Neandertals, competition, and the origin of modern human behavior in the Levant

@article{Shea2003NeandertalsCA,
  title={Neandertals, competition, and the origin of modern human behavior in the Levant},
  author={John J. Shea},
  journal={Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues},
  year={2003},
  volume={12}
}
  • J. Shea
  • Published 2003
  • Geography, Environmental Science
  • Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues
The East Mediterranean Levant is a small region, but its paleoanthropological record looms large in debates about the origin of modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals. For most of the twentieth century, the Levantine paleoanthropological record supported models of continuity and evolutionary transition between Neandertals and early modern humans. Recent advances in radiometric dating have challenged these models by reversing the chronological relationship between Levantine Neandertals… 
View on Wiley
131 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
11
Background Citations
52
Methods Citations
1
Results Citations
3

131 Citations

The Middle Paleolithic of the East Mediterranean Levant
  • J. Shea
  • Geography, Environmental Science
  • 2003
This paper reviews recent developments in geochronology, archaeology, and behavioral interpretations of the Middle Paleolithic Period (ca. 47–250 Kyr) in the East Mediterranean Levant. Neandertals…
When Neanderthals and modern humans met
W Neanderthals and Modern Humans Met comprises 20 papers first presented in the context of a conference held in Tübingen in 2004 on the nature of the interactions between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons…
Was inter-population connectivity of Neanderthals and modern humans the driver of the Upper Paleolithic transition rather than its product?
23 Cultural Evolution in Africa and Eurasia During the Middle and Late Pleistocene
This chapter examines large‐scale patterns of behavioral change that are often viewed as indicators for the advent of cultural modernity and developed symbolic communication. Using examples from…
Transitions or turnovers? Climatically-forced extinctions of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals in the east Mediterranean Levant
  • J. Shea
  • Geography, Environmental Science
  • 2008
A Simulation Study on the Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans in Europe: Implications of Climate Change, Cultural Diversification, and the Shape of the Continent
The cause of the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans is one of the biggest mysteries in human paleontology. Some emphasize the importance of climate change and others the role of competitive…
The evolution of modern human behavior in East Asia: Current perspectives
TLDR
The saltational model argues that between 50–40 kya modern human behavior appeared suddenly and as a “package”; that is, the entire range of traits appeared more or less simultaneously.
The Emergence of Ornaments and Art: An Archaeological Perspective on the Origins of “Behavioral Modernity”
The earliest known personal ornaments come from the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa, c. 75,000 years ago, and are associated with anatomically modern humans. In Europe, such items are not…
Neanderthals and Modern Humans Across Eurasia
Neanderthals, a European population was undoubtedly successful in surviving through several glacial periods. Their population, originally spread across Europe, composed of small communities but…
Middle Palaeolithic human occupation of the high altitude region of Hovk-1, Armenia
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 72 REFERENCES
Makers of the early Aurignacian of Europe.
TLDR
The overall picture is one of an extended period of cultural contact, involving some degree of genetic exchange, between Neandertals and early modern Europeans, and perhaps for 8,000-10,000 years or longer.
Modern Human Origins in the Levant and Western Asia: The Fossil and Archeological Evidence
Upper Pleistocene human fossil and archeological evidence from the Levant and western Asia indicates continuity over the Middle/Upper Paleolithic transition and the transition from archaic to modern…
Comparisons and the Case for Interaction among Neanderthals and Early Modern Humans in the Levant
Summary. There is good reason to believe that both archaic and anatomically modern humans occupied south-west Asia at the same time. On the assumption that this was indeed the case, this paper…
The Middle Paleolithic: Early Modern Humans and Neandertals in the Levant
  • J. Shea
  • Geology
    Near Eastern Archaeology
  • 2001
The Levant has always been a crossroads and a zone of dispute. This truism was as relevant in the deep past as it is today. Dr. Shea insightfully reviews the extraordinarily rich fossil and…
Neandertal Archaeology—Implications for Our Origins
This article identifies key aspects of the metaphysical paradigms under which European Paleolithic archaeological research is conducted and contrasts the anthropological approaches typical of…
Zooarcheological evidence for the faunal exploitation behavior of Neandertals and early modern humans
TLDR
The study of the origins of modern humans continues to be a dynamic, quickly changing field, as shown by the recent extraction and analysis of DNA from the Neander Valley fossils, and archeology remains the major contributor to the understanding of the behavioral side of this debate.
Neandertal and Early Modern Human Behavioral Variability A Regional‐Scale Approach to Lithic Evidence for Hunting in the Levantine Mousterian1
  • J. Shea
  • Environmental Science
    Current Anthropology
  • 1998
In southwestern Asia, both Neandertals and early modern humans are associated with the same Levantine Mousterian archaeological complex for tens of thousands of years. Thus, the Levantine Mousterian…
Thermoluminescence dates for the Neanderthal burial site at Kebara in Israel
The origins of modern man are a subject of controversy among palaeoanthropologists concerned with human evolution1–3. Particularly heavily debated is the dating of hominid remains uncovered in…
Hominids and hybrids: the place of Neanderthals in human evolution.
TLDR
Although many students of human evolution have lately begun to look favorably on the view that these distinctive hominids merit species recognition in their own right as Homo neanderthalensis, at least as many still regard them as no more than a strange variant of the authors' own species, Homo sapiens.
Behavioral Differences between Archaic and Modern Humans in the Levantine Mousterian
Early modern and archaic humans are associated with similar lithic industries in the Middle Paleolithic of the southern Levant, but new data suggest that they used the environment in different ways.…
...
...