Re: Hominid Altitudinal-Latitudinal Adaptations (gettin long)
Dan Barnes (dbarnes@liv.ac.uk)
Mon, 4 Nov 1996 16:52:42 GMT
In article <01bbc61b$c2ac29a0$512270c2@default>, jdwaters@dircon.co.uk
says...
>About ten years ago I had a conversation with Chris
>Stringer who confirmed that there was a correlation between
>hominid fossils in respect of their altitudinal and
>latitudinal climatic locations. The altitudinal fossils
>were almost invariably older than the contemporary
>latitudinal ones. In this context, the
>altitudinal-latitudinal model helps to explain the *Out of
>Africa* scenario for hominids. Has any evidence emerged in
>the last ten years which contradicts this?
In the case of the Ns I would say it was nearly the other way around - although I
think there is little correlation. At Shanidar the early and late Ns are believed to
be present. Teshik Tash is probably relatively recent. I'll look into this further
(Unfortuantely these two sites are poorly dated).
>If H. neanderthal was a cold temperate altitudinal
>adaptation, the species would have evolved in Africa and
>migrated northwards. (The cold temperate latitudes all seem
>to be north of the equator in Africa.)
The African origin of Ns is highly debateable.
>If H.s.s. was also a cold temperate adaptation originating
>in an equatorial altitudinal habitat,
H.s.s. was a warm (pos. low altitude) adapted hominid. I think I may have
misread an earlier question.
>JW: By the term _extending communication networks_, do you
>mean cultural interaction between different tribes of
>H.s.s.? Is there any evidence for this, prior to the
>extinction of H. neanderthal?
>
The evidence before the UP would suggest that these 'networks' were fairly
short range. The European evidence from the UP shows vast distances for the
transport of raw materials. Evidence from Katanda suggests that, even though
they were acting in a very modern way, the network wasn't extensive enough for
the spread of the new technology. I believe the AMHs in Europe needed
increased networks in response to the competition with the Ns.
Dan
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