ARCH 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Howiesons Poort, Klasies River Caves, Blombos Cave

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Archaeology
• Course: ARCH 100
• Professor: Ross Jamieson

Document Summary

Modern human: refers to all members of the biological species homo sapiens, including all living humans. Most of the genetic variable within living humans is found within members of a single population rather than b/t populations. The low genetic variation within modern humans reflects a relatively recent common ancestry: the oldest known fossils clearly ascribed to homo sapiens were discovered in the middle. 120,000 & 70,000 years ago were discovered: middle stone age: the archaeological period of the earliest modern humans in africa. It might be indicative of an adaptation to a heavily wooded environment: howiesons poort: a middle stone age industry found in southern africa that is characterized by small crescent-shaped stone tools, bone tools: Katanda: a middle stone age site in the democratic republic of the congo where bone barbed points have been found. A link b/t this expansion of hominin diet & the harsh conditions of glacial oxygen isotope.