Page 117 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

936 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

cognitive capacity essential for modern speech, they none- The hallmark features of Homo sapiens sapiens were
theless began to bury their dead in simple but clearly self- located from the neck up.They had delicately configured,
conscious ceremonies no later than 75,000 years ago. vertical faces with high foreheads, small brow ridges and
Experts have presumed that their ritualized treatment of teeth, reduced jaws, and prominent chins.Their modified
death reflected at least an elementary awareness of mor- vocal tracts made room for an enlarged pharynx and for
tality, a need to think about dying, and even belief in an the rearrangement of vocal cords, larynx, and tongue that
afterlife. Somewhat later, Neanderthals created the first together permitted them to make more varied sounds—
known ceremonial pieces and decorative objects out of in particular vowel sounds. The ability to speak fluently
pebbles, and the teeth and bones of animals. Personal was interrelated with a further enlargement and internal
ornamentation, whether accomplished with jewelry or reorganization of the human brain, now encased in a
body paint, presumably allowed them to express a hint higher, rounder skull.Amazingly, the diverse facets of our
of individuality and offered a means of declaring what- mental potential are products of the brain’s structural
ever social status they enjoyed.They could also unequiv- complexity.While nearly four-fifths of the cortex remains
ocally assert their kinship ties, thereby regularizing inter- uncommitted to particular operations, leaving substan-
actions within and between bands. However, none of tial areas free to apply previous experience to immediate
these accomplishments meant that Neanderthals could circumstances or forge links between seemingly unrelated
match the overall cultural levels attained by anatomically ideas, certain parts of the brain perform highly special-
modern humans, and thus make the behavioral adjust- ized functions, the left hemisphere being organized for
ments that could have delayed, if not prevented, their such tasks as sequential thinking and language, the right
extinction. hemisphere for abstract and intuitive reflection.
Homo sapiens sapiens possess a unique ability to cre-
Anatomically Modern ate symbols, and through symboling to infuse objects and
Humans ideas with discretionary meanings that transcend what-
Experts who have advocated a multiregional interpreta- ever may have been derived from sense experience. Sym-
tion of human origins envision distinct populations of boling attained its ultimate expression in language,
archaic Homo sapiens undergoing similar evolutionary perhaps the most revealing outgrowth of our intelli-
alterations in different areas of the Eastern Hemisphere gence. Along with language came the earliest manifesta-
more or less simultaneously. Yet the preponderance of tions of culture based upon the symbolic expression of
current archaeological, genetic, and fossil evidence seems shared understandings. The capacity to create meaning
to indicate that Homo sapiens sapiens—beings with a and value and to infuse meanings and values into objects
physiological and behavioral potential virtually indistin- and events made it possible for human culture to reach
guishable from humans currently inhabiting Earth—first full expression as a marvelously flexible, quickly modi-
evolved from African ancestors beginning about 200,000 fied, and endlessly cumulative adaptive mechanism that
years ago. Between 130,000 and 30,000 years ago, Homo has almost replaced biological evolution as the primary
sapiens sapiens appeared throughout most of the Eastern determinant of our long-term survival.
Hemisphere, gradually replacing the various populations
of their archaic forebears. No later than 30,000 years Upper Paleolithic Takeoff
ago, they had become the sole surviving hominid type, Beginning about 40,000 years ago, anatomically mod-
and the anatomical attributes as well as the cultural capa- ern humans were already approaching the threshold of
bilities that have subsequently characterized our kind a cultural breakthrough that would mark a profound
were fully formed. watershed in the human experience. Armed with spoken