Osbjorn M Pearson, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Published online: May 2008
DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001649.pub2
Homo sapiens and Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) evolved from Homo heidelbergensis in the last 300 000 years. H. sapiens subsequently spread throughout the world; all other hominins disappeared. The Out of Africa and multiregional models offer different explanations for this pattern.
Keywords: Homo sapiens; Neanderthals; Homo erectus; out of Africa model; multiregional evolution
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Figure 1. (a) Distribution of H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis and early H. sapiens sites. (b) Chronology of the origin of modern humans and Neanderthals plotted against the oxygen isotope curve, which shows the major climatic oscillations during the period. (c) Comparative cranial morphology of H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens.
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| References | |
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| Further Reading | |
| book Klein RG (1999) The Human Career, 2nd edn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. | |
| book Lahr MM (1996) The Evolution of Modern Human Diversity: A Study of Cranial Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | |
| book Mellars P (1996) The Neanderthal Legacy: An Archaeological Perspective from Western Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press. | |
| book Mellars P and Stringer C (eds) (1989) The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Humans. Princeton: Princeton University Press. | |
| Santa Luca AP (1980) The Ngandong fossil hominids: a comparative study of a Far Eastern Homo erectus group. Yale University Publications in Anthropology 78: 1–175. | |
| Smith FH, Falsetti AB and Donnelly SM (1989) Modern human origins. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 32: 35–68. | |
| book Smith FH and Spencer F (eds) (1984) The Origins of Modern Humans: A World Survey of the Fossil Evidence. New York: Alan R Liss. | |
| book Stringer C and Gamble C (1993) In Search of the Neanderthals. New York: Thames and Hudson. | |
| book Trinkaus E and Shipman P (1993) The Neandertals. New York: Alfred A Knopf. | |
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