|
|
Re: Evolution of Modern H. sapiens
Harry Erwin (herwin@gmu.edu)
Thu, 22 Jun 1995 17:13:54 -0400
In article <3sa43g$m16@ucthpx.uct.ac.za>, rjy@beattie.uct.ac.za (Royden
Yates) wrote:
> herwin@gmu.edu (Harry Erwin) wrote:
>
> >In article <DAF9rx.7wn@watserv3.uwaterloo.ca>, Cameron Shelley
> ><cpshelle@watarts.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>
> >> I'm curious. Weren't "anatomically modern" human remains found in
> >> caves in South Africa (the name escapes me at the moment) dated roughly
> >> 100,000 BP?
> >>
> >Klasies River Caves. The individuals had been prepared and eaten.
>
> Um...prepared and eaten "Cordon Bleu (sp?)" style? Not sure if we can
> say that yet; there are signs of cutmarks on one of the specimens,
> and burning - apparently not post depositional - is indicated on some
> of the other bits 'n pieces. Nutritional cannabalism? Ritual of some
> sort? We do not know exactly, but these observations are interesting
> nonetheless.
Per Deacon and Shuurman, The evidence from Klasies River, in Braeuer and
Smith, Continuity or Replacement, A. A. Balkema, 1992, 121-129: "The
degree of fragmentation is no different from that in the rest of the
faunal sample and the primary cause of the fragmentary condition of all
the faunal remains is that they were processed as food."
>
> Early modern-ish specimens are also present in Border Cave (S.A.)
> where, in sharp contrast to Klasies, burial of the dead is claimed,
> including that of an infant. Also, note that there appears to be a
> very large degree of dimorphism among the Klasies River Mouth Cave
> hominids, if they are in fact all one population. " Anatomically near
> modern" is felt by some to be more appropriate than simply modern.
>
> My 0.02c worth
Cheers,
--
Harry Erwin
Internet: herwin@gmu.edu
Home Page: http://osf1.gmu.edu/~herwin (try again if necessary)
PhD student in comp neurosci: "Glitches happen" & "Meaning is emotional"
|