Page 119 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

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after Cro-Magnons (a particular population of anatom- yet not fully explained, despite recent scientific advances.
ically modern humans) had established themselves in Although the relatively hospitable savannas of sub-Saharan
Europe and at approximately the same time that pioneers Africa invariably provided the setting for our emergence,
were starting to adapt to Arctic latitudes in earnest. By we cannot readily designate a precise period in world his-
moving along the southern shores of Asia, humans tory when our behavior became truly human, unless it
reached Australia some 40,000 years ago and perhaps as would be the tremendous evolutionary leap that occurred
much as 20,000 years earlier. during the Upper Paleolithic.
Although experts hold various theories about the peo-
John A. Mears
pling of the Americas, they agree that it happened at a
relatively late date, and most likely involved a land bridge See also Paleoanthropology; Universe, Origins of
across the Bering Strait, known as Beringia, which ap-
peared and vanished as ocean levels rose and fell.Although
the earliest evidence for possible human settlement in the Further Reading
Americas has been problematic at best, isolated bands Binford, L. R. (1983). In pursuit of the past. New York: Thames and
may have reached central Alaska as many as 40,000 Hudson.
Bowler, P. J. (1986). Theories of human evolution. Baltimore, MD: Johns
years ago. Archaeologists have recently verified a site of
Hopkins Press.
human habitation at Monte Verde, located roughly 800 Brian, M. (Ed.). (1996). The Oxford companion to archaeology. New York:
kilometers south of Santiago, Chile, that was certainly Oxford University Press.
Deacon,T.W. (1997). The symbolic species:The co-evolution of language
occupied 12,500 years ago and may date back more and the brain. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
than 30,000 years. What experts have concluded with Fagan, B. M. (1990). The journey from Eden: The peopling of our world.
London: Thames and Hudson.
confidence is that between 14,000 and 12,000 years
Fiedel, S. J. (1992). Prehistory of the Americas (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK:
ago, scattered Paleo-Indian settlements with tool kits, lan- Cambridge University Press.
guages, and cultural traditions resembling those com- Fleagle, J. G. (1997). Primate adaptation and evolution. New York: Aca-
demic Press.
mon on the other side of the strait expanded throughout Foley, R. (1995). Humans before humanity. Oxford, UK: Blackwell
eastern Beringia and south of the retreating glaciers onto Publishers.
Gibson, K. R., & Ingold,T. (Eds.). (1993). Tools, language and cognition
the Great Plains. Shortly after 12,000 years ago, the
in human evolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Paleo-Indian population suddenly exploded, pushing Ingold,T., Riches, D., & Woodburn, J. (Eds.). (1988). Hunters and gath-
human beings to continuously occupy much of the erers: History, evolution, and social change. Oxford, UK: Oxford Uni-
versity Press.
Americas within several millennia. Klein, R. G. (1989). The human career: Human biological and cultural
By the end of the most recent ice age, Homo sapiens evolution. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Lieberman, P. (1991). Uniquely human:The evolution of speech, thought,
sapiens had established themselves as the most numer-
and selfless behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
ous and widely scattered mammals on the planet, a dom- Mellars, P., & Stringer, C. (1989). The human revolution: Behavioral and
inant species culturally equipped to manipulate the biological perspectives on the origins of modern humans. Edinburgh,
UK: Edinburgh University Press.
natural environment in a manner potentially beneficial to Mithen, S. (1996). The prehistory of the mind:The cognitive origins of art
their well-being, but simultaneously disruptive of the and science. London: Thames and Hudson.
Noble, W., & Davidson, I. (1996). Human evolution, language, and
ecosphere’s sensitive balances. Although world popula-
mind. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
tion had probably reached 10 million in the aftermath of Price,T. D., & Brown, J. (Eds.). (1985). Prehistoric hunter-gatherers:The
the Upper Paleolithic watershed, the gathering and hunt- emergence of cultural complexity. New York: Academic Press.
Rappaport, R. A. (1999). Ritual and religion in the making of humanity.
ing adaptation continued to prevail everywhere Homo Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
sapiens sapiens resided. The attributes that now distin- Scientific American. (Ed.). (2003). A new look at human evolution [spe-
cial issue]. Scientific American, 13(2).
guish us as human beings had emerged at different stages
Straus, L. G., Eriksen, B. V., Erlandson, J. M., & Yesner, D. R. (Eds.).
in a prolonged and complicated evolutionary process as (1996). Humans at the end of the ice age. New York: Plenum Press.