Question on the last interglacial period

[Hanslune]

In particular can anyone kindly point me to a book/pdf/website(s) that looks at HSS development/archaeology discovery between the start of our last ice age and the end of the one prior to it?

Thanks

This would be period of around 70,000 to 130,000 year ago - some could state time ranges and that is one item I'd like to discuss.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Hanslune

[jaylemurph]

I'd love to help, but I'm (officially) only of use once people start writing things down. I'm sure there are plenty others who can help!

--Jaylemurph

[Gingitsune]

Let's start with the PBS series, First People, which follow the journey of humans across the continents. They review the oldest archaeological findings, they interview scientists and have some area reenactment which gives you the gist of what we know about them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh2ynyRcHBo&list=PL3SKutsYLifT5zaCChWxdaXTsOQgQb6tk

It's about 5 hours long so it should give me time to gather other interesting link.

[Gingitsune]

A general map of Humans progress around the world, although there are hint the India - China - Australia route may have been used earlier.

Edit: I'm adding a map different numbers:

Edited March 16, 2016 by Gingitsune

[Kenemet]

That's a big topic. Was there something specific you were hunting?

[Hanslune]

That's a big topic. Was there something specific you were hunting?

Well I was hoping to find out the middle name of the gal or guy who invented the sledge hammer but will settle for getting a much better idea of why our HSS culture 'took off' at the end of the last ice age but didn't do so after the end of the previous one.

[atalante]

The Toba supervolcano eruption of 73,000 BC very likely wiped out most modern humans.

http://www.articlesextra.com/toba-supervolcano-indonesia.htm

[Kenemet]

In particular can anyone kindly point me to a book/pdf/website(s) that looks at HSS development/archaeology discovery between the start of our last ice age and the end of the one prior to it?

Thanks

This would be period of around 70,000 to 130,000 year ago - some could state time ranges and that is one item I'd like to discuss.

I'll see what I can find out right now, but "ice age" may be a partial answer, as might the volcano. Climate change and population density tend to drive innovation (along with food resources.) Nobody's going to be inventing much if they're spending all their time hunting for food or if their band is really small.

Will look up paleoclimates later. As I recall, though, some innovation does occur during this time. I think the thing to do is examine specific cultures from selected areas during this time frame and see what the average population density is and what innovations they had.

[PersonFromPorlock]

There seems to be a good deal of evidence that early childhood environment has a strong effect on the development of intelligence. It may be that until HSS culture began providing that environment, people simply weren't very smart.

[Slate]

. . . between the start of our last ice age and the end of the one prior to it?

This would be period of around 70,000 to 130,000 year ago - some could state time ranges and that is one item I'd like to discuss.

Just to clarify, you are referring to an interglacial period, not the time between ice ages. We are currently in an ice age called the Pliocene-Quaternary which started 2.58 million years ago and is still active with continental ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica. There are no continental ice sheets on the planet in the period between ice ages. During an ice age the ice advances or retreats in cycles of 40,000 to 100,000 years and those are the glacial and interglacial periods you are asking about.

[Hanslune]

Just to clarify, you are referring to an interglacial period, not the time between ice ages. We are currently in an ice age called the Pliocene-Quaternary which started 2.58 million years ago and is still active with continental ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica. There are no continental ice sheets on the planet in the period between ice ages. During an ice age the ice advances or retreats in cycles of 40,000 to 100,000 years and those are the glacial and interglacial periods you are asking about.

Yes the time in between the last two major advances of the ice sheets

[Hanslune]

There seems to be a good deal of evidence that early childhood environment has a strong effect on the development of intelligence. It may be that until HSS culture began providing that environment, people simply weren't very smart.

Well modern HSS stayed and there still are a few groups in nomadic hunter-gather groups and their intelligence is not less than others. However I would agree, the cultural knowledge of the mother is particularly important. I noted in my work that the Arab culture doesn't read to its children and this is reflected in delayed and lower reading ability scores.

The Toba supervolcano eruption of 73,000 BC very likely wiped out most modern humans.

http://www.articlese...o-indonesia.htm

Yes this seems to have been a key point but how key - will have to investigate, thanks.

[Vlawde]

Well I was hoping to find out the middle name of the gal or guy who invented the sledge hammer but will settle for getting a much better idea of why our HSS culture 'took off' at the end of the last ice age but didn't do so after the end of the previous one.

Peter Gabriel invented the Sledgehammer

[Hanslune]

I'll see what I can find out right now, but "ice age" may be a partial answer, as might the volcano. Climate change and population density tend to drive innovation (along with food resources.) Nobody's going to be inventing much if they're spending all their time hunting for food or if their band is really small.

Will look up paleoclimates later. As I recall, though, some innovation does occur during this time. I think the thing to do is examine specific cultures from selected areas during this time frame and see what the average population density is and what innovations they had.

Yes Middle East, China, Australia and Southern Africa have long term deposits. - thanks

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Comment from the Hall of Ma'at on this subject

Do searches for Eemian & Sangamonian interglacials and Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e. There is a huge shell midden with stone tools in Eritrea [www.academia.edu] that dates to that period. Also the skulls from Skhul and Qafzeh date to that period. I would be interested in what you come up with.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Hanslune

[Hanslune]

Peter Gabriel invented the Sledgehammer

Ah yes, I used that comment for in the old days prior to computerization - when training reference Librarians that was one of 'fake' requests you could get - obviously that is a unknowable question.

[Gingitsune]

The main revolution for sapiens in the interglacial periode is their expansion within and outside Africa. Not in Europe or America yet (that would be closer to 40,000 years ago), but in South-West, South and South-East Asia. There are still other homos around, Neandertal, Denisova, Floresiensis and probably another one in China.

[Hanslune]

The main revolution for sapiens in the interglacial periode is their expansion within and outside Africa. Not in Europe or America yet (that would be closer to 40,000 years ago), but in South-West, South and South-East Asia. There are still other homos around, Neandertal, Denisova, Floresiensis and probably another one in China.

While I believe that contribution for resources (between HSS and the 'others' may not at that time been of much importance it may have influenced a combative culture. I would suspect that HSS had more problems with weather, food, animals and themselves, but a good point.

------------------------------------------------

Has anyone every seen guesstimates of population levels in that time frame?

[docyabut2]

The Toba supervolcano eruption of 73,000 BC very likely wiped out most modern humans.

http://www.articlese...o-indonesia.htm

Hi Atalante aren't you the one that said 80,000 years ago, not only did the Toba event happen to the Mediterranean but a great Tsunami that hit the west coast causing the Asian and European Cro-Magnon man cultures to mix, the Asian taking all the women? Edited March 16, 2016 by docyabut2

[PersonFromPorlock]

Ah yes, I used that comment for in the old days prior to computerization - when training reference Librarians that was one of 'fake' requests you could get - obviously that is a unknowable question.

Not unknowable at all:

Sledgehammer Recipe:

9 oz100 proof Smirnoff® vodka

1 ozfresh lime juice

2 oz Sunny Delight® Florida Style orange juice

Pour vodka and lime juice over into a collins glass 1/2 filled with ice cubes. Top with Sunny Delight, stir well, and serve.

Edited March 16, 2016 by PersonFromPorlock

[Swede]

In particular can anyone kindly point me to a book/pdf/website(s) that looks at HSS development/archaeology discovery between the start of our last ice age and the end of the one prior to it?

Thanks

This would be period of around 70,000 to 130,000 year ago - some could state time ranges and that is one item I'd like to discuss.

Hans,

As Kenemet has noted, this is a complex topic quite subject to ongoing studies. Am short on time, but a relevant point or two:

• While anatomically modern H.s. can currently be dated to circa 200,000 BP (Omo I),the apparent cognitive changes that may be considered to be more reflective of H.s.s would appear to have occurred circa 70,000 to 50,000 BP (eg Gabora 2008, etc.). Note: There are evidentiary suggestions of a somewhat earlier date.
  
• These dates are notably later than the previous interstadial.
  
• These dates are also consistent with the currently understood emergence and dispersion of H.s.s. from the African continent.
  
• The dispersion of H.s.s into the European, Asian, and Western Pacific regions would also be consistent with the above dating.
  
• The geographical extent of such dispersions would, of course, be influenced by the environmental conditions of the Wisconsin/Wurm glaciation.
  
• The currently understood patterns would appear to be consistent with the resource availability presented by the pre-LGM/LGM/post-LGM.
  

As always, environmental studies are critical to interpreting biological/anthropological data. Can provide more specific references.

.

[cormac mac airt]

...will settle for getting a much better idea of why our HSS culture 'took off' at the end of the last ice age but didn't do so after the end of the previous one.

Hans, as said by others there's quite alot that occurred in the 70 kya - 130 kya period, a few items of interest IMO are the following:

1) Sjodin, et al. (2012) Resequencing Data Provide No Evidence for a Human Bottleneck in Africa during the Penultimate Glacial Period suggests:

Relating the estimated effective population size to the census population size during the Pleistocene is a difficult task because there are many factors affecting the effective population size (Charlesworth 2009). Nevertheless, based on published estimates of the ratio between effective and census population size, a comprehensive value on the order of 10% has been found by Frankham (1995). This 10% rule roughly predicts that 120,000 - 325,000 individuals (depending on the assumed mutation rate) lived in Sub-Saharan Africa some 130 kya. Assuming that the range of humans extends over all the 24 millions km2 of Sub-Saharan Africa, the density of humans at that time would have been extremely low between 0.5 and 1.4 individual per 100 km2, which is even lower than the lowest recorded hunter gatherer density of two individuals per 100 km2 reported for the !Kung (Kelly 1995), and the density of three individuals per 100 km2 estimated for Middle Paleolithic people (Hassan 1981). However, this discrepancy disappears if humans were restricted to an area some 3–6 times smaller than the entire Sub-Saharan Africa.

2)

atalante, on 16 March 2016 - 09:35 AM, said:

The Toba supervolcano eruption of 73,000 BC very likely wiped out most modern humans. http://www.articlese...o-indonesia.htm

Hans: Yes this seems to have been a key point but how key - will have to investigate, thanks.

Perhaps not as likely as some are wanting to believe: Ash from the Toba supereruption in Lake Malawi shows no volcanic winter in East Africa at 75 ka

3) Various events, mostly natural in origin, that affected Hs/Hss over the last circa 130 million years are noted below:

Eemian Interglacial - 130,000 BP

120,000 BP:

Jubbah Paleolake, Saudi Arabia

(2012_Petraglia_et_al_Plos_ONE.pdf)

Weichselian glaciation - 115,000BP

109,000 +/- 8 ka:

White Nile Megalake begins about this time

(http://www.researchg...rglacial_period)

106,000 BP:

Arabian Nubian complex sites - Oman

(http://www.plosone.o...al.pone.0028239)

circa 100,000 BP:

oldest evidence of Paleolake Mundafan, Saudi Arabia existing

(http://www.plosone.o...resentation=PDF)

circa 98,000 +/- 5 ka BP:

Chotts Megalake existed

(http://www.pnas.org/.../2/458.full.pdf)

circa 92,000 +20/-18 ka BP:

start of Megalake Ahnet-Mouydir

(http://www.pnas.org/.../2/458.full.pdf)

circa 90,000 BP:

Mount Etna - Magnitude 6.0

(http://www.bgs.ac.uk...thod=searchForm)

circa 80,000 BP:

end of Egyptian megalake

(http://www.upi.com/S...64691290817465/)

and

evidence of Paleolake Mundafan, Saudi Arabia existing for a second time

(http://www.plosone.o...resentation=PDF)

and

Atitlan, Guatemala Eruption VEI 7 250 km3

(http://vulcan.wr.usg..._volcanoes.html)

circa 74,000 BP:

Mt. Toba Eruption VEI 8

(http://www.bgs.acirc...d=detail&id=791)

and

Intermediate swampy and water filled central Persian Gulf basin begins – 60 meters below sea level to 100 meters below sea level

(http://birmingham.ac...sian_Gulf_Oasis)

circa 73,300 +/- 6800 BP:

Fogo Island (Cape Verde Islands) eastern-most part of volcano collapses into the sea in the direction of Santiago Island (http://advances.scie...500456.full.pdf)

circa 70,000 BP:

The first East African pluvial, the Kageran, began about 600,000 B.P. It was succeeded by the Kamasian, followed by a relatively brief inter-pluvial and then the Kanjeran, which ended about 80,000 B.P. During this pluvial relatively heavy rain extended throughout Sudan to Egypt, causing the northward spread of plants such as Ficus ingens (Miq) Miq., F. salicifolia Vahl, F. sycomorus L., Celtis sp., Phoenix sylvestris and a reed, Arundo sp.; remains of which have been found at Kharga Oasis (Jackson 1957). Following this pluvial, about 70,000 B.P. climate became very dry throughout most of Africa, much apparently being uninhabitable arid country and Kharga Oasis is now one of the driest places on earth.

(http://www.springer....3444-p174139369)

circa 70,000 BP:

start of Lake Lisan's existance in what is now the Dead Sea/Jordan river valleys

(http://earthquakes.o...lake_levels.pdf)

(http://thenaturalhis...ey-under-water/)

4) Modern humans discovery of and subsequent DNA introgression to and from other members of our genus; H. neandertalensis, Denisovans, etc.

5) Hs/Hss and other contemporary members of our genus and their dealings with extant megafauna during the timeframe you have an interest in.

Hope the above is of some help to you.

cormac

Edited March 18, 2016 by cormac mac airt

[cormac mac airt]

3) Various events, mostly natural in origin, that affected Hs/Hss over the last circa 130 million thousand years are noted below:

Corrected an error from previous post.

cormac

[Hanslune]

Sorry guys I ran into a computer difficulty will reply later in depth

[Swede]

Sorry guys I ran into a computer difficulty will reply later in depth

Copy.

.

[docyabut2]

Hi Atalante aren't you the one that said 80,000 years ago, not only did the Toba event happen to the Mediterranean but a great Tsunami that hit the west coast causing the Asian and European Cro-Magnon man cultures to mix, the Asian taking all the women?

Destroying the Cro-Magnon man, isn't that why they think homo sapiens may have came from Asia in the bones.