropology. 44 (5): 627–651. doi:10.1086/377665. PMID 14971366. S2CID 11081605.
  4. ^ Hill, Kim; et al. (2009). "The Emergence of Human Uniqueness: Characters Underlying Behavioral Modernity". Evolutionary Anthropology. 18 (5): 187–200. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.469.5702. doi:10.1002/evan.20224. S2CID 56384790.
  5. ^ Klein, R. G. 1999. The human career: human biological and cultural origins. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  6. ^ D'Errico, F; et al. (1998). "Neanderthal Acculturation in Western Europe? A Critical Review of the Evidence and Its Interpretation". Current Anthropology. 39 (S1): S1–S44. doi:10.1086/204689. S2CID 144799519.
  7. ^ Klein, Richard (1995). "Anatomy, behavior, and modern human origins". Journal of World Prehistory. 9 (2): 167–198. doi:10.1007/bf02221838. S2CID 10402296.
  8. ^ McBrearty, Sally; Brooks, Allison (2000). "The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior". Journal of Human Evolution. 39 (5): 453–563. Bibcode:2000JHumE..39..453M. doi:10.1006/jhev.2000.0435. PMID 11102266.
  9. ^ Marean, Curtis; et al. (2007). "Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene" (PDF). Nature. 449 (7164): 905–908. Bibcode:2007Natur.449..905M. doi:10.1038/nature06204. PMID 17943129. S2CID 4387442.
  10. ^ Powell, Adam; et al. (2009). "Late Pleistocene Demography and the Appearance of Modern Human Behavior" (PDF). Science. 324 (5932): 1298–1301. Bibcode:2009Sci...324.1298P. doi:10.1126/science.1170165. PMID 19498164. S2CID 206518315.
  11. ^ Premo, Luke; Kuhn, Steve (2010). "Modeling Effects of Local Extinctions on Culture Change and Diversity in the Paleolithic". PLOS ONE. 5 (12): e15582. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...515582P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015582. PMC 3003693. PMID 21179418.

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