The earliest modern humans outside Africa

Hershkovitz, Israel; Weber, Gerhard; Quam, Rolf; Duval, Mathieu; Grün, Rainer; Kinsley, Leslie; Ayalon, Avner; Bar‐Matthews, Miryam; Valladas, Hélène; Mercier, Norbert; Arsuaga, Juan Luís; Martinón‐Torres, María; Castro, José Marı́a Bermúdez de; Fornai, Cinzia; Martín‐Francés, Laura; Sarig, Rachel; May, Hila; Krenn, Viktoria A.; Slon, Viviane; Rodríguez, Laura; García‐González, Rebeca; Lorenzo, Carlos; Carretero, José Miguel; Frumkin, Amos; Shahack‐Gross, Ruth; Mayer, Daniella E. Bar-Yosef; Cui, Yaming; Wu, Xin; Peled, Nir; Groman-Yaroslavski, Iris; Weissbrod, Lior; Yeshurun, Reuven; Tsatskin, Alexander; Zaidner, Yossi; Weinstein‐Evron, Mina

doi:10.1126/science.aap8369

Cited by 404 publications

(189 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…Later and more definite members of the modern human lineage have been confirmed in the form of the Omo Kibish 1 skeleton (Ethiopia), now more soundly dated to ~195 ka (McDougall et al ., ; Aubert et al ., ; Brown et al ., ), and three individuals, also from Ethiopia, discovered at Herto and dated to ~160 ka (White et al ., ; McCarthy and Lucas, ). Lastly, part of a H. sapiens upper jaw from Misliya, Israel, has been dated to ~180 ka, demonstrating that the sapiens lineage already extended beyond the African continent before the end of the Middle Pleistocene (Hershkovitz et al ., ). Recently, an even earlier (>200 ka) record of H. sapiens has been claimed from a partial cranium discovered in Apidima Cave, Greece (Harvarti et al, 2019).…”

Section: ‘The Muddle In the Middle’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years

Galway‐Witham

Cole

Stringer

2019

J Quaternary Science

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This paper reviews some of the main advances in our understanding of human evolution over the last 1 million years, presenting a holistic overview of a field defined by interdisciplinary approaches to studying the origins of our species. We begin by briefly summarizing the climatic context across the Old World for the last 1 million years before directly addressing the fossil and archaeological records. The main themes in this work explore (i) recent discoveries in the fossil record over the last 15 years, such as Homo naledi and Homo floresiensis; (ii) the implications of palaeogenetics for understanding the evolutionary history of, and relationships between, Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo sapiens; (iii) the interplay between physiology and metabolic demand, landscape use, and behavioural adaptations in the evolution of morphological and behavioural innovation; and (iv) recent advances in archaeological understanding for the behavioural record, in particular that of the Neanderthals. This paper seeks to provide a broad‐scale, holistic perspective of our current understanding of human evolution for the last 1 Ma, providing a reference point for researchers that can be built upon as new discoveries continue to develop the landscapes of human evolution. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Section: ‘The Muddle In the Middle’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years

Galway‐Witham

Cole

Stringer

2019

J Quaternary Science

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“…The evolution and global dispersal of hominins was relatively recent and rapid. Predatory, fire-using hominins inhabited Africa and Eurasia roughly a million years before anatomically modern humans evolved and then dispersed out of Africa approximately 200 ka (Bae, Douka, & Petraglia, 2017;Hershkovitz et al, 2018). Homo sapiens reached Australia 50-45 ka (Wroe et al, 2013), colonized northern Eurasia after 45 ka (Bae et al, 2017), crossed from Siberia into North America 20-15 ka (Moreno-Mayar et al, 2018), and spread across North and South America before 12 ka (Meltzer, 2015).…”

Section: (3) Human Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate‐driven ecological stability as a globally shared cause of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions: the Plaids and Stripes Hypothesis

et al. 2018

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Controversy persists about why so many large-bodied mammal species went extinct around the end of the last ice age. Resolving this is important for understanding extinction processes in general, for assessing the ecological roles of humans, and for conserving remaining megafaunal species, many of which are endangered today. Here we explore an integrative hypothesis that asserts that an underlying cause of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions was a fundamental shift in the spatio-temporal fabric of ecosystems worldwide. This shift was triggered by the loss of the millennial-scale climate fluctuations that were characteristic of the ice age but ceased approximately 11700 years ago on most continents. Under ice-age conditions, which prevailed for much of the preceding 2.6 Ma, these radical and rapid climate changes prevented many ecosystems from fully equilibrating with their contemporary climates. Instead of today's 'striped' world in which species' ranges have equilibrated with gradients of temperature, moisture, and seasonality, the ice-age world was a disequilibrial 'plaid' in which species' ranges shifted rapidly and repeatedly over time and space, rarely catching up with contemporary climate. In the transient ecosystems that resulted, certain physiological, anatomical, and ecological attributes shared by megafaunal species pre-adapted them for success. These traits included greater metabolic and locomotory efficiency, increased resistance to starvation, longer life spans, greater sensory ranges, and the ability to be nomadic or migratory. When the plaid world of the ice age ended, many of the advantages of being large were either lost or became disadvantages. For instance in a striped world, the low population densities and slow reproductive rates associated with large body size reduced the resiliency of megafaunal species to population bottlenecks. As the ice age ended, the downsides of being large in striped environments lowered the extinction thresholds of megafauna worldwide, which then increased the vulnerability of individual species to a variety of proximate threats they had previously tolerated, such as human predation, competition with other species, and habitat loss. For many megafaunal species, the plaid-to-stripes transition may have been near the base of a hierarchy of extinction causes whose relative importances varied geographically, temporally, and taxonomically.

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“…Evidence of MC in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic era (38 000‐11 000 BCE) was found in portable art and rock art at that time . It was suggested that the practice of MC may have accompanied the radiation of Homo sapiens out of Africa ∼220 000 years ago . It has further been suggested that privation and other forces explain why MC subsequently ceased in some cultures .…”

Section: Physical Harmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…395 It was suggested that the practice of MC may have accompanied the radiation of Homo sapiens out of Africa 396 ∼220 000 years ago. 397 It has further been suggested that privation and other forces explain why MC subsequently ceased in some cultures. 396 In Victorian times, health benefits, such as protection against syphilis, 398 balanitis, inferior hygiene, and phimosis, 399,400 have been used to explain why MC became popular in Anglophone countries.…”

Section: Genetic Fallacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical evaluation of arguments opposing male circumcision: A systematic review

Morris

Moreton²,

Krieger

2019

J Evidence Based Medicine

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Objective To systematically evaluate evidence against male circumcision (MC). Methods We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE and Cochrane databases. Results Database searches retrieved 297 publications for inclusion. Bibliographies of these yielded 101 more. After evaluation we found: Claims that MC carries high risk were contradicted by low frequency of adverse events that were virtually all minor and easily treated with complete resolution. Claims that MC causes psychological harm were contradicted by studies finding no such harm. Claims that MC impairs sexual function and pleasure were contradicted by high‐quality studies finding no adverse effect. Claims disputing the medical benefits of MC were contradicted by a large body of high‐quality evidence indicating protection against a wide range of infections, dermatological conditions, and genital cancers in males and the female sexual partners of men. Risk‐benefit analyses reported that benefits exceed risks by 100‐200 to 1. To maximize benefits and minimize risks, the evidence supported early infant MC rather than arguments that the procedure should be delayed until males are old enough to decide for themselves. Claims that MC of minors is unethical were contradicted by balanced evaluations of ethical issues supporting the rights of children to be provided with low‐risk, high‐benefit interventions such as MC for better health. Expert evaluations of case‐law supported the legality of MC of minors. Other data demonstrated that early infant MC is cost‐saving to health systems. Conclusions Arguments opposing MC are supported mostly by low‐quality evidence and opinion, and are contradicted by strong scientific evidence.

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The earliest modern humans outside Africa

Cited by 404 publications

References 87 publications

Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years

Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years

Climate‐driven ecological stability as a globally shared cause of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions: the Plaids and Stripes Hypothesis

Critical evaluation of arguments opposing male circumcision: A systematic review

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