Human Migrations in Prehistory: The Cultural Records
15 September 2006
Type/Items(s): II Origin and Migrations of Modern Humans, Scientific Sessions
Submitted by: Karen McCusker (ICVolunteers)
Contributors: Randy Schmieder (MCART)
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Renowned Palaeolithic archaeologist Professor Ofer Bar-Yosef, discussed his work which, combined with genetic evidence, has shed new light on prehistoric migration. This work has been a continuously evolving and multi-disciplinary effort.
Ofer Bar-Yosef, Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University and one of the world's most renowned scientists in Palaeolithic archaeology, discussed the history of human migration, presenting some of his recent research and theories. According to molecular and nuclear genetic evidence, modern humans came out of Africa some 200,000 to 150,000 years ago. This is when human migration began, both by land and sea.
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The limits of standard procedure: According to some archaeological methods, all McDonald's Restaurants emerged contemporaneously across Eurasia somewhere around 1975 ± 30 AD. This website is not endorsed by Ronald MacDonald. |
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Evidence of prehistoric migrations can be traced via the dispersion of stone tools which, as the Professor pointed out, are proof of learned behaviour. Although they became differentiated and refined due to humans' ability to innovate, the same tools could have been used for probably 40,000 years and their similarity is a guide to patterns of migration. Neanderthals, who disappeared some 35,000 years ago, probably migrated on foot from the Levant into what is now Europe. In Professor Ben-Yosef's view they were decimated over a period of one or two thousand years. In subsequent discussion, the Professor clarified that Homo Neanderthals were based in Europe and Homo Sapiens in Africa and, in spite of views to the contrary, they were very similar in development.
Once modern man had evolved, civilization spread rapidly. Drawing a loose but amusing analogy for dating human development, Professor Bar- Yosef noted that the sixty years that it has taken McDonald's to spawn its branches all over the world would, in archaeological terms, have been instantaneous.
Bar-Yosef's most recent hypothesis is that early colonization of the Americas was by boat in the more southerly latitudes. This is suggested by the fact that there are signs of ancient human habitation in South America and that American squash, which was originally assumed to have come from Africa, has been found to originate in Asia.
In conclusion, Professor Bar-Yosef considered that genetic evidence, which in many ways is more easily obtained than archaeological, should motivate archaeologists to imagine new scenarios. In follow-up discussions, the links between genetics, language and archaeology were shown to support each other in explaining human evolution. |
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