Timestone 14
120,000 years ago
Homo sapiens
Modern Homo sapiens evolved from Homo heidelbergensis
between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago in what is now Africa. At the
same time Neandertals were living in what is now Europe.
Fossils of modern Homo sapiens showed a high, round, smooth
skull. The face was straight with smaller teeth and jaws than earlier
hominids. The fossils also showed a strong projecting chin. The body
showed different proportions from those of a Neandertal. Modern humans
evolved first in what is now East Africa, then migrated to the Near
East, Asia, and Europe.
Cast of fossil adult male skull
Homo sapiens
Found in Skhul Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, in 1932 by Theodore McCown
and Hallum Movius, Jr.
Age: 90,000 years
Populating
the Planet
Where did modern humans evolve?
Paleoanthropologists have proposed and
continue to debate three theories to explain how and when modern
humans evolved and populated the planet.
Captions for the map
The Replacement Model has Africa as the origin for modern humans.
There was no significant mixing between modern people and earlier
hominids. Instead, modern humans replaced earlier hominids by
either killing them or exploiting resources more effectively.
DNA studies have supported this theory.
The Regional Continuity Model suggests that modern humans evolved
in various places simultaneously. Migration and mixing among
these populations maintained a single species.
The Partial Replacement Model has elements of the other two
theories. It suggests that modern humans evolved in Africa and
moved into Europe and Asia. The disappearance of earlier hominids
in Europe and Asia was the result of both replacement and interbreeding
with modern humans.
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Modern
human versus Neandertal
Compare the two skulls, in particular
these features:
-forehead and top of the skull
-back of the skull
-browridges
-chin
-teeth
Do you see how modern humans, Homo sapiens, differ from Neandertals?
Modern humans have:
-a higher and rounder forehead
-a rounded back of the skull
-reduced browridges
-a chin
-smaller front teeth
Homo neanderthalensis-Neandertal
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