Anatomically modern humans evolved from archaic humans in the Middle Paleolithic, about 200,000 years ago. The emergence of anatomically modern human marks the dawn of the subspeciesHomo sapiens sapiens, i.e. the subspecies of Homo sapiens that includes all modern humans. The oldest fossil remains of anatomically modern humans are the Omo remains found in modern-day East Africa, which date to 195,000 (±5,000) years ago and include two partial skulls as well as arm, leg, foot and pelvis bones.
Other fossils include the proposed Homo sapiens idaltu from Herto in Ethiopia that are almost 160,000 years old and remains from Skhul in Southwestern Asia that are 90,000 years old. The oldest human remains from which an entire genome has been extracted belongs to a man who lived about 45,000 years ago in Western Siberia.
Behavioral modernity is a suite of behavioral and cognitive traits that distinguishes current Homo sapiens from anatomically modern humans, hominins, and other primates. Although often debated, most scholars agree that modern human behavior can be characterized by abstract thinking, planning depth, symbolic behavior (e.g. art, ornamentation, music), exploitation of large game, and blade technology, among others. Underlying these behaviors and technological innovations are cognitive and cultural foundations that have been documented experimentally and ethnographically. Some of these human universal patterns are cumulative cultural adaptation, social norms, language, cooperative breeding, and extensive help and cooperation beyond close kin. These traits have been viewed as largely responsible for the human replacement of Neanderthals in Western Europe, along with the climatic conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum, and the peopling of the rest of the world.
Arising from differences in the archaeological record, a debate continues as to whether anatomically modern humans were behaviorally modern as well. There are many theories on the evolution of behavioral modernity. These generally fall into two camps: gradualist and cognitive approaches. The Later Upper Paleolithic Model refers to the idea that modern human behavior arose through cognitive, genetic changes abruptly around 40–50,000 years ago. Other models focus on how modern human behavior may have arisen through gradual steps; the archaeological signatures of such behavior only appearing through demographic or subsistence-based changes.
Homo sapiens (Latin: "wise person") is the binomial nomenclature (also known as the scientific name) for the only extant human species. Homo is the human genus, which also includes Neanderthals and many other extinct species of hominid; H. sapiens is the only surviving species of the genus Homo. Modern humans are the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens, which differentiates them from what has been argued to be their direct ancestor, Homo sapiens idaltu. The ingenuity and adaptability of Homo sapiens has led to its becoming, arguably, the most influential species on the planet; it is currently deemed of least concern on the Red List of endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Subspecies of H. sapiens include Homo sapiens idaltu and the only extant subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens. Some sources show Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) as a subspecies (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). Similarly, the discovered specimens of the Homo rhodesiensis species have been classified by some as a subspecies (Homo sapiens rhodesiensis), but these last two subspecies classifications are not widely accepted by scientists.
Scientists often use the phrase “anatomically modern humans” to describe the point when our ancient ancestors looked like us. But when did humans become behaviorally modern?
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Scientists often use the phrase “anatomically modern humans” to describe the point when our ancient ancestors looked like us. But when did humans become behavio...
Scientists often use the phrase “anatomically modern humans” to describe the point when our ancient ancestors looked like us. But when did humans become behaviorally modern?
Hosted by: Hank Green
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SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at https://www.scishowtangents.org
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Scientists often use the phrase “anatomically modern humans” to describe the point when our ancient ancestors looked like us. But when did humans become behaviorally modern?
Hosted by: Hank Green
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Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at https://www.scishowtangents.org
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Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:
Kevin Bealer, Jacob, Katie Marie Magnone, D.A.Noe, Charles Southerland, Eric Jensen, Christopher R Boucher, Alex Hackman, Matt Curls, Adam Brainard, Scott Satovsky Jr, Sam Buck, Ron Kakar, Chris Peters, Kevin Carpentier, Patrick D. Ashmore, Piya Shedden, Sam Lutfi, charles george, Greg
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Scientists often use the phrase “anatomically modern humans” to describe the point when our ancient ancestors looked like us. But when did humans become behaviorally modern?
Hosted by: Hank Green
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Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at https://www.scishowtangents.org
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Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:
Kevin Bealer, Jacob, Katie Marie Magnone, D.A.Noe, Charles Southerland, Eric Jensen, Christopher R Boucher, Alex Hackman, Matt Curls, Adam Brainard, Scott Satovsky Jr, Sam Buck, Ron Kakar, Chris Peters, Kevin Carpentier, Patrick D. Ashmore, Piya Shedden, Sam Lutfi, charles george, Greg
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Anatomically modern humans evolved from archaic humans in the Middle Paleolithic, about 200,000 years ago. The emergence of anatomically modern human marks the dawn of the subspeciesHomo sapiens sapiens, i.e. the subspecies of Homo sapiens that includes all modern humans. The oldest fossil remains of anatomically modern humans are the Omo remains found in modern-day East Africa, which date to 195,000 (±5,000) years ago and include two partial skulls as well as arm, leg, foot and pelvis bones.
Other fossils include the proposed Homo sapiens idaltu from Herto in Ethiopia that are almost 160,000 years old and remains from Skhul in Southwestern Asia that are 90,000 years old. The oldest human remains from which an entire genome has been extracted belongs to a man who lived about 45,000 years ago in Western Siberia.