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Cited by 735Pleistocene-Era Hominins and ArchaeologyLanguage and cultural evolutionArchaeology and Rock Art Studies

The Origin of Modern Human Behavior: Critique of the Models and Their Test Implications

Henshilwood, Christopher S., Marean, Curtis W.·2003·Current Anthropology
DOI 10.1086/377665
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Abstract

Archaeology's main contribution to the debate over the origins of modern humans has been investigating where and when modern human behavior is first recognized in the archaeological record. Most of this debate has been over the empirical record for the appearance and distribution of a set of traits that have come to be accepted as indicators of behavioral modernity. This debate has resulted in a series of competing models that we explicate here, and the traits are typically used as the test implications for these models. However, adequate tests of hypotheses and models rest on robust test implications, and we argue here that the current set of test implications suffers from three main problems: (1) Many are empirically derived from and context-specific to the richer European record, rendering them problematic for use in the primarily tropical and subtropical African continent. (2) They are ambiguous because other processes can be invoked, often with greater parsimony, to explain their character. (3) Many lack theoretical justification. In addition, there are severe taphonomic problems in the application of these test implications across differing spans of time. To provide adequate tests of these models, archaeologists must first subject these test implications to rigorous discussion, which is initiated here.

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  • Human cognitive abilities or rational functions are probably less than 100 thousand years old, which may be qualified as embryonal on the time scale of evolution.

    “These cognitive abilities, or capacities, are probably less than 100 thousand years old, which may be qualified as “embryonal” on the time scale of evolution, (e.g. Petraglia and Korisettar, 1998; McBrearty and Brooks, 2000; Henshilwood and Marean, 2003).”

    From Human- versus Artificial Intelligence (2021) · cites this paper as Henshilwood and Marean, 2003

  • South African sites such as Die Kelders, Klasies River Mouth, Blombos Cave, Sea Harvest and Hoedjies Punt date between about 130,000 and 75,000 BP, and contain variable quantities of marine shells, mostly rocky shore species of limpets and mussels, often forming layers of quite dense shell midden, and bones of seals, penguins, and fish.

    “These sites, which include caves such as Die Kelders, Klasies River Mouth and Blombos Cave, and open air sites such as Sea Harvest and Hoedjies Punt (Avery et al. 1997; Henshilwood and Marean 2003; Henshilwood et al. 2001; Klein et al. 2004) date between about 130,000 and 75,000 BP, and contain variable quantities of marine shells, mostly rocky shore species of limpets and mussels, often”

    From Coastlines, Submerged Landscapes, and Human Evolution: The Red Sea Basin and the Farasan Islands (2007) · cites this paper as Henshilwood and Marean 2003

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Authors
Henshilwood, C. S., & Marean, C. W.
Affiliations
University of Bergen (NO)
ORCID
Venue
Current Anthropology
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Published
2003-12
Volume
44
Issue
5
Pages
627-651
ISSN
  • 0011-3204 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5382
DOI
10.1086/377665
OpenAlex
W1657865724
Cited by
735
References
136
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 53 · 2012: 43
FWCI
101.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Current Anthropology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
  • Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeology and Rock Art Studies
Keywords
behavioral modernity, taphonomy, African prehistory, European prehistory, parsimony, hominin evolution
MeSH terms
Archaeology, Behavior, Human Development, History, Ancient, History, Medieval, History, Early Modern 1451-1600, History, Modern 1601-

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