3 ms·

Modern culture emerged in Africa 20,000 years earlier than thought

41 points by jamesbritt 14y ago

netcan 14y ago
I'm know if I'm wrong about definitions or the title is misleading but this is talking about the definition "modern humans" in the sense I was expecting: neolithic culture (agriculture, pottery, permanent settlements, megalithic relics, large groups). Rather this is evidence for what I've heard called "behaviorally modern humans." They know about behavioral modernity in other places (including Africa) during this period. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_modernity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_modernity Still fascinating, but don't expect 40 thousand year old pyramids.
- sanxiyn 14y ago
  Since some cultures are still hunter-gatherers and did not adopt agriculture, it would be strange to interpret culture as agriculture. Also, megalithic relics predate agriculture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobekli_Tepe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobekli_Tepe
  - netcan 14y ago
    I meant "modern culture" and sure, all the elements of modern culture do not necessarily coincide. Göbekli Tepe is still a mystery. It might be easier to push back the date for the neolithic revolution than explain how/why hunter-gatherers built such big structures and how they were sustained in the necessary numbers to do so. Either the dating is wrong, the neolithic started earlier or our understanding of paleolithic cultures is flawed enough to make us rethink the paleolithic-neolithic classification altogether (maybe agriculture ins't such a key component). Semantics aside, the discovery mentioned in the article basically finds evidence of human behaviors known to have existed during that period elsewhere in the world.
  - thornofmight 14y ago
    Why has only 5% of this been uncovered?
billswift 14y ago
I am not sure exactly what the newspaper's claim is, I didn't see any links to a technical paper that I could follow up on. But I understood behaviorally modern humans to have been around for about 50,000 years. Are they just claiming that modern humans reached southern Africa earlier than previously thought?
- sanxiyn 14y ago
  I think this is exactly the case. Behaviorally modern human in South Africa, about the same time as in Europe. I believe the paper is http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/07/23/1202629109 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/07/23/1202629109

41 points by jamesbritt 14y ago

I'm know if I'm wrong about definitions or the title is misleading but this is talking about the definition "modern humans" in the sense I was expecting: neolithic culture (agriculture, pottery, permanent settlements, megalithic relics, large groups). Rather this is evidence for what I've heard called "behaviorally modern humans." They know about behavioral modernity in other places (including Africa) during this period. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_modernity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_modernity Still fascinating, but don't expect 40 thousand year old pyramids.

sanxiyn 14y ago
Since some cultures are still hunter-gatherers and did not adopt agriculture, it would be strange to interpret culture as agriculture. Also, megalithic relics predate agriculture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobekli_Tepe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobekli_Tepe
- netcan 14y ago
  I meant "modern culture" and sure, all the elements of modern culture do not necessarily coincide. Göbekli Tepe is still a mystery. It might be easier to push back the date for the neolithic revolution than explain how/why hunter-gatherers built such big structures and how they were sustained in the necessary numbers to do so. Either the dating is wrong, the neolithic started earlier or our understanding of paleolithic cultures is flawed enough to make us rethink the paleolithic-neolithic classification altogether (maybe agriculture ins't such a key component). Semantics aside, the discovery mentioned in the article basically finds evidence of human behaviors known to have existed during that period elsewhere in the world.
- thornofmight 14y ago
  Why has only 5% of this been uncovered?

billswift 14y ago

I am not sure exactly what the newspaper's claim is, I didn't see any links to a technical paper that I could follow up on. But I understood behaviorally modern humans to have been around for about 50,000 years. Are they just claiming that modern humans reached southern Africa earlier than previously thought?

sanxiyn 14y ago
I think this is exactly the case. Behaviorally modern human in South Africa, about the same time as in Europe. I believe the paper is http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/07/23/1202629109 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/07/23/1202629109