The middle-upper paleolithic transition: A long-term biocultural effect of anatomically modern human dispersal

Abstract

Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans made the Middle-Upper Paleolithic technological transition together. Perhaps more accurately stated, the technological innovations reflected in Early Upper Paleolithic archaeological assemblages were developed, adopted, and spread by a western Eurasian metapopulation that encompassed variable admixture histories. This is the unavoidable implication of robust analyses of ancient human, omnivorous prey, and microbial genomes, which document long-term—if sporadic—interaction and successful family formation between geographically expanding anatomically modern humans and indigenous Neanderthals. This social and population interaction occurred within a broad time-frame, likely ca. 120–40 ka, involving complex, multi-scalar niche construction and biocultural evolutionary dynamics. This chapter reconsiders theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues surrounding the study of lithic assemblages that define the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition, considering how we can better answer a key question. If the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition was an indirect consequence of anatomically modern human dispersal and interaction with Neanderthals, then what, if anything, did technological change have to do with Neanderthal extinction, ca. 40 ka?