Origins and Adaptations of Early Homo: What Archeology Tells Us

Abstract

Brain enlargement, reduction in molar tooth size, increased stature and other features of early Homo did not evolve in a vacuum. These evolutionary changes refl ect shifts in a complex web of relationships among their populations, between early Homo and other hominin species, and between their biotic community and abiotic forces (i.e., climate change). Archeological evidence complements and balances inferences from hominin fossil remains, non-hominin vertebrate paleontology, geology, and other component fi elds of paleoan-thropology. This paper represents an attempt to pull together the various strands of its authors' expertise to shed light on the origins and adaptations of early Homo. It is not intended to be a comprehensive review of Oldowan sites, their chronology, lithic typology, paleontological associations, and interpretive issues. For recent overviews of these subjects, see Plummer (2004), Schick and Toth (2006) as well as papers in Toth and Schick (2006), Ungar (2007) and Hovers and Braun (2009). The coincidence of knapped stone tools, butchery-marked bones and fossil remains of early Homo is usually linked to increased hominin carnivory. This paper reviews evidence for this hypothesis, and considers alternative hypotheses as well.