Over 100,000 years ago or so, Southern Africa, in the Land before and the beginning Time of Animism?

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Animism: a belief among some indigenous people, young children, or all religious people!

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Over 100,000 years ago or so, Southern Africa, in the Land before and the beginning Time of Animism?

75,000-70,000 years old Stone Snake Possible Worship

Then, to me, this African Animism spread out across the globe and is very loosely connected to almost all religions across the planet. That is my reasoned speculations from the evidence I feel we have to justify this claim.

74,000 years ago, or so, infant Burial pit in Border Cave, with a perforated Conus shell, and this is considered the oldest burial from Africa as well as earliest grave goods are seen in Africa. 100,000-year-old, grave goods are seen in Israel.

In Africa, it is interpreted that after around 500,000 years ago as some of the earliest evidence for collective ritual. The ubiquitous use of red ochre by 170,000 years ago. 

In Africa, symbolic culture was in place by around 100 years ago seen in evidence such as red ochre use, geometric engravings, beads. In Israel around this time, burials even with animals and ochre. In southern Africa around 70,000 to 75,000 years ago sees the first worship of a monolithic stone snake stone in a cave before humanity’s common ancestry separated out of Africa. 

Rhino Cave in the Tsodilo Hills of Botswana holds what may have been a believed spirit rock-being, i.e. “supernatural- snake-spirit” they worshiped.

Offerings to a Stone Snake provide the Earliest clear Evidence of Religion in 70,000-year-old African ritual practices linked to the mythology of modern Botswanans.

Is there a seeming gradual evolution of collective ritual, out of which was forged a template of symbolic culture, or at least elements which might be inferred by the time of “Modern Human” dispersal beyond Africa? So, one can reason red and glittery pigment use in Rain Serpents in Northern Australia and Southern Africa: a Common Ancestry?

Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey

“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref

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“The earliest ancestors of anatomically modern Homo sapiens emerged in a region south of the Zambezi River in Botswana, Africa, according to a new analysis of modern human’s mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA or mitogenome) from the L0 lineage, the oldest known mtDNA lineage on Earth.” ref

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“In terms of mitochondrial haplogroups, the mt-MRCA is situated at the divergence of macro-haplogroup L into L0 and L1–6. As of 2013, estimates on the age of this split ranged at around 155,000 years ago, consistent with a date later than the speciation of Homo sapiens but earlier than the recent out-of-Africa dispersal.” ref

“There were at least several “out-of-Africa” dispersals of modern humans, possibly beginning as early as 270,000 years ago, including 215,000 years ago to at least Greece, and certainly via northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula about 130,000 to 115,000 years ago. There is evidence that modern humans had reached China around 80,000 years ago. Practically all of these early waves seem to have gone extinct or retreated back, and present-day humans outside Africa descend mainly from a single expansion out 70,000–50,000 years ago. The most significant “recent” wave out of Africa took place about 70,000–50,000 years ago, via the so-called “Southern Route“, spreading rapidly along the coast of Asia and reaching Australia by around 65,000–50,000 years ago, (though some researchers question the earlier Australian dates and place the arrival of humans there at 50,000 years ago at earliest, while others have suggested that these first settlers of Australia may represent an older wave before the more significant out of Africa migration and thus not necessarily be ancestral to the region’s later inhabitants) while Europe was populated by an early offshoot which settled the Near East and Europe less than 55,000 years ago.” ref

“Haplogroup L3 is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. The clade has played a pivotal role in the early dispersal of anatomically modern humans. It is strongly associated with the out-of-Africa migration of modern humans of about 70–50,000 years ago. It is inherited by all modern non-African populations, as well as by some populations in Africa. Haplogroup L3 arose close to 70,000 years ago, near the time of the recent out-of-Africa event. This dispersal originated in East Africa and expanded to West Asia, and further to South and Southeast Asia in the course of a few millennia, and some research suggests that L3 participated in this migration out of Africa. L3 is also common amongst African Americans and Afro-Brazilians. A 2007 estimate for the age of L3 suggested a range of 104–84,000 years ago. More recent analyses, including Soares et al. (2012) arrive at a more recent date, of roughly 70–60,000 years ago. Soares et al. also suggest that L3 most likely expanded from East Africa into Eurasia sometime around 65–55,000 years ago years ago as part of the recent out-of-Africa event, as well as from East Africa into Central Africa from 60 to 35,000 years ago. In 2016, Soares et al. again suggested that haplogroup L3 emerged in East Africa, leading to the Out-of-Africa migration, around 70–60,000 years ago.” ref

“Haplogroups L6 and L4 form sister clades of L3 which arose in East Africa at roughly the same time but which did not participate in the out-of-Africa migration. The ancestral clade L3’4’6 has been estimated at 110 kya, and the L3’4 clade at 95 kya. The possibility of an origin of L3 in Asia was also proposed by Cabrera et al. (2018) based on the similar coalescence dates of L3 and its Eurasian-distributed M and N derivative clades (ca. 70 kya), the distant location in Southeast Asia of the oldest known subclades of M and N, and the comparable age of the paternal haplogroup DE. According to this hypothesis, after an initial out-of-Africa migration of bearers of pre-L3 (L3’4*) around 125 kya, there would have been a back-migration of females carrying L3 from Eurasia to East Africa sometime after 70 kya. The hypothesis suggests that this back-migration is aligned with bearers of paternal haplogroup E, which it also proposes to have originated in Eurasia. These new Eurasian lineages are then suggested to have largely replaced the old autochthonous male and female North-East African lineages.” ref

“According to other research, though earlier migrations out of Africa of anatomically modern humans occurred, current Eurasian populations descend instead from a later migration from Africa dated between about 65,000 and 50,000 years ago (associated with the migration out of L3). Vai et al. (2019) suggest, from a newly discovered old and deeply-rooted branch of maternal haplogroup N found in early Neolithic North African remains, that haplogroup L3 originated in East Africa between 70,000 and 60,000 years ago, and both spread within Africa and left Africa as part of the Out-of-Africa migration, with haplogroup N diverging from it soon after (between 65,000 and 50,000 years ago) either in Arabia or possibly North Africa, and haplogroup M originating in the Middle East around the same time as “N.” A study by Lipson et al. (2019) analyzing remains from the Cameroonian site of Shum Laka found them to be more similar to modern-day Pygmy peoples than to West Africans, and suggests that several other groups (including the ancestors of West Africans, East Africans, and the ancestors of non-Africans) commonly derived from a human population originating in East Africa between about 80,000-60,000 years ago, which they suggest was also the source and origin zone of haplogroup L3 around 70,000 years ago.” ref

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Did Pleistocene Africans use the spearthrower‐and‐dart?

“Well, evidence grows apace for ever-more ancient bow-and-arrow use. List of age estimates, locations, and current evidence bundles for the use of either arrows or darts by/before 30,000 years ago, the list may not be exhaustive, but we suggest that it broadly summarizes current knowledge (MSA = middle stone age).” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Homo Naledi

“Homo Naledi is a species of archaic human discovered in the Rising Star Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa dating to the Middle Pleistocene 335,000–236,000 years ago. The initial discovery comprises 1,550 specimens, representing 737 different elements, and at least 15 different individuals. Despite this exceptionally high number of specimens, their classification with other Homo remains unclear.” ref

“Along with similarities to contemporary Homo, they share several characteristics with the ancestral Australopithecus and early Homo as well (mosaic anatomy), most notably a small cranial capacity of 465–610 cm3 (28.4–37.2 cu in), compared to 1,270–1,330 cm3 (78–81 cu in) in modern humans. They are estimated to have averaged 143.6 cm (4 ft 9 in) in height and 39.7 kg (88 lb) in weight, yielding a small encephalization quotient of 4.5. Nonetheless, Homo Naledi’s brain anatomy seems to have been similar to contemporary Homo, which could indicate equatable cognitive complexity. The persistence of small-brained humans for so long in the midst of bigger-brained contemporaries revises the previous conception that a larger brain would necessarily lead to an evolutionary advantage, and their mosaic anatomy greatly expands the known range of variation for the genus.” ref

“Homo Naledi anatomy indicates that, though they were capable of long-distance travel with a humanlike stride and gait, they were more arboreal than other Homo, better adapted to climbing and suspensory behavior in trees than endurance running. Tooth anatomy suggests consumption of gritty foods covered in particulates such as dust or dirt. Though they have not been associated with stone tools or any indication of material culture, they appear to have been dextrous enough to produce and handle tools, and likely manufactured Early or Middle Stone Age industries. It has also been controversially postulated that these individuals were given funerary rites, and were carried into and placed in the chamber.” ref 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

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Neanderthal Mousterian: Animism/Totemism?

The Mousterian (stone-tool culture/industry) of flint lithic tools associated primarily with the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia, as well as with the Neanderthals in Europe from 160,000 to 40,000 years ago. If its predecessor, known as Levallois or “Levallois-Mousterian” is included, the range is extended to as early as c. 300,000–200,000 years ago. Moreover, Mousterian continued alongside the new Neandertal Châtelperronian industry during the 45,000-40,000 ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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130,000 years ago – Earliest undisputed evidence for intentional burial and it is Neanderthals…

Evidence suggests that the Neanderthals were the first humans to intentionally bury the dead and possibly doing cannibalism which could be evidence of a death ritual, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. 130,000 years ago – Earliest undisputed evidence for intentional burial. Neanderthals bury their dead at sites such as Krapina in Croatia. There was a total of 876 single Neanderthal fossil remnants found at the Hušnjak hill. The Bones belonged to several dozen different individuals, of different sex, from 2 to 40 years of age. Over a thousand pieces of various stone tools and weapons from the Paleolithic era were found, all witnessing to the material culture of the Krapina proto-human. This rich locality is approximately 130.000 years old.

Numerous fossil remnants of the cave bear, wolf, moose, large deer, warm climate rhinoceros, wild cattle and many other animals were also found. Moreover, there is bird skeletons, with some of the parts modified, are found in association with the Neanderthal bones. Here are some talons and foot bones from the white-tailed eagle. There appears to be cut marks in the talons and foot bones to which they were attached, suggesting that Neanderthals were using the talons and bones as jewelry. This is supported by recent findings of gut “fiber” tied around part of a talon. Here are a foot bone and a talon that have been modified by having grooves cut in them. Neanderthals were largely carnivores, though we know they also used medicinal plants. ref, ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

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The Tabun Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, occupied intermittently during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic (500,000 to around 40,000 years ago). Tabun suggests that ancestral humans used fire at the site on a regular basis since about 350,000 years ago and this likely would have shaped our culture and behavior. The material remains from the upper strata of the cave are of Levallois technique and the Mousterian culture (about 200,000 – 45,000 years ago). The Middle Palaeolithic of the southern Levant involved Neandertals and early modern humans, occupying the region at that time. Tabun Cave held fossil remains involved Neandertals and early modern humans but not an absolute chronology of the Levantine MP fossils though could indicates that an enamel fragment from the Tabun C1 could be as old as 143,000 years ago nearly double Tabun BC7.  Moreover, a Neanderthal-type female, dated to about 120,000 years ago around the time early modern humans existed there which was between 120,000 – 90,000 years ago and again from 55,000 years ago on. ref, ref, ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

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Did Neanderthals teach us “Primal Religion (Pre-Animism/Animism?)” 120,000 Years Ago?

Homo sapiens – is known to have reached the Levant between 120,000 and 90,000 years ago, but that exit from Africa evidently went extinct. Homo sapiens – is known to have reached the Levant between 120,000 and 90,000 years ago, but that exit from Africa evidently went extinct. Tabun Cave Mousterian (stone tool) culture (about 200,000 45,000 years ago). Small flint tools, made of thin flakes, predominate here, many produced by the Levallois technique. ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

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Animism: an approximately 100,000-year-old belief system?

Qafzeh Cave held early modern human remains dating to the Middle Paleolithic period which is the oldest levels are dated to the Mousterian culture period, about 80,000-100,000 years ago. At the site there were hearths; and stone tools use the Levallois technique on the stone tools. various layers at Qafzeh were dated to an average of 96,000-115,000 years ago and the Qafzeh cave contains some of the earliest evidence for burials in the world and included 27 anatomically modern humans, with some archaic features dating to around 92,000 years ago and were directly associated with Levallois-Mousterian assemblage, appear to have been purposefully buried: dated to around 92,000 years ago. The remains are from anatomically modern humans, with some archaic features; they are directly associated with Levallois-Mousterian assemblage. Modern behaviors indicated at the cave include the purposeful burials; the use of ochre for body painting; the presence of marine shells, used as ornamentation, and most interestingly, the survival and eventual ritual interment of a severely brain-damaged child. Moreover, deer antlers at Qafzeh 11 seem to be associated with burials unlike the marine shells which do not seem to be associated with burials, but rather are scattered more or less randomly throughout the site, possibly as a sacred offering, one that sanctifies an area? Or kind of blessing the aria? ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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“Mtoto’s burial, to experts it is believed the child was around three years old when they died and was likely wrapped in a shroud and had their head on a pillow. Besides the seemingly deliberate position of the body, the team noticed a few clues that suggested the child was swaddled in cloth, possibly with the intention of preserving the corpse. They also speculate the body was placed in a cave fissure — known as funerary caching — before being covered with sediment.” ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Was it Just Us, at Origin of Modern Mind 75,000 Years Ago?

It doesn’t look so, thus we need to rethink our ideas about the evolving mind of the Neanderthal skulls (right) are elongated from front to back like a football. Modern human adult has a basketball-like shape skulls (left) and Modern human infants also have somewhat elongated skulls, but by the time they reach adulthood, their heads have rounded out into a basketball-like shape. Analyzing Neanderthal DNA in Europeans identifies two Neanderthal gene variants linked to the head shape and also influence brain organization, in evolution acting on the brain might have reshaped the skull. Therefore, the Neanderthal DNA had a direct effect on brain shape and, presumably, brain function in humans today but infants start life with elongated skulls, somewhat like Neanderthals. ref

Evidence shows that Neanderthals had a complex culture although they did not behave in the same ways as the early modern humans who lived at the same time. Neanderthal dead were often buried, although there is no conclusive evidence for full ritualistic behavior, though at some sites, objects have been uncovered that may represent grave goods. ref

Animism: an approximately 100,000-year-old belief system?

Animism (from Latin anima, “breath, spirit, life”) is the religious belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animated and alive. Animism is the oldest known type of belief system in the world that even predates paganism. It is still practiced in a variety of forms in many traditional societies. Animism is used in the anthropology of religion as a term for the belief system of many indigenous tribal peoples, especially in contrast to the relatively more recent development of organized religions. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, “animism” is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples’ “spiritual” or “supernatural” perspectives. The animistic perspective is so widely held and inherent to most animistic indigenous peoples that they often do not even have a word in their languages that corresponds to “animism” (or even “religion”); the term is an anthropological construct. ref

* “animist” Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife (you are a hidden animist/Animism : an approximately 100,000-year-old belief system Qafzeh: Oldest Intentional Burial of 15 individuals with red ocher and Border Cave: intentional burial of an infant with red ochre and a shell ornament (possibly extending to or from Did Neanderthals teach us “Primal Religion (Animism?)” 120,000 Years Ago, as they too used red ocher? well it seems to me it may be Neanderthals who may have transmitted a “Primal Religion (Animism?)” or at least burial and thoughts of an afterlife they seem to express what could be perceived as a Primal “type of” Religion, which could have come first is supported in how 250,000 years ago Neanderthals used red ochre and 230,000 years ago shows evidence of Neanderthal burial with grave goods and possibly a belief in the afterlife. Think of the idea that Neanderthals who may have transmitted a “Primal Religion” as crazy then consider this, it appears that Neanderthals built mystery underground circles 175,000 years ago. Evidence suggests that the Neanderthals were the first humans to intentionally bury the dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel, and Krapina in Croatia. Or maybe Neanderthals had it transmitted to them Evidence of earliest burial: a 350,000-year-old pink stone ax with 27 Homo heidelbergensis. As well as the fact that the oldest Stone Age Art dates to around 500,000 to 233,000 Years Old and it could be of a female possibly with magical believed qualities or representing something that was believed to)

No, Religion and Gods were not Created due to fear of Lightning.

I hear some say that the fear of lightning-caused or inspired religion it most likely did not as it is not well represented in the most ancient religious forms like animism at least 100,000 years ago and rather seems to gain its importance around the time of agriculture after paganism around 12,000 years ago relating to the bull and was connected to the early goddess faiths connected to the worship of cereal grains believed to be goddesses and rain/thunderstorms/lightning the bull was worshiped as it was thought to help fertilize the goddess. To the animist, spirit believer the goal is to create the proper atmosphere so that spirits add their benefit and not their harm. All existence is connected commonly lacking strict or permanent divisions or distinctions between that seen as animate or inanimate, human or non-human and while there may be prescribed pattern to avoid discomfort to the spirits even a fear in doing so, animists don’t generally view themselves as a helpless or passive victim of the world nor do they hesitate in utilizing almost any means which will provide protection as it is merely a way of relating effectively in the world. ref

Understanding Religion Evolution

My thoughts on Religion Progression

1. Animism (a belief in a perceived spirit world) passably by at least 100,000 years ago “the primal stage of early religion”
2. Totemism (a belief that these perceived spirits could be managed with created physical expressions) passably by at least 50,000 years ago “progressed stage of early religion”
3. Shamanism (a belief that some special person can commune with these perceived spirits on the behalf of others by way rituals) passably by at least 30,000 years ago
4. Paganism “Early organized nature-based religion” mainly like an evolved shamanism with gods (passably by at least 12,000 years ago).
5. Institutional religion “organized religion” as a social institution with official dogma usually set in a hierarchical/bureaucratic structure that contains strict rules and practices dominating the believer’s life.

“Religion is an Evolved Product”

What we don’t understand we can come to fear. That which we fear we often learn to hate. Things we hate we usually seek to destroy. It is thus upon us to try and understand the unknown or unfamiliar not letting fear drive us into the unreasonable arms of hate and harm.

“An Archaeological/Anthropological Understanding of Religion Evolution”

If you are a religious believer, may I remind you that faith in the acquisition of knowledge is not a valid method worth believing in. Because, what proof is “faith”, of anything religion claims by faith, as many people have different faith even in the same religion?

Did Neanderthals teach us “Primal Religion (Pre-Animism/Animism?)” 120,000 Years Ago?

Evidence suggests that the Neanderthals were the first humans to intentionally bury the dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. 130,000 years ago – Earliest undisputed evidence for intentional burial. Neanderthals bury their dead at sites such as Krapina in Croatia. ref

Homo sapiens – is known to have reached the Levant between 120,000 and 90,000 years ago, but that exit from Africa evidently went extinct.  ref

Homo sapiens – is known to have reached the Levant between 120,000 and 90,000 years ago, but that exit from Africa evidently went extinct.  ref

A population that diverged early from other modern humans in Africa contributed genetically to the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains roughly 100,000 years ago. By contrast, we do not detect such a genetic contribution in the Denisovan or the two European Neanderthals. In addition to later interbreeding events, the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains and early modern humans met and interbred, possibly in the Near East, many thousands of years earlier than previously thought. ref

In 2005, a set of 7 teeth from Tabun Cave in Israel were studied and found to most likely belong to a Neandertal that may have lived around 90,000 years ago ref

and another Neandertal (C1) from Tabun Cave was estimated to be in northern Israel. The limb bones are characteristic of Neanderthals, whereas the lower jaw has a combination of Neanderthal and earlier features. These fossils date from more than 150,000 years ago ref

A fossilized human jawbone in a collapsed cave in Israel that they said is between 177,000 and 194,000 years old. ref

The Tabun Cave contains a Neanderthal-type female, dated to about 120,000 years ago. It is one of the most ancient human skeletal remains found in Israel.  ref

Objects at Tabun suggests that ancestral humans used fire at the site on a regular basis since about 350,000 years ago. ref

The remains of seven adults and three children were found, some of which (Skhul;1,4, and 5) are claimed to have been burials. ref

Assemblages of perforated Nassarius shells (a marine genus) significantly different from local fauna have also been recovered from the area, suggesting that these people may have collected and employed the shells as a bead as they are unlikely to have been used as food. ref

Skhul Layer B has been dated to an average of 81,000-101,000 years ago with the electron spin resonance method, and to an average of 119,000 years ago with the thermoluminescence method. ref

Skhul 5 had the mandible of a wild boar on its chest. The skull displays prominent supraorbital ridges and jutting jaw, but the rounded braincase of modern humans. When found, it was assumed to be an advanced Neanderthal, but is today generally assumed to be a modern human, if a very robust one. ref, ref

It is possible that Neandertals and early moderns did make contact in the region and it may be possible that the Skhul and Qafzeh hominids are partially of Neandertal descent. Non-African modern humans contain 1-4% Neandertal genetic material, with hybridization possibly having taken place in the Middle East. ref

It has been suggested, however, that the Skhul/Qafzeh hominids represent an extinct lineage. If this is the case, modern humans would have re-exited Africa around 70,000 years ago, crossing the narrow Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Eritrea and the Arabian Peninsula. ref

Modern humans were present in Arabia and South Asia earlier than currently believed, and probably coincident with the presence of Homo sapiens in the Levant between ca 130 and 70,000 years ago. ref

This is the same route proposed to have been taken by the people who made the modern tools at Jebel Faya. ref

This Neandertal girl’s toe bone had ancient DNA her ancestors picked up by mating with modern humans more than 100,000 years ago. ref

If the Skhul burials took place within a relatively short time span, then the best age estimate lies between 100 and 135 ka. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that the material associated with the Skhul IX burial is older than those of Skhul II and Skhul V. These and other recent age estimates suggest that the three burial sites, Skhul, Qafzeh, and Tabun are broadly contemporaneous, falling within the time range of 100 to 130 ka. The presence of early representatives of both early modern humans and Neanderthals in the Levant during Marine Isotope Stage 5 inevitably complicates attempts at segregating these populations by date or archaeological association. Nevertheless, it does appear that the oldest known symbolic burials are those of early modern humans at Skhul and Qafzeh. This supports the view that, despite the associated Middle Palaeolithic technology, elements of modern human behavior were represented at Skhul and Qafzeh prior to 100 ka. ref

As some of the first bands of modern humans moved out of Africa, they met and mated with Neandertals about 100,000 years ago—perhaps in the fertile Nile Valley, along the coastal hills of the Middle East, or in the once-verdant Arabian Peninsula. These early modern humans’ own lineages died out, and they are not among the ancestors of living people. But a small bit of their DNA survived in the toe bone of a Neandertal woman who lived more than 50,000 years ago in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, Russia. ref

100,000 years ago – The oldest known ritual burial of modern humans at Qafzeh in Israel: a double burial of what is thought to be a mother and child. The bones have been stained with red ochre. By 100,000 years ago anatomically modern humans migrated to the middle east from Africa. However, the fossil record of these humans ends after 100kya, leading scholars to believe that the population either died out or returned to Africa. 100,000 to 50,000 years ago – Increased use of red ochre at several Middle Stone Age sites in Africa. Red Ochre is thought to have played an important role in ritual. The human skeletons were associated with red ochre which was found only alongside the bones, suggesting that the burials were symbolic in nature. ref

Within Israel’s Qafzeh Cave, researchers found evidence of a sophisticated culture and remains of modern humans that are up to 100,000 years old. About 100,000 years ago, tall, long-limbed humans lived in the caves of Qafzeh, east of Nazareth, and Skhul, on Israel’s Mount Carmel. The Skhul-Qafzeh people gathered shells from a shoreline more than 20 miles away, decorated them, and strung them as jewelry. They buried their dead, most likely with grave goods, and cared for their living: A child born with hydrocephalus, sometimes called water on the brain, lived with a profound disability until the age of 3 or so, a feat only possible with patient, loving care. The Qafzeh humans were around 92,000 years old, and the Skhul people were even older, averaging about 115,000 years. Around 75,000 years ago, close to the time, the Homo sapiens of Skhul and Qafzeh disappear from the fossil record, the climate in the Levant shifted in Neanderthals’ favor. Rapid glaciation left the region both cooler and drier. Steppe-deserts advanced, and forests retreated. Neanderthal bodies were adapted for colder conditions. Their stocky, barrel-chested build lost less heat and offered plenty of insulating muscle, and their systems were streamlined to extract calories from food and turn them into body heat. The Skhul-Qafzeh people’s slender physiques were better at getting rid of heat than making it. Or, as Shea says, “Neanderthals liked cold and dry. Our ancestors liked warm and wet. It got cold, and humans retreated.” ref, ref

Neanderthals may have transmitted:

“Primal Religion (Pre-Animism/Animism?)” or at least burial and thoughts of an afterlife may have been transferred from Neanderthals to arcane humans when they bread with them.

Neanderthals,  also interbred with Homo erectus, the “upright walking man,” Homo habilis, the “tool-using man,” and possibly others which means they could have possibly learned some pre-animism ideas from one of them like that expressed in portable anthropomorphic art that could have related to so kind of ancestor veneration as well. ref

Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago)

• Around 500,000 – 233,000 years ago, Oldest Anthropomorphic art (Pre-animism) is Related to Female
• 400,000 Years Old Sociocultural Evolution
• Pre-Animism: Portable Rock Art at least 300,000-year-old
• Homo Naledi and an Intentional Cemetery “Pre-Animism” dating to around 250,000 years ago?

First, there was Pre-Animism: Portable Rock Art

Around a million years ago, I surmise that Pre-Animism, “animistic superstitionism”, began and led to the animistic somethingism or animistic supernaturalism, which is at least 300,000 years old and about 100,00 years ago, it evolves to a representation of general Animism, which is present in today’s religions.

Anthropology states that Pre-animism is “A stage of religious development supposed to have preceded animism, in which material objects were believed to contain spiritual energy.” ref

To me, it is a kind of “Primal Pre-Religion (Pre-Animism/Proto-Animism” or at least burial and thoughts of an afterlife, may have been transferred from the Neanderthals to arcane humans when they bred with them. Neanderthals, also interbred with Homo erectus, the ‘upright walking man,’ Homo habilis, the ‘tool-using man” and possibly others, which means they could have possibly learned some pre-animism ideas from one of the other hominids thas is expressed in portable anthropomorphic art, which could have been related to some kind of ancestor veneration as well. ref

Around 500,000 to 400,000 years ago, the earliest European hominin crania associated with Acheulean handaxes are at the sites of Arago, Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos, and Swanscombe. The Atapuerca fossils and the Swanscombe cranium belong to the Neandertals whereas the Arago hominins have been attributed to Homo heidelbergensis or to a subspecies of Homo erectus, which is an incipient stage of Neandertal evolution. A cranium (Aroeira 3) from the Gruta da Aroeira (Almonda karst system, Portugal) dating to 436,000 to 390,000 years ago provides important evidence on the earliest European Acheulean-bearing hominins as well as could show a transfer of ideas. ref

Homo erectus, the “upright walking man,” lived between 1.89 million and 143,000 years ago, whereas early African Homo erectus and sometimes called Homo ergaster are the oldest known early humans to have possessed modern human-like attributes. The earliest evidence of campfires occurred during the time of Homo erectus. While there is evidence that campfires were used for cooking, and probably sharing food, they are likely to have been placed for social interaction, used for warmth, to keep away large predators, and possibly even relating to Primal Religion, “Pre-Animism,” which may have included Fire Sacralizing and/or Worship. ref

Neanderthals used fire 400,000 years ago and there is evidence of a 300,000-year-old ‘campfire’ from Israel, which is not that surprising since our human ancestors have controlled fire from 1.5 million to 300,000 years ago and beyond. The benefits of fire are not only to cook food and fend off predators, but also extended their day and added to the community by how a fire in the middle of the darkness mellows and also excite people, which possibly inspire pre-animism’s “animistic superstitionism.” ref

Sun-worshipping baboons rise early to catch the African sunrise and race each other to the top for the best spots. Thus, we may rightly ponder how much did fireside tales aid to the socio-cultural-religious transformations or evolution. In the dark under flickering lights from the stars above and the fire below was the scene of wonder, fear, and mystery. Was superstition expanded and religion further imagined? It would seem that superstition was expanded and religion further imagined because both heavenly lights and flickering fire have been sacralized. This does seem to be somewhat supported by a researcher who spent 40 years studying African Bushmen who gathered evidence of the importance of gathering around a nighttime campfire as a time for bonding, social information, and shared emotions with fireside tales. This may provide a correlation that our prehistoric ancestors likely lived in a similar way to how the Bushmen currently do. Although, we cannot directly peer into the past or fully know the past from the indigenous Bushmen, these people do live in a way that our ancient ancestors lived for around 99% of our evolution.

Fire, as sacred or magic, can be seen in:

• Consuming fire as volcanos/lightning as gods and gods’power/vengeance.
• Holy fire as a means of transformation or magical purification.
• A magical being as used in worshipping the sun or punishment such as hell/lake of fire, which could be seen as mixing fire and water, if only symbolically.
• Ceremonies such as bonfires, eternal flames, or sacred candles/incense/lights/lamps are in one form or another incorporated in many faiths such as judaism, christianity, islam, hinduism, buddhism, sikhism, bahaism, shintoism, taoism, etc.  ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

All this worship of fire/sun is hardly special to humans since many other primates worship thunderstorms, others fire, or sunrises. We have forgotten how nature worship, animistic superstitionism, animistic somethingism, or animistic supernatralism is presented in today’s religion. The mega religions now think they are removed from animistic superstitionism, which they are not. Their rituals, beliefs, and prayers have a connection to animism nature worship but are more hidden or stylized such as burning candles, which is worshipping fire.

Archaeology reveals that the world’s oldest sculpture was enhanced by hominid hand. To date, the oldest known human three-dimensional representation is the Tan-Tan sculpture, which is an anthropomorific human form from Morocco was found in ancient river deposits of the Draa river. It is Acheulian and has been dated between 500,000 to 300,000 years old. 500,000 to 233,000 years ago, in Israel, another sculpture, which may be the oldest Stone Age Art was found at the Berekhat Ram site on the Golan Heights that consist of a small quartzite pebble, which resembles a human female figure with magical believed qualities or representing something that was believed to be magical. ref

Is this just art or a form of ancestor veneration?

Pre-animism ideas can be seen in rock art such as that expressed in portable anthropomorphic art, which may be related to some kind of ancestor veneration. This magical thinking may stem from a social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration, which cultivates kinship values such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity and it remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times.

Humans are not the only species, which bury their dead. The practice has been observed in chimpanzees, elephants, and possibly dogs. Intentional burial, particularly with grave goods, signify a “concern for the dead” and Neanderthals were the first human species to practice burial behavior and intentionally bury their dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. The earliest undisputed human burial dates back 100,000 years ago with remains stained with red ochre, which show ritual intentionality similar to the Neanderthals before them. ref, ref

• “300,000 years ago: the first possible appearance of Homo sapiens, in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco.
• 270,000 years ago: age of Y-DNA haplogroup A00(“Y-chromosomal Adam“).
• 250,000 years ago: the first appearance of Homo neanderthalensis (Saccopastore skulls)
• 250,000-200,000 years ago: modern human presence in West Asia (Misliya cave)
• 230,000–150,000 years ago: age of mt-DNA haplogroup L (“Mitochondrial Eve“)
• 195,000 years ago: Omo remains (Ethiopia), the emergence of anatomically modern humans.
• 160,000 years ago: Homo sapiens idaltu
• 170,000 years ago: humans are wearing clothing by this date.
• 150,000 years ago: Peopling of Africa: Khoisanid separation, an age of mtDNA haplogroup L0
• 125,000 years ago: the peak of the Eemian interglacial period.
• 120,000–90,000 years ago: Abbassia Pluvial in North Africa—the Sahara desert region is wet and fertile.” ref 

Pre-Animism: Portable Rock Art

Pre-animism ideas seen in rock art, such as that expressed in portable anthropomorphic art that could have related to so kind of ancestor veneration, which may be a magical thinking but stem from the social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, and it remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times. Ancestor reverence is not the same as the worship of a deity or deities. In some Afro-diasporic cultures, ancestors are seen as being able to intercede on behalf of the living, often as messengers between humans and the gods. As spirits who were once human themselves, they are seen as being better able to understand human needs than would a divine being. In other cultures, the purpose of ancestor veneration is not to ask for favors but to do one’s filial duty. Some cultures believe that their ancestors actually need to be provided for by their descendants, and their practices include offerings of food and other provisions. Others do not believe that the ancestors are even aware of what their descendants do for them, but that the expression of filial piety is what is important. Although there is no generally accepted theory concerning the origins of ancestor veneration, this social phenomenon appears in some form in all human cultures documented so far. David-Barrett and Carney claim that ancestor veneration might have served a group coordination role during human evolution, and thus it was the mechanism that led to religious representation fostering group cohesion. Humans are not the only species that bury their dead; the practice has been observed in chimpanzees, elephants, and possibly dogs. Intentional burial, particularly with grave goods, signifies a “concern for the dead” and Neanderthals were the first human species to practice burial behavior and intentionally bury their dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel, and Krapina in Croatia. The earliest undisputed human burial dates back 100,000 years with remains stained with red ochre showing ritual intentionality similar to the Neanderthals before them. ref, ref

Pre-animism: Anthropology; “A stage of religious development supposed to have preceded animism, in which material objects were believed to contain spiritual energy.” ref

Animism (from Latin anima, “breath, spirit, life”) is the religious belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animated and alive. Animism is the oldest known type of belief system in the world that even predates paganism. It is still practiced in a variety of forms in many traditional societies. Animism is used in the anthropology of religion as a term for the belief system of many indigenous tribal peoples, especially in contrast to the relatively more recent development of organized religions. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, “animism” is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples’ “spiritual” or “supernatural” perspectives. The animistic perspective is so widely held and inherent to most animistic indigenous peoples that they often do not even have a word in their languages that corresponds to “animism” (or even “religion”); the term is an anthropological construct. ref

Animism (beginning around 100,000 years ago)

Animism (such as that seen in Africa: 100,000 years ago)

• Aterian Culture (North African 145,000–20,000 years ago)
• Sangoan Culture (sub-Saharan African 130,000-10,000 years ago)
• Animism: an approximately 100,000-year-old belief system?
• Rock crystal stone tools 75,000 Years Ago – (Spain) made by Neanderthals
• Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago
• Similarities and differences in Animism and Totemism
• Did Neanderthals Help Inspire Totemism? Because there is Art Dating to Around 65,000 Years Ago in Spain?
• History of Drug Use with Religion or Sacred Rituals possibly 58,000 years ago?

Animism is approximately a 100,000-year-old belief system and believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife. If you believe like this, regardless of your faith, you are a hidden animist.

The following is evidence of Animism: 100,000 years ago, in Qafzeh, Israel, the oldest intentional burial had 15 African individuals covered in red ocher was from a group who visited and returned back to Africa. 100,000 to 74,000 years ago, at Border Cave in Africa, an intentional burial of an infant with red ochre and a shell ornament, which may have possible connections to the Africans buried in Qafzeh, Israel. 120,000 years ago, did Neanderthals teach us Primal Religion (Pre-Animism/Animism) as they too used red ocher and burials? ref, ref

It seems to me, it may be the Neanderthals who may have transmitted a “Primal Religion (Animism)” or at least burial and thoughts of an afterlife. The Neanderthals seem to express what could be perceived as a Primal “type of” Religion, which could have come first and is supported in how 250,000 years ago, the Neanderthals used red ochre and 230,000 years ago shows evidence of Neanderthal burial with grave goods and possibly a belief in the afterlife. ref

Do you think it is crazy that the Neanderthals may have transmitted a “Primal Religion”? Consider this, it appears that 175,000 years ago, the Neanderthals built mysterious underground circles with broken-off stalactites. This evidence suggests that the Neanderthals were the first humans to intentionally bury the dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel, and Krapina in Croatia. Other evidence may suggest the  Neanderthals had it transmitted to them by Homo heidelbergensis, 350,000 years ago, by their earliest burial in a shaft pit grave in a cave that had a pink stone ax on the top of 27 Homo heidelbergensis individuals and 250,000 years ago, Homo Naledi had an intentional cemetery in South Africa cave.  ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

• “120,000–90,000 years ago: Abbassia Pluvial in North Africa—the Sahara desert region is wet and fertile.
• 120,000 to 75,000 years ago: Khoisanid back-migration from Southern Africa to East Africa.
• 82,000 years ago: small perforated seashell beads from Taforalt in Morocco are the earliest evidence of personal adornment found anywhere in the world.
• 75,000 years ago: Toba Volcano supereruption that almost made humanity extinct. Populations could have been lowered to about 3000-1000 people on the Earth.
• 70,000 years ago: earliest example of abstract art or symbolic art from Blombos Cave, South Africa—stones engraved with grid or cross-hatch patterns.
• 70,000 years ago: Recent African origin: separation of sub-Saharan Africans and non-Africans.” ref

143,000 – 120,000 Years Ago – Tabun Cave (Israel), found evidence of a Neanderthal-type burial of an archaic type of human female. There is some evidence of burial in Skhul Cave 130,000 – 100,000 which may be Neanderthal humans hybrids, thought early modern humans started engaging in burial around 100,000 years ago. So one should wonder did Neanderthals teach humans religion or at least ritual burial around 120,000 – 100,000 years ago? I think maybe it seems to possibly be the case by 100,000 years ago, but this is just my speculation of somewhat loose but interesting evidence. Burial seems to have been and is now certainly evidence of some concern about what happened when someone died perhaps even proof of a belief that would be one of the key tenets of most religions of the world today, which is life after this one.

100,000 Years Ago – Qafzeh cave (Israel), found a burial site of 15 early modern humans stained with red ochre and grave goods, 71 pieces of red ocher, and red ocher-stained stone tools near the bones suggest ritual or symbolic use, as well as seashells with traces of being strung, and a few also had ochre stains which may also suggest ritual or symbolic use. Likewise, a wild boar jaw found placed in the arms of one of the skeletons.

Only after 100,000 years ago modern human burials become more frequent. Could this seemingly new practice of barrel among early modern humans with the use of red ochre be in some way connected or influenced by the meeting, interbreeding, and possible idea sharing with the Neanderthal ancestors of the Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains of Central Asia around 100,000 years ago possibly in the Near East, maybe even in Israel or some other part of the with the levant? Well to me it sounds like a real possibility that Neanderthals may have directly taught or indirectly been observed thus in a way are responsible candidates for possibly teaching humans the beginnings of religion, or at least superstitionism/supernaturalism seen in the act of doing burial and the ritual and seemingly sacralized use of red ocher around 100,000 years ago. This thinking Neanderthals Primal Religion could have come first is supported in how 250,000 years ago Neanderthals used red ochre and 230,000 years ago shows evidence of Neanderthal burial with grave goods and possibly a belief in the afterlife.

*Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife (you are a hidden animist/Animism: an approximately 100,000-year-old belief system) Animism: the (often hidden) religion thinking all religionists (as well as most who say they are the so-called spiritual and not religious which to me are often just reverting back to have to Animism (even though this religious stance is often hidden to their realization so they are still very religious whether they know it or not) some extent or another. Ref

References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Ancient human burials, By Sally McBrearty

Whereas with modern people, anatomically modern Homo sapiens from somewhat later in time, you find artifacts that are definitely grave offerings. You find quantities of red ochre, which have been sprinkled over the skeleton, beads, and other kinds of objects, bone tools, and things like that, which appear to have been placed in the grave with the person when they were interred. And there’s really no doubt that they’re deliberate burials. The evidence for the burial of the dead in Africa is very very spotty. There’s one site in South Africa that’s called Border Cave, where there are a number of burials, including the burial of an infant, with a little shell ornament, it’s a pierced sea shell ornament, and the argument has been about whether that is in good stratographic context or whether it is an intrusive burial into earlier deposits. And so the age of that is not particularly well established. If it is in good context, then it’s about 100,000 years old, and it is the earliest in Africa. There are early burials of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Israel, from the site of Qafzeh. There is a modern human that probably dates to about the same time, about maybe 90,000 to 100,000 years ago. ref

Neandertal burials, By Sally McBrearty

The Neandertals have always been thought to bury their dead, because there’s so many complete skeletons of Neandertals that have been found. And I think from the number of skeletons that have been found, it’s probably a good guess that they were deliberately burying the dead. However, there are a lot of skeletons of other cave-dwelling animals that are found in caves: cave bears or hyenas, that because they live in caves they often die in caves. And there, people have argued about whether rock falls, or simply accidental death, or natural death, occurring in a cave could preserve whole skeletons better than in the open air. But the argument has also been about the objects that you find associated with the Neandertal burials, because what you find together with Neandertal skeletons are really mundane objects, like stone tools, or animal bones that would be food remains. ref

Chimpanzees Sacralizing Trees?

There is evidence currently limited to West Africa where chimpanzees mainly adult males but also females or juveniles are observed creating a kind of shrine of accumulated stone piles beside, or inside trees as well as regularly visiting these trees picking up these stones, and then throwing them at these trees accompanied with vocalization “performativity” which is (speech, gestures) to communicate an action.

Chimpanzees have been observed engaging in “social learning,” both teaching and learning such as tool use as well as communication signals: vocal and gestures. Such social learning is seen as playing an important and unique role in the development of human language, culture, and mythologizing.

All together such things observed in these West Africa where chimpanzees could indicate some kind of what could be perceived as magical thinking or at least quasi-magical thinking in the sacralizing of trees as it does not seem connected to some utilitarian or food foraging practice of which rocks or tools would make since. This at first may sound too complex for a nonhuman animal but what needs to be understood is that chimpanzees have been known to exhibit “metacognition,” or think about thinking.

Also, chimpanzees have the greatest variation in tool-use behaviors of any animal, second only to humans, where humans seem to have magical thinking or irrational beliefs are hardwired in our brains at a very ancient level because they involve mentally-fabricated patterns of thinking. Moreover, such processing abilities are somewhat common among non-human primates if not lower mammals as well to some extent and can be seen as a part of evolutionary survival fitness and thus not uniquely human.

It can be thought that different emotions evolved at different times with fear being ancient care for offspring relatively next later followed likely by extended social emotions, such as guilt and pride, evolved among social primates. Why this could be important is it is believed that emotions evolved to reinforce memories of patterns adding to survival and reproduction as well as responses to internal or external events and in such remapping facilitated by emotions could involve mentally-fabricated patterns of thinking which could superstitionize things in the world that do not truly limit it to the way it is possibly adding a kind of animism or the like involving some amount of magical thinking such as sacralizing of trees.

Magical thinking such as beliefs that there are relationships between behaviors or sounds thought to have the ability to directly affect other events in the world. Whereas quasi-magical thinking is acting as if there is a false belief that action influences outcome, even though they may not really actualize or intentionally hold such a belief.

Now I doubt West African chimpanzees are fully mythologizing the trees to a human magical thinking extent but we can see some possibilities of what about them could be inspired by magical thinking. Magical thinking may lead to a type of causal reasoning or causal fallacy that looks for meaningful relationships of grouped phenomena (coincidence) between acts and events.

Moreover, magical thinking when applied to trees are significant as believed sacred totems and natural sacred representations in many of the world’s oldest myths possibly because of using magical thinking when observing the growth and annual death and then revival of their foliage, seen them as symbolic representations of growth, death, and rebirth.

As well as trees may be conceived as existing in three realms the underworld or death with the roots the world of the living the trunk existing in our world above the ground and its branches reaching to the heavens thus existing in the realm of the spirits, ancestors or gods.

An Old Branch of Religion Still Giving Fruit: Sacred Trees

References 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, and Paganism

The interconnectedness of religious thinking Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, and Paganism

So, it all starts in a general way with Animism (theoretical belief in supernatural powers/spirits), then this is physically expressed in or with Totemism (theoretical belief in mythical relationship with powers/spirits through a totem item), which then enlists a full-time specific person to do this worship and believed interacting Shamanism (theoretical belief in access and influence with spirits through ritual), and then there is the further employment of myths and gods added to all the above giving you Paganism (often a lot more nature-based than most current top world religions, thus hinting to their close link to more ancient religious thinking it stems from). My hypothesis is expressed with an explanation of the building of a theatrical house (modern religions development).

Religion and it’s fixation with holy land or places which is both an animism belief that areas or natural features have a sacredness and the totemistic clan thinking that a tribe of people own areas or natural features as some sacred right, often along with believing only they belong there, sometimes and n some places outsiders or those not deemed sacred enough are excluded or harmed even possibly killed. Similar to sectarianism, isolationism, extreme nationalism, ethnocentrism, racism, is one of the most decisive factors leading to harmful effects and death in the past, present, and likely into the future. Yes, you need to know about Animism to understand Religion

Hidden Religious Expressions: “animist, totemist, shamanist & paganist”

• *Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife (you are a hidden animist/Animism : an approximately 100,000-year-old belief system)
• *Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects (you are a hidden totemist/Totemism: an approximately 50,000-year-old belief system)
• *Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects and these objects can be used by special persons or in special rituals can connect to spirit-filled life and/or afterlife (you are a hidden shamanist/Shamanism: an approximately 30,000-year-old belief system)
• *Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects and these objects can be used by special persons or in special rituals can connect to spirit-filled life and/or afterlife who are guided/supported by a goddess/god or goddesses/gods (you are a hidden paganist/Paganism: an approximately 12,000-year-old belief system)

Religious Evolution?

In my thinking on the evolution of religion, it seems a belief in animistic spirits” (a belief system dating back at least 100,000 years ago on the continent of Africa), that in totemism (dating back at least 50,000 years ago on the continent of Europe) with newly perceived needs where given artistic expression of animistic spirits both animal or human “seemingly focused on female humans to begin with and only much much later is there what look like could be added male focus”, but even this evolved into a believed stronger communion with more connections in shamanism (a belief system dating back at least 30,000 years ago on the continent of Aisa) with newly perceived needs, then this also evolved into Paganism (a belief system dating back at least 13,000 years ago on the continent of eastern Europe/western Asia turkey mainly but eastern Mediterranean lavant as well to some extent or another) with newly perceived needs where you see the emergence of animal gods and female goddesses around into more formalized animal gods and female goddesses and only after 7,000 to 6,000 do male gods emerge one showing its link in the evolution of religion and the other more on it as a historical religion.

Ps. Progressed organized religion starts approximately 5,000-year-old belief system)

Promoting Religion as Real is Harmful?

Sometimes, when you look at things, things that seem hidden at first, only come clearer into view later upon reselection or additional information. So, in one’s earnest search for truth one’s support is expressed not as a one-time event and more akin to a life’s journey to know what is true. I am very anti-religious, opposing anything even like religion, including atheist church. but that’s just me. Others have the right to do atheism their way. I am Not just an Atheist, I am a proud antireligionist. I can sum up what I do not like about religion in one idea; as a group, religions are “Conspiracy Theories of Reality.”

These reality conspiracies are usually filled with Pseudo-science and Pseudo-history, often along with Pseudo-morality and other harmful aspects and not just ancient mythology to be marveled or laughed at. I regard all this as ridiculous. Promoting Religion as Real is Mentally Harmful to a Flourishing Humanity To me, promoting religion as real is too often promote a toxic mental substance that can divide a person from who they are shaming them for being human. In addition, religion is a toxic mental substance that can divide a person from real history, real science, or real morality to pseudohistory, pseudoscience, and pseudomorality.

Moreover, religion is a toxic mental substance that can divide a person from rational thought, critical thinking, or logic. Likewise, religion is a toxic mental substance that can divide a person from justice, universal ethics, equality, and liberty. Yes, religion is a toxic mental substance that can divide a person from loved ones, and religion is a toxic mental substance that can divide a person from humanity. Therefore, to me, promoting religion as real is too often promote a toxic mental substance that should be rejected as not only false but harmful as well even if you believe it has some redeeming quality. To me, promoting religion as real is mentally harmful to a flourishing humanity. Religion may have once seemed great when all you had or needed was to believe. Science now seems great when we have facts and need to actually know.

A Rational Mind Values Humanity and Rejects Religion and Gods

A truly rational mind sees the need for humanity, as they too live in the world and see themselves as they actually are an alone body in the world seeking comfort and safety. Thus, see the value of everyone around then as they too are the same and therefore rationally as well a humanistically we should work for this humanity we are part of and can either dwell in or help its flourishing as we are all in the hands of each other. You are Free to think as you like but REALITY is unchanged. While you personally may react, or think differently about our shared reality (the natural world devoid of magic anything), We can play with how we use it but there is still only one communal reality (a natural non-supernatural one), which we all share like it or not and you can’t justifiably claim there is a different reality. This is valid as the only one of warrant is the non-mystical natural world around us all, existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by superstitions like gods or other monsters to many people sill fear irrationally.

Do beliefs need justification?

Yes, it all requires a justification, and if you think otherwise you should explain why but then you are still trying to employ a justification to challenge justification. So, I still say yes it all needs a justification and I know everything is reducible to feeling the substation of existence. I feel my body and thus I can start my justificationism standard right there and then build all logic inferences from that justified point and I don’t know a more core presupposition to start from. A presupposition is a core thinking stream like how a tree of beliefs always has a set of assumed sets of presuppositions or a presupposition is relatively a thing/thinking assumed beforehand at the beginning of a line of thinking point, belief projection, argument, or course of action. And that, as well as everything, needs justification to be concluded as reasonable. Sure, you can believe all kinds of things with no justification at all but we can’t claim them as true, nor wish others to actually agree unless something is somehow and or in some way justified. When is something true that has no justification? If you still think so then offer an example, you know a justification. Sure, there can be many things that may be true but actually receiving rational agreement that they are intact true needs justification.

Without Nonsense, Religion Dies

I am against ALL Pseudoscience, Pseudohistory, and Pseudomorality. And all of these should openly be debunked, when and where possible. Of course, not forgetting how they are all highly represented in religion. All three are often found in religion to the point that if they were removed, their loss would likely end religion as we know it. I don’t have to respect ideas. People get confused ideas are not alive nor do they have beingness, Ideas don’t have rights nor the right to even exist only people have such a right. Ideas don’t have dignity nor can they feel violation only people if you attack them personally. Ideas don’t deserve any special anything they have no feelings and cannot be shamed they are open to the most brutal merciless attack and challenge without any protection and deserve none nor will I give them any if they are found wanting in evidence or reason. I will never respect Ideas if they are devoid of merit I only respect people.

Rain Serpents in Northern Australia and Southern Africa: a Common Ancestry? (proof)

Introduction

“In the late 1980s, geneticists announced that we evolved in Africa close to 200,000 years ago (200 ka), with a tentatively inferred initial migration between ~50 ka and ~100 ka. Paleolithic archaeologists immediately recognized that these findings made the long-established consensus that there was no compelling evidence for symbolic behaviors pre-dating ~40 ka (treated as a cognitive Rubicon) look decidedly anomalous. How could the fundamental trait distinguishing our species from earlier hominins postdate our dispersal? New research in Africa was initiated, as a result of which it is now widely accepted that symbolic culture was in place by ~100 ka.” ref 

“The evidence includes habitual use of red ochre (closely associated with the dispersal), geometric engravings on ochre, beads (some with ochre residues), and (in the Levant) male burials with parts of game animals (indirectly associated with ochre). In southern Africa, the most intensively studied portion of the continent for the relevant period, it seems that ubiquitous use of red ochre can be inferred from ~170 ka, suggesting that symbolic culture correlates with our speciation. The use of red and glittery pigments in southern Africa from ~500 ka has been interpreted as the earliest evidence for collective ritual. At first sight, a speculative case might be made for a gradual evolution of collective ritual, out of which was forged a template of symbolic culture, at least three elements of which might be inferred by the time of dispersal beyond Africa – belief in ‘other’ worlds (associating the dead with game animals), cosmetic ‘skin-change’, and some form of ‘blood’ symbolism (see Knight and Lewis, this volume; Power, this volume). For reasons concerning the history of the discipline, social anthropologists have been slow to respond to the possible implications of our recent dispersal out of Africa.” ref

“Among the first to do so was Alan Barnard, who made a case for why Bushmen, rather than Australian Aborigines, are more appropriate for thinking about early human society, identifying six areas of difference where parsimony suggested this was the case – essentially that the Australian world-view was too ‘structurally evolved’. Within the field of belief, he considered that Australian Aborigines differed from ‘all other modern hunter-gatherers … (in) their belief in the Rainbow Serpent and the Dreaming’. He went on to note: ‘Although Rainbow Serpent-type creatures feature too in African mythology and rock art, they do not carry this symbolic weight; and that there is no African equivalent to the Dreaming’. The Dreaming is a parallel but ontologically prior world where the distinction between animals and humans is not fixed; other Bushmen specialists do see an equivalence, so Barnard’s assertion is debatable. Regarding Rainbow Serpent-type creatures, a more interesting issue than their relative symbolic weight in the two regions is the implicit question about the nature of the identity, and whether this should be attributed to trivial or non-trivial factors. Rainbow Serpent-type creatures are representative of the wider set of dragons, serpents, and rain-animals widely distributed in world mythology.” ref

“The set has primarily been based on a number of recurrent themes, prominent among which have been control of water, an intimate relationship to women, transformative power (including ‘death’, healing and ‘resurrection’), movement between ‘worlds’, and an antithesis to cooking and exogamous sex/marriage. They have fascinated European commentators since anthropology’s emergence as a distinct discipline. Initially, building upon an earlier, theological research agenda (Deane 1833), attention largely focused on ‘serpent worship’ in state societies. Even as the scope of inquiry broadened, it remained a search for fixed meanings. A notable exception was Vladimir Propp’s formalist approach, which recognized that all magical tales were uniquely constrained; he concluded that Eurasian fairytales could be treated as variants of one tale only, in which a dragon kidnaps a princess. Only with the influence of structuralism in the 1970s did researchers begin to focus on the underlying logic informing such supernatural beings. Radcliffe-Brown (1926) first noted possible parallels between Australian Rainbow Snakes and Bushman belief in snakes protecting waterholes, but without comment or citing any African literature.” ref 

“The issue remained dormant until a preliminary treatment by Knight, drawing on rock-art studies and limited ethnographic material (predominantly from Khoe-speaking, historically pastoralist cultures) to compare the logic of belief with that he had identified in greater detail in Australia. In the most recent and exhaustive evaluation of Khoisan Rainbow Snake-type creatures, Sullivan and Low end by quoting Knight’s conclusion about Australian Rainbow Snake myths. To give the full quote, ‘what all these myths are referring to is not really a “thing” at all, but a cyclical logic which lies beyond and behind all the many concrete images – moon, snakes, tidal forces, waterholes, rainbows, mothers and so on – used in partial attempts to describe it’. Sullivan and Low’s own conclusion is that the Khoisan material ‘affirms in all its detail and particularity the broad contours of this “logic”. So what is this cyclical logic?” ref 

“Knight had proposed a model of the origin of symbolic culture in which evolving women, faced with the costs of giving birth to and rearing larger-brained, more dependent offspring, needed to secure unprecedented levels of male investment (see Finnegan, this volume). To achieve this, they had, through collective ritual action, made themselves periodically sexually unavailable, declaring themselves ‘sacred’ and ‘taboo’ until men surrendered the product of a collective hunt. This was achieved by exploiting the signaling potential of menstruation. The evolutionary logic was more precisely specified by Knight, Power, and Watts, identifying menstruation as a valuable cue to males of imminent fertility. The posited strategy was that the most reproductively burdened females prevented would-be philanderer males from targeting an imminently fertile menstruant at the expense of other females, forming a ‘picket-line’ around her, sharing the blood around or using blood substitutes to scramble the information, thereby using cultural or cosmetic means to ‘synchronize’ bleeding, while at the same time advertising her attractive qualities. These female cosmetic coalitions inverted standard fertility signaling, ritually pantomiming ‘Wrong species, wrong sex, wrong time’.” ref 

“The economic logic was the imposition of a rule of distribution dissociating people from their own produce, whether the product of hunting labor (a hunter’s ‘own kill rule’), or reproductive labor (incest prohibitions). Synchronizing ‘strike’ action across communities required an environmental cue of appropriate periodicity. Collective spear-hunting of medium to large game – liable to take several days and nights – needed to optimize available natural light, making the days and nights immediately before full moon ideal, implying that the ‘strike’ began at dark moon. The cyclical logic is the movement from blood-defined kinship solidarity to ‘honeymoon’, from temporary death (to marital relations) to resurrection, from ritual power ‘on’ to ritual power ‘off’. If lack of meat motivates the sex strike, it should also be a cooking strike, and if women’s blood marks them as periodically taboo, then killed and bloody game animals should also be taboo, until they are surrendered and the blood removed through cooking. Treating metaphor as the underlying principle of symbolic culture (Knight and Lewis, this volume), the fundamental metaphor is that women’s blood be equated with that of game animals.” ref 

“What kind of phenomena might be suitable for elaborating the logic informing this metaphor? Anything that could represent periodicity, movement between worlds, association with wetness, ambiguous sex, minimal morphological differentiation, skin-change, and transformative powers (e.g. death-dealing) would be appropriate. Rainbows meet some of these requirements, and for a tropically evolved species, pythons would also be particularly good to think with (cf. Lévi-Strauss 1966).In this chapter, I compare aspects of Yurlunggur (the Yolngu Rainbow Snake of Arnhem Land, northern Australia) and !Khwa (the Rain Bull of the /Xam Bushmen in the Upper Karoo, South Africa). Following Knight, I focus on the relationship of these supernatural beings to menstrual blood, hoping to show how this throws their logic and structural role into sharpest relief.” ref

Background

“The study of Rainbow Snakes in Australia can be divided into two main phases: an initial period identifying and describing the phenomena in the late 1920s; and structuralist influenced work in the 1970s and early 1980s. Some Aboriginal cultures permitted relating the mythological entity to ritual practice. The second phase recognized the Rainbow Snake as perhaps the ultimate symbolic representation of paradox and transformation. The Yolngu live in northeast Arnhem Land, in the Australian tropics.” ref

“Seasonal flooding and a difficult landscape made the area unattractive to Europeans, allowing the Yolngu to keep their culture relatively intact well into the twentieth century. The myth of how, as a result of the actions of the two Wawilak Sisters, Yurlunggur created the present world is the most extensively recorded and thoroughly analyzed of Australian Rainbow Snake myths, allowing me to present an abridged version here. A history of research on Khoisan Rainbow Serpent-type creatures in southern Africa is beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice it to say that they have been indigenously described as ‘Watersnakes’, ‘Great Snakes’, eland-bulls, ‘Rain Bulls’, and indeterminate large quadrupeds.” ref

“Such creatures are considered to lie at the heart of ‘a dynamic assemblage of extant cognitive associations between snakes, rain, environmental/landscape dynamics, water, fertility, blood, fat, transformation, dance and healing’. The /Xam were Bushmen of the Upper Karoo, the interior, semi-arid region south of the Orange River. Because they were killed or brutally assimilated into the colonial frontier economy of the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries, virtually everything we know about them is through the remarkable linguistic endeavors of Wilhelm Bleek and his sister-in-law Lucy Lloyd in the 1870s, and the equally remarkable co-operation of a succession of /Xam prisoners released into their custody, several of whom stayed well beyond their prison terms. This vast corpus of material included information on ritual and an extensive body of mythology.” ref

“A history of research on Khoisan Rainbow Serpent-type creatures in southern Africa is beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice it to say that they have been indigenously described as ‘Watersnakes’, ‘Great Snakes’, eland-bulls, ‘Rain Bulls’, and indeterminate large quadrupeds. Such creatures are considered to lie at the heart of ‘a dynamic assemblage of extant cognitive associations between snakes, rain, environmental/landscape dynamics, water, fertility, blood, fat, transformation, dance, and healing. The /Xam were Bushmen of the Upper Karoo, the interior, semi-arid region south of the Orange River. Because they were killed or brutally assimilated into the colonial frontier economy of the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries, virtually everything we know about them is through the remarkable linguistic endeavors of Wilhelm Bleek and his sister-in-law Lucy Lloyd in the 1870s, and the equally remarkable co-operation of a succession of /Xam prisoners released into their custody, several of whom stayed well beyond their prison terms.” ref 

“This vast corpus of material included information on ritual and an extensive body of mythology. The myths can be supplemented by Gideon Retief von Wielligh’s Afrikaans narratives, recorded from /Xam farm workers in the 1880s, while Ansie Hoff’s salvage anthropology among contemporary descendants of the /Xam provides valuable fragmentary details concerning ritual and belief. Linguistically, the /Xam belonged to the southern group of three Khoisan language families. There is considerable overlap in beliefs between historically pastoralist Khoe-speaking cultures and historically hunter-gatherer (Bushmen) Khoe and San speakers (ibid.). Bushman religion is best characterized in terms of fluidity and ambiguity, both within and between linguistic groups, but menarcheal ritual and healing dances are remarkably uniform in their performative structure and associated beliefs. Both are means of entering into what the Ju/’hoan call First Creation, where the distinction between animals and people is not fixed.” ref 

The Wawilak Sisters

“This summary is largely taken from Warner (1958): Two Dreamtime sisters of the Dua moiety, the elder carrying a baby boy, the younger pregnant, are crossing the land. They carry stone-tipped spears, bush-cotton, and hawk’s down. During their travels, they kill iguana, opossum, and bandicoot, giving them the names they bear today, saying that they will become maraiin (sacred), in the meantime putting them in their dilly bags. The younger sister gives birth during their travels. They intend to circumcise the boys. They meet classificatory brothers and have sex with them. They finally arrive at the big waterhole near the coast, Mirrimina (‘snake swallows’) or Ditjerima (‘menstruation blood’). The older sister tries to cook the animals they’ve caught, but each time one is placed on the fire, it comes back to life and jumps into the waterhole. A drop of her menstrual blood falls into the water (in another version, this ‘pollution’ is ascribed to the younger sister and occurs before the animals are placed on the fire. Lying at the bottom of the waterhole, Yurlunggur, also of the Dua moiety, smells the blood, and rises to the surface, drawing the water level up with ‘him’ or ‘her’ (the seasonal flooding that’s such a determinant factor to life in Arnhem Land).” ref 

“He spits water into the air, to become a small, black cloud. The sisters, alarmed by the growing black cloud that came from nowhere, start to sing and dance, performing increasingly sacred songs; in some versions, the younger sister starts to bleed. It is at this point that Yurlunggur entrances them, licks them, bites their noses to make them bleed, swallows them alive, and rises up into the sky, where he is joined by other snakes (all Dua moiety, each speaking a different language). Regretting their different tongues, Yurlunggur calls upon them to sing out together, making an unprecedented noise and creating a common ceremony. Confronted over his incestuous cannibalism, he regurgitates the sisters and their children onto an anthill, to dry. They are revived by Yurlunggur’s trumpet and the biting ants. The swallowing and regurgitation are repeated (only the sisters are regurgitated again, it being legitimate to consume flesh of the opposite moiety – the sons), Yurlunggur finally returning the sisters to Wawilak country. Meanwhile, two Wawilak men saw the lightning and heard the thunder accompanying all this commotion and tracked the sisters to Mirrimina, where they find their blood and scoop it up, gather hawk’s down and bush cotton, and fall asleep.” ref 

“The sisters appear in their dreams and recount everything that happened, instructing them in the songs and how to perform male circumcision ceremonies. They sang Yurlunggur and Muit (another name for Yurlunggur, with a proposed Kareira root meaning: ‘blood & red & multi-colored & iridescent’. ‘You must dance all the things we saw and named on our journey, and which ran away into the well’.The myth of the Wawilak Sisters is re-enacted in various male initiation rituals, notably the interclan Djungguan ritual, when boys are circumcised. The day before, initiated men are blown over by the Yurlunggur trumpet, and produce arm blood to hold the hawk’s down and bush-cotton on the dancers’ bodies and the Muit emblems.” ref 

“That night, the neophytes are shown the snake for the first time, two padded poles ‘with the rock pythons painted in blood on white surfaces gleaming in the light of the many fires’. The men say they stole this power from women. As an informant told Warner: The cycle of the seasons with the growth and decay of plants, copulation, birth, and death of animals as well as men, is all the fault of those two Wawilak Sisters. If they hadn’t done wrong in their own country and copulated with Dua Wongar men and then come down to the Liaaloamir country and menstruated and made that snake wild, this cycle would never have occurred. Aspects of Bushman Cosmology Before turning to Bushman myths bearing on Rainbow Serpent-type creatures, comment is needed on the connection between eland and snakes, and on the place of menarche in Bushman cosmology. Eland and SnakesThe eland, the largest and fattest of African antelope, has been described as the Bushman ‘animal de passage’.” ref 

“The connection with snakes has largely been etically derived, drawing primarily on rock art (e.g. antelope-headed snakes) and interpretation of the testimony of Qing, a Bushman of the Maloti Mountains (Lesotho), to Joseph Orpen in 1873. When apparently explaining a painted scene in one of the rock shelters they had visited, Qing referred to a large quadruped being charmed out of the water by Bushmen as a ‘snake’. Explicit emic support consisted of little more than two ethnohistorical accounts of Sotho and Nama (Khoe pastoralist) beliefs that a snake resided in the red forelock of the eland. A third nineteenth-century account, previously unremarked, suggests that the belief extended further east, to the Swazi and/or Zulu.1 Vinnicombe implied that this was also a Bushman belief, something only recently confirmed by Low among the Hai//om. Low adds an insight that helps to explain the association: ‘Tixai Gkao, a Ju/’hoan Bushman, described to me that the Eland and the Python are the same: “the eland gets that fat from the python into him. It just comes with the wind”’. Low interprets this as implying an ontological primacy of the python over the eland. Python fat, in addition to being symbolically potent (see Sullivan and Low 2014 in relation to healers), is physiologically so.” ref 

“Similarly, the eland’s red forelock is particularly appropriate for symbolizing eland potency: bulls rub their forelocks in their own urine, and forelock size provides a reliable agonistic signal in inter-male competition. The forelock is thought to provide the model for the red pigment motif painted on the brow of the Ju/’hoan menarcheal girl, and again at marriage; a boy paints the same pattern on himself using ash when he has shot his first eland. A later, collective part of this initiation ritual involves lighting a medicine fire by the forelock, so that in future encounters the boy’s face will be brilliant, causing the eland’s face to split. The Ju/’hoan term for brilliance in this context (//hára) is identical or very similar to the /Xam term for glittery specularite. Given the linguistic distance between the two cultures, this suggests an ancient ritual substrate and associated constructs informing etymology.” ref 

“Moreover, for Bushmen of the Maloti Mountains, Lewis-Williams has proposed an etymological link between another term for specular-haematite (qhang qhang) and the trickster, Qhang (Cang, /Kaggen). Like the snake in the forelock, /Kaggen also sits between the horns of the eland, protecting his favorite animal from hunters. /Kaggen and !Khwa appears radically different, but here their attributes seem to merge.2 I suggest that the eland’s red forelock was the original form of the brilliant blaze, light, glistening stone or diamond on the brow of the Watersnake or Rain Bull. In any event, the forelock is a symbolic nexus, bringing together the potency of eland and snakes, adolescent male and female initiates, redness and brilliance, !Khwa and /Kaggen.Bushman Menarcheal RitualA Ju/’hoan circumlocution for first menstruation is ‘She has shot an eland’; the Eland Bull dance is one of the most widespread features of Bushman menarcheal ritual.” ref 

“At the first sign of blood, the girl is sequestered by older female kin and all the women of the band pantomime eland courtship behavior. She is paradoxically identified with the eland bull and as a hunter, an epitome of ‘wrong species, wrong sex, wrong time’. Her food is restricted, but she bestows the benefit of ‘fatness’; she must be kept away from water, but she controls water. After the girl’s emergence from seclusion, timed in relation to the moon, ritual acts performed often included a reintroduction to water, or she might be taken to run through a symbolic shower of rain. Where reintroduced to a water source, this may be personified as a Rain Bull or a Watersnake.” ref

“She is believed to help to ensure fertilizing, soft ‘female’ rain, and success in forthcoming hunts. In this last capacity, both the overall ritual and specific acts upon her emergence can be seen as a Bushman counterpart to Pygmy women’s ‘ritual hunting labor’. The /Xam guardian of menstrual observances was !Khwa, the Rain Bull or Rain Animal, who sometimes appeared as a bull eland. !Khwa was also the term for water, rain, and – in at least one instance – menstrual blood. !Khwa dwells in waterholes and controls lightning, thunder, whirlwinds, and rain. He is strongly attracted by the scent of the girl, which is given as an explanation for her seclusion and the extensive use of buchu, an aromatic bush, which paradoxically both arouses and pacifies !Khwa and is used to raise and calm energy or potency as required in context. Buchu may mask the smell of the blood, but by association, it may also be indexical of blood.” ref 

“The menstrual hut was referred to as the ‘house of trembling’, which has been connected with the somatic experience of trance, the potency in both contexts being essentially identical. Upon her emergence, the new maiden sprinkled buchu and red ochre on the waterhole in current use, reintroducing herself to !Khwa. The Bushman MythsThe Smell of the Girl’s Blood Conjures !KhwaThe following /Xam tales of girls at menarche can be compared with the Australian material: The Rain formerly courted a young woman, while the young woman was in her hut because she was still ‘ill’ (on account of her blood, either post-partum or menstrual). The Rain scented her and went forth on account of it; as the Rain came forth, it became misty. He trotted up to her hut and courted the young woman on account of her scent. And she lay, smelling the Rain’s scent, and the place was fragrant. She rode away on the Rain Bull, but rather than be taken down into the waterhole, she put him to sleep with buchu so she could return to her child and kin.” ref

“A menarcheal girl, who had not yet been reintroduced to the water, and still had the smell of buchu on her, went into the veld to dig for bulbs, against her mother’s advice. She saw a ‘little waft of mist’ but ignored it; next time she looked up, it had become a great cloud directly overhead, covering the whole sky, ‘like a beast of prey’. She dropped her bag and ran for home, but too late: the lightning cleaved the ground and ‘the earth ascended with the maiden; it became a whirlwind’. The maiden’s mother, seeing this from the camp, spoke: ‘You see the earth rising over there? It rises from the place where !Khwa struck. [untranslated line] It rises over there; it is the earth. The maiden truly became dust, while she felt that she was a snake. Whirling, she ascended’. And the sorcerers sang: ‘!Khwa is now the one who takes her away, she becomes a snake’. Lucy Lloyd noted that the narrator, Dia!kwain, said that this was ‘A large snake, whose name was feared’, as portrayed in a rock-art copy sent by George Stow to Wilhelm Bleek. The snake was known as //kheten (//xeiten) or !nuin. The preliminary manifestation of !Khwa as a small, but rapidly growing cloud, is strikingly similar to the preliminary manifestation of Yurlunggur; but it is the operational identity that is significant.” ref 

“In both cases, the girl’s blood conjures this ‘snake’ from the water and is responsible for her either being swallowed by – or morphing into – a snake. This is the only point in the Bleek and Lloyd narratives where either !Khwa or the menarcheal girl is identified with a snake, but it is an identity confirmed by von Wielligh and by /Xam descendants. In recounting this story (heard from his mother), Dia!kwain commented: ‘when she is a maiden, she has the rain’s magic power’. She is responsible for the redness of the rain, a deep structure in Khoisan cosmology. Paradoxically, the ontological transformation of the new maiden, her entry into First Creation, and her ability to take the whole community with her, occurs irrespective of whether she complies with or breaches correct behavior; only the positive or negative valence of transformation changes. It is this same potency that some men (and fewer women) might train for years to harness, as rain shamans, game-shamans or healers. Although this could be acquired naturally (Low, this volume), it is the new maiden’s as of right, accorded by a culturally constructed ‘nature’.” ref 

“The !Kung and the /Xam regarded a new maiden to be ‘the source of n/om (or /k’ode), the healing potency normally associated with the male trance healers’. This challenges the use of Bushman ethnography to support the thesis that early religion was shamanistic. Anti-cookingIn the Wawilak Sisters’ story, the fact that the animals come alive upon being placed in the fire can be ascribed to the sisters’ bloody state, and to the fact that they had declared that the animals would become sacred totems, of the same flesh (moiety) as the sisters themselves. The following is another /Xam myth about a new maiden: A girl is in her seclusion hut; she peeps out to make sure nobody is about, and goes down to the waterhole. Sitting on the bank, she splashes the water: ‘Ripples, twirl the water’. A ‘waterchild’ (resembling a calf) sprang out; she nabbed it, banged it on the head, flung it over her shoulder, and jogged back to camp. There she hastily made a fire, cut up the ‘waterchild’, roasted it, and ate it all. She then burnt the bones to ashes, tidied up the fire, swept away her footprints, and returned to the ‘house of trembling’. This is repeated over several days.” ref 

“On the fifth day, the waterchild did not come out easily; it was a male, horned rain child. When she had cut it up and placed it on the fire, the fire hissed and spluttered, water came out of the ground, extinguishing the fire, as it felt that !Khwa was angry with the girl. A cold whirlwind whisked her up and dropped her into the waterhole as a frog. The same happened to her kin out on the veld, while organic cultural artifacts reverted to their original, natural state. A second anti-cooking narrative is the only !Khwa story in the Bleek and Lloyd collection not concerned with menarcheal observances: A man out hunting mistook a manifestation of !Khwa for an eland and shot it. Later, following the spoor with companions, they found the eland and set about butchering it and cooking the meat. To their consternation the meat kept disappearing from the fire. They and their temporary shelter were surrounded by water; they were turned into frogs and hopped away.” ref

“There is no obvious reason to take misidentification as the true cause of the misfortune; it seems more likely that !Khwa was angered by the attempt to cook eland meat on the hunting ground, rather than being surrendered as the ideal form of bride-service; such men were called ‘decayed arm’.7 Returning to menarcheal observances, among all Bushmen groups the girl is placed under strict dietary restrictions; among the /Xam, her immediate kin also ate less. Viegas Guerreiro was told that the !Xû of southern Angola extinguished all cooking fires at the onset of a girl’s first menstruation. Anti-cooking also figured prominently in one of Qing’s narratives: A young woman arouses the jealousy of the young men in her community by taking up with a mature bachelor, Qwanciqutshaa, the son of Cagn (/Kaggen), previously spurned by all women – including herself. The young men applied snake fat to the meat the old man was roasting. As he tried to eat the meat it repeatedly fell out of his mouth and he bled profusely from the nose.8 He threw his possessions into the sky and himself into the river, transforming into a snake.” ref 

“An important theme in the full narrative is that Qwanciqutshaa, in human or snake form, stands in antithesis to marriage. PeriodicityThe following plot outline is taken from von Wielligh’s recording of a /Xam myth about the creation of the moon:/Kaggen made for himself a pair of shoes. But the right shoe chafed his foot, so he instructed his daughter, the Hammerkop, to soften it by throwing it into the waterhole. At the bottom of the waterhole, the Watersnake was enraged by the polluting shoe and causes the water to freeze. When the Hammerkop retrieved the shoe, it came out with a piece of ice attached. In turn, angered, /Kaggen threw the ice-bound shoe into the sky, where it became the moon. Ever since, people had light at night, enabling them to hunt porcupines and to wait for game at waterholes.9 The jealous Sun shot the shining ice with hot arrows, causing it to melt and Moon to die. The people were distraught. The Watersnake intervened, creating a fountain on the moon so it would be reborn. (Paraphrased from von Wielligh 1919: 95–100, translated by Jeanine van Niekerk)Whatever else the shoe may signify (see Vinnicombe 1975: 386), it is necessarily dirty, and in this sense polluting.” ref 

“The fact that it chafed /Kaggen’s foot suggests it may have been bloodied. Other versions specify that the shoe was red owing to the dust of the Karoo. Blood would probably have been emically inferred – another of the Hammerkop’s roles was to inform the Watersnake if ‘young maids’ polluted the fountain in any way. The interaction of blood, or the smell of blood, and the Watersnake is ultimately responsible for lunar periodicity, just as it is responsible for seasonal periodicity in Arnhem Land. This story relates to a larger myth concerning /Kaggen’s creation of the eland from his son-in-law’s shoe, where the conflict between kin and affines substitutes for the theme of pollution. This also concludes with the creation of the moon, but the reason for the creation is not addressed by Lewis-Williams. According to Knight’s template, the conflict is cyclically created and resolved through lunar periodicity.” ref 

“Throughout the waxing moon, ‘affines’ are an out-group to be exploited by uterine kin; at full moon, they temporarily conjoin. The ‘Snake’ as New MaidenAmong more northerly groups of Bushmen, equivalents to !Khwa – in terms of punishing breaches of menstrual observances – receive less elaboration in mythology, but may take the form of ‘underground snakes’.10 In the Ju/’hoansi creation mythology, the archetypal ‘new maiden’ is G!kon//’amdima or Python Girl,11 shimmering, sparkling like the sun, gliding like a grand person, having plenty of fat. G!kon//’amdima is already married and pregnant. Tricked by Jackal, her younger sister, to climb onto the branch of a berry-tree overhanging the waterhole, she falls into the deep well. Her seclusion at the bottom of the well becomes a birth seclusion.” ref 

“The negatively coded aspects of menarcheal seclusion are ludically transferred to Jackal, who deceitfully assumes G!kon//’amdima’s place as Kori Bustard’s wife. Meanwhile, various animals try to rescue Python Girl; only the giraffe, with his long legs, succeeds. She re-emerges with her newborn (implying that post-partum blood is in the waterhole). In most versions, she emerges as beautiful as ever, but in Richard Lee’s version, her father, the Elephant is heartbroken that ‘she no longer sparkles as before’ and declares that henceforth, the animals will be animals. The male initiatory counterpart to the well of creation is the branding fire of creation, where animals are given their distinctive markings, henceforth remaining as animals. This is where G!kon//’amdima acquired her beautiful shining stripes.” ref 

“Both myths are interpreted by Biesele as a fall from grace, when attributes become fixed. Synchronous BleedingWe saw that the myth of the Wawilak Sisters underwrites Yolngu male initiation, where men bleed together (as initiated men in the preparation of ritual paraphernalia and as novitiates undergoing circumcision when they are introduced to Yurlunggur). The template for men’s synchronous bleeding was the blood of that Wawilak sister entering the well and arousing Yurlunggur, and then both sisters bleeding prior to being swallowed, through synchronized menstruation brought on by dancing the most sacred dances, and/or by being bitten on the nose by Yurlunggur. We have also seen how the blood of the new maiden in southern Africa arouses the Rain Animal/Watersnake. According to /Kunta Boo (the principal informant about healing for Biesele and the Keeneys), on the occasion of a Ju/’hoan girl’s first menstruation, ‘everyone must bleed in order to be assured full entry 262 Ian Wattsinto First Creation’.” ref 

“This is achieved by making cuts on the ears of everyone present, with drops of blood falling to the ground. First Creation is characterized by a constant morphing of identities between animals and people, with no illness or death. The act of naming (or painting) the animals, establishing constant forms, is – according to the Keeneys – ‘The Great Turning’ or ‘Second Creation’. The price of establishing permanent forms was sickness and death. It is perhaps not surprising that a male healer should emphasize his role (making the cuts) in bringing about synchronized bloodflow to help ensure safe movement to First Creation. It might appear that such a detail is without parallel in wider Bushman menarcheal ritual. But, symbolically, it compares with the /Xam maiden giving her blessings to the whole community upon her transformation, distributing red ochre to the women of the band, and painting ‘zebra’ stripes with ochre on the legs of young men to protect them from !Khwa while out hunting, and sprinkling ochre on the current water-source to appease !Khwa.” ref

Discussion

“We have here a set of highly suggestive cross-cultural symbolic similarities, all unfolding from a brute fact of nature, that women periodically bleed: 1) A girl menstruates for first time, conjuring a symbolic construct of supreme potency; 2) This construct is not something outside of herself, but her own ontological transformation into an animal (snake or eland), acquiring male attributes (having them from the outset in the Australian case);3) Transformation to the ‘wet’; 4) She takes her kin, particularly female kin, with her, with suggestive and sometimes explicit indications of synchronous bleeding with refs)5) In this ‘other’ world, mundane activities like cooking or mundane states (being ‘married’) are negated (the snake’s antithetical relation to marriage was scarcely touched on here, but;6) Periodicity is thereby established (whether seasonal or lunar) and the ‘right’ way of doing things. These correspondences certainly accord with the cyclical logic outlined by Knight. There is, however, a striking difference between the two sets of data. The myth of the Wawilak Sisters sanctions the ritual practice of senior male relatives grabbing hold of boys, establishing an ingroup/outgroup boundary between initiated and non-initiated, and subjecting a collective of novitiates to an artificial second birth that involves inverting their ontological status, with men admitting that they stole the language of this ritual power from women.” ref

“The /Xam myths sanction the ritual practice of senior female relatives grabbing hold of a girl at menarche, establishing an ingroup/outgroup boundary between uterine kin and men as ‘husbands’, and inverting her (and their own) ontological status. The similarities suggest a common origin or process, but the opposite outcomes in terms of gender hierarchy and ritual power would seem to call for a historical explanation. What is going on here? The fundamental narrative is about women, and how they are simultaneously biologically and symbolically constituted. Becoming a woman is mythologically constructed as the ultimate empowering experience, such that other culturally constructed transformations – becoming an initiated man in Australia, becoming an initiated hunter in southern Africa, and apparently becoming a healer – are modeled on the process.” ref

“Rainbow Serpent-type creatures provide an appropriate vehicle and logic for this narrative. In the introduction, it was suggested, on archaeological grounds alone, that as some modern humans left Africa, they took with them a template of symbolic culture, which included belief in ‘other’ worlds (associating the dead with game animals), ritual practice of cosmetic ‘skin-change’ and an associated ideology of ‘blood’. A more precise delineation of such a template, derived from Knight’s model, was then summarized. Knight had initially tested his model against the Yolngu myth of the Wawilak Sisters and their relation to Yurlunggur. Barnard had proposed that such supernatural creatures presented an area of difference between Bushman and Australian Aboriginal beliefs, but the difference identified was quantitative rather than qualitative, begging the question of why there should be any similarity. Through a preliminary examination of the nature of the similarities, informed by Knight’s model, I hope to have shown how and why they are similar. We may conjecture that something like a Rainbow Serpent-type creature was also part of the symbolic template of early Homo sapiens, an elaboration of the logic informing the world’s first metaphor – equating women’s blood with the blood of game animals.” ref

100,000 – 70,000 years ago

“Perforated marine shells similar to those from Blombos have also been found in caves from North Africa and the Middle East. Shell beads are of the earliest evidence for personal ornaments, dating to between 100,000 – 70,000 years ago.” ref

Believed to be the earliest modern humans both our origins and our population dispersals out of Africa.

“Somewhere around about 200,000 years ago, our direct earliest modern human’s ancestors were at home in a region of northern Botswana. While it has long been known anatomically modern humans — homo sapiens — originated in Africa, scientists have until now been unable to pinpoint the precise location of our species’ birthplace. An international team of researchers took DNA samples from 200 Khoesan people, an ethnic group known to carry a high proportion of a branch of DNA known as L0, living in modern-day South Africa and Namibia.” ref

“They then combined the DNA samples with geographic distribution, archeological and climate change data to come up with a genomic timeline that suggested a sustained lineage of L0 stretching back 200,000 years in the region south of the Zambezi River in Botswana. Their work created a kind of genetic map tracing L0 lineage to show that prehistoric humans lived in the region for around 70,000 years, before climatic events forced them to begin dispersing throughout the world roughly 130,000 years ago. “We’ve known for a long time that modern humans originated in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago,” said Vanessa Hayes, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of Sydney.” ref “

“But what we hadn’t known until the study was where exactly this homeland was.” The area identified in the study was called Makgadikgadi-Okavango, once home to a massive lake, roughly twice the area of modern-day Lake Victoria. It is largely desert today. Around 200,000 years ago, tectonic activity caused the lake to begin to break up, creating a vast wetland that researchers say was home to not only the first anatomically modern humans but also to mega fauna such as giraffes and lions. But by the time 70,000 years had passed, the first genetic split occurs when a subset of the population migrated north east. Another 20,000 years on, another group traveled south, according to the genomic map compiled in the study, which appeared in the journal Nature. “Every time a new migration occurs, that migration event is recorded in our DNA as a time stamp,” Hayes said.” ref

“Over time our DNA naturally changes, it’s the clock of our history.” According to Axel Timmermann, from the Center for Climate Physics at the Institute of Basic Science in Busan, South Korea, these earliest migrations were driven by a very modern human obsession: climate change. “Comparing the climatic data with timelines of genetic divergences we found a striking pattern,” said Timmermann, a study co-author. “More rainfall around 130,000 years ago, northeast of the homeland, created a green corridor for migration for the first group.” Although there have been humanoid fossil remains believed to pre-date the 200,000-year benchmark named in the study, the team says their study of L0 data allows us to trace our lineage directly back to the region south of the Zambezi river. “We’re talking about anatomically modern humans, people living today,” said Hayes. “Everyone walking around today… it does actually come back to L0 being the oldest, and it all comes back to this one (region).” The team said they wanted to collect more DNA samples to help refine their methods and better reconstruct the history of the first movements of our earliest ancestors.” ref

The jigsaw puzzle of our African ancestry: Unsolved, or unsolvable?

“A revised root for the Y chromosome phylogeny further fragments the picture of modern human origins that can be reconstructed from genetic, linguistic, and archaeological data. Relating to the picture: Genetic and other evidence for human origins within Africa. Left panel: Y-chromosomal branches are those analyzed by Cruciani et al.; also shown is a simplified version of the mitochondrial DNA tree. In each case, ‘Out of Africa’ branches are in pale blue. Autosomal evidence is from Tishko et al. and Henn et al.. Right panel: approximate locations are shown for the earliest non-genetic evidence of modern humans within Africa.” ‘Where do we come from?’ ‘When did the first humans live?’ ‘Apparently, we’re all supposed to be Africans, how is that possible?’ These are some of the questions that people ask, and to which a variety of researchers in anthropology, archaeology, and genetics try to give reasonable answers. The publication of a revised root for the Y chromosome phylogeny by Scozzari and colleagues now contributes new genetic evidence on the dating and geographical origins of early modern humans.” ref

“Yes, we do all come from Africa, or, more precisely, the population ancestral to all modern humans lived south of the Sahara Desert, probably around 200 thousand years ago. This conclusion is supported by several approaches, among which the study of modern human genetic variation has played a major role. A key finding is that, among global samples, the highest DNA diversity is found among African populations, and this diversity declines with migration distance from Africa. Furthermore, when  ‘gene trees’ are constructed from sequence variants of particular loci, in most cases the earliest branches are found within African populations. Within the great continent of Africa, however, the details are much less clear. Was there only one ancestral population that expanded from a specific area? If so, where was it? What was its size? Those who study African prehistory know that answers to these questions are much more difficult to find: this is a complex jigsaw puzzle for which the final picture and the number of pieces are still unknown.” ref

A time and place for our Y-chromosomal roots

“Recently, a new piece of the puzzle has turned up. In a paper in the American Journal of Human Genetics, Rosaria Scozzari and colleagues present a revised structure for the deepest part of the tree of the male-specific region of the Y chromosome. The novelty of their study is that they took a large-scale sequencing approach, allowing the unbiased ascertainment of many previously undescribed variants. They sequenced 206 kb of Y-chromosomal DNA in seven males, including members of the previously deepest-rooting major branches A and B, which are almost exclusively African and reach their highest frequencies in scarce hunter-gatherer populations. Previously, the root lay between these two branches,  but it has now moved to a new position that is within A, between A1b and A1a, from which descend all other Y branches.” ref

“In addition to proposing a new root for the human Y chromosome phylogeny, Scozzari and colleagues also use their data to argue for a revised view of the dating and geographical origins of early modern humans. The 138 SNPs discovered provide sufficient stable molecular information to be used for dating estimates, yielding a time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of 141,000 years ago; this is considerably older than previous estimates, which were more recent than 100,000 years ago. In addition, a population survey of more than 2,000 males shows the earliest sub-branches A1b and A1a to be rare (8/2,204 individuals analyzed) and restricted to North and Central Africa. This geographical distribution is probably the most controversial issue, in the context of previous evidence, but is consistent with a recent lower-resolution study showing that the early sub-branches of both A and B show a mainly Central African distribution. Due to the paucity of fossil remains and the poor conditions for preservation, no study of ancient DNA has yet been carried out on African samples, so all we have is the variation found among extant populations. But, where are the rest of the pieces, do they fit with the new Y-chromosomal evidence, and what picture is beginning to emerge?” ref

“A revised root for the Y chromosome phylogeny further fragments the picture of modern human origins that can be reconstructed from genetic, linguistic and archaeological data.” ref

“‘Where do we come from?’ ‘When did the first humans live?’ ‘Apparently, we’re all supposed to be Africans, how is that possible?’ These are some of the questions that people ask, and to which a variety of researchers in anthropology, archaeology, and genetics try to give reasonable answers. the publication of a revised root for the Y chromosome phylogeny by Scozzari and colleagues now contributes new genetic evidence on the dating and geographical origins of early modern humans. Yes, we do all come from Africa, or, more precisely, the population ancestral to all modern humans lived south of the Sahara Desert, probably around 200,000 years ago. This conclusion is supported by several approaches, among which the study of modern human genetic variation has played a major role.” ref

“A key finding is that, among global samples, the highest DNA diversity is found among African populations, and this diversity declines with migration distance from Africa. Furthermore, when ‘gene trees’ are constructed from sequence variants of particular loci, in most cases the earliest branches are found within African populations. Within the great continent of Africa, however, the details are much less clear. Was there only one ancestral population that expanded from a specific area? If so, where was it? What was its size? Those who study African prehistory know that answers to these questions are much more difficult to find: this is a complex jigsaw puzzle for which the final picture and the number of pieces are still unknown. A time and place for our Y-chromosomal roots.” ref

“Recently, a new piece of the puzzle has turned up. In a paper in the American Journal of Human Genetics, Rosaria Scozzari and colleagues present a revised structure for the deepest part of the tree of the male-specific region of the Y chromosome. The novelty of their study is that they took a large-scale sequencing approach, allowing the unbiased ascertainment of many previously undescribed variants. They sequenced 206 kb of Y-chromosomal DNA in seven males, including members of the previously deepest-rooting major branches A and B, which are almost exclusively African and reach their highest frequencies in scarce hunter-gatherer populations. Previously, the root lay between these two branches, but it has now moved to a new position that is within A, between A1b and A1a, from which descend all other Y branches.” ref

“In addition to proposing a new root for the human Y chromosome phylogeny, Scozzari and colleagues also use their data to argue for a revised view of the dating and geographical origins of early modern humans. The 138 SNPs discovered provide sufficient stable molecular information to be used for dating estimates, yielding a time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of 141.5 ± 15.6,00 years ago; this is considerably older than previous estimates, which were more recent than 100,000 years ago. In addition, a population survey of more than 2,000 males shows the earliest sub-branches A1b and A1a to be rare (8/2,204 individuals analyzed) and restricted to North and Central Africa. This geographical distribution is probably the most controversial issue, in the context of previous evidence, but is consistent with a recent lower-resolution study showing that the early sub-branches of both A and  B show a mainly Central African distribution. Due to the paucity of fossil remains and the poor conditions for preservation, no study of ancient DNA has yet been carried out on African samples, so all we have is the variation found among extant populations. But, where are the rest of the pieces, do they fit with the new Y-chromosomal evidence, and what picture is beginning to emerge?” ref

“Different genetic markers and methods can point to different origins Maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was one of the first genetic markers to be analyzed. The pioneering study that introduced the concept of ‘mitochondrial Eve’ paved the way for a long series of phylogenetic, population, and simulation studies in African populations. e most recent continent-wide phylogenetic study is a high-resolution dissection of African-specific mtDNA variation. An analysis of more than 600 complete 16.5 kb mitochondrial genomes places the root of the mtDNA tree between L0 and L1’6 and yields a TMRCA of 200,000 years ago, based on a variation of the coding region only. Within L0, two sub-branches (L0d and L0k) are characteristic of Khoisan-speaking populations of southern Africa, while the rest are found at low frequencies among southern, eastern, and western populations, with the exception of one sub-branch of L0a found specifically in Eastern Pygmies.” ref

“Distinguishing between a southern, an eastern, or a south-eastern origin of the ancestral female populations seems to be a very delicate issue; however, because of the deep ancestry of most of the early sub-branches, a highly structured female population is inferred for these early Homo sapiens communities. Two recent explorations of autosomal variation have contributed some other interesting missing pieces. An analysis of 1,327 microsatellite and indel markers in 121 African populations has inferred 14 ancestral population clusters, four of which correspond to the four hunter-gatherer groups: Western and Eastern Pygmies from Central Africa, Khoisan speakers from southern Africa, and Hadza from Tanzania. A more recent study of 55,000 SNPs in 12 populations has shown a very similar general pattern. All hunter-gatherer groups (with the exception of the two groups of Pygmies) separate into different clusters, suggesting that the structure observed today is the result of an ancient separation among their ancestral populations. Both studies also attempt to infer the geographical origin of the expansion of modern humans in Africa.” ref

“In summary, they both assume that moving away from the origin will affect, in the first case, the level of genetic variation (calculated as the variance of the specific microsatellites, which should decrease with distance), and, in the second case, the levels of linkage disequilibrium in the population (calculated through the statistic r2, and expected to increase with distance). Both studies find a clear signal of origin in southwest Africa, in the current territory of Khoisan-speaking populations in Namibia. Different genetic markers and methods can point to different originsMaternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was one of the first genetic markers to be analyzed. The pioneering study that introduced the concept of ‘mitochondrial Eve’ paved the way for a long series of phylogenetic, population, and simulation studies in African populations. The most recent continent-wide phylogenetic study is a high-resolution dissection of African-specific mtDNA variation.” ref

“An analysis of more than 600 complete 16.5 kb mitochondrial genomes places the root of the mtDNA tree between L0 and L1’6 and yields a TMRCA of 200,000 years ago, based on a variation of the coding region only. Within L0, two sub-branches (L0d and L0k) are characteristic of Khoisan-speaking populations of southern Africa, while the rest are found at low frequencies among southern, eastern, and western populations, with the exception of one sub-branch of L0a found specifically in Eastern Pygmies. Distinguishing between a southern, an eastern, or a south-eastern origin of the ancestral female populations seems to be a very delicate issue; however, because of the deep ancestry of most of the early sub-branches, a highly structured female population is inferred for these early  Homo sapiens communities. Two recent explorations of autosomal variation have contributed some other interesting missing pieces. An analysis of 1,327 microsatellite and indel markers in 121 African populations has inferred 14 ancestral population clusters, four of which correspond to the four hunter-gatherer groups: Western and Eastern Pygmies from Central Africa, Khoisan speakers from southern Africa, and Hadza from Tanzania.” ref

“A more recent study of 55,000 SNPs in 12 populations has shown a very similar general pattern. All hunter-gatherer groups (with the exception of the two groups of Pygmies) separate into different clusters, suggesting that the structure observed today is the result of an ancient separation among their ancestral populations. Both studies also attempt to infer the geographical origin of the expansion of modern humans in Africa. In summary, they both assume that moving away from the origin will affect, in the first case, the level of genetic variation (calculated as the variance of the specific microsatellites, which should decrease with distance), and, in the second case, the levels of linkage disequilibrium in the population (calculated through the statistic r2, and expected to increase with distance). Both studies find a clear signal of origin in southwest Africa, in the current territory of Khoisan-speaking populations in Namibia. Thus, despite the hope that genetics might provide definitive answers on ancestry, the analysis of different genomic regions points to different places within Africa. Perhaps we should not be surprised about this: the Y chromosome and mtDNA are independent loci with their own histories and phylogenies, which need not necessarily lead back to the same places, and the same times.” ref

“Also, for each independent Y or mtDNA, there are four of any autosome, and this low effective population size means that they are particularly susceptible to stochastic effects. This genetic drift can be exacerbated by sex-specific behaviors of men and women. By contrast, the autosomal evidence is based on many independent loci, and uses statistical inferences that do not involve phylogenetic trees. The comparison of independently evolving regions of the genome analyzed at different resolutions with different inference methods might not yield a coherent picture of the origin of modern humans in Africa. Anthropological evidence for early humans in different African regions of course, genes are not the only source of evidence. Early sub-Saharan human remains have been found in eastern Africa, with dates between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago, and more recently in southern Africa. However, the preservation of ancient bones is limited in most of Central Africa because of soil acidity. Here, archaeology may help. ere is general agreement that early Homo sapiens communities can be associated with Middle Stone Age industries. These have been found all over Africa, but dating has been difficult in many cases, and mainly based on radio-carbon, which has a time limit of about 40,000 years ago. However, a few finds have been dated beyond this limit, and the generally observed pattern is a clear regional differentiation at around 100,000 years ago.” ref

“Early examples of geometric rock art have been found in South Africa (70 to 100 kya), while the earliest shell beads have been reported from South (75,000 years ago) and North Africa (82,000 years ago). Therefore, material culture seems to suggest that by 70 to 100 kya the ancestral population to modern humans was already fragmented into well-differentiated cultural units. So: many puzzle pieces, but a very complex picture, which does not seem to give a straightforward answer. Even language shows, globally, the influence of our African origin: the diversity of word sounds (phonemes), like that of genes, decreases with migration distance from there. Within the African continent, the most likely location of single language origin inferred from individual languages encompass an area from western to southern Africa. An unsolved, and perhaps unsolvable, puzzleMassively parallel sequencing approaches are likely to contribute to this area. Be recent Y chromosome analysis represents the death throes of ‘conventional’ large-scale DNA sequencing: a total of approximately 1,400,000 bp were sequenced using traditional methods, but now newer technologies should allow access to many megabases of Y-chromosomal DNA (paralogous sequences permitting).” ref

“So the Y chromosome tree will become vastly more complicated, but also more resolved, and more able to yield reliable dates. New whole-genome sequences from Africa will also clarify our views of origins there. Unfortunately, despite new advances, results from ancient DNA seem unlikely to help us in Africa. So, how is the jigsaw puzzle of our African origins coming along? Many pieces have been found up to now by different researchers, and the picture built with them seems to be that of a fragmented population, living throughout the whole continent and differentiated into clear cultural units. Signals based on high-resolution autosomal variation in a reduced number of populations point to a south-western origin, while analyses of uniparental markers show the prevalence of early tree branches either in north Central Africa (Y chromosome) or in the southeast (mtDNA). However, some pieces may be lost, and some may simply not exist: so a final coherent picture may never be completed, and different overlapping layers may be needed to represent the complexity of our evolutionary past.” ref

“Perforated shells found at South Africa’s Blombos Cave appear to have been strung as beads about 75,000 years ago—making them 30,000 years older than any previously identified personal ornaments. Archaeologists excavating the site on the coast of the Indian Ocean discovered 41 shells, all with holes and wear marks in similar positions, in a layer of sediment deposited during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). “The Blombos Cave beads present absolute evidence for perhaps the earliest storage of information outside the human brain,” says Christopher Henshilwood, program director of the Blombos Cave Project and professor at the Centre for Development Studies of the University of Bergen in Norway. The shells, found in clusters of up to 17 beads, are from a tiny mollusk scavenger, Nassarius kraussianus, which lives in estuaries. They must have been brought to the cave site from the nearest rivers, 20 kilometers east or west on the coast. The shells appear to have been selected for size and deliberately perforated, suggesting they were made into beads at the site or before transport to the cave. Traces of red ochre indicate that either the shell beads themselves or the surfaces against which they were worn were coated with this widely used iron oxide pigment.” ref

“A few years ago, Blombos excavators found chunks of inscribed ochre and shaped bone tools that challenged the then-dominant theory of behavioral evolution, which held that humans were anatomically modern at least 160,000 years ago but didn’t develop critical modern behaviors until some punctuating event 40,000 or 50,000 years ago. Henshilwood and his colleagues (including Francesco d’Errico and Marian Vanhaeren of the University of Bordeaux, France, and Karen van Niekerk of the University of Bergen) believe the Blombos bone tools and ochre show that modern behavior like the use of external symbols developed gradually throughout the Middle Stone Age, not suddenly when our ancestors spread from Africa to Eurasia. John Yellen, NSF’s program manager for archaeology, calls this a “fundamental question in paleoanthropology-how and when did our ancestors acquire social behaviors we consider essentially human? Some critics have argued”, Yellen continues, “that the earlier Blombos artifacts, and similar finds at other recently excavated African sites, did not represent true symbol use. These newly found beads considerably strengthen Henshilwood’s assertion that ‘modern’ behavior begins in Africa.” ref

“According to Henshilwood, “Agreement is widespread that personal ornaments, such as beads, incontrovertibly represent symbolically mediated modern behavior. Until now, the oldest beads in Africa date to about 45,000 years. The discovery of 41 shell beads in sand layers at Blombos Cave accurately dated as 75,000 years old provides important new evidence for early symbolically organized behavior in Africa.” Blombos Cave contains artifacts from both the Middle and Later Stone Ages. The artifact-rich layers are clearly separated by a layer of dune sand deposited about 70,000 years ago. While LSA strata, which are less than 2000 years old, also contain Nassarius shells, they are a different color from those in the MSA strata. Also, the LSA shell sizes and the placement of the piercing differ from, and are less uniform than, the MSA shells. Sand grains surrounding the MSA artifacts, dated by optically stimulated luminescence, show they were buried—removed from sunlight, which “resets” the dating clock—75,000 years ago. Burnt lithics, or stone, found nearby in the same strata, were independently dated by thermoluminescent techniques as 77,000 years old. Thousands of individual grains of sand were dated to search for signs of mixing between the Middle and Later Stone Age layers; none was detected.” ref

“Henshilwood and coworkers thus conclude that ancient Africans deliberately selected the shells and modified them for use as beads at least 75,000 years ago. To Henshilwood, this clearly indicates that the cave’s early inhabitants used symbols in modern fashion. “Once symbolically mediated behavior was adopted by our ancestors it meant communication strategies rapidly shifted,” he says, “leading to the transmission of individual and widely shared cultural values – traits that typify our own behavior.” Excavation of the Blombos site has been funded by the National Science Foundation (US), the South African National Research Foundation, the Center National del la Rechereche Scientifique, the European Science Foundation, The University of Bergen, the Anglo Americans Chairman’s Fund, and the British Council.” ref

Shell Beads from South African Cave Show Modern Human Behavior 75,000 Years Ago

“A few years ago, Blombos excavators found chunks of inscribed ochre and shaped bone tools that challenged the then-dominant theory of behavioral evolution, which held that humans were anatomically modern at least 160,000 years ago but didn’t develop critical modern behaviors until some punctuating event 40,000 or 50,000 years ago. Henshilwood and his colleagues (including Francesco d’Errico and Marian Vanhaeren of the University of Bordeaux, France, and Karen van Niekerk of the University of Bergen) believe the Blombos bone tools and ochre show that modern behavior like the use of external symbols developed gradually throughout the Middle Stone Age, not suddenly when our ancestors spread from Africa to Eurasia.” ref

“Around 600,000 years ago, humanity split in two. One group stayed in Africa, evolving into us. The other struck out overland, into Asia, then Europe, becoming Homo neanderthalensis – the Neanderthals. They weren’t our ancestors, but a sister species, evolving in parallel. Neanderthals fascinate us because of what they tell us about ourselves – who we were, and who we might have become. It’s tempting to see them in idyllic terms, living peacefully with nature and each other, like Adam and Eve in the Garden. If so, maybe humanity’s ills – especially our territoriality, violence, wars – aren’t innate, but modern inventions. Biology and paleontology paint a darker picture. Far from peaceful, Neanderthals were likely skilled fighters and dangerous warriors, rivaled only by modern humans.” ref

Top predators

“Predatory land mammals are territorial, especially pack-hunters. Like lions, wolves, and Homo sapiens, Neanderthals were cooperative big-game hunters. These predators, sitting atop the food chain, have few predators of their own, so overpopulation drives conflict over hunting grounds. Neanderthals faced the same problem; if other species didn’t control their numbers, conflict would have.” ref

Analysis of the world, from experts

“This territoriality has deep roots in humans. Territorial conflicts are also intense in our closest relatives, chimpanzees. Male chimps routinely gang up to attack and kill males from rival bands, a behavior strikingly like human warfare. This implies that cooperative aggression evolved in the common ancestor of chimps and ourselves, 7 million years ago. If so, Neanderthals will have inherited these same tendencies towards cooperative aggression.” ref

All too human

“Warfare is an intrinsic part of being human. War isn’t a modern invention, but an ancient, fundamental part of our humanity. Historically, all peoples warred. Our oldest writings are filled with war stories. Archaeology reveals ancient fortresses and battles, and sites of prehistoric massacres going back millennia. To war is human – and Neanderthals were very like us. We’re remarkably similar in our skull and skeletal anatomy, and share 99.7% of our DNA. Behaviourally, Neanderthals were astonishingly like us. They made fire, buried their dead, fashioned jewelry from seashells and animal teeth, made artwork and stone shrines. If Neanderthals shared so many of our creative instincts, they probably shared many of our destructive instincts, too.” ref

Violent lives

“The archaeological record confirms Neanderthal lives were anything but peaceful. Neanderthalensis were skilled big game hunters, using spears to take down deer, ibex, elk, bison, even rhinos and mammoths. It defies belief to think they would have hesitated to use these weapons if their families and lands were threatened. Archaeology suggests such conflicts were commonplace. Prehistoric warfare leaves telltale signs. A club to the head is an efficient way to kill – clubs are fast, powerful, precise weapons – so prehistoric Homo sapiens frequently show trauma to the skull. So too do Neanderthals.” ref

“Another sign of warfare is the parry fracture, a break to the lower arm caused by warding off blows. Neanderthals also show a lot of broken arms. At least one Neanderthal, from Shanidar Cave in Iraq, was impaled by a spear to the chest. Trauma was especially common in young Neanderthal males, as were deaths. Some injuries could have been sustained in hunting, but the patterns match those predicted for a people engaged in intertribal warfare- small-scale but intense, prolonged conflict, wars dominated by guerrilla-style raids and ambushes, with rarer battles.” ref

The Neanderthal resistance

“War leaves a subtler mark in the form of territorial boundaries. The best evidence that Neanderthals not only fought but excelled at war, is that they met us and weren’t immediately overrun. Instead, for around 100,000 years, Neanderthals resisted modern human expansion. Why else would we take so long to leave Africa? Not because the environment was hostile but because Neanderthals were already thriving in Europe and Asia. It’s exceedingly unlikely that modern humans met the Neanderthals and decided to just live and let live. If nothing else, population growth inevitably forces humans to acquire more land, to ensure sufficient territory to hunt and forage food for their children. But an aggressive military strategy is also a good evolutionary strategy.” ref

“Instead, for thousands of years, we must have tested their fighters, and for thousands of years, we kept losing. In weapons, tactics, strategy, we were fairly evenly matched. Neanderthals probably had tactical and strategic advantages. They’d occupied the Middle East for millennia, doubtless gaining intimate knowledge of the terrain, the seasons, how to live off the native plants and animals. In battle, their massive, muscular builds must have made them devastating fighters in close-quarters combat. Their huge eyes likely gave Neanderthals superior low-light vision, letting them maneuver in the dark for ambushes and dawn raids.” ref

Sapiens victorious

“Finally, the stalemate broke, and the tide shifted. We don’t know why. It’s possible the invention of superior ranged weapons – bows, spear-throwers, throwing clubs – let lightly-built Homo sapiens harass the stocky Neanderthals from a distance using hit-and-run tactics. Or perhaps better hunting and gathering techniques let sapiens feed bigger tribes, creating numerical superiority in battle. Even after primitive Homo sapiens broke out of Africa 200,000 years ago, it took over 150,000 years to conquer Neanderthal lands. In Israel and Greece, archaic Homo sapiens took ground only to fall back against Neanderthal counteroffensives, before a final offensive by modern Homo sapiens, starting 125,000 years ago, eliminated them. This wasn’t a blitzkrieg, as one would expect if Neanderthals were either pacifists or inferior warriors, but a long war of attrition. Ultimately, we won. But this wasn’t because they were less inclined to fight. In the end, we likely just became better at war than they were.” ref

Recent African origin of modern humans

“In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans, also called the “Out of Africa” theory (OOA), recent single-origin hypothesis (RSOH), replacement hypothesis, or recent African origin model (RAO), is the dominantmodel of the geographic origin and early migration of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens). It follows the early expansions of hominins out of Africa, accomplished by Homo erectus and then Homo neanderthalensis.” ref

“The model proposes a “single origin” of Homo sapiens in the taxonomic sense, precluding parallel evolution of traits considered anatomically modern in other regions, but not precluding multiple admixture between H. sapiens and archaic humans in Europe and Asia. H. sapiens most likely developed in the Horn of Africa between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. The “recent African origin” model proposes that all modern non-African populations are substantially descended from populations of H. sapiens that left Africa after that time. There were at least several “out-of-Africa” dispersals of modern humans, possibly beginning as early as 270,000 years ago, including 215,000 years ago to at least Greece, and certainly via northern Africa about 130,000 to 115,000 years ago. These early waves appear to have mostly died out or retreated by 80,000 years ago.” ref

“The most significant “recent” wave out of Africa took place about 70,000–50,000 years ago, via the so-called “Southern Route“, spreading rapidly along the coast of Asia and reaching Australia by around 65,000–50,000 years ago, (though some researchers question the earlier Australian dates and place the arrival of humans there at 50,000 years ago at earliest, while others have suggested that these first settlers of Australia may represent an older wave before the more significant out of Africa migration and thus not necessarily be ancestral to the region’s later inhabitants) while Europe was populated by an early offshoot which settled the Near East and Europe less than 55,000 years ago. In the 2010s, studies in population genetics uncovered evidence of interbreeding that occurred between H. sapiens and archaic humans in Eurasia, Oceania, and Africa, indicating that modern population groups, while mostly derived from early H. sapiens, are to a lesser extent also descended from regional variants of archaic humans.” ref

Proposed waves Out of Africa

“Recent African origin,” or Out of Africa II, refers to the migration of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) out of Africa after their emergence at c. 300,000 to 200,000 years ago, in contrast to “Out of Africa I“, which refers to the migration of archaic humans from Africa to Eurasia roughly 1.8 to 0.5 million years ago. Omo-Kibish I (Omo I) from southern Ethiopia is the oldest anatomically modern Homo sapiens skeleton currently known (196,000 years ago). Since the beginning of the 21st century, the picture of “recent single-origin” migrations has become significantly more complex, not only due to the discovery of modern-archaic admixture but also due to the increasing evidence that the “recent out-of-Africa” migration took place in a number of waves spread over a long time period. As of 2010, there were two main accepted dispersal routes for the out-of-Africa migration of early anatomically modern humans: via the “Northern Route” (via Nile Valley and Sinai) and the “Southern Route” via the Bab al Mandab strait.” ref

· “Posth et al. (2017) suggest that early Homo sapiens, or “another species in Africa closely related to us,” might have first migrated out of Africa around 270,000 years ago.” ref

· “Finds at Misliya cave, which include a partial jawbone with eight teeth, have been dated to around 185,000 years ago. Layers dating from between 250,000 and 140,000 years ago in the same cave contained tools of the Levallois type which could put the date of the first migration even earlier if the tools can be associated with the modern human jawbone finds.” ref

· “An Eastward Dispersal from Northeast Africa to Arabia 150,000–130,000  years ago based on the finds at Jebel Faya dated to 127,000 years ago (discovered in 2011). Possibly related to this wave are the finds from Zhirendong cave, Southern China, dated to more than 100,000 years ago.[34] Other evidence of the modern human presence in China has been dated to 80,000 years ago.” ref

· “The most significant out of Africa dispersal took place around 50–70,000 years ago via the so-called Southern Route, either before or after the Toba event, which happened between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago. This dispersal followed the southern coastline of Asia, and reached Australia around 65,000-50,000 years ago, or according to some research, by 50,000 years ago at earliest. Western Asia was “re-occupied” by a different derivation from this wave around 50,000 years ago, and Europe was populated from Western Asia beginning around 43,000 years ago.  Wells (2003) describes an additional wave of migration after the southern coastal route, namely a northern migration into Europe at circa 45,000 years ago. However, this possibility is ruled out by Macaulay et al. (2005) and Posth et al. (2016), who argue for a single coastal dispersal, with an early offshoot into Europe.” ref

Northern Route dispersal

“Beginning 135,000 years ago, tropical Africa experienced megadroughts that drove humans from the land and towards the seashores, and forced them to cross over to other continents. Modern humans crossed the Straits of Bab el Mandeb in the southern Red Sea, and moved along the green coastlines around Arabia, and thence to the rest of Eurasia. Fossils of early Homo sapiens were found in Qafzeh and Es-Skhul Caves in Israel and have been dated 80,000 to 100,000 years ago. These humans seem to have either become extinct or retreated back to Africa 70,000 to 80,000 years ago, possibly replaced by southbound Neanderthals escaping the colder regions of ice-age Europe.[40] Hua Liu et al. analyzed autosomal microsatellite markers dating to about 56,000 years ago. They interpret the paleontological fossil as an isolated early offshoot that retracted back to Africa.” ref

“The discovery of stone tools in the United Arab Emirates in 2011 at the Faya-1 site in Mleiha, Sharjah, indicated the presence of modern humans at least 125,000 years ago, leading to a resurgence of the “long-neglected” North African route. In Oman, a site was discovered by Bien Joven in 2011 containing more than 100 surface scatters of stone tools belonging to the late Nubian Complex, known previously only from archaeological excavations in the Sudan. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates placed the Arabian Nubian Complex at approximately 106,000 years old. This provides evidence for a distinct Stone Age technocomplex in southern Arabia, around the earlier part of the Marine Isotope Stage 5.” ref

“According to Kuhlwilm and his co-authors, Neanderthals contributed genetically to modern humans then living outside of Africa around 100,000 years ago: humans which had already split off from other modern humans around 200,000 years ago, and this early wave of modern humans outside Africa also contributed genetically to the Altai Neanderthals. They found that “the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains and early modern humans met and interbred, possibly in the Near East, many thousands of years earlier than previously thought”. According to co-author Ilan Gronau, “This actually complements archaeological evidence of the presence of early modern humans out of Africa around and before 100,000 years ago by providing the first genetic evidence of such populations.” Similar genetic admixture events have been noted in other regions as well. In China, the Liujiang man (Chinese: 柳江人) is among the earliest modern humans found in East Asia. The date most commonly attributed to the remains is 67,000 years ago. High rates of variability yielded by various dating techniques carried out by different researchers place the most widely accepted range of dates with 67,000 BP as a minimum, but do not rule out dates as old as 159,000 ago. Liu, Martinón-Torres et al. (2015) claim that modern human teeth have been found in China dating to at least 80,000 years ago.” ref

Southern Route dispersal

Coastal route

“By some 50-70,000 years ago, a subset of the bearers of mitochondrial haplogroup L3 migrated from East Africa into the Near East. It has been estimated that from a population of 2,000 to 5,000 individuals in Africa, only a small group, possibly as few as 150 to 1,000 people, crossed the Red Sea. The group that crossed the Red Sea traveled along the coastal route around Arabia and the Persian Plateau to India, which appears to have been the first major settling point. Wells (2003) argued for the route along the southern coastline of Asia, across about 155 miles, reaching Australia by around 50,000 years ago. Today at the Bab-el-Mandeb straits, the Red Sea is about 12 miles wide, but 50,000 years ago sea levels were 70 m (230 ft) lower (owing to glaciation) and the water was much narrower. Though the straits were never completely closed, they were narrow enough to have enabled crossing using simple rafts, and there may have been islands in between. Shell middens 125,000 years old have been found in Eritrea, indicating the diet of early humans included seafood obtained by beachcombing.” ref

See also: Toba catastrophe theory

“The dating of the Southern Dispersal is a matter of dispute. It may have happened either pre- or post-Toba, a catastrophic volcanic eruption that took place between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago at the site of present-day Lake Toba. Stone tools discovered below the layers of ash disposed of in India may point to a pre-Toba dispersal but the source of the tools is disputed. An indication for post-Toba is haplo-group L3, which originated before the dispersal of humans out of Africa and can be dated to 60,000–70,000 years ago, “suggesting that humanity left Africa a few thousand years after Toba”. Some research showing slower than expected genetic mutations in human DNA was published in 2012, indicating a revised dating for the migration to between 90,000 and 130,000 years ago. Some more recent research suggests a migration out-of-Africa of around 50,000-65,000 years ago of the ancestors of modern non-African populations, similar to most previous estimates.” ref

Western Asia

“A fossil of a modern human dated to 54,700 years ago was found in Manot Cave in Israel, named Manot 1,[57] though the dating was questioned by Groucutt et al. (2015).” ref

South Asia and Australia

“It is thought that Australia was inhabited around 65,000–50,000 years ago. As of 2017, the earliest evidence of humans in Australia is at least 65,000 years old, while McChesney stated that …genetic evidence suggests that a small band with the marker M168 migrated out of Africa along the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula and India, through Indonesia, and reached Australia very early, between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago. This very early migration into Australia is also supported by Rasmussen et al. (2011). Fossils from Lake Mungo, Australia, have been dated to about 42,000 years ago. Other fossils from a site called Madjedbebe have been dated to at least 65,000 years ago., though some researchers doubt this early estimate and date the Madjedbebe fossils at about 50,000 years ago at the oldest.” ref

East Asia

“Tianyuan man from China has a probable date range between 38,000 and 42,000 years ago, while Liujiang man from the same region has a probable date range between 67,000 and 159,000 years ago. According to 2013 DNA tests, Tianyuan man is related “to many present-day Asians and Native Americans“. Tianyuan is similar in morphology to Minatogawa Man, modern humans dated between 17,000 and 19,000 years ago and found on Okinawa Island, Japan.” ref

Europe

“According to Macaulay et al. (2005), an early offshoot from the southern dispersal with haplogroup N followed the Nile from East Africa, heading northwards and crossing into Asia through the Sinai. This group then branched, some moving into Europe and others heading east into Asia. This hypothesis is supported by the relatively late date of the arrival of modern humans in Europe as well as by archaeological and DNA evidence. Based on an analysis of 55 human mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) of hunter-gatherers, Posth et al. (2016) argue for a “rapid single dispersal of all non-Africans less than 55,000 years ago.” ref

Mitochondrial haplogroups

Within Africa

Further information: Most recent common ancestor, Archaeogenetics, and Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup

“The first lineage to branch off from Mitochondrial Eve was L0. This haplogroup is found in high proportions among the San of Southern Africa and the Sandawe of East Africa. It is also found among the Mbuti people. These groups branched off early in human history and have remained relatively genetically isolated since then. Haplogroups L1, L2, and L3 are descendants of L1–L6, and are largely confined to Africa. The macro haplogroups M and N, which are the lineages of the rest of the world outside Africa, descend from L3. L3 is about 70,000 years old, while haplogroups M and N are about 65-55,000 years old. The relationship between such gene trees and demographic history is still debated when applied to dispersals.” ref

“Of all the lineages present in Africa, only the female descendants of one lineage, mtDNA haplogroup L3, are found outside Africa. If there had been several migrations, one would expect descendants of more than one lineage to be found. L3’s female descendants, the M and N haplogroup lineages, are found in very low frequencies in Africa (although haplogroup M1 populations are very ancient and diversified in North and North-east Africa) and appear to be more recent arrivals.[citation needed] A possible explanation is that these mutations occurred in East Africa shortly before the exodus and became the dominant haplogroups thereafter by means of the founder effect. Alternatively, the mutations may have arisen shortly afterwards.” ref

Southern Route and haplogroups M and N

“Results from mtDNA collected from aboriginal Malaysians called Orang Asli indicate that the haplogroups M and N share characteristics with original African groups from approximately 85,000 years ago, and share characteristics with sub-haplogroups found in coastal south-east Asian regions, such as Australasia, the Indian subcontinent, and throughout continental Asia, which had dispersed and separated from their African progenitor approximately 65,000 years ago. This southern coastal dispersal would have occurred before the dispersal through the Levant approximately 45,000 years ago. This hypothesis attempts to explain why haplogroup N is predominant in Europe and why haplogroup M is absent in Europe. Evidence of the coastal migration is thought to have been destroyed by the rise in sea levels during the Holocene epoch. Alternatively, a small European founder population that had expressed haplogroup M and N at first, could have lost haplogroup M through random genetic drift resulting from a bottleneck (i.e. a founder effect).” ref

“The group that crossed the Red Sea traveled along the coastal route around Arabia and Persia until reaching India. Haplogroup M is found in high frequencies along the southern coastal regions of Pakistan and India and it has the greatest diversity in India, indicating that it is here where the mutation may have occurred. Sixty percent of the Indian population belongs to Haplogroup M. The indigenous people of the Andaman Islands also belong to the M lineage. The Andamanese are thought to be offshoots of some of the earliest inhabitants in Asia because of their long isolation from the mainland. They are evidence of the coastal route of early settlers that extends from India to Thailand and Indonesia all the way to eastern New Guinea. Since M is found in high frequencies in highlanders from New Guinea and the Andamanese and New Guineans have dark skin and Afro-textured hair, some scientists think they are all part of the same wave of migrants who departed across the Red Sea ~60,000 years ago in the Great Coastal Migration. The proportion of haplogroup M increases eastwards from Arabia to India; in eastern India, M outnumbers N by a ratio of 3:1. Crossing into Southeast Asia, haplogroup N (mostly in the form of derivatives of its R subclade) reappears as the predominant lineage. M is predominant in East Asia, but amongst Indigenous Australians, N is the more common lineage. This haphazard distribution of Haplogroup N from Europe to Australia can be explained by founder effects and population bottlenecks.” ref

Autosomal DNA

Further information: Human genetic variation

“A 2002 study of African, European and Asian populations, found greater genetic diversity among Africans than among Eurasians, and that genetic diversity among Eurasians is largely a subset of that among Africans, supporting the out of Africa model. A large study by Coop et al. found evidence for natural selection in autosomal DNA outside of Africa. The study distinguishes non-African sweeps (notably KITLG variants associated with skin color), West-Eurasian sweeps (SLC24A5), and East-Asian sweeps (MC1R, relevant to skin color). Based on this evidence, the study concluded that human populations encountered novel selective pressures as they expanded out of Africa. MC1R and its relation to skin color had already been discussed by Liu, Harding et al., p. 135. According to this study, Papua New Guineans continued to be exposed to selection for dark skin color so that, although these groups are distinct from Africans in other places, the allele for dark skin color shared by contemporary Africans, Andamanese, and New Guineans is an archaism. Endicott et al. suggest convergent evolution. A 2014 study by Gurdasani et al. indicates that the higher genetic diversity in Africa was further increased in some regions by relatively recent Eurasian migrations affecting parts of Africa.” ref

Pathogen DNA

“Another promising route towards reconstructing human genetic genealogy is via the JC virus (JCV), a type of human polyomavirus which is carried by 70–90 percent of humans and which is usually transmitted vertically, from parents to offspring, suggesting codivergence with human populations. For this reason, JCV has been used as a genetic marker for human evolution and migration. This method does not appear to be reliable for the migration out of Africa, in contrast to human genetics, JCV strains associated with African populations are not basal. From this Shackelton et al.  conclude that either a basal African strain of JCV has become extinct or that the original infection with JCV post-dates the migration from Africa.” ref

Admixture of archaic and modern humans

Main article: Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans

“Evidence for archaic human species (descended from Homo heidelbergensis) having interbred with modern humans outside of Africa, was discovered in the 2010s. This concerns primarily Neanderthal admixture in all modern populations except for Sub-Saharan Africans but evidence has also been presented for Denisova hominin admixture in Australasia (i.e. in Melanesians, Aboriginal Australians, and some Negritos). The rate of admixture of Neanderthal admixture to European and Asian populations as of 2017 has been estimated at between about 2–3%.” ref

“Archaic admixture in some Sub-Saharan African populations hunter-gatherer groups (Biaka Pygmies and San), derived from archaic hominins that broke away from the modern human lineage around 700,000 years, was discovered in 2011. The rate of admixture was estimated at around 2%. Admixture from archaic hominins of still earlier divergence times, estimated at 1.2 to 1.3 million years ago, was found in Pygmies, Hadza, and five Sandawe in 2012. From an analysis of Mucin 7, a highly divergent haplotype that has an estimated coalescence time with other variants around 4.5 million years ago and is specific to African populations is inferred to have been derived from interbreeding between African modern and archaic humans. In addition to genetic analysis, Petraglia et al. also examines the small stone tools (microlithic materials) from the Indian subcontinent and explains the expansion of population based on the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment. He proposed that the stone tools could be dated to 35,000 years ago in South Asia, and the new technology might be influenced by environmental change and population pressure.” ref

Archaic humans in Southeast Asia

See Peopling of Southeast Asia for anatomically modern humans.

“The region of Southeast Asia is considered a possible place for the evidence of archaic human remains that could be found due to the pathway between Australia and mainland Southeast Asia, where the migration of multiple early humans has occurred out of Africa. One of many pieces of evidence is of the early human found in central Java of Indonesia in the late 1800s by Eugene Dubois, and later in 1937 at Sangiran site by G.H.R. van Koenigswald. These skull and fossil materials are Homo erectus or Dubois named Pithecanthropus erectus, and Meganthropus palaeojavanicus by van Koenigswald. They were dated back to c. 1.88 and 1.66 Ma suggested by Swisher et al. from volcanic rocks dating method.” ref

Three possible migration routes through Southeast Asia

“Most scholars who work in Southeast Asia attempt to establish the possible route through which early humans would migrate passing through the region after they migrated out of Africa. The evidence also indicates the migration route and settlement location along the routes that might have taken place during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. There are three possible routes suggested by scholars;” ref

1. “From the northwest of Thailand they went down to Chao Phraya river basin and the Gulf of Thailand in which this route is supported by the faunal remains found in north Asia and Indonesia. Topographically advantages like the mountainous western flank of the Chao Phraya Basin, are likely to benefit the hominin habitats. Those advantages are “environmental mosaics with varied food resources and abundant water supplies, combined with physical features offering protection from the weather and providing tactical advantages in the pursuit of prey.” ref

2. “From Northeastern Vietnam they went down to the Indochinese region. This route is supported by 86 anatomically modern human fossils found in mainland and island East and Southeast Asia. Although this model excluded the recent findings of the H. sapiens tooth found in Thailand and Vietnam and the remains in Laos, this new evidence seems to support this route.” ref

3. “From the coast of South Asia and the west part of mainland Southeast Asia, they went down to the Gulf of Thailand, in which this route is supported by the coastline that many scholars believe that this route is a possible route for the migration from Africa. This route seems to depict the major movement from Africa into this region. However, many possible sites along the coastline are difficult to locate due to the shift of the shoreline, even though the environmental setting is suitable for human habitation.” ref

The Southeast Asia region

“It was not until the late 1800s that Dubois found the skull of Homo erectus in Java, Indonesia, and had plugged the Southeast Asian region into the spotlight. In 2003 since the archaeologists found another archaic human species on the island of Flores, Indonesia, this discovery has introduced many new theoretical approaches to human evolution in the region and on the global scales.” ref

“Southeast Asia is separated into two main subregions following the previous Oriental biogeographical region; mainland Southeast Asia and island Southeast Asia. The region of mainland and island Southeast Asia has been separated into four sub-regions: The Indochinese, Sundaic, Indian, and Wallacean provinces. The Indochinese province includes northern Thailand, southern China, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. The Sundiac province includes southern Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. These two regions are divided by the climatic, zoological, and environmental patterns in which it implicates a different set of mammals and plants. This region is of some importance in paleoanthropology, e.g. Homo erectus in Java, Homo floresiensis in Flores, and until the early anatomically modern human in Laos. Furthermore, the faunal remains that found within the region indicate the possible exchange between the Indochinese and Sundaic faunal in which the assemblages from this intermediate zone might yield the hominid specimen.” ref

Homo erectus in Southeast Asia

“Since the discovery of archaic human fossils by Dubois and van Koenigswald during the late 1800s and early 1900s which identified as Homo erectus, there is a small number of later evidence of Homo erectus that found as old as those fossils. Nevertheless, on a local scale, one human fossil was found in the region of northern Thailand in 1999 by one villager in which some archaeologists suggest that it might be a fragmental piece of the skull of Homo erectus (c. 500,000 years ago) the four pieces of the fragmented skull are believed to be the right “frontal region of a calvaria with a very thick tabula externa, a thick dipole, and very thin tabula interna”. However, this evidence is still debated by scholars and no research has been conducted regarding the age of the piece and the fauna that comes with it.” ref

The Age of Homo erectus in Java

“At Trinil, Dubois found the skull (cranial part), tooth, and thighbone of one individual (Java Man) and naming him as Pithecanthropus erectus. While at Sangiran, van Koenigswald discovered at least 40 fossils and named them as Meganthropus palaeojavanicus. Although the fossils that were found in Trinil and Sangiran sites are the oldest evidence found within the region, the date of these fossils—implicated by Dubois—is still ambiguous. Swisher et al. are the first scholars who attempted to analyze the age of these fossils by using the 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic rock from both sites. Swisher et al. suggest that the result from both sites indicates the age of the fossils is dated back to c. 1.81-1.82 Ma or Early Pleistocene. This date was older than the fossils of the Homo erectus that were found from Olduvai Gorge at Tanzania at least 0.6 Ma. Nevertheless, some scholars argue that the dating method at both Java sites is unclear, especially the collective method of the rock and the relationships between the rock and the fossils. In fact, the remains in Java were found in more than these two sites, such as Ngandong (homo soloensis) and Kedung.” ref

“Along with these fossils, there are also tools and fauna as well as other related artifacts found within the sites and other sites nearby. These artifacts could nevertheless shed light on the unresolved age of these remains. By using the absolute (radiometric) dating method, these faunal remains implicate the age at 0.8 Ma as for Flores Island. As for Kedung site, the faunal remains indicate the 110 and 70 ka in which this record is quite well known for the turnover of the age of H. erectus. In addition, the faunal remains that Dubois and van Koenigswald used might be overlying on the deposits of Kubuh and Pucangan Formations in which it indicates slightly younger ages from the remains of both sites. Therefore, scholars still debate the age of the H. erectus fossil Java Man. Corvinus et al. suggested that the evidence found between Southeast Asia and India illustrate a different set of understanding. For instance, in Southeast Asia, the finding of the human remains is flourishing and well-studied, but the lack of stone tools and human occupation. While in Indian sites there were discoveries of a number of stone tools (Acheulean), but the lack of the remains found. For this reason, to established and reconstructed the early H. erectus‘s activity and environment are yet ambiguity in the region regarding the technology and development of the tools and the relation to fossils.” ref

“The tools that were found within the Java sites are quite different from the Acheulean type that are found in Africa and Europe in which this type of stone tools implicates the H. erectus or Homo ergaster culture. Thus, the tools that are found in Java might suggest a different set of the culture of H. erectus between African and Asian regions. Swisher et al. (1994) also suggest that these tools developed separately from the Acheulean types and might indicate that H. erectus might migrate out of Africa even before the Acheulean type of tools were developed. However, the stone tools found in the Java region are difficult for establishing the age that can link to the H. erectus fossils. The research and analyses (tools, deposits, and faunal analyses) above thus suggests that the Javanese fossils are to be placed in the Middle Pleistocene or approximately 1.66 – 0.7 Milloin years ago.” ref

Homo floresiensis: The “Hobbit” of Indonesia

“In 2003 another human species was found at Liang Bua cave in Flores, eastern Indonesia. The fossils consist of cranial and some post-cranial remains of one individual, and a premolar from another individual in older deposits. The species was recognized as distinct from H. erectus and H sapiens on the basis of anatomical differences (including much smaller body size), and named Homo floresiensis. It has been suggested that the brain volume of these individuals was approximately around 400 cm3, similar to the African Australopithecus afarensis. However, H. floresiensis remains were dated to only 38,000a – 18,000 years ago (Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene), using radiocarbon, luminescence, uranium-series, and electron spin resonance (ESR) methods on sediments and associated artifacts.” ref

Homo floresiensis‘s hunting technique

“Apart from the remains, archaeologists also found stone (bifacial small core) or fleck tools in the same section of the individuals at least 32 of them and other 5,500 flakes per cubic meter on another section nearby. In addition, there is also a formal component found only with evidence of juvenile Stegodon and Komodo dragon, including points, perforators, blades, and microblade that were probably hafted as barbs in which these tools indicate a selective hunting method.” ref

“Although these stone artifacts seem to suggest the possibilities that these individuals use them, archaeologists are unable to establish which human species manufactured them since similar flakes tools and the remains of juvenile Stegodon and Komodo dragon are also found at the Soa Basin sites nearby as well. Despite this fact, the cognitive ability of H. floresiensis should not be underestimated. In addition, all evidence suggests another possibility of this species that they were able to migrate across the Wallace line into the Wallacean province in which according to geographical setting it was difficult to do. Nevertheless, scholars seem to agree that this H. floresiensis represent a species different from H. erectus and H. sapiens and overlapping with the presence of both in the region, raising the possibility that these species might have lived among each other before modern human fully colonized the region later on.” ref

See also:

· Peopling of Southeast Asia

· Prehistoric Asia

· Recent African origin of modern humans

Recent African origin of modern humans

“In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans, also called the “Out of Africa” theory (OOA), recent single-origin hypothesis (RSOH), replacement hypothesis, or recent African origin model (RAO), is the dominant model of the geographic origin and early migration of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens). It follows the early expansions of hominins out of Africa, accomplished by Homo erectus and then Homo neanderthalensis.” ref

“The model proposes a “single origin” of Homo sapiens in the taxonomic sense, precluding parallel evolution of traits considered anatomically modern in other regions, but not precluding multiple admixture between H. sapiens and archaic humans in Europe and Asia. H. sapiens most likely developed in the Horn of Africa between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. The “recent African origin” model proposes that all modern non-African populations are substantially descended from populations of H. sapiens that left Africa after that time. There were at least several “out-of-Africa” dispersals of modern humans, possibly beginning as early as 270,000 years ago, including 215,000 years ago to at least Greece, and certainly via northern Africa about 130,000 to 115,000 years ago. These early waves appear to have mostly died out or retreated by 80,000 years ago.” ref

“The most significant “recent” wave out of Africa took place about 70,000–50,000 years ago, via the so-called “Southern Route“, spreading rapidly along the coast of Asia and reaching Australia by around 65,000–50,000 years ago, (though some researchers question the earlier Australian dates and place the arrival of humans there at 50,000 years ago at earliest, while others have suggested that these first settlers of Australia may represent an older wave before the more significant out of Africa migration and thus not necessarily be ancestral to the region’s later inhabitants) while Europe was populated by an early offshoot which settled the Near East and Europe less than 55,000 years ago. In the 2010s, studies in population genetics uncovered evidence of interbreeding that occurred between H. sapiens and archaic humans in Eurasia, Oceania, and Africa, indicating that modern population groups, while mostly derived from early H. sapiens, are to a lesser extent also descended from regional variants of archaic humans.” ref

See also:

· Behavioral modernity – Transition of human species to anthropologically modern behavior

· Coastal migration

· Dawn of Humanity (2015 PBS film)

· Early human migrations – The spread of humans from Africa through the world

· Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia

· Genetic history of Europe – Aspect of history

· Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas

· Genetic history of Italy

· Genetic history of North Africa

· Genetic history of the British Isles

· Genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula

· Genetic history of the Middle East

· Hofmeyr Skull – Hominin fossil

· Human evolution – Evolutionary process leading to anatomically modern humans

· Human origins

· Human timeline – Hominin events for the last 10 million years

· Identical ancestors point

· Indo-Aryan migration theory

· Sahara pump theory

· The Incredible Human Journey

· Timeline of human evolution – Chronological outline of major events in the development of the human species

Early expansions of hominins out of Africa

“Several expansions of populations of archaic humans (genus Homo) out of Africa and throughout Eurasia took place in the course of the Lower Paleolithic, and into the beginning Middle Paleolithic, between about 2.1 million and 0.2 million years ago (Ma). These expansions are collectively known as Out of Africa I, in contrast to the expansion of Homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans) into Eurasia, which may have begun shortly after 0.2 million years ago (known in this context as “Out of Africa II“).” ref

“The earliest presence of Homo (or indeed any hominin) outside of Africa dates to close to 2 million years ago. A 2018 study claims human presence at Shangchen, central China, as early as 2.12 Ma based on magnetostratigraphic dating of the lowest layer containing stone artifacts. The oldest known human skeletal remains outside of Africa are from Dmanisi, Georgia (Dmanisi skull 4), and are dated to 1.8 Ma. These remains are classified as Homo erectus georgicus. Later waves of expansion are proposed around 1.4 Ma (early Acheulean industries), associated with Homo antecessor and 0.8 Ma (cleaver-producing Acheulean groups), associated with Homo heidelbergensis.” ref

“Until the early 1980s, early humans were thought to have been restricted to the African continent in the Early Pleistocene, or until about 0.8 Ma; Hominin migrations outside East Africa were apparently rare in the Early Pleistocene, leaving a fragmentary record of events. Pre-Homo hominin expansion out of Africa is suggested by the presence of Graecopithecus and Ouranopithecus, found in Greece and Anatolia and dated to c. 8 million years ago, but these are probably Homininae but not Hominini. Possibly related are the Trachilos footprints found in Crete, dated to close to 6 million years ago.” ref

“Australopithecina emerge about 5.6 million years ago, in East Africa (Afar Depression). Gracile australopithecines (Australopithecus afarensis) emerge in the same region, around 4 million years ago. The earliest known retouched tools were found in Lomekwi, Kenya, and date back to 3.3 Ma, in the late Pliocene. They might be the product of Australopithecus garhi or Paranthropus aethiopicus, the two known hominins contemporary with the tools. Genus Homo is assumed to have emerged by around 2.8 million years ago, with Homo habilis being found at Lake Turkana, Kenya. The delineation of the “human” genus, Homo, from Australopithecus is somewhat contentious, for which reason the superordinate term “hominin” is often used to include both. “Hominin” technically includes chimpanzees as well as pre-human species as old as 10 million years ago (the separation of Homininae into Hominini and Gorillini). The earliest known hominin presence outside of Africa, dates to close to 2 million years ago. A 2018 study claims evidence for human presence at Shangchen, central China, as early as 2.12 Ma based on magnetostratigraphic dating of the lowest layer containing stone artifacts.” ref

“It has been suggested that Homo floresiensis was descended from such an early expansion. It is not clear whether these earliest hominins leaving Africa should be considered Homo habilis, or a form of early Homo or late Australopithecus closely related to Homo habilis, or a very early form of Homo erectus. In any case, the morphology of H. floresiensis has been found to show greatest similarity with Australopithecus sediba, Homo habilis, and Dmanisi Man, raising the possibility that the ancestors of H. floresiensis left Africa before the appearance of H. erectus. A phylogenetic analysis published in 2017 suggests that H. floresiensis was descended from a species (presumably Australopithecine) ancestral to Homo habilis, making it a “sister species” either to H. habilis or to a minimally habilis–erectus–ergaster–sapiens clade, and its line is older than H. erectus itself. On the basis of this classification, H. floresiensis is hypothesized to represent a hitherto unknown and very early migration out of Africa, dating to before 2.1 million years ago. A similar conclusion is suggested by the date of 2.1 Ma for the oldest Shangchen artifacts.” ref

Homo erectus

“Homo erectus emerges just after 2 million years ago. Early H. erectus would have lived face to face with H. habilis in East Africa for nearly half a million years. The oldest Homo erectus fossils appear almost contemporaneously, shortly after two million years ago, both in Africa and in the Caucasus. The earliest well-dated Eurasian H. erectus site is Dmanisi in Georgia, securely dated to 1.8 Ma. A skull found at Dmanisi is evidence for caring for the old. The skull shows that this Homo erectus was advanced in age and had lost all but one tooth years before death, and it is perhaps unlikely that this hominid would have survived alone. It is not certain, however, that this is sufficient proof for caring – a partially paralysed chimpanzee at the Gombe reserve survived for years without help.” ref

“The earliest known evidence for African H. erectus, dubbed Homo ergaster, is a single occipital bone (KNM-ER 2598), described as “H. erectus-like”, and dated to about 1.9 Ma (contemporary with Homo rudolfensis). This is followed by a fossil gap, the next available fossil being KNM-ER 3733, a skull dated to 1.6 Ma. Early Pleistocene sites in North Africa, the geographical intermediate of East Africa and Georgia, are in poor stratigraphic context. The earliest of the dated is Ain Hanech in northern Algeria (c. 1.8 – 1.2 Ma), an Oldowan grade layer. These sites attest that early Homo erectus have crossed the North African tracts, which are usually hot and dry. There is little time between Homo erectus’ apparent arrival in South Caucasus around 1.8 Ma, and its probable arrival in East and Southeast Asia. There is evidence of H. erectus in Yuanmou, China, dating to 1.7 Ma and in Sangiran, on Java, Indonesia, from 1.66 Ma. Ferring et al. (2011) suggest that it was still Homo habilis that reached West Asia, and that early Homo erectus developed there. Homo erectus would then have dispersed from West Asia, to East Asia (Peking Man) Southeast Asia (Java Man), back to Africa (Homo ergaster), and to Europe (Tautavel Man).” ref

“It appears Homo erectus took longer to move into Europe, the earliest site being Barranco León in southeastern Spain dated to 1.4 Ma, associated with Homo antecessor, and a controversial Pirro Nord in Southern Italy, allegedly from 1.7 – 1.3 Ma. The paleobiogeography of early human dispersals in western Eurasia characterizes H. ex gr. erectus as a temperature-sensitive stenobiont, that failed to disperse north of the Alpide Belt. The geographically restricted earliest human presence in the Iberian Peninsula should be regarded as evidence of a sustainable presence of human population in this isolated area. The Pannonian plain, situated south-west of the Carpathian Mountains, was apparently characterized by a comparatively warm climate similar to that of the Mediterranean Area, while the climate of the western European paleobiogeographic area was mitigated by Gulf Stream influence and could support the episodic hominin dispersals toward the Iberian Peninsula. Apparently, the faunal exchanges between southeastern Europe and the Near East and southern Asia were controlled by the complex interaction of such geographic obstacles as the Bosporus and the Manych Strait, the climate barrier from the north of the Greater Caucasus range, and the 41 kyr glacial Milankovitch cycles that repeatedly closed the Bosporus and thus triggered the two-way faunal exchange between southeastern Europe and the Near East, and, apparently, the further westward dispersal of the archaic hominins in Eurasia.” ref

“By 1 Million years ago, Homo erectus had spread across Eurasia (mostly restricted to latitudes south of the 50th parallel north). It is hard to say, however, whether settlement was continuous in Western Europe, or if successive waves repopulated the territory in glacial interludes. Early Acheulean tools at Ubeidiya from 1.4 Ma is some evidence for a continuous settlement in the West, as successive waves out of Africa after then would likely have brought Acheulean technology to Western Europe.” ref

“The presence of Lower Paleolithic human remains in Indonesian islands is good evidence for seafaring by Homo erectus late in the Early Pleistocene. Bednarik suggests that navigation had appeared by 1 Ma, possibly to exploit offshore fishing grounds. He has reproduced a primitive dirigible (steerable) raft to demonstrate the feasibility of faring across the Lombok Strait on such a device, which he believes to have been done before 850,000 years ago. The strait has maintained a width of at least 20 km for the whole of the Pleistocene. Such an achievement by Homo erectus in the Early Pleistocene offers some strength to the suggested water routes out of Africa, as the Gibraltar, Sicilian, and Bab-el-Mandeb exit routes are harder to consider if watercraft are deemed beyond the capacities of Homo erectus.” ref

Homo heidelbergensis

“Archaic humans in Europe beginning about 0.8 Ma (cleaver-producing Acheulean groups) are classified as a separate, erectus-derived species, known as Homo heidelbergensis. H. heidelbergensis from about 0.4 Ma develops its own characteristic industry, known as Clactonian. H. heidelbergensis is closely related to Homo rhodesiensis (also identified as Homo heidelbergensis sensu lato or African H. heidelbergensis), known to be present in southern Africa by 0.3 Ma. Homo sapiens emerges in Africa before about 0.3 Ma from a lineage closely related to early H. heidelbergensis. The first wave of “Out of Africa II and “earliest presence of H. sapiens in West Asia, may date to between .3 and 0.2 Ma, and ascertained for 0.13 Ma. Genetic research also indicates that a later migration wave of H. sapiens (from .07-.05 Ma) from Africa is responsible for all to most of the ancestry of current non-African populations.” ref

Routes out of Africa

“Most attention as to the route taken from Africa to West Asia is given to the Levantine land corridor and the Bab-el-Mandeb straits. The latter connects the Horn of Africa and Arabia, and may have allowed dry passage during some periods of the Pleistocene. Another candidate is the Strait of Gibraltar. A route across the Strait of Sicily was suggested in the 1970s but is now considered unlikely.” ref

Levantine corridor

“The use by hominins of the Levantine corridor, connecting Egypt via the Sinai peninsula with the Eastern Mediterranean, has been associated to the phenomenon of rising and declining humidity of the desert belt of northern Africa, known as the Sahara pump. The numerous hominin sites in the Levant, such as Ubeidiya and Misliya cave, are used as indicators of this migration route. As of 2012, the genetic analysis of human populations in Africa and Eurasia supports the concept that during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, this route was more important for bi-directional human migrations between Africa and Eurasia than was the Horn of Africa.” ref

Horn of Africa to Arabia (Bab el-Mandeb)

“Bab-el-Mandeb is a 30 km strait between East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, with a small island, Perim, 3 km off the Arabian bank. The strait has a major appeal in the study of Eurasian expansion in that it brings East Africa close to Eurasia. It does not require hopping from one water body to the next across the North African desert. The land connection with Arabia disappeared in the Pliocene, and though it may have briefly reformed, the evaporation of the Red Sea and an associated increase in salinity would have left traces in the fossil record after just 200 years and evaporite deposits after 600 years. Neither have been detected. A strong current flows from the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean and crossing would have been difficult without a land connection. Oldowan grade tools are reported from Perim Island, implying that the strait could have been crossed in the Early Pleistocene, but these finds have yet to be confirmed.” ref

Strait of Gibraltar

“The Strait of Gibraltar is the Atlantic entryway to the Mediterranean, where Spanish and Moroccan banks are only 14 km apart. A decrease in sea levels in the Pleistocene due to glaciation would not have brought this down to less than 10 km. Deep currents push westwards, and surface water flows strongly back into the Mediterranean. Entrance into Eurasia across the strait of Gibraltar could explain the hominin remains at Barranco León in southeastern Spain (1.4 Ma) and Sima del Elefante in northern Spain (1.2 Ma). But the site of Pirro Nord in southern Italy, allegedly from 1.3 – 1.7 Ma, suggests a possible arrival from the East. Resolution is insufficient to settle the matter.” ref

Strait of Sicily

“Passage across the Strait of Sicily was suggested by Alimen based on the discovery of Oldowan grade tools in Sicily. Radiometric dates, however, have not been produced, and the artifacts might as well be from the Middle Pleistocene, and it is unlikely that there was a land bridge during the Pleistocene.” ref

Causes for dispersal?

Climate change and hominin flexibility

“For a given species in a given environment, available resources will limit the number of individuals that can survive indefinitely. This is the carrying capacity. Upon reaching this threshold, individuals may find it easier to gather resources in the poorer yet less exploited peripheral environment than in the preferred habitat. Homo habilis could have developed some baseline behavioral flexibility prior to its expansion into the peripheries (such as encroaching into the predatory guild). This flexibility could then have been positively selected and amplified, leading to Homo erectus‘ adaptation to the peripheral open habitats. A new and environmentally flexible hominin population could have come back to the old niche and replaced the ancestral population. Moreover, some step-wise shrinking of the woodland and the associated reduction of hominin carrying capacity in the woods around 1.8 Ma, 1.2 Ma, and 0.6 Ma would have stressed the carrying capacity’s pressure for adapting to the open grounds. With Homo erectus‘ new environmental flexibility, favorable climate fluxes likely opened it the way to the Levantine corridor, perhaps sporadically, in the Early Pleistocene.” ref

Chasing fauna

“Lithic analysis implies that Oldowan hominins were not predators. However, Homo erectus appears to have followed animal migrations to the north during wetter periods, likely as a source of scavenged food. The sabre-tooth cat Megantereon was an apex predator of the Early and Middle Pleistocene (before MIS 12). It became extinct in Africa c. 1.5 Ma, but had already moved out through the Sinai, and is among the faunal remains of the Levantine hominin site of Ubeidiya, c. 1.4 Ma. It could not break bone marrow and its kills were likely an important food source for hominins, especially in glacial periods. In colder Eurasian times, the hominin diet would have to be principally meat-based and Acheulean hunters must have competed with cats.” ref

Coevolved zoonotic diseases

“Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen suggest that the success of hominins within Eurasia once out of Africa is in part due to the absence of zoonotic diseases outside their original habitat. Zoonotic diseases are those that are transmitted from animals to humans. While a disease-specific to hominins must keep its human host alive long enough to transmit itself, zoonotic diseases will not necessarily do so as they can complete their life cycle without humans. Still, these infections are well accustomed to human presence, having evolved alongside them. The higher an African ape’s population density, the better a disease fares. 55% of chimps at the Gombe reserve die of disease, most of them zoonotic. The majority of these diseases are still restricted to hot and damp African environments. Once hominins had moved out into drier and colder habitats of higher latitudes, one major limiting factor in population growth was out of the equation.” ref

Physiological traits

“While Homo habilis was certainly bipedal, its long arms are indicative of an arboreal adaptation. Homo erectus had longer legs and shorter arms, revealing a transition to obligate terrestriality, though it remains unclear how this change in relative leg length might have been an advantage. Sheer body size, on the other hand, seems to have allowed for better walking energy efficiency and endurance. A larger Homo erectus would also dehydrate more slowly and could thus cover greater distances before facing thermoregulatory limitations. The ability for prolonged walking at a normal pace would have been a decisive factor for effective colonization of Eurasia.” ref

See also:

· Archaic humans in Southeast Asia

· Archaic humans

· Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans

Modern humans left Africa much earlier

“Researchers have identified the remains of the earliest known modern humans to have left Africa. New dating of fossils from Israel indicates that our species (Homo sapiens) lived outside Africa around 185,000 years ago, some 80,000 years earlier than the previous evidence. Details appear in the journal Science. The co-lead researcher, Prof Israel Hershkovitz, told BBC News that the discovery would fundamentally alter ideas of recent human evolution. “We have to rewrite the whole story of human evolution, not just for our own species but all the other species that lived outside of Africa at the time,” the researcher, from Tel Aviv University, explained. Prof Chris Stringer of London’s Natural History Museum, who was not involved in the study, said: “The find breaks the long-established 130,000-year-old limit on modern humans outside of Africa.” ref

Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans

“There is evidence for interbreeding between archaic and modern humans during the Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic. The interbreeding happened in several independent events that included Neanderthals and Denisovans, as well as several unidentified hominins. In Eurasia, interbreeding between Neanderthals and Denisovans with modern humans took place several times. The introgression events into modern humans are estimated to have happened about 47,000–65,000 years ago with Neanderthals and about 44,000–54,000 years ago with Denisovans.” ref

“Neanderthal-derived DNA has been found in the genomes of most or possibly all contemporary populations, varying noticeably by region. It accounts for 1–4% of modern genomes for people outside Sub-Saharan Africa, although estimates vary, and either none or possibly up to 0.3% — according to recent research — for those in Africa. It is highest in East Asians, intermediate in Europeans, and lower in Southeast Asians. According to some research, it is also lower in Melanesians compared to both East Asians and Europeans. However, other research finds higher Neanderthal admixture in Australo-Melanesians, as well as in Native Americans, than in Europeans (though not higher than in East Asians).” ref

“Denisovan-derived ancestry is largely absent from modern populations in Africa and Western Eurasia. The highest rates, by far, of Denisovan admixture have been found in Oceanian and some Southeast Asian populations, with an estimated 4–6% of the genome of modern Melanesians being derived from Denisovans. While some southeast Asian Negrito populations carry Denisovan admixture, others have none, such as the Andamanese. In addition, low traces of Denisovan-derived ancestry have been found in mainland Asia, with an elevated Denisovan ancestry in South Asian populations compared to other mainland populations.” ref

“In Africa, archaic alleles consistent with several independent admixture events in the subcontinent have been found. It is currently unknown who these archaic African hominins were. Although the narratives of human evolution are often contentious, DNA evidence shows that human evolution should not be seen as a simple linear or branched progression, but a mix of related species. In fact, genomic research has shown that hybridization between substantially diverged lineages is the rule, not the exception, in human evolution. Furthermore, it is argued that hybridization was an essential driving force in the emergence of modern humans.” ref

“On 7 May 2010, following the genome sequencing of three Vindija Neanderthals, a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome was published and revealed that Neanderthals shared more alleles with Eurasian populations (e.g. French, Han Chinese, and Papua New Guinean) than with sub-Saharan African populations (e.g. Yoruba and San). According to Green et al. (2010), the authors, the observed excess of genetic similarity is best explained by recent gene flow from Neanderthals to modern humans after the migration out of Africa. They estimated the proportion of Neanderthal-derived ancestry to be 1–4% of the Eurasian genome. Prüfer et al. (2013) estimated the proportion to be 1.5–2.1% for non-Africans, Lohse and Frantz (2014) infer a higher rate of 3.4–7.3% in Eurasia. In 2017, Prüfer et al. revised their estimate to 1.8–2.6% for non-Africans outside Oceania.” ref

“According to a later study by Chen et al. (2020), Africans (specifically, the 1000 Genomes African populations) also have Neanderthal admixture, with this Neanderthal admixture in African individuals accounting for 17 megabases, which is 0.3% of their genome. According to the authors, Africans gained their Neanderthal admixture predominantly from a back-migration by peoples (modern humans carrying Neanderthal admixture) that had diverged from ancestral Europeans (postdating the split between East Asians and Europeans). This back-migration is proposed to have happened about 20,000 years ago. However, some scientists, such as geneticist David Reich, dispute the study’s conclusions suggesting Neanderthal admixture in sub-Saharan Africans.” ref

Introgressed genome

“About 20% of the Neanderthal genome has been found introgressed or assimilated in the modern human population (by analyzing East Asians and Europeans), but the figure has also been estimated at about a third.” ref

Subpopulation admixture rate

“A higher Neanderthal admixture was found in East Asians than in Europeans, which is estimated to be about 20% more introgression into East Asians. This could possibly be explained by the occurrence of further admixture events in the early ancestors of East Asians after the separation of Europeans and East Asians, dilution of Neanderthal ancestry in Europeans by populations with low Neanderthal ancestry from later migrations, or natural selection that may have been relatively lower in East Asians than in Europeans. Studies simulating admixture models indicate that a reduced efficacy of purifying selection against Neanderthal alleles in East Asians could not account for the greater proportion of Neanderthal ancestry of East Asians, thus favoring more-complex models involving additional pulses of Neanderthal introgression into East Asians. Such models show a pulse to ancestral Eurasians, followed by separation and an additional pulse to ancestral East Asians. It is observed that there is a small but significant variation of Neanderthal admixture rates within European populations, but no significant variation within East Asian populations. Prüfer et al. (2017) remarked that East Asians carry more Neanderthal DNA (2.3–2.6%) than Western Eurasians (1.8–2.4%).” ref

“It was later determined by Chen et al. (2020) that East Asians have 8% more Neanderthal ancestry, revised from the previous reports of 20% more Neanderthal ancestry, compared to Europeans. This stems from the fact that Neanderthal ancestry shared with Africans had been masked, because Africans were thought to have no Neanderthal admixture and were therefore used as reference samples. Thus, any overlap in Neanderthal admixture with Africans resulted in an underestimation of Neanderthal admixture in non-Africans and especially in Europeans. The authors give a single pulse of Neanderthal admixture after the out-of-Africa dispersal as the most parsimonious explanation for the enrichment in East Asians, but they add that variation in Neanderthal ancestry may also be attributed to dilution to account for the now-more-modest differences found. As a proportion of the total amount of Neanderthal sequence for each population, 7.2% of the sequence in Europeans is shared exclusively with Africans, while 2% of the sequence in East Asians is shared exclusively with Africans.” ref

“Genomic analysis suggests that there is a global division in Neanderthal introgression between sub-Saharan African populations and other modern human groups (including North Africans) rather than between African and non-African populations. North African groups share a similar excess of derived alleles with Neanderthals as do non-African populations, whereas sub-Saharan African groups are the only modern human populations that generally did not experience Neanderthal admixture. The Neanderthal genetic signal among North African populations was found to vary depending on the relative quantity of autochthonous North African, European, Near Eastern, and sub-Saharan ancestry. Using f4 ancestry ratio statistical analysis, the Neanderthal inferred admixture was observed to be: highest among the North African populations with maximal autochthonous North African ancestry such as Tunisian Berbers, where it was at the same level or even higher than that of Eurasian populations (100–138%); high among North African populations carrying greater European or Near Eastern admixture, such as groups in North Morocco and Egypt (∼60–70%); and lowest among North African populations with greater Sub-Saharan admixture, such as in South Morocco (20%). Quinto et al. (2012) therefore postulate that the presence of this Neanderthal genetic signal in Africa is not due to recent gene flow from Near Eastern or European populations since it is higher among populations bearing indigenous pre-Neolithic North African ancestry. Low but significant rates of Neanderthal admixture has also been observed for the Maasai of East Africa. After identifying African and non-African ancestry among the Maasai, it can be concluded that recent non-African modern human (post-Neanderthal) gene flow was the source of the contribution since around an estimated 30% of the Maasai genome can be traced to non-African introgression from about 100 generations ago.” ref

Distance to lineages

“Presenting a high-quality genome sequence of a female Altai Neanderthal, it has been found that the Neanderthal component in non-African modern humans is more related to the Mezmaiskaya Neanderthal (Caucasus) than to the Altai Neanderthal (Siberia) or the Vindija Neanderthals (Croatia). By high-coverage sequencing the genome of a 50,000-year-old female Vindija Neanderthal fragment, it was later found that the Vindija and Mezmaiskaya Neanderthals did not seem to differ in the extent of their allele-sharing with modern humans. In this case, it was also found that the Neanderthal component in non-African modern humans is more closely related to the Vindija and Mezmaiskaya Neanderthals than to the Altai Neanderthal. These results suggest that a majority of the admixture into modern humans came from Neanderthal populations that had diverged (about 80–100kya) from the Vindija and Mezmaiskaya Neanderthal lineages before the latter two diverged from each other.” ref

“Analyzing chromosome 21 of the Altai (Siberia), El Sidrón (Spain), and Vindija (Croatia) Neanderthals, it is determined that—of these three lineages—only the El Sidrón and Vindija Neanderthals display significant rates of gene flow (0.3–2.6%) into modern humans, suggesting that the El Sidrón and Vindija Neanderthals are more closely related than the Altai Neanderthal to the Neanderthals that interbred with modern humans about 47,000–65,000 years ago. Conversely, it is also determined that significant rates of modern human gene flow into Neanderthals occurred—of the three examined lineages—for only the Altai Neanderthal (0.1–2.1%), suggesting that modern human gene flow into Neanderthals mainly took place after the separation of the Altai Neanderthals from the El Sidrón and Vindija Neanderthals that occurred roughly 110,000 years ago. The findings show that the source of modern human gene flow into Neanderthals originated from a population of early modern humans from about 100,000 years ago, predating the out-of-Africa migration of the modern human ancestors of present-day non-Africans.” ref

Mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome

“No evidence of Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA has been found in modern humans. This suggests that successful Neanderthal admixture happened in pairings with Neanderthal males and modern human females. Possible hypotheses are that Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA had detrimental mutations that led to the extinction of carriers, that the hybrid offspring of Neanderthal mothers were raised in Neanderthal groups and became extinct with them, or that female Neanderthals and male Sapiens did not produce fertile offspring. However, this is contested by recent findings that suggest that the Neanderthal’s Y chromosome was replaced by Sapiens’ Y chromosomes after the human Y chromosome entered the Neanderthal gene pool, meaning that male Sapiens must have mated with female Neanderthals at some point.” ref

“As shown in an interbreeding model produced by Neves and Serva (2012), the Neanderthal admixture in modern humans may have been caused by a very low rate of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals, with the exchange of one pair of individuals between the two populations in about every 77 generations. This low rate of interbreeding would account for the absence of Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA from the modern human gene pool as found in earlier studies, as the model estimates a probability of only 7% for a Neanderthal origin of both mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome in modern humans.” ref

Reduced contribution

There is a presence of large genomic regions with strongly reduced Neanderthal contribution in modern humans due to negative selection, partly caused by hybrid male infertility. These large regions of low Neanderthal contribution were most-pronounced on the X chromosome—with fivefold lower Neanderthal ancestry compared to autosomes. They also contained relatively high numbers of genes specific to testes. This means that modern humans have relatively few Neanderthal genes that are located on the X chromosome or expressed in the testes, suggesting male infertility as a probable cause. It may be partly affected by hemizygosity of X chromosome genes in males.” ref

“Deserts of Neanderthal sequences may also be caused by genetic drift involving intense bottlenecks in the modern human population and background selection as a result of strong selection against deleterious Neanderthal alleles. The overlap of many deserts of Neanderthal and Denisovan sequences suggests that repeated loss of archaic DNA occur at specific loci. It has also been shown that Neanderthal ancestry has been selected against in conserved biological pathways, such as RNA processing.” ref

“Consistent with the hypothesis that purifying selection has reduced Neanderthal contribution in present-day modern human genomes, Upper Paleolithic Eurasian modern humans (such as the Tianyuan modern human) carry more Neanderthal DNA (about 4–5%) than present-day Eurasian modern humans (about 1–2%). Rates of selection against Neanderthal sequences varied for European and Asian populations.” ref

Changes in modern humans

Further information: Recent human evolution

“In Eurasia, modern humans acquired adaptive introgression from archaic humans, which provided a source of advantageous genetic variants that are adapted to local environments and a reservoir for additional genetic variation. Adaptive introgression from Neanderthals has targeted genes involved with keratin filaments, sugar metabolism, muscle contraction, body fat distribution, enamel thickness, and oocyte meiosis, as well as brain size and functioning. There are signals of positive selection, as the result of adaptation to diverse habitats, in genes involved with variation in skin pigmentation and hair morphology. In the immune system, introgressed variants have heavily contributed to the diversity of immune genes, of which there’s an enrichment of introgressed alleles that suggest a strong positive selection.” ref

“Genes affecting keratin were found to have been introgressed from Neanderthals into modern humans (shown in East Asians and Europeans), suggesting that these genes gave a morphological adaptation in skin and hair to modern humans to cope with non-African environments. This is likewise for several genes involved in medical-relevant phenotypes, such as those affecting systemic lupus erythematosus, primary biliary cirrhosis, Crohn’s disease, optic disk size, smoking behavior, interleukin 18 levels, and diabetes mellitus type 2.” ref

“Researchers found Neanderthal introgression of 18 genes—several of which are related to UV-light adaptation—within the chromosome 3p21.31 region (HYAL region) of East Asians. The introgressive haplotypes were positively selected in only East Asian populations, rising steadily from 45,000 years ago until a sudden increase of growth rate around 5,000 to 3,500 years ago. They occur at very high frequencies among East Asian populations in contrast to other Eurasian populations (e.g. European and South Asian populations). The findings also suggest that this Neanderthal introgression occurred within the ancestral population shared by East Asians and Native Americans.” ref

“Evans et al. (2006) had previously suggested that a group of alleles collectively known as haplogroup D of microcephalin, a critical regulatory gene for brain volume, originated from an archaic human population. The results show that haplogroup D introgressed 37,000 years ago (based on the coalescence age of derived D alleles) into modern humans from an archaic human population that separated 1.1 million years ago (based on the separation time between D and non-D alleles), consistent with the period when Neanderthals and modern humans co-existed and diverged respectively. The high frequency of the D haplogroup (70%) suggests that it was positively selected for in modern humans.” ref

“The distribution of the D allele of microcephalin is high outside Africa but low in sub-Saharan Africa, which further suggest that the admixture event happened in archaic Eurasian populations. This distribution difference between Africa and Eurasia suggests that the D allele originated from Neanderthals according to Lari et al. (2010), but they found that a Neanderthal individual from the Mezzena Rockshelter (Monti Lessini, Italy) was homozygous for an ancestral allele of microcephalin, thus providing no support that Neanderthals contributed the D allele to modern humans and also not excluding the possibility of a Neanderthal origin of the D allele. Green et al. (2010), having analyzed the Vindija Neanderthals, also could not confirm a Neanderthal origin of haplogroup D of the microcephalin gene. It has been found that HLA-A*02, A*26/*66, B*07, B*51, C*07:02, and C*16:02 of the immune system were contributed from Neanderthals to modern humans. After migrating out of Africa, modern humans encountered and interbred with archaic humans, which was advantageous for modern humans in rapidly restoring HLA diversity and acquiring new HLA variants that are better adapted to local pathogens.” ref

“It is found that introgressed Neanderthal genes exhibit cis-regulatory effects in modern humans, contributing to the genomic complexity and phenotype variation of modern humans. Looking at heterozygous individuals (carrying both Neanderthal and modern human versions of a gene), the allele-specific expression of introgressed Neanderthal alleles was found to be significantly lower in the brain and testes relative to other tissues. In the brain, this was most pronounced at the cerebellum and basal ganglia. This downregulation suggests that modern humans and Neanderthals possibly experienced a relatively higher rate of divergence in these specific tissues.” ref

“Furthermore, correlating the genotypes of introgressed Neanderthal alleles with the expression of nearby genes, it is found that archaic alleles contribute proportionally more to variation in expression than nonarchaic alleles. Neanderthal alleles affect the expression of the immunologically genes OAS1/2/3 and TLR1/6/10, which can be specific to cell-type and is influenced by environmental stimuli. Studying the high-coverage female Vindija Neanderthal genome, Prüfer et al. (2017) identified several Neanderthal-derived gene variants, including those that affect levels of LDL cholesterol and vitamin D, and has an influence on eating disorders, visceral fat accumulation, rheumatoid arthritis, schizophrenia, as well as the response to antipsychotic drugs.” ref

“Examining European modern humans in regards to the Altai Neanderthal genome in high-coverage, results show that Neanderthal admixture is associated with several changes in the cranium and underlying brain morphology, suggesting changes in neurological function through Neanderthal-derived genetic variation. Neanderthal admixture is associated with an expansion of the posterolateral area of the modern human skull, extending from the occipital and inferior parietal bones to bilateral temporal locales. In regards to modern human brain morphology, the Neanderthal admixture is positively correlated with an increase in sulcal depth for the right intraparietal sulcus and an increase in cortical complexity for the early visual cortex of the left hemisphere. Neanderthal admixture is also positively correlated with an increase in white and gray matter volume localized to the right parietal region adjacent to the right intraparietal sulcus. In the area overlapping the primary visual cortex gyrification in the left hemisphere, the Neanderthal admixture is positively correlated with gray matter volume. The results also show evidence for a negative correlation between Neanderthal admixture and white matter volume in the orbitofrontal cortex. In Papuans, assimilated Neanderthal inheritance is found in the highest frequency in genes expressed in the brain, whereas Denisovan DNA has the highest frequency in genes expressed in bones and other tissues.” ref

Population substructure theory

“Although less parsimonious than recent gene flow, the observation may have been due to ancient population sub-structure in Africa, causing incomplete genetic homogenization within modern humans when Neanderthals diverged while early ancestors of Eurasians were still more closely related to Neanderthals than those of Africans to Neanderthals. On the basis of allele frequency spectrum, it was shown that the recent admixture model had the best fit to the results while the ancient population sub-structure model had no fit–demonstrating that the best model was a recent admixture event that was preceded by a bottleneck event among modern humans—thus confirming recent admixture as the most parsimonious and plausible explanation for the observed excess of genetic similarities between modern non-African humans and Neanderthals. On the basis of linkage disequilibrium patterns, a recent admixture event is likewise confirmed by the data. From the extent of linkage disequilibrium, it was estimated that the last Neanderthal gene flow into early ancestors of Europeans occurred 47,000–65,000 years ago. In conjunction with archaeological and fossil evidence, the gene flow is thought likely to have occurred somewhere in Western Eurasia, possibly the Middle East. Through another approach—using one genome each of a Neanderthal, Eurasian, African, and chimpanzee (outgroup), and dividing it into non-recombining short sequence blocks—to estimate genome-wide maximum-likelihood under different models, an ancient population sub-structure in Africa was ruled out and a Neanderthal admixture event was confirmed.” ref

Morphology

“The early Upper Paleolithic burial remains of a modern human child from Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) features traits that indicate Neanderthal interbreeding with modern humans dispersing into Iberia. Considering the dating of the burial remains (24,500 years ago) and the persistence of Neanderthal traits long after the transitional period from a Neanderthal to a modern human population in Iberia (28,000–30,000 years ago), the child may have been a descendant of an already heavily admixed population. The remains of an early Upper Paleolithic modern human from Peștera Muierilor (Romania) of 35,000 years ago shows a morphological pattern of European early modern humans, but possesses archaic or Neanderthal features, suggesting European early modern humans interbreeding with Neanderthals. These features include a large interorbital breadth, a relatively flat superciliary arches, a prominent occipital bun, an asymmetrical and shallow mandibular notch shape, a high mandibular coronoid processus, the relative perpendicular mandibular condyle to notch crest position, and a narrow scapular glenoid fossa.” ref

“The early modern human Oase 1 mandible from Peștera cu Oase (Romania) of 34,000–36,000 14C years BP presents a mosaic of modern, archaic, and possible Neanderthal features. It displays a lingual bridging of the mandibular foramen, not present in earlier humans except Neanderthals of the late Middle and Late Pleistocene, thus suggesting an affinity with Neanderthals. Concluding from the Oase 1 mandible, there was apparently a significant craniofacial change of early modern humans from at least Europe, possibly due to some degree of admixture with Neanderthals. The earliest (before about 33,000 years ago) European modern humans and the subsequent (Middle-Upper Paleolithic) Gravettians, falling anatomically largely inline with the earliest (Middle Paleolithic) African modern humans, also show traits that are distinctively Neanderthal, suggesting that a solely Middle Paleolithic modern human ancestry was unlikely for European early modern humans.” ref

“A late-Neanderthal jaw (more specifically, a corpus mandibulae remnant) from the Mezzena rockshelter (Monti Lessini, Italy) shows indications of a possible interbreeding in late Italian Neanderthals. The jaw falls within the morphological range of modern humans, but also displayed strong similarities with some of the other Neanderthal specimens, indicating a change in late Neanderthal morphology due to possible interbreeding with modern humans. However, a more recent aDNA analysis of this jaw has shown that it does not belong to a Neanderthal, but to a fully modern human of the Holocene. Previous reports of a Mezzena “Neanderthal hybrid” were based on a faulty DNA analysis.” ref

“Manot 1, a partial calvarium of a modern human that was recently discovered at the Manot Cave (Western Galilee, Israel) and dated to 54.,700 years ago, represents the first fossil evidence from the period when modern humans successfully migrated out of Africa and colonized Eurasia. It also provides the first fossil evidence that modern humans inhabited the southern Levant during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic interface, contemporaneously with the Neanderthals and close to the probable interbreeding event. The morphological features suggest that the Manot population may be closely related to or given rise to the first modern humans who later successfully colonized Europe to establish early Upper Palaeolithic populations.” ref

History

“The interbreeding has been discussed ever since the discovery of Neanderthal remains in the 19th century, though earlier writers believed that Neanderthals were a direct ancestor of modern humans. Thomas Huxley suggested that many Europeans bore traces of Neanderthal ancestry, but associated Neanderthal characteristics with primitivism, writing that since they “belong to a stage in the development of the human species, antecedent to the differentiation of any of the existing races, we may expect to find them in the lowest of these races, all over the world, and in the early stages of all races”.” ref

“Until the early 1950s, most scholars thought Neanderthals were not in the ancestry of living humans.:232–34 Nevertheless, Hans Peder Steensby proposed interbreeding in 1907 in the article Race studies in Denmark. He strongly emphasised that all living humans are of mixed origins. He held that this would best fit observations, and challenged the widespread idea that Neanderthals were ape-like or inferior. Basing his argument primarily on cranial data, he noted that the Danes, like the Frisians and the Dutch, exhibit some Neanderthaloid characteristics, and felt it was reasonable to “assume something was inherited” and that Neanderthals “are among our ancestors.” ref

“Carleton Stevens Coon in 1962 found it likely, based upon evidence from cranial data and material culture, that Neanderthal and Upper Paleolithic peoples either interbred or that the newcomers reworked Neanderthal implements “into their own kind of tools.” By the early 2000s, the majority of scholars supported the Out of Africa hypothesis, according to which anatomically modern humans left Africa about 50,000 years ago and replaced Neanderthals with little or no interbreeding. Yet some scholars still argued for hybridization with Neanderthals. The most vocal proponent of the hybridization hypothesis was Erik Trinkaus of Washington University. Trinkaus claimed various fossils as products of hybridized populations, including the skeleton of a child found at Lagar Velho in Portugal and the Peștera Muierii skeletons from Romania.” ref

Denisovans

Genetics

Further information: Australasians § Genetics

Proportion of admixture

“It has been shown that Melanesians (e.g. Papua New Guinean and Bougainville Islander) share relatively more alleles with Denisovans when compared to other Eurasians and Africans. It is estimated that 4% to 6% of the genome in Melanesians derives from Denisovans, while no other Eurasians or Africans displayed contributions of the Denisovan genes. It has been observed that Denisovans contributed genes to Melanesians but not to East Asians, indicating that there was interaction between the early ancestors of Melanesians with Denisovans but that this interaction did not take place in the regions near southern Siberia, where as-of-yet the only Denisovan remains have been found. In addition, Aboriginal Australians also show a relative increased allele sharing with Denisovans, compared to other Eurasians and African populations, consistent with the hypothesis of increased admixture between Denisovans and Melanesians.” ref

“Reich et al. (2011) produced evidence that the highest presence of Denisovan admixture is in Oceanian populations, followed by many Southeast Asian populations, and none in East Asian populations. There is significant Denisovan genetic material in eastern Southeast Asian and Oceanian populations (e.g. Aboriginal Australians, Near Oceanians, Polynesians, Fijians, eastern Indonesians, Philippine Mamanwa and Manobo), but not in certain western and continental Southeast Asian populations (e.g. western Indonesians, Malaysian Jehai, Andaman Onge, and mainland Asians), indicating that the Denisovan admixture event happened in Southeast Asia itself rather than mainland Eurasia. The observation of high Denisovan admixture in Oceania and the lack thereof in mainland Asia suggests that early modern humans and Denisovans had interbred east of the Wallace Line that divides Southeast Asia according to Cooper and Stringer (2013).” ref

“Skoglund and Jakobsson (2011) observed that particularly Oceanians, followed by Southeast Asians populations, have a high Denisovans admixture relative to other populations. Furthermore, they found possible low traces of Denisovan admixture in East Asians and no Denisovan admixture in Native Americans. In contrast, Prüfer et al. (2013) found that mainland Asian and Native American populations may have a 0.2% Denisovan contribution, which is about twenty-five times lower than Oceanian populations. The manner of gene flow to these populations remains unknown. However, Wall et al. (2013) stated that they found no evidence for Denisovan admixture in East Asians.” ref

“Findings indicate that the Denisovan gene flow event happened to the common ancestors of Aboriginal Filipinos, Aboriginal Australians, and New Guineans. New Guineans and Australians have similar rates of Denisovan admixture, indicating that interbreeding took place prior to their common ancestors’ entry into Sahul (Pleistocene New Guinea and Australia), at least 44,000 years ago. It has also been observed that the fraction of Near Oceanian ancestry in Southeast Asians is proportional to the Denisovan admixture, except in the Philippines where there is a higher proportional Denisovan admixture to Near Oceanian ancestry. Reich et al. (2011) suggested a possible model of an early eastward migration wave of modern humans, some who were Philippine/New Guinean/Australian common ancestors that interbred with Denisovans, respectively followed by the divergence of the Philippine early ancestors, interbreeding between the New Guinean and Australian early ancestors with a part of the same early-migration population that did not experience Denisovan gene flow, and interbreeding between the Philippine early ancestors with a part of the population from a much-later eastward migration wave (the other part of the migrating population would become East Asians). Finding components of Denisovan introgression with differing relatedness to the sequenced Denisovan, Browning et al. (2018) suggested that at least two separate episodes of Denisovan admixture has occurred. Specifically, introgression from two distinct Denisovan populations is observed in East Asians (e.g. Japanese and Han Chinese), whereas South Asians (e.g. Telugu and Punjabi) and Oceanians (e.g. Papuans) display introgression from one Denisovan population.” ref

“Exploring derived alleles from Denisovans, Sankararaman et al. (2016) estimated that the date of Denisovan admixture was 44,000–54,000 years ago. They also determined that the Denisovan admixture was the greatest in Oceanian populations compared to other populations with observed Denisovan ancestry (i.e. America, Central Asia, East Asia, and South Asia). The researchers also made the surprising finding that South Asian populations display an elevated Denisovan admixture (when compared to other non-Oceanian populations with Denisovan ancestry), albeit the highest estimate (which are found in Sherpas) is still ten times lower than in Papuans. They suggest two possible explanations: There was a single Denisovan introgression event that was followed by dilution to different extents or at least three distinct pulses of Denisovan introgressions must have occurred. It has been shown that Eurasians have some but significantly lesser archaic-derived genetic material that overlaps with Denisovans, stemming from the fact that Denisovans are related to Neanderthals—who contributed to the Eurasian gene pool—rather than from interbreeding of Denisovans with the early ancestors of those Eurasians.” ref

“The skeletal remains of an early modern human from the Tianyuan cave (near Zhoukoudian, China) of 40,000 years BP showed a Neanderthal contribution within the range of today’s Eurasian modern humans, but it had no discernible Denisovan contribution. It is a distant relative to the ancestors of many Asian and Native American populations, but post-dated the divergence between Asians and Europeans. The lack of a Denisovan component in the Tianyuan individual suggests that the genetic contribution had been always scarce in the mainland.” ref

Reduced contribution

“There are large genomic regions devoid of Denisovan-derived ancestry, partly explained by infertility of male hybrids, as suggested by the lower proportion of Denisovan-derived ancestry on X chromosomes and in genes that are expressed in the testes of modern humans.” ref

Changes in modern humans

“Exploring the immune system’s HLA alleles, it has been suggested that HLA-B*73 introgressed from Denisovans into modern humans in western Asia due to the distribution pattern and divergence of HLA-B*73 from other HLA alleles. Even though HLA-B*73 is not present in the sequenced Denisovan genome, HLA-B*73 was shown to be closely associated to the Denisovan-derived HLA-C*15:05 from the linkage disequilibrium. From phylogenetic analysis, however, it has been concluded that it is highly likely that HLA-B*73 was ancestral.” ref

“The Denisovan’s two HLA-A (A*02 and A*11) and two HLA-C (C*15 and C*12:02) allotypes correspond to common alleles in modern humans, whereas one of the Denisovan’s HLA-B allotype corresponds to a rare recombinant allele and the other is absent in modern humans. It is thought that these must have been contributed from Denisovans to modern humans, because it is unlikely to have been preserved independently in both for so long due to HLA alleles’ high mutation rate.” ref

“Tibetan people received an advantageous EGLN1 and EPAS1 gene variant.The ancestral variant of EPAS1 upregulates hemoglobin levels to compensate for low oxygen levels—such as at high altitudes—but this also has the maladaption of increasing blood viscosity. The Denisovan-derived variant on the other hand limits this increase of hemoglobin levels, thus resulting in a better altitude adaption. The Denisovan-derived EPAS1 gene variant is common in Tibetans and was positively selected in their ancestors after they colonized the Tibetan plateau.” ref

Archaic African hominins

Rapid decay of fossils in Sub-Saharan African environments makes it currently unfeasible to compare modern human admixture with reference samples of archaic Sub-Saharan African hominins. From three candidate regions with introgression found by searching for unusual patterns of variations (showing deep haplotype divergence, unusual patterns of linkage disequilibrium, and small basal clade size) in 61 non-coding regions from two hunter-gatherer groups (Biaka Pygmies and San who have significant admixture) and one West African agricultural group (Mandinka, who don’t have significant admixture), it is concluded that roughly 2% of the genetic material found in the Biaka Pygmies and San was inserted into the human genome approximately 35,000 years ago from archaic hominins that separated from the ancestors of the modern human lineage around 700,000 years ago. A survey for the introgressive haplotypes across many Sub-Saharan populations suggest that this admixture event happened with archaic hominins who once inhabited Central Africa.” ref

“Researching high-coverage whole-genome sequences of fifteen Sub-Saharan hunter-gatherer males from three groups—five Pygmies (three Baka, a Bedzan, and a Bakola) from Cameroon, five Hadza from Tanzania, and five Sandawe from Tanzania—there are signs that the ancestors of the hunter-gatherers interbred with one or more archaic human populations, probably over 40,000 years ago. Analysis of putative introgressive haplotypes in the fifteen hunter-gatherer samples suggests that the archaic African population and modern humans diverged around 1.2 to 1.3 million years ago.” ref

“Xu et al. (2017) analyzed the evolution of the Mucin 7 protein in the saliva of modern humans and found evidence that an unidentified ghost population of archaic African humans may have contributed DNA, with an estimated coalescence time to modern human DNA of about 4.5 million years BP, into the gene pool of modern Africans (e.g. African-American, African-Caribbean, Esan, Gambian, Luhya, Mende, and Yoruba people).” ref

“According to a study published in 2020, there are indications that 2% to 19% (or about ≃6.6 and ≃7.0%) of the DNA of four West African populations may have come from an unknown archaic hominin which split from the ancestor of humans and Neanderthals between 360 kya to 1.02 mya. However, the study also finds that at least part of this proposed archaic admixture is also present in Eurasians/non-Africans, and that the admixture event or events range from 0 to 124 ka B.P, which includes the period before the Out-of-Africa migration and prior to the African/Eurasian split (thus affecting in part the common ancestors of both Africans and Eurasians/non-Africans). Another recent study, which discovered substantial amounts of previously undescribed human genetic variation, also found ancestral genetic variation in Africans that predates modern humans and was lost in most non-Africans.” ref

Related studies

“In 2019, scientists discovered evidence, based on genetics studies using artificial intelligence (AI), that suggest the existence of an unknown human ancestor species, not Neanderthal or Denisovan, in the genome of modern humans.” ref

See also

· Multiregional origin of modern humans

· Neanderthal extinction

Innovative Homo sapiens behaviors 105,000 years ago in a wetter Kalahari

Abstract

“The archaeological record of Africa provides the earliest evidence for the emergence of the complex symbolic and technological behaviors that characterize Homo sapiens. The coastal setting of many archaeological sites of the Late Pleistocene epoch, and the abundant shellfish remains recovered from them, has led to a dominant narrative in which modern human origins in southern Africa are intrinsically tied to the coast and marine resources, and behavioral innovations in the interior lag behind. However, stratified Late Pleistocene sites with good preservation and robust chronologies are rare in the interior of southern Africa, and the coastal hypothesis, therefore, remains untested. Here we show that early human innovations that are similar to those dated to around 105 thousand years ago (ka) in coastal southern Africa existed at around the same time among humans who lived over 600 km inland. We report evidence for the intentional collection of non-utilitarian objects (calcite crystals) and ostrich eggshells from excavations of a stratified rock-shelter deposit in the southern Kalahari Basin, which we date by optically stimulated luminescence to around 105 ka. Uranium–thorium dating of relict tufa deposits indicates sporadic periods of substantial volumes of fresh, flowing water; the oldest of these episodes is dated to between 110 and 100 ka and is coeval with the archaeological deposit. Our results suggest that behavioral innovations among humans in the interior of southern Africa did not lag behind those of populations near the coast, and that these innovations may have developed within a wet savannah environment. Models that tie the emergence of behavioral innovations to the exploitation of coastal resources by our species may therefore require revision.” ref

What Stimulated Rapid, Cumulative Innovation After 100,000 Years Ago?

Abstract

“Imagination and innovation are likely stimulated through the intersection of brainpower, motor skill, and social need. Through time, escalating creativity may have influenced cognition and social interactions, creating a feedback situation that also implicated demography. Such reciprocal interactions between technology, cognition, and society may have motivated the accumulation of innovations that are particularly visible in the archaeological record after 100,000 years ago (not as a revolution, but incrementally). Raw materials also played a role because they are not passive; intense interaction with objects reflexively stimulates human imagination and creativity. Archaeological evidence for material culture items that appear to embody imagination is present before the appearance of Homo sapiens. The implication is that imagination is not the sole preserve of people like us; nonetheless, H. sapiens took imaginative expressions to new heights after about 100,000 years ago. Perforated and ochre-covered marine shells were found in early modern human burials and living sites and thereafter more material culture items convey imagination. Shell beads were strung to form a variety of patterns, and engraved ostrich eggshells, engraved ochre, worked bone and hundreds of pieces of utilized ochre have been widely found. Innovation, imagination, and complex cognition are also conveyed in the manufacture of everyday objects used for subsistence activities.” ref

Advanced Culture and Behavior of Homo erectus, 

“Not only is there strong anatomical evidence that H. Erectus fossils are just a variant of humankind, but there is also copious archaeological evidence that they were highly intelligent and exhibited a broad range of human behaviors. The condensed list below is based on an extensive scientific literature survey published in 2017. *Watercraft construction and seafaring navigation, *Language and communication skills, *Jewelry manufacture *Cordage and knot-making, *Manufacture and use of stone and bone tools, *Controlled usage of fire and cooking, *Catching and processing fish, *Development of organized living and occupational spaces, *Art (petroglyphs, figurines, red ochre paint), *Woodworking, *Coordinated large-game hunting, and processing, *Development of clothing from animal skins.”
Development of fibers and resins
Social and family structure
Care for the elderly and weak” ref

105,000 Years Ago the Kalahari was Water-Rich, with evidence of complex symbolic and technological behaviors around the same age when those behaviors occurred on the coast.

Water-Rich Kalahari 105,000 Years Ago

“An international team of archaeologists has found evidence of complex symbolic and technological behaviors at Ga-Mohana Hill in the Northern Cape, South Africa dating back to 105,000 years ago — the same age when those behaviors occurred on the coast. The discovery challenges the idea that the origins of our species were linked to coastal environments.” ref

“Non-utilitarian collected objects at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter and in southern Africa. Abbreviations: A11 – Apollo 11, CoH – Cave of Hearths, HRS – Hollow Rock Shelter, KRM – Klasies River Main site, PP – Pinnacle Point sites, VR3 – Varsche Rivier 3, WC – Wonderwerk Cave. Scale bar – 5 cm. Image credit: Wilkins et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03419-0. The archaeological record of Africa provides the earliest evidence for the emergence of the complex behaviors that characterize Homo sapiens. The coastal setting of many Late Pleistocene sites and the abundant shellfish remains recovered from them have led to a dominant narrative in which modern human origins in southern Africa are tied to the coast and marine resources.” ref

“However, Late Pleistocene sites with good preservation and robust chronologies are rare in the interior of southern Africa, and the coastal hypothesis, therefore, remained untested, until now. “Archaeological evidence for early Homo sapiens has been largely discovered at coastal sites in South Africa, supporting the idea that our origins were linked to coastal environments,” said Dr. Jayne Wilkins, an archaeologist in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University. “There have been very few well-preserved, datable archaeological sites in the interior of southern Africa that can tell us about Homo sapiens’ origins away from the coast.” ref

“A rock shelter on Ga-Mohana Hill that stands above an expansive savannah in the Kalahari is one such site.” Ga-Mohana Hill is located in the southern Kalahari Basin, 12 km north-west of Kuruman in South Africa and over 600 km from the nearest modern coastline. The name Kalahari is derived from the Tswana word Kgala, meaning ‘great thirst.’ However, ancient proof of abundant water on the landscape is evident from striking tufa formations. “We’re showing a record of water in the rocks that not only matches the archaeological record but also provides evidence of a crucial resource for the people living at Ga-Mohana,” said Jessica von der Meden, a Ph.D. candidate in the Human Evolution Research Institute and the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Cape Town.” ref

“This is a story of water in what we know now as a dry landscape, and of adaptable people who exploited the landscape to not only survive but to thrive,” said Dr. Robyn Pickering, director of the Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI) at the University of Cape Town. Dr. Wilkins and colleagues excavated three areas of Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter, the largest of two main shelters and several small overhangs that occur within the dolomitic Gamohaan Formation.” ref

“They unearthed 22 white calcite crystals and fragments of ostrich eggshell, thought be used as water containers, from deposits dated to 105,000 years ago. “Our analysis indicates that the crystals were not introduced into the deposits via natural processes, but were deliberately collected objects likely linked to spiritual beliefs and ritual,” Dr. Wilkins said. “The crystals point towards spiritual or cultural use of the shelter 105,000 years ago. This is remarkable considering that site continues to be used to practice ritual activities today,” added Dr. Sechaba Maape, an archaeologist at the University of the Witwatersrand.” ref

“The chronology of Ga-Mohana North Rockshelter was determined by the team using luminescence dating. “This technique measures natural light signals that accumulate over time in sedimentary quartz and feldspar grains,” said Dr. Michael Meyer, a researcher in the Department of Geology at the University of Innsbruck. “You can think about each grain as a miniaturized clock, from which we can read out this natural light or luminescence signal, giving us the age of the archaeological sediment layers.” The researchers were delighted to discover that the assemblage of human-collected crystals and ostrich eggshell fragments at Ga-Mohana Hill were significantly older than that reported in interior environments elsewhere. “At coastal sites, the earliest evidence for these kinds of behavior date to about the same time, 105,000 years ago,” Dr. Wilkins said. “This suggests that early humans in the Kalahari were no less innovative than those on the coast.” The research is described in a paper in the journal Nature.” ref

Out of Africa thanks to climate change: Humans arrived in Europe up to 30,000 years earlier than believed

• Scientists used computers to      re-create the journey of Homo sapiens
• Humans arrived in Europe 80,000      years ago, far earlier than believed
• Waves of migration both out of and      back into Africa were driven by climate change, connected to variations in      the Earth’s orbit around the sun

“Modern humans first left Africa 100,000 years ago in a series of slow-paced migration waves and arrived in southern Europe around 80,000-90,000 years ago, far earlier than previously believed, according to a new study. The research suggests that humans spread out across the globe in four migration events are driven by climate change, connected to variations in the Earth’s orbit” ref

• The researchers modeled human migration 80,000 years ago. The model simulates the arrival in Eastern China and Southern Europe and migration out of Africa along vegetated corridors in Sinai and the Arabian Peninsula

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

“Chris Stringer, Research Leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum London told MailOnline the research is ‘the most comprehensive climate, vegetation and human-dispersal modeling study published so far’. ‘While the earliest [migration] wave had only limited further penetration across the rest of Eurasia, they [the researchers] argue that modern humans could have arrived in small numbers in China and southern Europe by about 80,000 years,’ he explained. ‘While the former dispersal is now supported by some fossil evidence, such an early arrival in Europe (more than 35,000 years earlier than usually considered) has no archaeological or fossil support at present.” ref

“The authors speculate that European Neanderthals might have assimilated the small numbers of moderns in this early dispersal wave. However, this is something which has not been detected in ancient DNA studies so far.’ Changes in the climate, coupled with the wobble of the Earth’s axis, are known to have caused massive shifts in vegetation in tropical and subtropical regions, which opened up green corridors between Africa, the Sinai, and the Arabian Peninsula. This was thought to have enabled early members of our species, Homo sapiens, to leave Northeast Africa and embark onto their grand journey into Asia, Europe, Australia, and eventually into the Americas.” ref

“But whether climate shifts really did influence early human migration has been a matter of intense debate. To explore the idea, researchers from the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa (UHM) used one of the first integrated climate-human migration computer models to re-create the spread of Homo sapiens over the past 125,000 years. The model simulates ice-ages, abrupt climate change and captures the arrival times of Homo sapiens in the Eastern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula, Southern China, and Australia in close agreement with paleoclimate reconstructions and fossil and archaeological evidence.” ref

The researchers found that modern humans appear to have been constrained within Africa until around 100,000 years ago when changes in the climate allowed them to spread rapidly into the Middle East and Asia (illustrated)

Between 90,000 and 80,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had spread as far east as southern China and were making inroads into southern Europe, far earlier than believed

WHAT THE FOUR STUDIES TELL US ABOUT HUMAN ANCESTRY

The Simons Genome Diversity Project study

“After analyzing DNA from 142 populations around the world, the researchers conclude that all modern humans living today can trace their ancestry back to a single group that emerged in Africa 200,000 years ago. They also found that all non-Africans appear to be descended from a single group that split from the ancestors of African hunter-gatherers around 130,000 years ago. The study also shows how humans appear to have formed isolated groups within Africa with populations on the continent separating from each other. The Khoe-San in South Africa for example separated from the Yoruba in Nigeria around 87,000 years ago while the Mbuti split from the Yoruba 56,000 years ago.” ref

The Estonian Biocentre Human Genome Diversity Panel study

“This examined 483 genomes from 148 populations around the world to examine the expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa. They found that indigenous populations in modern Papua New Guinea owe two percent of their genomes to a now extinct group of Homo sapiens. This suggests there was a distinct wave of human migration out of Africa around 120,000 years ago.” ref

The Aboriginal Australian study

“Using genomes from 83 Aboriginal Australians and 25 Papuans from New Guinea, this study examined the genetic origins of these early Pacific populations. These groups are thought to have descended from some of the first humans to have left Africa and has raised questions about whether their ancestors were from an earlier wave of migration than the rest of Eurasia. The new study found that the ancestors of modern Aboriginal Australians and Papuans split from Europeans and Asians around 58,000 years ago following a single migration out of Africa. These two populations themselves later diverged around 37,000 years ago, long before the physical separation of Australia and New Guinea some 10,000 years ago.” ref

The Climate Modelling study

“Researchers from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa used one of the first integrated climate-human migration computer models to re-create the spread of Homo sapiens over the past 125,000 years.” ref

“The model simulates ice-ages, abrupt climate change and captures the arrival times of Homo sapiens in the Eastern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula, Southern China, and Australia in close agreement with paleoclimate reconstructions and fossil and archaeological evidence. They found that it appears modern humans first left Africa 100,000 years ago in a series of slow-paced migration waves. They estimate that Homo sapiens first arrived in southern Europe around 80,000-90,000 years ago, far earlier than previously believed. The results challenge traditional models that suggest there was a single exodus out of Africa around 60,000 years ago. It identifies prominent glacial migration waves across the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant region around 106,000–94,000, 89,000–73,000, 59,000–47,000, and 45,000–29,000 years ago.” ref

“It also shows an almost simultaneous early arrival of Homo sapiens in southern China and Europe about 90,000–80,000 years ago. Recent fossils – identified as being unequivocally Homo sapien – were discovered in southern China and were last year dated to be 80,000-years-old. ‘One of the surprising results of our study is that the scenario that agrees best with all the Asian data is one that also simulates a very early arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe around 80,000-90,000 years ago, pre-dating the oldest fossil evidence by about 45,000 years,’ said Axel Timmermann, lead author of the study, which is published in the journal Nature. Co-author Tobias Friedrich added: ‘The green migration gateway that opened up between Africa and Eurasia 110,000-95,000 years ago would have also promoted a low-density migration into Southern Europe and possibly a weak early interbreeding with Neanderthals.'” ref

Experts discover climate change aided early human migration

The green migration gateway that opened up between Africa and Eurasia 110,000-95,000 years ago would have also promoted a low-density migration into Southern Europe and possibly a weak early interbreeding with Neanderthals (reconstruction pictured)

“The study, one of four looking at early human migration published in Nature, shows that every 20,000 years, warmer and wetter northern hemisphere tropical summers boosted human migration and saw an exchange of humans between Africa and Eurasia. Professor Timmermann said: ‘In our model simulation we see a complex pattern of human dispersal out of Africa and backflow into Africa, that challenges the more unidirectional away-from-Africa perspective that is still very prevalent in anthropology and some genetic studies.” ref

CLIMATE CHANGE WILL MAKE ANIMALS SEEK NEW HOMES

“Researchers have found that climate change is altering ecosystems across the globe, and many species may soon have to migrate to follow the conditions necessary for their survival.” ref

“In a previous study, they determined that the Amazon Basin, southeastern United States, and southeastern Brazil will have high densities of climate-driven movement, Cool Green Science explains. But, according to the new research, just 41 percent of the natural land area in the US ‘retains enough connectivity to facilitate species tracking their preferred climate conditions as the global climate changes.’ While the map highlights the big picture view of the phenomenon rather than local patterns, they do show how human development could soon pose challenges to these migrating species – but the researchers say there are ways we can help.” ref

“There are a number of ways that conservationists and land managers can re-build or maintain connectivity to improve species’ ability to adapt to warmer temperatures,’ the researchers explain. ‘Removing fencing, adding wildlife overpasses (or underpasses) to major roadways, and better routing of infrastructures like pipelines and powerlines can all help re-connect areas fragmented by human development.’ The findings promise to transform the way anthropologists view early fossils of modern human and their spread around the world.” ref

“Previous ice core and marine sediment core studies have found evidence during glacial periods for rapid climate transitions between cold and warm periods on timescales of a human lifetime. The new study addresses for the first time with a computer model whether these naturally occurring climate shifts influenced global human migration patterns. Comparing simulations of the human migration model with and without these climate fluctuations, the researchers found only regional impacts on simulated human density in areas extending from northern Africa to Europe.” ref

“Professor Timmermann said: ‘According to our results, the global-scale migration patterns were not affected by past abrupt climate change events on timescales of decades.’ The team next plans to include Neanderthals in its computer model and account for food competition, interbreeding, and cultural developments to get a better idea of how modern man eventually came to populate Earth. The results challenge traditional models that suggest there was a single exodus out of Africa around 60,000 years ago.” ref

“The wealth of new paleoanthropological, archaeological, and genetic evidence has passed the tipping point: there were multiple migrations out of Africa beginning perhaps 120,000 years ago. While some of these early explorations certainly failed and became evolutionary dead ends, others, say the authors, survived, not only spreading across Asia but interbreeding with Denisovans and Neanderthals. Both the archaeological and genetic evidence supports a large dispersal from Africa around 60,000 years ago, but it was by no means the first — or the last — to occur..” ref

Modern humans left Africa much earlier

“New dating of fossils from Israel indicates that our species (Homo sapiens) lived outside Africa around 185,000 years ago, some 80,000 years earlier than the previous evidence. Prof Chris Stringer of London’s Natural History Museum, said: “The find breaks the long-established 130,000-year-old limit on modern humans outside of Africa.” ref

Researchers have identified the remains of the earliest known modern humans to have left Africa.

“New dating of fossils from Israel indicates that our species (Homo sapiens) lived outside Africa around 185,000 years ago, some 80,000 years earlier than the previous evidence.” ref

Details appear in the journal Science.

“The co-lead researcher, Prof Israel Hershkovitz, told BBC News that the discovery would fundamentally alter ideas of recent human evolution. “We have to rewrite the whole story of human evolution, not just for our own species but all the other species that lived outside of Africa at the time,” the researcher, from Tel Aviv University, explained. Prof Chris Stringer of London’s Natural History Museum, who was not involved in the study, said: “The find breaks the long-established 130,000-year-old limit on modern humans outside of Africa.” ref

“The new dating hints that there could be even older Homo sapiens finds to come from the region of western Asia.” The new scientific dating evidence raises the possibility that modern humans interacted with other, now extinct, species of humans for tens of thousands of years. It also fits in with recent discoveries of remains and genetic studies that also indicate an earlier departure from Africa. The researchers analyzed a fragment of a jawbone with eight teeth, found in Misliya cave in 2002. The jawbone looked as if it was from a modern human rather than from one of the other species of human that existed at the time.” ref

It is only now that an international research team has conclusively shown that the archaeologists’ initial gut feelings were spot on.

“The researchers confirmed that the jawbone belonged to a modern human by carrying out computed tomography (CT) scans of it, building up a 3D virtual model and comparing it with archaic human fossils from Africa, Europe, and Asia – as well as modern human remains. Separate scans also enabled the researchers to probe the tissue beneath the tooth crowns, which was found to be uniquely associated with modern humans. Three separate dating methods, conducted in three separate laboratories unaware of the others’ results concluded that the fossilized remains were between 177,000 and 194,000 years old. Before that, the oldest evidence of humans outside Africa came from the Skhul and Qafzeh archaeological sites in Israel, and were dated to between 90,000 and 125,000 years ago.” ref

The researchers found ashy sediment from campfires, which were built repeatedly during the long occupation of the cave

The Misliya remains were found in a layer containing stone tools that belong to the Levallois type, which was used in the region between 250,000 and 140,000 years ago. If Levallois tools are associated with the spread of modern humans into the area, it suggests that our species may have journeyed beyond Africa even earlier than the dates for the Misliya material. Until recently, early evidence for excursions outside Africa by Homo sapiens was limited to the Levant. But in the last few years, discoveries of modern human fossils from Daoxian and Zhirendong in China dated to between 80,000 and 120,000 years ago suggest early waves of migration pushed further into Eurasia than previously supposed.” ref

“In addition, genetic studies have turned up signs of early interbreeding between African humans and our evolutionary relatives the Neanderthals. Researchers published evidence from German Neanderthal remains of mixing that occurred between 219,000 and 460,000 years ago. And in 2016, a team found signs that pioneer groups from Africa interbred with Neanderthals in the Altai region of Siberia about 100,000 years ago.” ref

“We had so many new pieces of evidence and we didn’t know where they fitted,” said Prof Hershkovitz. “Now with the new discovery, all the pieces fall into place – an exodus possibly as early as 250,000 years ago, which is the date of the tools found in the Misliya Cave.” ref

“However, the early excursions into Eurasia by African Homo sapiens represented at Misliya are generally thought to have ended in extinction. Findings from genetics and archaeology suggest that present-day people living outside Africa trace their ancestry to an exodus just 60,000 years ago. Most DNA studies have failed to find evidence of these older migrations in our genes.” ref

“Other discoveries have shed light on when humans in Africa evolved to become anatomically modern. Last year, a team announced that fossils thought to be early versions of Homo sapiens in Morocco had been dated to about 315,000 years ago. This is much earlier than the generally accepted 200,000-year date for the origin of our species, which is based on genetic studies and fossil finds such as the 195,000-year-old Omo remains from Ethiopia. And it’s possible that future discoveries might push the date back even further.” ref

“Stone tools from the MSA Howiesons Poort levels at Klasies River (South Africa) dated to ca. 65,000 B.P., showing closely similar forms of blades, end scrapers, burins, and small, hafted segment forms to those found in European and Asian Upper Palaeolithic sites from ca. 45,000 B.P. onwards.” ref

110,000-90,000 years ago, or so there was a Temporary moving out of Africa towards southwest Asia, associated with what seems clear early symbolism.

The Toba super volcanic eruption occurred around 75,000 years ago in Sumatra, Indonesia. Seeming to coincide with this was a rapid climatic and environmental changes that happened around 80,000-70,000 years ago to where Humans

Almost Vanished 70,000 years ago. Roughly a thousand reproductive adults. One study says we hit as low as 40.

70,000 years ago, saw the first genetic split, a migration north east out from Botswana and from 70,000-60,000

years ago, or so, there was major population expansion in Africa from a small source area and people.

https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/10/22/163397584/how-human-beings-almost-vanished-from-earth-in-70-000-b-c

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory

The discovery of stone tools—the oldest ever found outside of Africa—dramatically shifts the story of hominin migration, researchers say.

“For hundreds of thousands of years, small bands of ancient humans ranged across a sandy, hilly grassland. They survived on the mammals around them—perhaps hunting them, perhaps scavenging for their carcasses—and their tools were rudimentary, razor-sharp blades formed from chipped stone. They lived in fear of the big cats and large predators that stalked their children. And they were isolated. They likely rarely encountered other creatures who looked like them, beyond the 25 or 50 with whom they lived. This was the strange existence of early-human ancestors on the savannah. It’s a classic scene—the image of hunter-gatherers roaming grasslands is just as at home in a biology textbook as it was in 2001: A Space Odyssey. But according to new research, this scene did not play out only in Africa.” ref

Our ancient ancestors lived in China, too.

“Ancient humans appear to have reached northwestern China about 2.1 million years ago, and they lived there for hundreds of thousands of years, according to a new study published Wednesday in Nature. It suggests that hominins migrated out of Africa much earlier, and spread much farther east, than once thought. Previously, the earliest ancient-human presence outside of Africa had been a Homo erectus fossil found in a cave in Dmanisi, Georgia. It was dated to 1.85 million years ago. This newly discovered community of early humans lived roughly 250,000 years earlier than that group, and did so 3,500 miles to the east.” ref

“We need to rethink when hominins first left Africa,” said Robin Dennell, an archeologist at the University of Sheffield and one of the authors of the paper. “We have shown that the earliest evidence from outside Africa is at least 2.1 million years old, and therefore 250,000 years—or 10,000 generations—older than Dmanisi in Georgia.” “It’s so old that the earliest members of our own genus, the genus Homo, may have migrated out of Africa,” said Michael Petraglia, a professor of anthropology at the Max Planck Institute who was not involved in the new study. These creatures would have likely been Homo erectus; or possibly even Homo habilis, the first ancient primate to be called Homo.” ref

“Petraglia emphasized that the discovery also changes our understanding of Ice Age China. “They’ve added on something like 400,000 years of prehistory [in East Asia]—and it’s not every day you get to do that,” he told me. “Some of the oldest sites in China were previously only 1.6 or 1.7 million years old. They’re now saying the oldest sites are 2.1 million years old. The research was led by Zhaoyu Zhu, an archeologist, and climatologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhu and his team have spent the past 13 years excavating a unique site on China’s Loess Plateau, a rare spot protected from erosion and glaciation, and continually buried in wind-blown sand over the past several million years.” ref

“While the new paper identifies a human presence, the researchers have not yet found any early-human fossils at the site. They have unearthed a wealth of early stone tools left behind by our ancestors, buried under many layers of solidified sand. These artifacts are mostly chipped flakes of stone, a type of primitive blade created by smashing two river-smoothed cobbles together. Hominins in Africa are known to have used this technology during the same period. Claiming an ancient-human presence from a bunch of stone flakes could prove controversial among some researchers, who only feel confident dating an ancient-human presence when they find the remains of an early human, like teeth, a jaw bone, or ancient DNA.” ref

But both the paper’s authors and outside experts told me they felt comfortable asserting that ancient humans lived on this site.

“It comes down to two general points,” said John Kappelman, a professor of anthropology and geology at the University of Texas at Austin who was not connected to the research. First, the stone tools “look like they were produced by humans,” he told me. They also show evidence of manufacture and maintenance. Some flakes have an almost serrated edge, suggesting that their creator smashed them against a cobble multiple times in order to improve them. Others “appear to show resharpening or sharpening,” he said, meaning their users attended to their tools and tried to improve them. Second, the flakes are the most substantial feature found in this geological layer. “These are the largest pieces of stones—either the flakes themselves or the cores from which flakes were removed—in a very fine-grained sedimentary sequence,” Kappelman said. This supports the idea that they have a human, not a natural geological, origin.” ref

“Dennell, one of the authors of the paper, agreed. “Very importantly here, there are no geological processes that could have flaked these stones. The Loess Plateau is a stone-free landscape—it is basically an enormous deposit of wind-blown dust, deposited year upon year by the winter monsoonal winds for the last 2.5 million years,” he told me in an email. “Hominin remains are incredibly scarce,” he continued. “Their skeletons are very fragile, preservation is very rare, and they were not very common. In contrast, a single hominin can generate thousands of stone tools in a lifetime. Additionally, fossils will never indicate the first actual appearance of an animal—the first recorded appearance is always later than the first actual appearance, no matter whether it’s a hominin or a hippopotamus.” ref

“As an archaeologist, I have always found it strange that some refuse to accept artifacts unless found with hominin remains when the antiquity of humankind was first established in the early 19th century from stone artifacts in France and Britain, and not from skeletal evidence,” Dennell added. Petraglia, the Max Planck professor who was not connected to the study, told me that the paper’s findings were “very strong.” “I think it’s excellent,” he said. “I’m very excited about the work. It’s such a major finding, and it changes a lot of our views about the migration of early humans out of Africa, and when they got into Asia.” But the study’s importance relies on another claim, too: that the authors know the stones are 2.1 million years old. To reach this conclusion, researchers deployed a technique known as paleomagnetism.” ref

“Paleomagnetism relies on a simple planetary fact: The Earth’s magnetic field seems to reverse every 800,000 years. As rocks harden, they record the planet’s magnetic field in their structure: Lava now cooling on the surface of Hawaii, for instance, will retain the Earth’s current North Pole–facing orientation for millions of years. Researchers can sample the surface of a vertical rock face and track these changes in magnetic polarity, matching the reversals they detect with well-dated reversal events recorded elsewhere in the world. The Loess Plateau rock turned out to align to two reversals captured elsewhere in the world, including one switch, 2.1 million years ago, first observed on distant Reunion Island.” ref

“Over the past decade, a more cosmopolitan notion of human evolution has emerged. Homo sapiens do not seem to have been the only advanced hominin to stalk the Earth, and they did not evolve in a single spot in Africa. (My colleague Ed Yong recently detailed an aspect of this idea.) Instead, Homo sapiens shared Earth with at least two other types of ancient human: Neanderthals, who occupied much of Eurasia; and the more mysterious Denisovans, who may have ranged throughout Southeast Asia. Starting around 100,000 years ago—when genetic evidence suggests that Homo sapiens permanently departed Africa—these three forms of ancient human-inhabited much of the same territory, interacting and occasionally mating with each other. Today, only Homo sapiens survives, though some modern humans retain Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA.” ref

“But this new find suggests that some early humans ranged much of the Earth well before that late date. “This is way earlier than Neanderthals—way, way earlier,” Petraglia told me. The finding suggests that ancient humans migrated out of Africa many times, though these migrations were not always successful, he argued. “Some populations got all the way over to eastern Asia, but we have to imagine that these were small, sort of hunting-and-gathering populations. And while they may have mated across East Asia, it doesn’t mean they survived for a long period of time. Some populations might have become isolated, and some might have become extinct.” ref

“These migrations may even have predated the worst of the modern Ice Ages. While the Earth endured some large swings in temperature about 2 million years ago, the mighty, continent-churning glaciations of the past million years had yet to parade down from the North Pole. The Loess Plateau likely alternated between arid steppe and moist grassland every 40,000 years. Tools also appear to grow more scarce in the site during these cold and dry intervals, suggesting that ancient humans could only adapt so much to life out of the tropics. And it’s worth noting that the new study does not claim that hominins have continuously inhabited Asia for the past 2 million years.” ref

“Kappelman, the University of Texas professor, took a more robust view of this ancient-human community. He noted that different types of australopithecus—a hominin that briefly shared Africa with Homo habilis for 500,000 years—lived for millions of years without ever appearing to leave Africa. But 2.1 million years ago, as the first fossils from our genus, Homo, appear—scientists suddenly find evidence of an ancient-human presence across much of the Old World. What this paper suggests is: Boom! You get this dispersal, all the way across what was then the known Earth. The pieces were being filled in there very early on,” Kappelman told me. “It’s the kind of thing where, if we saw this for some other species, it would be remarkable.” ref

“He could recall only one other mammal that moved into a new territory and immediately dispersed across it: ancient horses. “They originated in North America, then migrated into the Old World about 11 million years ago. And then, boom, it’s like gangbusters. They’re everywhere,” he said. Ancient humans might have gone through a similar expansion, even before they gained all the traits that define a modern Homo sapiens. We just have less evidence of this explosion: Since ancient humans were carnivores, they never would have been as abundant as horses, which are lower on the food chain.” ref

“The world is overrun with people today,” Kappelman said. “There was a period in time when it wasn’t.” The challenge is trying to piece together how humans went from scarce to ubiquitous. “What was it about their behavior? Because we don’t see australopithecus going out, even though they are around at the same time. We just don’t find other hominins in Eurasia until the rise of Homo.” ref

Why did modern human populations disperse from Africa ca. 60,000 years ago? A new model

Abstract

“Recent research has provided increasing support for the origins of anatomically and genetically “modern” human populations in Africa between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago, followed by a major dispersal of these populations to both Asia and Europe sometime after ca. 65,000 years ago.” ref

“However, the central question of why it took these populations ≈100,000 years to disperse from Africa to other regions of the world has never been clearly resolved. It is suggested here that the answer may lie partly in the results of recent DNA studies of present-day African populations, combined with a spate of new archaeological discoveries in Africa. Studies of both the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mismatch patterns in modern African populations and related mtDNA lineage-analysis patterns point to a major demographic expansion centered broadly within the time range from 80,000 to 60,000 years ago, probably deriving from a small geographical region of Africa. Recent archaeological discoveries in southern and eastern Africa suggest that, at approximately the same time, there was a major increase in the complexity of the technological, economic, social, and cognitive behavior of certain African groups, which could have led to a major demographic expansion of these groups in competition with other, adjacent groups. It is suggested that this complex of behavioral changes (possibly triggered by the rapid environmental changes around the transition from oxygen isotope stage 5 to stage 4) could have led not only to the expansion of the L2 and L3 mitochondrial lineages over the whole of Africa but also to the ensuing dispersal of these modern populations over most regions of Asia, Australasia, and Europe, and their replacement (with or without interbreeding) of the preceding “archaic” populations in these regions.” ref

• archaeology
• DNA
• modern humans
• Palaeolithic

“Our understanding of the origins of modern human populations (i.e., Homo sapiens) has made massive strides in the past two decades. We now know from studies of both the DNA patterning of present-day world populations and surviving skeletal remains that populations that were essentially “modern” in both a genetic and an anatomical sense had emerged in Africa by at least 150,000 years ago. We also know that these populations had dispersed from Africa to most other parts of the world by at least 40,000 years ago, where they demographically replaced the preexisting “archaic” populations, such as the European Neanderthals. However, some of the most central questions as to exactly how and why this dramatic population dispersal and replacement took place have never been clearly resolved.” ref

“Two critical issues are posed by this recent research. First, if we now know that populations that were essentially modern in both genetic and anatomical terms had already emerged in Africa by at least 150,000 years ago, why did it take these populations a further 100,000 years to disperse to other regions of the world? And second, what were the crucial evolutionary and adaptive developments that allowed these populations to colonize a range of entirely new and alien environments and to successfully compete with, and replace, the long-established, and presumably well-adapted, archaic populations in these regions? As noted earlier, the answer to these questions seems to lie partly in the results of recent DNA research among different geographical groups of present-day African populations and partly in a number of striking new archaeological discoveries at sites in southern and eastern Africa.” ref

The African DNA Evidence

“Demographic reconstructions based on DNA studies of present-day human populations are notoriously problematic and controversial, with the data from African populations being no exception. Debates over the rates of mutation of different genetic loci, the effects of adaptive selection on DNA patterns, and the potential complications of demographic dispersals and back migrations between different regions, all serve to complicate the surviving fingerprints of demographic history in ways that have still to be fully resolved. Evidence from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), even though reflecting only a small segment of the total human genome, has the advantage of unusually rapid mutation rates, descent predominantly, if not entirely, through the female lineage, and apparently few, if any, effects of environmental selective forces. In the present context, therefore, it is interesting to see that two separate approaches to the analysis of mtDNA patterns in present-day African lineages point strongly to an episode of rapid population growth in the ancestral Africa populations centered broadly within the time range from ca. 60,000 to 80,000 years ago, i.e., some 100,000 years after the inferred most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of mitochondrially modern populations in Africa.” ref

“Evidence for this pattern was first recognized by Harpending, Rogers, Sherry, and others from studies of so-called mtDNA “mismatch” distributions (i.e., frequency distributions of genetic differences between pairs of individuals within a population), which revealed a clearly defined peak in African populations dated broadly to ≈80,000 years ago. This peak was followed by equally sharply defined peaks in Asian and European populations at ≈60,000 and 40,000 years ago. Clearly, the precise age of these inferred population expansions depends on the accuracy of the assumed mutation rate of mtDNA, but the evidence as a whole points strongly to a major and apparently rapid increase in African population numbers much earlier than that experienced in either Asia or Europe and apparently involving expansion by means of a demographic “diffusion wave” from a relatively small population nucleus (probably confined to a fairly small region of Africa) to other parts of the continent.” ref

“mtDNA “mismatch” distributions of present-day African, Asian, and European populations, showing the frequency distribution of differences between pairs of individuals in the three populations. The modes of the three distributions clearly reflect a much earlier demographic expansion of African populations (ca. 80,000 years ago), than those in Asia (ca. 60,000 years ago) and Europe (ca. 40,000 years ago).” ref

“More recently, strong support for this pattern has been provided by detailed mtDNA “lineage-analysis” studies of modern African populations by Watson, Forster, Salas, Kivisild, Macaulay, and others. Once again, the precise timing of these lineage expansions depends on the assumed mutation rate of mtDNA, but, in all of these studies, there is evidence for what Forster and Matsumura have recently described as a “remarkable expansion” of the distinctive L2 and L3 mitochondrial lineages dating broadly to between ca. 80,000 and 60,000 years ago.” ref

“As in the case of the mismatch analyses, the evidence points to an expansion centered initially in one small area of Africa (most probably in eastern or southern Africa) followed by an expansion to other regions, apparently reaching western Africa by at least 30,000–40,000 years ago, and perhaps across the mouth of the Red Sea to the adjacent parts of southern Asia by ≈60,000–65,000 years ago. Whether this dispersal of the L2 and L3 lineages reflects an actual dispersal of discrete human populations, or simply a rapid expansion in these specific mitochondrial types amongst the existing African populations, remains perhaps more debatable. But in either case, it is clear that some significant demographic or cultural factors must have promoted these lineage expansions at roughly the same time as the mtDNA mismatch analyses point to a rapid increase in total population numbers from some localized geographical source. A similar expansion in African populations has also been claimed from some studies of DNA microsatellite data, although with less specific age estimates. Inferred patterns of geographical dispersal of the L2 and L3 mtDNA lineages in Africa between ca. 80,000 and 60,000 years ago, according to Forster. Later dispersals of the M, N, and R lineages into Asia and Europe after 65,000 years ago derive from the L3 lineage.” ref

Archaeological Evidence

“The central question is what could have caused this apparently dramatic expansion in African populations ≈60,000–80,000 years ago, and it is here that recent archaeological research in southern and central Africa becomes central to the interpretation of the demographic data. The most relevant evidence at present comes from a number of sites located close to the southern tip of Africa in Cape Province, most notably from Blombos Cave and Klasies River on the southern coast and those of Boomplaas Cave and Diepkloof, further to the north and west. These are backed up by a number of rather less well-documented sites in eastern and central Africa. The general time range of these sites is that of the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) extending from ≈250,000 to 40,000 years ago, and coinciding broadly with the Middle Palaeolithic (or Mousterian) periods in Europe and Asia. But the relevant evidence from the so-called “Still Bay” levels in the Blombos Cave and the ensuing “Howiesons Poort” levels at Klasies River, Boomplaas, and Diepkloof, can be dated specifically to the later stages of the MSA, between ca. 75,000 and 55,000 years ago.” ref

Map of archaeological sites and early anatomically modern human remains in Africa and Israel, referred to in text.

“Although the archaeological assemblages from these sites have traditionally been attributed to the MSA, they reveal a number of radical technological and cultural features that collectively contrast sharply with those of the earlier African MSA sites, and which show many resemblances to those that appear in Europe and western Asia with the arrival of the first anatomically and genetically modern populations at ≈45,000–50,000 years ago, the period of the so-called “Upper Palaeolithic Revolution”. These assemblages include, for example, new patterns of blade technology, produced by means of “soft hammer” techniques of flaking; new forms of both specialized skin working tools (end-scrapers) and tools for the controlled shaping of bone and wooden artifacts (so-called burin forms); a range of extensively shaped bone tools, apparently used as both tips of throwing spears and sharply pointed awls for skin working; new forms of carefully shaped stone inserts, probably used as tips and barbs of either hafted throwing spears or conceivably wooden arrows; large numbers of perforated estuarine shells, evidently used as personal ornaments of some kind; and large quantities of imported red ochre, including two pieces from the Blombos cave with carefully incised and relatively complex geometrical designs on their surfaces. These designs represent the earliest unambiguous forms of abstract “art” so far recorded.” ref

“Equally significant in these sites is the evidence for the large-scale distribution or exchange of both high-quality stone for tool production and the recently discovered shell beads from the Blombos cave, in both cases either transported or traded over distances of at least 20–30 km. All of these features show a striking resemblance to those which characterize fully modern or “Upper Palaeolithic” cultures in Europe and western Asia, which first appeared with the initial arrival of anatomically and behaviorally modern populations at ≈45,000–50,000 years ago, i.e., some 20,000 years later than their appearance in the African sites. As Henshilwood has recently commented, the combination of these behavioral innovations in the Still Bay and succeeding Howiesons Poort levels at these South African sites seems to reflect “a dynamic period of diverse technological behavior not previously seen in the African Middle Stone Age.” ref

“Stone tools from the MSA Howiesons Poort levels at Klasies River (South Africa) dated to ca. 65,000 years ago, showing closely similar forms of blades, end scrapers, burins, and small, hafted segment forms to those found in European and Asian Upper Palaeolithic sites from ca. 45,000 years ago onwards. “Fragments of red ochre incised with a complex geometrical design (A–D), and a series of deliberately perforated shells of Nassarius kraussianus (E) from the MSA levels of the Blombos Cave (South Africa), dated to ca. 75,000 years ago.” ref

Population Expansion

“The critical importance of these new archaeological discoveries is that they may provide the explanation for the major expansion in African populations, which is reflected so clearly in the recent mtDNA evidence, dated broadly to between 80,000 and 60,000 years ago. The precise cultural and demographic mechanisms that underlay the population expansion inevitably remain more hypothetical. At least four aspects of the archaeological data, however, could be significant in this context. The first is that the character of the artifacts recovered from both the Blombos Cave and the Howiesons Poort levels at Klasies River and elsewhere would appear to reflect the emergence of more complex forms of hunting equipment, apparently involving the construction of several different forms of hunting weapons (i.e., the sharply pointed bone spearheads and the bifacial leaf-point forms from the Blombos cave, and the appearance of composite, multiple-component hafted weapons in the Howiesons Poort levels at Klasies River and other sites).” ref

“The possibility has been suggested that some of these forms could well have served as the tips and barbs of wooden arrows, based on comparisons with similar artifacts recovered from both later African Stone Age sites and much later Mesolithic contexts in Europe. Even without inferring the use of archery equipment, however, it is reasonable to assume that the introduction of more effective hunting weapons would have substantially increased the efficiency and productivity of hunting activities and, therefore, the overall productivity of the food resources available to the human groups). The second and potentially equally important suggestion, which has been mooted by Deacon, is that the dense accumulations of burnt plant remains in the Howiesons Poort levels at Klasies River (together with identifiable remains of root crops, such as Watsonia, in the later MSA levels at the Strathalan B site, further to the north) could reflect either the increased use of these particular plant resources or even the deliberate burning of the local fynbos vegetation, which has been shown to increase the annual productivity of these root crops by between five- and ten-fold.” ref

“For the present, the latter suggestion remains speculative, but, if this were to be supported by further research, one could see this effectively as an early form of plant food management strategies, potentially analogous to those used in later Mesolithic and early agricultural communities, or in the recently reported 26,000-year-old processing of seed remains from the Ohalo II site in Israel. A third suggestion advanced by Henshilwood is that the Still Bay levels at Blombos cave may provide evidence for the first systematic exploitation of marine fish, and perhaps sea birds, as parts of the human food supply. Finally, Deacon, Ambrose, and others have argued that the large-scale movements of high-quality stone and imported shell ornaments recorded from these sites may reflect increased trading and exchange networks between adjacent human groups, which could have acted as a further critical mechanism to ensure regular access and distribution of essential food supplies, especially during seasonal or other episodes of food scarcity.” ref

“Clearly, all of these possibilities will require further analysis and testing in the course of future research. But the implication seems clear that many of the behavioral innovations reflected in the southern African archaeological records between ca. 80,000 and 60,000 years ago could have led to a substantial increase in the carrying capacity of the environment for human populations and, accordingly, to a major expansion in human population numbers and densities. Even allowing for the imprecisions in current DNA dating estimates, the apparent coincidence between these major behavioral changes and the estimated timing of the population expansions reflected strongly in both the mtDNA mismatch and lineage-analysis data seems hard to ignore. It should be emphasized that there is no necessary implication that population numbers in Africa as a whole increased dramatically at this time. Indeed, it could be that total population numbers in Africa decreased significantly at this time, owing to the onset of extremely dry conditions in many parts of Africa between ca. 60,000 and 30,000 years ago. The point is simply that increased levels of technological efficiency and economic productivity in one small region of Africa could have allowed a rapid expansion of these populations to other regions and an associated competitive replacement (or absorption) of the earlier, technologically less “advanced,” populations in these regions.” ref

“Any attempt to define the precise point of origin of these behavioral innovations, and the associated demographic expansion event, immediately encounters the relative sparsity of well documented archaeological sites in many regions of subSaharan Africa, especially in the more central and eastern areas of Africa, which are potentially crucial to the current debates over modern human origins. Clearly, we must be aware of falling into the obvious trap of assuming these developments must have occurred initially within South Africa, simply because this area is where the relevant archaeological evidence is at present most fully investigated and best documented (i.e., the “drunk looking for keys under the street lamp” syndrome!). In this context, it should be recalled that industries conforming closely to the South African Howiesons Poort variations are well represented over large areas of central and southern Africa (to the south of the Zambezi) and apparently extending northwards into parts of East Africa—such as at the site of Mumba in Tanzania and the recently excavated site of Norikiushan in Kenya (S. Ambrose, personal communication) >4,000 km to the north of the South African sites.” ref

“The main problem at present lies in the accurate dating of these sites in relation to the South African localities. On present evidence, it is impossible to exclude the possibility that the Howiesons Poort technologies, or indeed those of the preceding Still Bay, could have emerged in certain parts of, say, eastern or central Africa, before they subsequently appeared in the South African sites. In this case, the developments in South Africa could be seen more as a reflection of events in other parts of Africa than their initial point of origin. But, in any event, the sheer scale of the geographical distribution of the Howiesons Poort-like technologies could be seen as a further potential reflection of a major episode of population dispersal within subSaharan Africa centered broadly within the time range from ca. 70,000 to 55,000 years ago. It is equally tempting to suggest that it was precisely this new, integrated complex of so-called modern behavioral features embodied in the Howiesons Poort and preceding Still Bay technologies that led directly to the widespread geographical expansion of the southern African populations not only to other areas of Africa (as reflected in the widespread dispersal of the L2 and L3 mitochondrial lineages; but also to the adjacent areas of Asia and Europe, sometime after 70,000 years ago.” ref

Summary of the model proposed here for modern human origins and dispersal from Africa.

The Mechanisms of Behavioral Change

“The pivotal question, of course, is what caused these radical changes in the technology, economy, and social patterns of African groups ≈80,000–70,000 years ago? Here we have two fairly stark alternatives. First, we could suggest, as Klein has done, that the emergence of distinctively modern patterns of culture and technology was due to a sudden change in the cognitive capacities of the populations involved, entailing some form of neurological mutation (although, according to the model advanced here at ≈80,000 years ago and not at ca. 40,000–50,000 years ago, as Klein himself has suggested). Or alternatively (and more prosaically), we could look for an interpretation in terms of some major shift in the adaptive and selective pressures to which the human populations were subjected, perhaps precipitated by some major episode of climatic and environmental change. In this context, the obvious candidate would be the sharp oscillations between wetter and drier climatic conditions that marked the transition from oxygen isotope stage 5 to stage 4, as reflected in the deep-sea core and ice-core climatic records.” ref

“In subSaharan Africa, there is evidence that this transition resulted in changes in annual rainfall by up to 50%. To groups occupying the more arid regions of Africa (especially around the margins of the Kalahari and Sahara deserts), the impact of these climatic changes on all aspects of human economic, technological, and social adaptations could have been dramatic, as Deacon, Ambrose, and others have emphasized. A further potentially significant factor could have been the climatic and associated environmental effects of the Mount Toba volcanic “supereruption” in Sumatra, dated to ≈73,000 years ago, as Ambrose has argued very effectively [but see Oppenheimer and Gathorne-Hardy & Harcourt-Smith for an opposing view]. It would, in short, be possible to see changes in human technology, subsistence, settlement patterns, and associated patterns of social and even symbolic communication as a fairly direct response to the new environmental challenges that emerged at this time. Significantly, all these major environmental changes fall within the time range of ca. 80,000–70,000 years ago, precisely the time when the archaeological evidence indicates that technological and other behavioral changes were occurring most rapidly.” ref

Human Cognitive Evolution

“Even if we accept that the pattern of behavioral changes in southern Africa can be explained more parsimoniously in terms of adaptive environmental processes than by changes in human cognitive capacities, we cannot escape the evidence for significant changes in at least some aspects of human cognitive behavior associated broadly with the emergence of our own species. One aspect of the current evidence that is potentially highly informative in this context lies in the evidence for a precocious and apparently short-lived expansion of anatomically modern populations from northern Africa into the immediately adjacent areas of southwest Asia at ≈110,000–90,000 years ago. This expansion is best reflected in the large samples of typically (if relatively robust and variable) anatomically modern skeletal remains from the two sites of Skhul and Qafzeh in northern Israel.” ref

“Three features of these finds are especially significant. The first is that at least two of the skeletons in these sites occurred in the form of clearly ceremonial or ritualistic burials, associated with seemingly unmistakably intentional grave offerings (a large deer antler lying directly on top of one of the Qafzeh skeletons and a complete boar’s jaw said to be “clasped in the arms” of one of the burials at Skhul). Secondly, that, at least in the case of the Qafzeh burials, the remains were associated with a number of deliberately perforated seashell ornaments, together with large quantities of used and apparently heat-treated fragments of red ochre, almost certainly used as coloring pigments. And, thirdly, that, despite these clearly “symbolic” aspects of the archaeological material, the stone tool assemblages found in association with both the Skhul and Qafzeh remains were of typically Middle Palaeolithic or MSA in form, without any trace of the distinctively modern or Upper Palaeolithic technological features recorded at the later African MSA sites of Klasies River, Blombos, and elsewhere. Burial of an anatomically modern human skeleton at the Qafzeh Cave (Israel), accompanied by a large deer antler and dated to ca. 90,000–100,000 years ago.” ref

“The clear implication of these finds is that, whilst the human populations represented at Skhul and Qafzeh were essentially modern in both anatomical terms and in terms of clearly symbolic behavioral patterns, the levels of technology associated with these populations were still of strictly archaic, Middle Palaeolithic form. Viewed in these terms, it is equally interesting that the early incursion of these anatomically modern populations into southwest Asia seems to have been a very localized and short-lived event, apparently confined to this southwest Asian region, and followed by a reestablishment of the earlier Neanderthal populations within these regions from at least 70,000 years ago onwards, as reflected by the typically Neanderthal remains recovered from the later Mousterian levels at the Kebara cave, Tabun, Amud, and Shanidar. In other words, it would seem that whatever the intellectual and symbolic capacities of these early anatomically modern populations, their levels of technological and socioeconomic organization were not sufficient to withstand competition from the long-established Neanderthal populations of Eurasia during the later (and colder) stages of the Middle Palaeolithic sequence.” ref

Mosaic Evolution

“The obvious and seemingly inescapable conclusion is that the patterns of cultural and technological development associated with the evolution of fully modern populations were strongly mosaic in character, with the emergence of several explicitly symbolic aspects of culture apparently preceding any major change in either the stone-tool or bone-tool components of the associated technologies. In Africa itself, there may be further evidence for this symbolic behavior in the indications of apparently ritualistic treatment of the two early anatomically modern skulls recently discovered at Herto in Ethiopia, dated to ≈ 160,000 years ago, and again associated with characteristically archaic MSA stone tool technology.” ref

“If so, what, if anything, might this evidence tell us tell us about the patterns of human cognitive and neurological evolution associated with the emergence of fully anatomically and genetically modern populations? If explicit symbolism is accepted as an index of essentially modern cognitive capacities and with associated patterns of essentially modern, complex language [as most archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists tend to assume, then these capacities were clearly in place by at least 100,000–150,000 years ago and could well have emerged in direct association with the evolution of anatomically and genetically modern populations at this time. Viewed in these terms, the subsequent elaboration of these symbolic patterns and the emergence of a range of new technological, economic, and social patterns reflected in the archaeological evidence from Blombos, Klasies River, and elsewhere, could be seen simply as a gradual working out of these new cognitive capacities under the stimulus of various kinds of environmental, demographic, or social pressures, in much the same way as that reflected in the later emergence of fully agricultural communities.” ref

“The alternative, of course, would be to visualize the trajectory of human cognitive evolution as an inherently more complex process, involving potentially a series of successive and cumulative changes in brain capacities, dependent on a succession of genetic mutations affecting various aspects of brain function and organization. Recent studies of the Microcephalin and FOXP2 genes have now effectively demonstrated the possibility of such mutations, potentially at various points since the emergence of genetically modern humans. Clearly, if there had been a further genetic mutation involving cognitive capacities ≈80,000 years ago, this could provide a further potential explanation for the emergence of significantly new patterns of technology, social organization, and symbolic expression reflected in the archaeological evidence from the African sites.” ref

“The problem of adequately testing these speculations against hard archaeological data is, of course, one of the notorious dilemmas in studies of human cognitive evolution, epitomized by Renfrew’s notion of the “Sapient paradox.” In other words, how do we formulate plausible archaeological tests for the emergence of new behavioral capacities, as opposed to the gradual elaboration and increasing complexity of technological and other behavioral patterns for which the necessary cognitive potentials had already long existed? One thing, however, is certain: If the evolutionary trajectories of the Eurasian Neanderthals and the African ancestors of modern populations had been separate over a span of at least 300,000 years [as all of the current genetic and skeletal evidence suggests, then the possibility of some significant changes in human neurological and cognitive capacities over this time range can in no way be ruled out. Even if the cognition of Neanderthals and other archaic populations was not “inferior” to that of modern humans, it could have been significantly different.” ref

The Out of Africa Diaspora

“The final, and most controversial, issue at present is exactly when and how these anatomically and genetically modern populations first spread from Africa to other parts of Asia and Europe. Here there are two main possibilities. The first is that the initial expansion occurred via North Africa and the Nile valley, with subsequent dispersals to both the west into Europe and to the east into Asia. The second is that the initial dispersal was from Ethiopia, across the mouth of the Red Sea, and then either northward through Arabia or eastward along the south Asian coastline to Australasia—the so-called “southern” or “coastal” route. The strongest evidence at present for the second hypothesis is provided by the mtDNA lineage-analysis patterns. These point strongly to the conclusion that there was only a single (successful) dispersal event out of Africa, represented exclusively by members of the L3 lineage and probably carried by a relatively small number of at most a few hundred colonists.” ref

“This lineage rapidly diversified into the derivative M, N, and R lineages, which are particularly well represented in modern Asian populations and which are estimated to have arrived and diversified further in southern Asia by at least 50,000 years ago. and possibly as early as 65,000 years ago. in Malaysia and the Andaman islands. A similar conclusion has been drawn from recent studies of the Y chromosome evidence. This evidence would also conform well with the clear peak in the mtDNA distributions of Asian populations, dated broadly to ≈60,000 years ago. This model, of course, would mean that the subsequent dispersals of anatomically and behaviorally modern populations into southwest Asia and Europe must have reached these areas substantially later, via western or central Asia.” ref

“The main problem posed by this scenario at present lies in the sparsity of well documented and well dated archaeological evidence for the early modern human colonization of Asia prior to ca.45,000 B.P., when we know that early colonists had reached parts of northern and southern Australia, best represented by the archaeological and skeletal finds from Lake Mungo in New South Wales. But clearly, the spotlight is now directed strongly onto southern Asia to secure more direct evidence for this hypothetical early dispersal route. Future discoveries in both mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA research and, above all, archaeology, are awaited to provide the crucial tests for this hypothesis of the origins and dispersal of our own species.” ref

“Burial of an anatomically modern human skeleton at the Qafzeh Cave (Israel), accompanied by a large deer antler and dated to ca. 90,000–100,000 years ago.” ref

“Haplogroup L1, most common in Central, as well as West Africa, highest among Pygmie people and likely, was more widespread, as a result of powerful waves of Bantu migration that largely carried L2 DNA, bringing another religion with connections to totemism with them between about 3,000-2,000 years ago. And it is largely those with connections to Bantu peoples that show totemism in Africa even today.”

https://www.pnas.org/content/103/25/9381

https://www.ancient.eu/Bantu_Migration/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_expansion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_peoples

Earliest evidence of personal ornaments associated with burial: The Conus shells from Border Cave

Abstract

“The four to six-month-old infant from Border Cave, found with a perforated Conus shell in a pit excavated in Howiesons Poort (HP) layers dated to 74,000 years ago, is considered the oldest instance of modern human burial from Africa, and the earliest example of a deceased human interred with a personal ornament. In this article we present new data retrieved from unpublished archives on the burial excavation, and conduct an in-depth analysis of the Conus found with the infant, and a second similar Conus that probably originates from the same layer. Based on morphological, morphometric and ecological evidence we assign these two shells to Conus ebraeus Linnaeus 1758, a tropical species still living on the nearest coastline to Border Cave, in northern KwaZulu-Natal. This attribution changes the paleoclimatic setting inferred from the previous ascription of these shells to Conus bairstowi, a species endemic to the Eastern Cape and adapted to colder sea surface temperatures. Reconstructions of 74 ka sea surface temperatures along the southern African east coast are consistent with our reassignment. Analysis of shell thanatocoenoses and biocoenosis from the KwaZulu-Natal coast, including microscopic study of their surfaces, reveals that complete, well preserved living or dead Conus, such as those found at Border Cave, are rare on beaches, can be collected at low tide at a depth of c. 0.5–2 m among the rocks, and that the archeological shells were dead when collected. We demonstrate that the perforations at the apex were produced by humans, and that traces of wear due to prolonged utilization as an ornament are present. SEM-EDX analysis of patches of red residue on the Conus found in the pit with the infant indicates that it is composed of iron, phosphorus, silicon, aluminium, and magnesium. Results indicate that, at least in some areas of southern Africa, the use of marine gastropods as ornaments, already attested in Still Bay, extended to the first phases of the HP.” ref

“Haplogroup L1 is found most commonly in Central Africa and West Africa. It reaches its highest frequency among the Mbenga Pygmies. It is likely that it was formerly more widespread, and was constrained to its current area as a result of the Bantu migration (which is largely associated with haplogroup L2). Haplogroup L1 has been observed in specimens from the island cemetery in Kulubnarti, Sudan, which date from the Early Christian period (CE 550–800). An ancient Beaker culture individual at the Camino de las Yeseras in Spain (San Fernando de Henares, Madrid; [I4245 / RISE695] F) has also been found to carry the L1b1a mitochondrial haplogroup.” ref

Phylogeny

“L1 has two branches, L1c and L1b (the formerly named haplogroups L1d, L1k, L1a, L1f have been re-classified into haplogroup L0, as L0d, L0k, L0a, L0f; L1e as L5).” ref

L1c

“Haplogroup L1c emerged at about 85 kya. It reaches its highest frequencies in West and Central Africa, notably among the Mbenga Pygmy peoples. (see map). Among the Mbenga, it is carried by 100% of Ba-Kola, 97% of Ba-Benzélé, and 77% of Biaka. Other populations in which L1c is particularly prevalent include the Tikar (100%), Baka people from Gabon (97%) and Cameroon (90%), the Bakoya (97%), and the Ba-Bongo (82%). Common also in São Tomé (20%) and Angola (16–24%).” ref

L1b

“Haplogroup L1b is much more recent, dated at about 10 kya. It is frequent in West Africa. It has also been found in Mozambique (1%), Ethiopia (2%), Egypt (1%), the Nile Valley (4%), Kung (1%), Cape Verde (8%), Senegal (17–20%), Niger/Nigeria (15%), Guinea Bissau (11%), Morocco (4–5%), and Algeria (1–2%).” ref

Haplogroup L2 (mtDNA)

“Haplogroup L2 is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup with a widespread modern distribution, particularly in Subequatorial Africa. Its L2a subclade is a somewhat frequent and widely distributed mtDNA cluster on the continent, as well as among African Americans.” ref

Haplogroup L2

Possible time of origin 80,000–111,100 years ago

Possible place of origin West Africa or Central Africa

Ancestor L2─6 and Descendants L2a─d, L2e

“L2 is a common lineage in Africa. It is believed to have evolved between 87,000 and 107,000 years ago or approx. 90,000 years ago. Its age and widespread distribution and diversity across the continent makes its exact origin point within Africa difficult to trace with any confidence. Several L2 haplotypes observed in Guineans and other West Africa populations shared genetic matches with East Africa and North Africa. An origin for L2b, L2c, L2d, and L2e in West or Central Africa seems likely. The early diversity of L2 can be observed all over the African Continent, but as we can see in Subclades section below, the highest diversity is found in West Africa. Most of subclades are largely confined to West and western-Central Africa.” ref

“According to a 2015 study, “results show that lineages in Southern Africa cluster with Western/Central African lineages at a recent time scale, whereas, eastern lineages seem to be substantially more ancient. Three moments of expansion from a Central African source are associated to L2: one migration at 70–50 ka into Eastern or Southern Africa, postglacial movements 15–10 ka into Eastern Africa; and the southward Bantu Expansion in the last 5 ka. The complementary population and L0a phylogeography analyses indicate no strong evidence of mtDNA gene flow between eastern and southern populations during the later movement, suggesting low admixture between Eastern African populations and the Bantu migrants. This implies that, at least in the early stages, the Bantu expansion was mainly a demic diffusion with little incorporation of local populations”.” ref

Distribution

“L2 is the most common haplogroup in Africa, and it has been observed throughout the continent. It is found in approximately one-third of Africans and their recent descendants. The highest frequency occurs among the Mbuti Pygmies (64%). Important presence in Western Africa, especially in Senegal (43-54%). Also important in Non-Bantu populations of East Africa (44%), in Sudan and Mozambique. It is particularly abundant in Chad and the Kanembou (38% of the sample), but is also relatively frequent in Nomadic Arabs (33%) and Akan people (~33%).” ref

Subclades

“L2 has five main subhaplogroups: L2a, L2b, L2c, L2d, and L2e. Of these lineages, the most common subclade is L2a, which is found in both Africa and the Levant. Haplogroup L2 has been observed among specimens at the island cemetery in Kulubnarti, Sudan, which date from the Early Christian period (CE 550–800).” ref

Haplogroup L2a

“L2a is widespread in Africa and the most common and widely distributed sub-Saharan African Haplogroup and is also somewhat frequent at 19% in the Americas among descendants of Africans (Salas et al., 2002). L2a has a possible date of origin approx. 48,000 years ago. It is particularly abundant in Chad (38% of the sample; 33% undifferentiated L2 among Chad Arabs,), and in Non-Bantu populations of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) at 38%. About 33% in Mozambique and 32% in Ghana.” ref

“This subclade is characterized by mutations at 2789, 7175, 7274, 7771, 11914, 13803, 14566, and 16294. It represents 52% of the total L2 and is the only subclade of L2 to be widespread all over Africa. The wide distribution of L2a and diversity makes identifying a geographical origin difficult. The main puzzle is the almost ubiquitous Haplogroup L2a, which may have spread East and West along the Sahel Corridor in North Africa after the Last Glacial Maximum, or the origins of these expansions may lie earlier, at the beginnings of the Later Stone Age ∼ 40,000 years ago.” ref

“In East Africa L2a was found 15% in Nile Valley–Nubia, 5% of Egyptians, 14% of Cushite speakers, 15% of Semitic Amhara people, 10% of Gurage, 6% of Tigray-Tigrinya people, 13% of Ethiopians, and 5% of Yemenis. Haplogroup L2a also appears in North Africa, with the highest frequency 20% Tuareg, Fulani (14%). Found also among some Algeria Arabs, it is found at 10% among Moroccan Arabs, some Moroccan Berbers, and Tunisian Berbers. In patients who are given the drug stavudine to treat HIV, Haplogroup L2a is associated with a lower likelihood of peripheral neuropathy as a side effect.” ref

Haplogroup L2a1

L2a can be further divided into L2a1, harboring the transition at 16309.

“This subclade is observed at varying frequencies in West Africa among the Malinke, Wolof, and others; among the North Africans; in the Sahel among the Hausa, Fulbe, and others; in Central Africa among the Bamileke, Fali, and others; in South Africa among the Khoisan family including the Khwe and Bantu speakers; and in East Africa among the Kikuyu from Kenya.” ref

“All L2 clades present in Ethiopia are mainly derived from the two subclades, L2a1 and L2b. L2a1 is defined by mutations at 12693, 15784, and 16309. Most Ethiopian L2a1 sequences share mutations at nps 16189 and 16309. However, whereas the majority (26 out of 33) African Americans share Haplogroup L2a complete sequences could be partitioned into four subclades by substitutions at nps L2a1e-3495, L2a1a-3918, L2a1f-5581, and L2a1i-15229. None of those sequences, were observed in Ethiopian 16309 L2a1 samples. (Salas 2002) et al.” ref

Haplogroup L2a1 has also been observed among the Mahra (4.6%).

“Haplogroup L2a1 has been found in ancient fossils associated with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture at Tell Halula, Syria. A specimen excavated at the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic site of Luxmanda in Tanzania also carried the L2a1 clade. Admixture clustering analysis further indicated that the individual bore significant ancestry from the ancient Levant, confirming ancestral ties between the makers of the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.” ref

Haplogroup L2a1a

“Subclade L2a1a is defined by substitutions at 3918, 5285, 15244, and 15629. There are two L2a clusters that are well represented in southeastern Africans, L2a1a and L2a1b, both defined by transitions at quite stable HVS-I positions. Both of these appear to have an origin in West Africa or North West Africa (as indicated by the distribution of matching or neighboring types), and to have undergone dramatic expansion either in South East Africa or in a population ancestral to present-day Southeastern Africans.” ref

“The very recent starbursts in subclades L2a1a and L2a2 suggest a signature for the Bantu expansions, as also proposed by Pereira et al. L2a1a is defined by a mutation at 16286. The L2a1a founder candidate dates to 2,700 (SE 1,200) years ago. However, L2a1a, as defined by a substitution at (np 16286), is now supported by a coding-region marker (np 3918)  and was found in four of six Yemeni L2a1 lineages. L2a1a occurs at its highest frequency in Southeastern Africa. Both the frequent founder haplotype and derived lineages (with 16092 mutation) found among Yemenis have exact matches within Mozambique sequences. L2a1a also occurs at a smaller frequency in North West Africa, among the Maure and Bambara of Mali and Mauritania.” ref

Haplogroup L2a1a1

“L2a1a1 is defined by markers 6152C, 15391T, 16368C” ref

Haplogroup L2a1b

“L2a1b is defined by substitutions at 16189 and 10143. 16192 is also common in L2a1b and L2a1c; it appears in North Africa in Egypt, It also appears in Southeastern Africa and so it may also be a marker for the Bantu expansion.” ref

Haplogroup L2a1c

“L2a1c often shares mutation 16189 with L2a1b, but has its own markers at 3010 and 6663. 16192 is also common in L2a1b and L2a1c; it appears in Southeastern Africa as well as East Africa. This suggests some diversification of this clade in situ. Positions T16209C C16301T C16354T on top of L2a1 define a small sub-clade, dubbed L2a1c by Kivisild et al., which mainly appears in East Africa (e.g. Sudan, Nubia, Ethiopia), among the Turkana and West Africa (e.g. Kanuri).” ref

In the Chad Basin, four different L2a1c types one or two mutational steps from the East and West African types were identified. (Kivisild et al.) 2004.” ref

Haplogroup L2a1c1

“L2a1c1 has a north African origin. It is defined by markers 198, 930, 3308, 8604, 16086. It is observed in Tunisia Sephardic, Ashkenazi, Jews, Hebrews, Moroccans, Egyptians, Nubians, and Yemenis.” ref

Haplogroup L2a1f

Khosian, Zambia, Madagascar

Haplogroup L2a1k

“L2a1k is defined by markers G6722A and T12903C. It was previously described as a European-specific subclade L2a1a and detected in Czechs and Slovaks.” ref

Haplogroup L2a1l2a

“L2a1l2a is recognized as an “Ashkenazi-specific” haplogroup, seen amongst Ashkenazi Jews with ancestry in Central and Eastern Europe. It has also been detected in small numbers in ostensibly non-Jewish Polish populations, where it is presumed to have come from Ashkenazi admixture. However, this haplotype constitutes only a very small proportion of Ashkenazi mitochondrial lineages; various studies (including Behar’s) have put its incidence at between 1.4–1.6%.” ref

Haplogroup L2a2

“L2a2 is characteristic of the Mbuti Pygmies.” ref

Haplogroup L2b’c

“L2b’c probably evolved around 62,000 years ago.” ref

Haplogroup L2b

“This subclade is predominantly found in West Africa, but it is spread all over Africa.” ref

Haplogroup L2c

“L2c is most frequent in West Africa, and may have arisen there. Specially present in Senegal at 39%, Cape Verde 16%, and Guinea-Bissau 16%.” ref

Haplogroup L2d

“L2d is most frequent in West Africa, where it may have arisen. It is also found in Yemen, Mozambique, and Sudan.” ref

Haplogroup L2e

“L2e (former L2d2) is typical in West Africa. It is also found in Tunisia,[28] and among Mandinka people from Guinea-Bissau and African Americans.” ref

Haplogroup M (mtDNA)

“Haplogroup M is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. An enormous haplogroup spanning all the continents, the macro-haplogroup M, like its sibling the macro-haplogroup N, is a descendant of the haplogroup L3. All mtDNA haplogroups considered native outside of Africa are descendants of either haplogroup M or its sibling haplogroup N. Haplogroup M is relatively young, having a younger most recent common ancestor date than some subclades of haplogroup N such as haplogroup R.” ref

Origins

“There is a debate concerning the geographical origins of Haplogroup M and its sibling haplogroup N. Both lineages are thought to have been the main surviving lineages involved in the out of Africa migration (or migrations) because all indigenous lineages found outside Africa belong to haplogroup M or haplogroup N. Scientists are unsure whether the mutations that define haplogroups M and N occurred in Africa before the exit from Africa or in Asia after the exit from Africa. Determining the origins of haplogroup M is further complicated by an early back-migration (from Asia to Africa) of bearers of M1.” ref

“Its date of origin in absolute terms is only known with great uncertainty, as reconstruction has yielded different (but overlapping) ranges for the age of M in South Asia and East Asia. Soares et al. give 95% CI ranges of 49.4+10.8
−10,400 and 60,600 years ago
−13,300 years ago for South and East Asia, respectively. The same authors give an estimate for the age of L3 as 71.6+15.0
−14,500 years ago, later narrowed to the somewhat younger 65±5 kya. Thus, haplogroup M would have emerged around 10,000 or at most 20,000 years after L3, around or somewhat after the recent out-of-Africa migration event.” ref

Haplogroup M1

“Much discussion concerning the origins of haplogroup M has been related to its subclade haplogroup M1, which is the only variant of macro-haplogroup M found in Africa.” ref

Two possibilities were being considered as potential explanations for the presence of M1 in Africa:

1. “M was present in the ancient population which later gave rise to both M1 in Africa, and M more generally found in Eurasia.” ref

2. “The presence of M1 in Africa is the result of a back-migration from Asia which occurred sometime after the Out of Africa migration.” ref

Haplogroup M23

“In 2009, two independent publications reported a rare, deep-rooted subclade of haplogroup M, referred to as M23, that is present in Madagascar.” ref

“The contemporary populations of Madagascar were formed in the last 2,000 years by the admixture of Bantu and Indonesian (Austronesian) populations. M23 seems to be restricted to Madagascar, as it has not been detected anywhere else. M23 could have been brought to Madagascar from Asia where most deep-rooted subclades of Haplogroup M are found.” ref

Asian origin hypothesis

“According to this theory, anatomically modern humans carrying ancestral haplogroup L3 lineages were involved in the Out of Africa migration from East Africa into Asia. Somewhere in Asia, the ancestral L3 lineages gave rise to haplogroups M and N. The ancestral L3 lineages were then lost by genetic drift as they are infrequent outside Africa.” ref

The hypothesis that Asia is the origin of macrohaplogroup M is supported by the following:

1. “The highest frequencies worldwide of macrohaplogroup M are observed in Asia, specifically in Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Nepal where frequencies range from 60 to 80%. The total frequency of M subclades is even higher in some populations of Siberia or the Americas, but these small populations tend to exhibit strong genetic drift effects, and often their geographical neighbors exhibit very different frequencies.” ref

2. “Deep time-depth >50,000 years of western, central, southern, and eastern Indian haplogroups M2, M38, M54, M58, M33, M6, M61, M62 and the distribution of macrohaplogroup M, do not rule out the possibility of macrohaplogroup M arising in Indian population.” ref

3. “With the exception of the African specific M1, India has several M lineages that emerged directly from the root of haplogroup M.” ref

4. “Only two subclades of haplogroup M, M1, and M23, are found in Africa, whereas numerous subclades are found outside Africa (with some discussion possible only about sub-clade M1, concerning which see below).” ref

5. Specifically concerning M1

· “Haplogroup M1 has a restricted geographic distribution in Africa, being found mainly in North Africans and East Africa at low or moderate frequencies. If M had originated in Africa around, or before, the Out of Africa migration, it would be expected to have a more widespread distribution.” ref

· “According to Gonzalez et al. 2007, M1 appears to have expanded relatively recently. In this study, M1 had a younger coalescence age than the Asian-exclusive M lineages.” ref

· “The geographic distribution of M1 in Africa is predominantly North African/supra-equatorial and is largely confined to Afro-Asiatic speakers, which is inconsistent with the Sub-Saharan distribution of sub-clades of haplogroups L3 and L2 that have similar time depths.” ref

· “One of the basal lineages of M1 lineages has been found in Northwest Africa and in the Near East but is absent in East Africa.” ref

· “M1 is not restricted to Africa. It is relatively common in the Mediterranean, peaking in Iberia. M1 also enjoys a well-established presence in the Middle East, from the South of the Arabian Peninsula to Anatolia and from the Levant to Iran. In addition, M1 haplotypes have occasionally been observed in the Caucasus and the Trans Caucasus, and without any accompanying L lineages. M1 has also been detected in Central Asia, seemingly reaching as far as Tibet.” ref

· The fact that the M1 sub-clade of macrohaplogroup M has a coalescence age which overlaps with that of haplogroup U6 (a Eurasian haplogroup whose presence in Africa is due to a back-migration from West Asia) and the distribution of U6 in Africa is also restricted to the same North African and Horn African populations as M1 supports the scenario that M1 and U6 were part of the same population expansion from Asia to Africa.[22]

· “The timing of the proposed migration of M1 and U6-carrying peoples from West Asia to Africa (between 40,000 to 45,000 years ago) is also supported by the fact that it coincides with changes in climatic conditions that reduced the desert areas of North Africa, thereby rendering the region more accessible to entry from the Levant. This climatic change also temporally overlaps with the peopling of Europe by populations bearing haplogroup U5, the European sister clade of haplogroup U6.” ref

African origin hypothesis

“According to this theory, haplogroups M and N arose from L3 in an East African population ancestral to eurasians that had been isolated from other African populations before the OOA event. Members of this population were involved in the out Africa migration and may have only carried M and N lineages. With the possible exception of haplogroup M1, all other M and N clades in Africa were lost due to admixture with other African populations and genetic drift.” ref

The African origin of Haplogroup M is supported by the following arguments and evidence.

1. “L3, the parent clade of haplogroup M, is found throughout Africa, but is rare outside Africa. According to Toomas Kivisild, “the lack of L3 lineages other than M and N in India and among non-African mitochondria, in general, suggests that the earliest migration(s) of modern humans already carried these two mtDNA ancestors, via a departure route over the Horn of Africa.” ref

2. Specifically concerning at least M1:

“This study provides evidence that M1, or its ancestor, had an Asiatic origin. The earliest M1 expansion into Africa occurred in northwestern instead of northeastern areas; this early spread reached the Iberian Peninsula even affecting the Basques. The majority of the M1a lineages found outside and inside Africa had a more recent eastern Africa origin. Both western and eastern M1 lineages participated in the Neolithic colonization of the Sahara. The striking parallelism between subclade ages and geographic distribution of M1 and its North African U6 counterpart strongly reinforces this scenario. Finally, a relevant fraction of M1a lineages present today in the European Continent and nearby islands possibly had a Jewish instead of the commonly proposed Arab/Berber maternal ascendance.” ref

Dispersal

“A number of studies have proposed that the ancestors of modern haplogroup M dispersed from Africa through the southern route across the Horn of Africa along the coastal regions of Asia onwards to New Guinea and Australia. These studies suggested that the migrations of haplogroups M and N occurred separately with haplogroup N heading northwards from East Africa to the Levant. However, the results of numerous recent studies indicate that there was only one migration out of Africa and that haplogroups M and N were part of the same migration. This is based on the analysis of a number of relict populations along the proposed beachcombing route from Africa to Australia, all of which possessed both haplogroups N and M.” ref

Was this when shamanism came to Africa by way of the Asians?

“A 2008 study by Abu-Amero et al., suggests that the Arabian Peninsula may have been the main route out of Africa. However, as the region lacks of autochthonous clades of haplogroups M and N the authors suggest that the area has been a more recent receptor of human migrations than an ancient demographic expansion center along the southern coastal route as proposed under the single migration Out-of-Africa scenario of the African origin hypothesis.” ref

Distribution

“M is the most common mtDNA haplogroup in Asia, super-haplogroup M is distributed all over Asia, where it represents 60% of all maternal lineages.” ref

“All Andamanese belong to subgroups of M which is unique to Andamanese people. It peaks in the Malaysian aboriginal Negrito tribes of Semang; 84% in Mendriq people, Batek people 48%, (almost all belong to the specific Malaysian Negrito haplogroup M21a, this subclade also found in the Orang Asli 21%, Thais 7.8% and Malay 4.6% It also peaks very high in Japan and Tibet, where it represents on average about 70% of the maternal lineages (160/216 = 74% Tibet, 205/282 = 73% Tōkai, 231/326 = 71% Okinawa, 148/211 = 70% Japanese, 50/72 = 69% Tibet, 150/217 = 69% Hokkaidō, 24/35 = 69% Zhongdian Tibetan, 175/256 = 68% northern Kyūshū, 38/56 = 68% Qinghai Tibetan, 16/24 = 67% Diqing Tibetan, 66/100 = 66% Miyazaki, 33/51 = 65% Ainu, 214/336 = 64% Tōhoku, 75/118 = 64% Tokyo (JPT)) and is ubiquitous in India and South Korea, where it has approximately 60% frequency. Among Chinese people both inside and outside of China, haplogroup M accounts for approximately 50% of all mtDNA on average, but the frequency varies from approximately 40% in Hans from Hunan and Fujian in southern China to approximately 60% in Shenyang, Liaoning in northeastern China.” ref

“Haplogroup M accounts for approximately 42% of all mtDNA in Filipinos, among whom it is represented mainly by M7c3c and E. In Vietnam, haplogroup M has been found in 37% (52/139) to 48% (20/42) of samples of Vietnamese and in 32% (54/168) of a sample of Chams from Bình Thuận Province. Haplogroup M accounts for 43% (92/214) of all mtDNA in a sample of Laotians, with its subclade M7 (M7b, M7c, and M7e) alone accounting for a full third of all haplogroup M, or 14.5% (31/214) of the total sample.” ref

“In Oceania, A 2008 study found Haplogroup M in 42% (60/144) of a pool of samples from nine language groups in the Admiralty Islands of Papua New Guinea., M has been found in 35% (17/48) of a sample of Papua New Guinea highlanders from the Bundi area and in 28% (9/32) of a sample of Aboriginal Australians from Kalumburu in northwestern Australia. In a study published in 2015, Haplogroup M was found in 21% (18/86) of a sample of Fijians, but it was not observed in a sample of 21 Rotumans. Haplogroup M is also relatively common in Northeast Africa, occurring especially among Somalis, Libyans, and Oromos at frequencies over 20%. Toward the northwest, the lineage is found at comparable frequencies among the Tuareg in Mali and Burkina Faso; particularly the M1a2 subclade (18.42%).” ref

“Among the descendant lineages of haplogroup M are C, D, E, G, Q, and Z. Z and G are found in North Eurasian populations, C and D exists among North Eurasian and Native American populations, E is observed in Southeast Asian populations, and Q is common among Melanesian populations. The lineages M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M18, and M25 are exclusive to South Asia, with M2 reported to be the oldest lineage on the Indian sub-continent with an age estimation of 60,000—75,000 years, and with M5 reported to be the most prevalent in historically Turco-Persian enclaves.” ref

“In 2013, four ancient specimens dated to around 2,500 BCE (4,520 years ago)-500 CE, which were excavated from the Tell Ashara (Terqa) and Tell Masaikh (Kar-Assurnasirpal) archaeological sites in the Euphrates Valley, were found to belong to mtDNA haplotypes associated with the M4b1, M49, and/or M61 haplogroups. Since these clades are not found among the current inhabitants of the area, they are believed to have been brought at a more remote period from east of Mesopotamia; possibly by either merchants or the founders of the ancient Terqa population.” ref

“In 2016, three Late Pleistocene European hunter-gatherers were also found to carry M lineages. Two of the specimens were from the Goyet archaeological site in Belgium and were dated to 34,000 and 35,000 years ago, respectively. The other ancient individual hailed from the La Rochette site in France, and was dated to 28,000 years ago.” ref

“Ancient DNA analysis of Iberomaurusian skeletal remains at the Taforalt site in Morocco, which have been dated to between 15,100 and 13,900 years ago, observed the M1b subclade in one of the fossils (1/7; ~14%). Ancient individuals belonging to the Late Iron Age settlement of Çemialo Sırtı in Batman, southeast Turkey were found to carry haplogroup M; specifically the M1a1 subclade (1/12; ~8.3%). Haplogroup M was also detected in ancient specimens from Southeast Anatolia (0.4%). Additionally, M1 has been observed among ancient Egyptian mummies excavated at the Abusir el-Meleq archaeological site in Middle Egypt, which date from the Pre-Ptolemaic/late New Kingdom and Roman periods. Fossils at the Early Neolithic site of Ifri n’Amr or Moussa in Morocco, which have been dated to around 7,000 years ago, have also been found to carry the M1b subclade. These ancient individuals bore an autochthonous Maghrebi genomic component that peaks among modern Berbers, indicating that they were ancestral to populations in the area. The ancient Egyptian aristocrats Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht were also found to belong to the M1a1 subclade. The half-brothers lived during the 12th Dynasty, with their tomb located at the Deir Rifeh cemetery in Middle Egypt.” ref

“The highest concentration of the seemingly oldest DNA A00, estimated at around 275,000 years old, or so, is found in Bangwa individuals, a Yemba-speaking group of Cameroon (Grassfields Bantu). There was a significant back-migration of bearers of L0 towards eastern Africa between 120 and 75 kya.” ref

“In September 2019, scientists reported the computerized determination, based on 260 CT scans, of a virtual skull shape of the last common human ancestor to anatomically modern humans, representative of the earliest modern humans, and suggested that modern humans arose between 260,000 and 350,000 years ago through a merging of populations in East and South Africa. Migrations out from Africa continued along the Asian coast to Southeast Asia and Oceania, colonizing Australia at least by around 50,000 years ago, or so.” ref

“A 2016 study presented an analysis of the population genetics of the Ainu people of northern Japan as key to the reconstruction of the early peopling of East Asia. The Ainu were found to represent a more basal branch than the modern farming populations of East Asia, suggesting an ancient (pre-Neolithic) connection with northeast Siberians. A 2013 study associated several phenotypical traits associated with Mongoloids with a single mutation of the EDAR gene, dated to c. 35,000 years ago.” ref

A Back Migration from Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa Is Supported by High-Resolution Analysis of Human Y-Chromosome Haplotypes

“The variation of 77 biallelic sites located in the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome was examined in 608 male subjects from 22 African populations. This survey revealed a total of 37 binary haplotypes, which were combined with microsatellite polymorphism data to evaluate internal diversities and to estimate coalescence ages of the binary haplotypes. The majority of binary haplotypes showed a non-uniform distribution across the continent. Analysis of molecular variance detected a high level of interpopulation diversity (ΦST=0.342), which appears to be partially related to the geography (ΦCT=0.230). In sub-Saharan Africa, the recent spread of a set of haplotypes partially erased pre-existing diversity, but a high level of the population (ΦST=0.332) and geographic (ΦCT=0.179) structuring persists. Correspondence analysis shows that three main clusters of populations can be identified: northern, eastern, and sub-Saharan Africans. Among the latter, the Khoisan, the Pygmies, and the northern Cameroonians are clearly distinct from a tight cluster formed by the Niger–Congo–speaking populations from western, central-western, and southern Africa. Phylogeographic analyses suggest that a large component of the present Khoisan gene pool is eastern African in origin and that Asia was the source of a back migration to sub-Saharan Africa. Haplogroup IX Y chromosomes appear to have been involved in such a migration, the traces of which can now be observed mostly in northern Cameroon.” ref

Introduction

“The sex-specific portion of the human Y chromosome is haploid, is paternally transmitted, and escapes recombination. These features make its DNA sequence variation an invaluable tool for the study of modern human evolution. Translate into increased levels of population subdivision compared with the autosomes, and the lack of recombination permits the reconstruction of an unequivocal haplotype phylogeny, which can be related to the geographic distribution of the Y haplotypes, in an approach known as “phylogeography”. Since the discovery of the first polymorphisms in the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY) ∼15 years ago, a large number of studies involving various aspects of human population genetics have been published, but the paucity of usable polymorphic loci on the NRY, which reflects its low level of sequence variation, has hindered progress. Recently, Underhill et al., and Hammer et al. reported a large number of Y-chromosome biallelic polymorphisms, which has provided a detailed phylogeographic portrait of contemporary global population structure and past population movements and interactions. The availability of these highly geographically structured sets of markers has stimulated the analysis of more restricted areas, leading to important clues about the peopling of Europe, Asia, and the Americas.” ref

“Africa has had a central role in human evolutionary history. Both genetic and paleoanthropological evidence has accumulated in support of an African origin for our species. However, few studies specifically dealing with the Y-chromosome diversity of this continent have been published, and these were either based on a small number of polymorphic markers and/or focused on specific geographic areas inside the continent.” ref

“In the present study, we report the Y-chromosome haplotypes detected by surveying 77 biallelic markers in 22 African populations, representing all major population groups on the continent. In addition, the internal diversity of each binary haplotype was assessed by determination of the allele state at seven STR markers. The observed pattern of NRY variation reveals a profound geographic structuring in Africa, suggestive of several complex demographic episodes involving size fluctuations, migrations, expansions, mergers, and subdivisions.” ref

“Thus, both the age and the high frequency of the M81 haplotypes suggest that a demographic expansion has occurred in northwestern Africa about 2,000 years ago.” ref

I think totemism likely originated in Europe from 50,000-40,000 years ago with the Aurignacians, who did a back migration to Africa starting 35,000 years ago from Europe to Africa. There were other later back migrations that could have brought another shamanistic totemism Eurasian DNA-related group that back migrated into northern or western Africa.

35,000-year-old Homo sapiens from Europe supports a Palaeolithic back-migration to Africa

“After the dispersal of modern humans (Homo sapiens) Out of Africa, hominins with a similar morphology to that of present-day humans initiated the gradual demographic expansion into Eurasia. The mitogenome (33-fold coverage) of the Peştera Muierii 1 individual (PM1) from Romania (35 ky cal BP) we present in this article corresponds fully to Homo sapiens, whilst exhibiting a mosaic of morphological features related to both modern humans and Neandertals. We have identified the PM1 mitogenome as a basal haplogroup U6*, not previously found in any ancient or present-day humans. The derived U6 haplotypes are predominantly found in present-day North-Western African populations.” ref

“Aurignacian figurines depicting now-extinct mammals, including mammoths, rhinoceros, and tarpan, along with anthropomorphized depictions seem to be ritualistic and interpreted as some of the earliest evidence of religion.” ref

“The U6 haplogroup has a southwestern Asia origin approximately 40,000 or 45,000 years ago. The early Upper Paleolithic carrying U6 return to Africa from the Mediterranean area. This expansion had affected, not only North Africa, but also the Near East, Iberian Peninsula, and Canary Island. Then U6 haplogroup diffused to Europe through Gibraltar straits or Sicily, but also in sub-Saharan regions.” ref

Haplogroup U6

“Haplogroup U6 was dated to between 31,000 and 43,000 years ago by Behar et al.. Basal U6* was found in a Romanian specimen of ancient DNA (Peștera Muierilor) dated to 35,000 years ago. Hervella et al. take this find as evidence for Paleolithic back-migration of Homo sapiens from Eurasia into Africa. The discovery of basal U6* in ancient DNA contributed to setting back the estimated age of U6 to around 46,000 years ago.” ref

“Haplogroup U6 is common (with a prevalence of around 10%) in Northwest Africa (with a maximum of 29% in an Algerian Mozabites) and the Canary Islands (18% on average with a peak frequency of 50.1% in La Gomera). It is also found in the Iberian peninsula, where it has the highest diversity (10 out of 19 sublineages are only found in this region and not in Africa), Northeast Africa, and occasionally in other locations. U6 is also found at low frequencies in the Chad Basin, including the rare Canarian branch. This suggests that the ancient U6 clade bearers may have inhabited or passed through the Chad Basin on their way westward toward the Canary Islands.” ref

“U6 is thought to have entered North Africa from the Near East around 30,000 years ago. It has been found among Iberomaurusian specimens dating from the Epipaleolithic at the Taforalt prehistoric site. In spite of the highest diversity of Iberian U6, Maca-Meyer argues for a Near East origin of this clade based on the highest diversity of subclade U6a in that region, where it would have arrived from West Asia, with the Iberian incidence primarily representing migration from the Maghreb and not the persistence of a European root population. According to Hernández et al., “the estimated entrance of the North African U6 lineages into Iberia at 10 ky correlates well with other L African clades, indicating that U6 and some L lineages moved together from Africa to Iberia in the Early Holocene.” ref

U6 has four main subclades:

“Subgroup U6a reflects the first African expansion from the Maghreb returning to the east. Derivative clade U6a1 signals a posterior movement from East Africa back to the Maghreb and the Near East. This migration coincides with the probable Afroasiatic linguistic expansion. U6b and U6c clades, restricted to West Africa, had more localized expansions. U6b probably reached the Iberian Peninsula during the Capsian diffusion in North Africa. Two autochthonous derivatives of these clades (U6b1 and U6c1) indicate the arrival of North African settlers to the Canarian Archipelago in prehistoric times, most probably due to the Saharan desiccation. The absence of these Canarian lineages nowadays in Africa suggests important demographic movements in the western area of this Continent. — Maca-Meyer 2003” ref

· “U6a: subclade is the most widespread, stretching from the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula to the Horn of Africa and Near East. The subhaplogroup has its highest diversity in Northeast Africa. Ancient DNA analysis of Iberomaurusian skeletal remains at the Taforalt site in Morocco, which have been dated to the Later Stone Age between 15,100 and 13,900 years ago, observed the U6a subclade among most of the fossils (6/7; ~86%). Fossils at the Early Neolithic site of Ifri n’Amr or Moussa in Morocco, which have been dated to around 7,000 years ago, have also been found to carry the U6a subhaplogroup. These ancient individuals bore an autochthonous Northwest African genomic component that peaks among modern Berbers, indicating that they were ancestral to populations in the area. U6a’s estimated age is 24,000-27,500 years ago.” ref

It has one major subclade:

o “U6a1: similar distribution to U6a parent clade; found particularly among Copts (27.6%) and Beja (10.4%).[59] Estimated age: 15,000-20,000 years ago.

· U6b: shows a more patched and western distribution. In the Iberian peninsula, U6b is more frequent in the north, whereas U6a is more common in the south. It has also been found at low frequencies in Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, and Nigeria. Estimated age: 8,500-24,500 years ago. It has one subclade:

o U6b1: found only in the Canary Islands and in the Iberian peninsula. Estimated age: c. 6000 years ago.

· U6c: only found in Morocco and Canary Islands. Estimated age: 6,000-17,500 years ago.

· U6d: most closely related to U6b. Localized in the Maghreb, with a presence in Europe. It arose between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago.” ref

“U6a, U6b, and U6d share a common basal mutation (16219) that is not present in U6c, whereas U6c has 11 unique mutations. U6b and U6d share a mutation (16311) not shared by U6a, which has three unique mutations.” ref

15,100-13,900 years old U6a Iberomaurusian-ADNA reached 86% at the Taforalt site in Morocco, Africa.

Iberomaurusian

“The Iberomaurusian is a backed bladelet lithic industry found near the coasts of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. It is also known from a single major site in Libya, the Haua Fteah, where the industry is locally known as the Eastern Oranian. The Iberomaurusian seems to have appeared around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), somewhere between c. 25,000 and 23,000 years ago. It would have lasted until the early Holocene c. 11,000 years ago.” ref

“The name of the Iberomaurusian means “of Iberia and Mauretania“, the latter being a Latin name for Northwest Africa. Pallary (1909) coined this term to describe assemblages from the site of La Mouillah in the belief that the industry extended over the strait of Gibraltar into the Iberian peninsula. This theory is now generally discounted, but the name has stuck.” ref

“In Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, but not in Morocco, the industry is succeeded by the Capsian industry, whose origins are unclear. The Capsian is believed either to have spread into North Africa from the Near East, or to have evolved from the Iberomaurusian. In Morocco and Western Algeria, the Iberomaurusian is succeeded by the Cardial culture after a long hiatus.” ref

Alternative names

“Because the name of the Iberomaurusian implies Afro-European cultural contact now generally discounted, researchers have proposed other names:

· Mouillian or Mouillan, based on the site of La Mouillah.

· The Oranian, based on the Algerian region of Oran.

· The Epipalaeolithic.

· The Late Upper Palaeolithic (of Northwest African facies).” ref

Timeline of sites

“What follows is a timeline of all published radiocarbon dates from reliably Iberomaurusian contexts, excluding a number of dates produced in the 1960s and 1970s considered “highly doubtful”. All dates, calibrated and Before Present, are according to Hogue and Barton. The Tamar Hat date beyond 25,000 years old is tentative.” ref

Genetics

“In 2013, Iberomaurusian skeletons from the prehistoric sites of Taforalt and Afalou were analyzed for ancient DNA. All of the specimens belonged to maternal clades associated with either North Africa or the northern and southern Mediterranean littoral, indicating gene flow between these areas since the Epipaleolithic. The ancient Taforalt individuals carried the mtDNA Haplogroup N subclades like U6 and M which points to population continuity in the region dating from the Iberomaurusian period.” ref

“Loosdrecht et al. (2018) analysed genome-wide data from seven ancient individuals from the Iberomaurusian Grotte des Pigeons site near Taforalt in north-eastern Morocco. The fossils were directly dated to between 15,100 and 13,900 years ago. The scientists found that all males belonged to haplogroup E1b1b, common among Afroasiatic males. The male specimens with sufficient nuclear DNA preservation belonged to the paternal haplogroup E1b1b1a1 (M78), with one skeleton bearing the E1b1b1a1b1 parent lineage to E-V13, one male specimen belonged to E1b1b (M215*). These Y-DNA clades 24,000 years ago had a common ancestor with the Berbers and the E1b1b1b (M123) subhaplogroup that has been observed in skeletal remains belonging to the Epipaleolithic Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic cultures of the Levant. Maternally, the Taforalt remains bore the U6a and M1b mtDNA haplogroups, which are common among modern Afroasiatic-speaking populations in Africa. A two-way admixture scenario using Natufian and modern sub-Saharan samples (including West Africans and the Tanzanian Hadza) as reference populations inferred that the seven Taforalt individuals are best modeled genetically as of 63.5% Natufian-related and 36.5% sub-Saharan ancestry (with the latter having both West African-like and Hadza-like affinities), with no apparent gene flow from the Epigravettian culture of Paleolithic southern Europe. The scientists indicated that further ancient DNA testing at other Iberomaurusian archaeological sites would be necessary to determine whether the Taforalt samples were representative of the broader Iberomaurusian gene pool.” ref

Iberomaurusian DNA from Taforalt and Afalou all belonged to either North Africa or the northern as well as the southern Mediterranean region, indicating gene flow since around 20,000-10,000 years ago, or so with the mtDNA Haplogroup N subclades like U6 and M which points to population continuity in the region dating from the Iberomaurusian period.

Origins of the Iberomaurusian in NW Africa: New AMS radiocarbon dating of the Middle and Later Stone Age deposits at Taforalt Cave, Morocco

Abstract

“Recent genetic studies based on the distribution of mtDNA of haplogroup U6 have led to subtly different theories regarding the arrival of modern human populations in North Africa. One proposes that groups of the proto-U6 lineage spread from the Near East to North Africa around 40–45 ka (thousands of years ago), followed by some degree of regional continuity. Another envisages a westward human migration from the Near East, followed by further demographic expansion at ∼22,000 years ago centered on the Maghreb and associated with a microlithic bladelet culture known as the Iberomaurusian. In evaluating these theories, we report on the results of new work on the Middle (MSA) and Later Stone (LSA) Age deposits at Taforalt Cave in Morocco. We present 54 AMS radiocarbon dates on bone and charcoals from a sequence of late MSA and LSA occupation levels of the cave. Using Bayesian modeling we show that an MSA non-Levallois flake industry was present until 24,000 years ago, followed by a gap in occupation and the subsequent appearance of an LSA Iberomaurusian industry from at least 21,160 years ago. The new dating offers fresh light on theories of continuity versus replacement of populations as presented by the genetic evidence. We examine the implications of these data for interpreting the first appearance of the LSA in the Maghreb and providing comparisons with other dated early blade and bladelet industries in North Africa.” ref

The Iberomaurusian enigma: North African progenitor or dead end?

Abstract

“Data obtained during an ongoing dental investigation of African populations address two long-standing, hotly debated questions. First, was there genetic continuity between Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusians and later northwest Africans (e.g., Capsians, Berbers, Guanche)? Second, were skeletally-robust Iberomaurusians and northeast African Nubians variants of the same population? Iberomaurusians from Taforalt in Morocco and Afalou-Bou-Rhummel in Algeria, Nubians from Jebel Sahaba in Sudan, post-Pleistocene Capsians from Algeria and Tunisia, and a series of other samples were statistically compared using 29 discrete dental traits to help estimate diachronic local and regional affinities. Results revealed: (1) a relationship between the Iberomaurusians, particularly those from Taforalt, and later Maghreb and other North African samples, and (2) a divergence among contemporaneous Iberomaurusians and Nubian samples. Thus, some measure of long-term population continuity in the Maghreb and surrounding region is supported, whereas greater North African population heterogenity during the Late Pleistocene is implied.” ref

Scientists analyze some of the oldest human DNA from Africa

“Researchers find connections from Moroccan Stone Age dwellers to ancient Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African populations, Cultural Studies Genetics Migration” ref

“An international team of researchers have sequenced DNA from individuals from Morocco dating to approximately 15,000 years ago. This is the oldest nuclear DNA from Africa ever successfully analyzed. The study, published in Science, shows that the individuals, dating to the Late Stone Age, had a genetic heritage that was in part similar to ancient Levantine Natufians and an uncharacterized sub-Saharan African lineage to which modern West Africans are genetically closest.” ref

Characteristic Iberomaurusian microlithic tools from Grotte des Pigeons

“An international team of researchers, led by Johannes Krause and Choongwon Jeong from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (Jena, Germany), and Abdeljalil Bouzouggar from the Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine (Rabat, Morocco) and including scientists from the Mohammed V University in Rabat, the Natural History Museum in London, University of Oxford, Université Mohammed Premier in Oujda and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, have sequenced DNA from individuals from Morocco dating to approximately 15,000 years ago, as published in Science. This is the oldest nuclear DNA from Africa ever successfully analyzed. The individuals, dating to the Late Stone Age, had a genetic heritage that was in part similar to Near Eastern populations and in part related to sub-Saharan African populations.” ref

“North Africa is an important area in the history of the evolution of our species. The geography of North Africa also makes it an interesting area for studying how humans expanded out of Africa. It is part of the African continent, but the Sahara desert presents a substantial barrier to travel to and from southern regions. Similarly, it is part of the Mediterranean region, but in the past, the sea could have presented a barrier to interaction with others as well. “A better understanding of the history of North Africa is critical to understanding the history of our species,” explains co-author Saaïd Amzazi of Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco. In order to address this, the team looked at a burial site in Grotte des Pigeons, near Taforalt in Morocco, associated with the Later Stone Age Iberomaurusian culture. The Iberomaurusians are believed to be the first in the area to produce finer stone tools known as microliths. “Grotte des Pigeons is a crucial site to understanding the human history of north-western Africa, since modern humans frequently inhabited this cave intensively during prolonged periods throughout the Middle and Later Stone Age,” explains co-author Louise Humphrey of the Natural History Museum in London. “Around 15,000 years ago there is evidence for more intensive use of the site and the Iberomaurusians started to bury their dead at the back of the cave.” ref

15,000-year-old nuclear DNA is the oldest recovered in Africa

“The researchers analyzed DNA from nine individuals from Taforalt using advanced sequencing and analytical methods. They were able to recover mitochondrial data from seven of the individuals and genome-wide nuclear data from five of the individuals. Because of the age of the samples, at approximately 15,000 years old, and the poor preservation characteristic of the area, this is an unprecedented achievement. “This is the first and the oldest Pleistocene DNA of our species recovered in Africa,” explains co-senior author Abdeljalil Bouzouggar. “Due to challenging conditions for DNA preservation, relatively few ancient genomes have been recovered from Africa and none of them so far predate the introduction of agriculture in North Africa,” explains first author Marieke van de Loosdrecht of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. “Successful genome reconstruction was possible by using specialized laboratory methods to retrieve highly degraded DNA, and relatively new analysis methods to characterize the genetic profiles of these individuals.” The researchers found two major components to the genetic heritage of the individuals. About two-thirds of their heritage is related to contemporaneous populations from the Levant and about one-third is most similar to modern sub-Saharan Africans, in particular West Africans.” ref

As early as the Stone Age, human populations had links that stretched across continents

“The high proportion of Near Eastern ancestry shows that the connection between North Africa and the Near East began much earlier than many previously thought. Although the connections between these regions have been shown in previous studies for more recent time periods, it was not generally believed that humans were interacting across these distances during the Stone Age. “Our analysis shows that North Africa and the Near East, even at this early time, were part of one region without much of a genetic barrier,” explains co-senior author Choongwon Jeong.” ref

“Although the Sahara did present a physical barrier, there was also clearly interaction happening at this time. The strong connection between the Taforalt individuals and sub-Saharan populations shows that interactions across this vast desert were occurring much earlier than was previously thought. In fact, the proportion of sub-Saharan ancestry of the Taforalt individuals, one-third, is a higher percentage than found in modern populations in Morocco and many other North African populations.” ref

Sub-Saharan heritage from a previously unknown ancient population

“Though the scientists found clear markers linking the heritage in question to sub-Saharan Africa, no previously identified population has the precise combination of genetic markers that the Taforalt individuals had. While some aspects match modern Hadza hunter-gatherers from East Africa and others match modern West Africans, neither of these groups has the same combination of characteristics as the Taforalt individuals. Consequently, the researchers cannot be sure exactly where this heritage comes from. One possibility is that this heritage may come from a population that no longer exists. However, this question would need further investigation.” ref

“Clearly, human populations were interacting much more with groups from other, more distant areas than was previously assumed,” states co-senior author Johannes Krause, director of the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. “This illustrates the ability of ancient genetics to add to our understanding of human history.” Further studies in this region could help to clarify more about when and how these different populations interacted and where they came from.” ref

The Iberomaurusian Enigma: North African Progenitor or Dead End?

Abstract and Figures

“Data obtained during an ongoing dental investigation of African populations address two long-standing, hotly debated questions. First, was there genetic continuity between Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusians and later northwest Africans (e.g., Capsians, Berbers, Guanche)? Second, were skeletally-robust Iberomaurusians and northeast African Nubians variants of the same population? Iberomaurusians from Taforalt in Morocco and Afalou-Bou-Rhummel in Algeria, Nubians from Jebel Sahaba in Sudan, post-Pleistocene Capsians from Algeria and Tunisia, and a series of other samples were statistically compared using 29 discrete dental traits to help estimate diachronic local and regional affinities. Results revealed: (1) a relationship between the Iberomaurusians, particularly those from Taforalt, and later Maghreb and other North African samples, and (2) a divergence among contemporaneous Iberomaurusians and Nubian samples. Thus, some measure of long-term population continuity in the Maghreb and surrounding region is supported, whereas greater North African population heterogenity during the Late Pleistocene is implied.” ref

Introduction

“There are, among others, two important questions pertaining to North African pre-history that have been sources of bio-archaeological contention for decades. First, were Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusian populations ancestral to subsequent north-west Africans, or were they essentially a dead-end, playing only a minor role in the latter’s genetic make-up? Second, were the Iberomaurusians closely related to contemporaneous Nubians of northeast Africa, or are reported physical and cultural similarities between populations merely superficial?” ref

“The term Iberomaurusian refers to: (1) a Late Paleolithic tool industry characterized by microlithic backed, partially backed obtuse-ended, and other bladelets, and (2) the makers of this industry; both were present in numerous northwest African Maghreb sites (Afalou-Bou-Rhummel, La Mouillah, Taza Cave I, Taforalt, etc.) between 20,000 years ago and the terminal Pleistocene. Most sites are clustered along the Maghreb littoral in caves and rock shelters: several contain human burials. In the past, Iberomarusian peoples have been called Mechta-Afalou, Mechta el-Arbi, and/or Mechtoid types. They are a skeletally-robust population that resembles European Cro-magnon to some extent.” ref

Introduction

“There are, among others, two importantquestions pertaining to North African pre-history that have been sources of bio-archaeological contention for decades. First,were Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusianpopulations ancestral to subsequent north-west Africans, or were they essentially adead-end, playing only a minor role in thelatter’s genetic make-up? Second, were theIberomaurusians closely related to contem-poraneous Nubians of northeast Africa,or are reported physical and culturalsimilarities between populations merelysuperficial? The term Iberomaurusian refers to: (1) a Late Paleolithic tool industry characterizedby microlithic backed, partially backedobtuse-ended, and other bladelets, and(2) the makers of this industry; both werepresent in numerous northwest AfricanMaghreb sites (Afalou-Bou-Rhummel, LaMouillah, Taza Cave I, Taforalt, etc.)between 20,000 years ago and the termi-nal Pleistocene. Most sites are clustered alongthe Maghreb littoral in caves and rock shel-ters: several contain human burials.” ref

“In the past, Iberomarusian peopleshave been called Mechta-Afalou, Mechtael-Arbi, and/or Mechtoid types. They are a skeletally-robustpopulation that resembles EuropeanCro-magnon to some extent, although they are said to be more rugged or to vary inadditional ways. The origin of Ibero-maurusians is unresolved; they may havecome from Europe, West Asia, elsewhere inAfrica, or they may have evolved in situ in north Africa. Regarding the question of populationcontinuity, several workers believe Iberomauru-sians contributed little to the geneticmake-up of later northwest Africans, includ-ing Berbers and Canary Island Guanches,although a few maintain they provided inputto the latter’s gene pool. Whichever the case, allof these researchers agree Iberomaurusianpeoples were replaced in the Maghreb byskeletally-gracile Capsians in the terminalLate Pleistocene; it is Capsians, then, whowere the immediate ancestors of Berbersand others (e.g., Tauregs and, perhaps, Toubou).” ref

“These manufacturers of backedblades and endscrapers on blades or largeflakes, and microliths from light bladelets, havehistorically been sub-divided into three,essentially time-successive, cultural manifes-tations: the Typical, Upper, and Neolithic ofCapsian Traditions. Evidence for intrapopulation skeletal diver-sity has also been reported. Sites may be open-air or occur within caves and rockshelters; all contain many land snails shells,and other diagnostic food and materialremains. A few researchers maintain that theCapsians were indigenous (see below), butothers believe these ‘‘proto-Mediterranean’’peoples migrated into the area from theeast—perhaps from as far afield as WestAsia.Conversely, craniometric and lithic analy-ses by Lubell and co-workers suggest there is continuity fromIberomaurusian through Capsian times. These researchers do not perceive a biocul-tural hiatus, although there may have beenspatial divergence. Some level of continuity has also beenimplied in other studies. Iberomaurusians may have evensurvived into the early Holocene in the Malinese Sahara and along the Atlantic coast, and there are reports of robust Mechta-Afalou- orMechtoid-like skeletal remains in Capsianand later Maghreb sites (e.g. Mechtael-Arbi, Medjez II, Grotte des Hye`nes), RioSalado. Therefore, they could indeed be ancestors tolater northwest Africans, including Capsians.” ref

“Moreover, Lubell et al. feelthat if there was eastern influence, it probably came from the Nile Valley (i.e., LatePleistocene Nubians) rather than West Asia. Concerning the question of affinity tocontemporaneous peoples, previous studiesshow that Late Pleistocene Nubians share anumber of similarities with Iberomauru-sians; the former’s Qadan (ca. 15,000–11,000 years ago) microlithic industry was likethat in the Maghreb, andthey had comparable burial practices—as evident at the Jebel Sahaba cemetery (SMU 117) in Lower Nubia. In addition, skeletal similitudebetween populations has been suggested. Iberomaurusian skel-etons from Dar-es-Soltan and Taforalt in Morocco, and Ali-Bacha and Afalou-Bou-Rhummel in Algeria, are said to looklike 12,000 year-old Nubian remains fromWadi Halfa and Jebel Sahaba, based oncraniometric and nonmetric research. These populations, in turn, resemble the Nazlet Khater and 25,000-year-old WadiKubbaniya remains from Egypt. Overall, crania in these populations are saidto share many features, including prominentbrow ridges, low rectangular orbits, projecting zygomatic arches, alveolar prognathism,large facial foramina, low broad mandibularrami, gonial eversion, and large complexteeth.” ref

“However, Bermudez de Castro’s dental comparison between the small WadiHalfa Nubian sample and the Taforalt and Afalou-Bou-Rhummel Iberomaurusianswas inconclusive. Further, Camps reports that the Qadan tool industry differsnoticeably from that of the Iberomauru-sians, and describes several physical differ-ences between the two contemporaneouspopulations. Along these lines, craniofacial, dental, andpost-cranial comparativeanalyses of the Taforalt and Afalou-Bou-Rhummel samples with Jebel SahabaNubians have cast doubts on a close biologi-cal affinity; all show that the former twosamples exbibit many features reminiscentof later North Africans, whereas Late Pleis-tocene Nubians are more like recent sub-Saharan Africans. These findings are largelysupported by Groves & Thorne’s )recent cranial analyses. With this review of purported populationorigins and relationships as a backdrop, thegoal of the present study is to addressthe two dichotomous questions posed at theoutset. For this purpose, I will use dentalanalyses of 16 Late Pleistocene throughrecent North African samples (n=818 indi-viduals).” ref

“This study comprises a morphological examination of two Iberomaurusiansamples, and a multivariate statistical comparison of these data with those in: (1)indigenous northwest Africans, includingCapsians, Shawia and Kabyle Berbers, andGuanches, (2) Late Pleistocene JebelSahaba Nubians, (3) post-PleistoceneNubians and Egyptians, and (4) WestAsian-derived Carthaginians and BedouinArabs from the Maghreb. The latter two setsof nine samples are included to help facili-tate a better understanding of North African population history in a broader, moreregion- and circum-Mediterranean-orientedperspective.” ref

Results

“Occurrences of the 36 dental traits in the Afalou and Taforalt samples are listed inTable 1. The percentage of individuals in each sample with a specific trait is presented, along with the total number of individuals scored. Corresponding ASU presence/absence dichotomies follow each trait name. To facilitate qualitative comparisons, previously published figures forJebel Sahaba Nubians and Capsians are tabulated. Because of the latter’s small sample size, several trait frequencies are likely not representative, and should be viewed with discretion (this issue is addressed below). Data for the remaining north Africans are also published elsewhere, but for comparative purposes, frequencies from a pooled group-ing of these and other North Africans are provided. Lastly, dental data in Late Pleistocene Natufians from Israel are listed in thefinal column; they are briefly discussed later. Prior work described how the 13 post-PleistoceneNorth African samples in the present study shows an affinity to Europeans, possessing many traits that involve dental simplificationand mass reduction. Homogeneity of this pattern, termed the North African DentalTrait Complex, was reported despite vast amounts of time (from 8000 year-old Capsians to recent Berbers) and space (from the Canary Islands to Egypt and Nubia). It includes a comparatively low incidence of UI1 shoveling, UC distal accessory ridge, six-cusped LM1, LM1deflecting wrinkle, LM2 Y-groove pattern, and LP1 Tome’s root. In addition, there are relatively high frequencies of four-cusped LM2 and M3 agenesis, as well as UM1Carabelli’s trait and two-rooted LC. Rockerjaw,1a common European feature, is also seen. WestAsians are reported to possess many similar traits, although a comprehensive study of these populations has yet to be undertaken.” ref

“Any North African deviations way from this simple dental pattern are in the direction of complex, sub-Saharan traits, suggesting some admixture with these peoples. These findings agree with genetic-based results that link NorthAfricans to Europeans and West Asians, but record many sub-Saharan influencedmarkers. Iberomaurusian dental trait frequencies suggest that the time depth for the NorthAfrican pattern may be pushed back farther than formerly envisioned. Taforalt teeth possess simple morphology, and include such diagnostic traits as the UI2interruption groove, LM2, +-groove pat-tern, four-cusped LM2, M3 agenesis (or reduction), and rocker jaw. The Afaloudentitions show a similar pattern, albeit with a trend toward greater morphological complexity. Such traits as five-cusped UM1, LM2 Y-groove pattern, five-cusped LM2, and LP1 Tome’s root are present in markedly higher frequencies. Dentitions of Late Pleistocene JebelSahaba Nubians have extremely high fre-quencies of complex, mass-additive (and other) traits, including UI1 labial curvature,UI1 shoveling, Bushman Canine, UC distalaccessory ridge, midline diastema, six-cusped LM1, LM2 Y-5, and LP1 Tome’sroot. Furthermore, they exhibit low fre-quencies of typical North African features.This trait combination is ubiquitous in sub-Saharan Africans.” ref

“These qualitative comparisons are supported by the MMD results.2Unfortunately, due to the Iberomaurusian UI1evulsion, five traits were excluded from analysis because of small sample sizes (i.e., one or both samples <8).Distal accessory ridge UC and C1–C2 crestLM1 were dropped for the same reason.The remaining 29 traits were used to determine biological distances. Analysis of the small Capsian sample was also ameliorated by these adjustments. MMD distances among the samples are illustrated via interval-level, two-dimensional MDS inFigure 2. This measurement level was decided to be most appropriate, because the large number of traits causes the matrix of distance values to approximate continuous data. The easily interpretable two-dimensionalconfiguration is used, rather than three-, due to minimal improvement in stress and r2values at the higher dimension.Taforalt (far left) is associated with the 13closely clustered, post-Pleistocene samples.Within this cluster, the mingling of northwest and northeast Africans reflects the dental homogeneity previously mentioned. MMDvalues among the 13 samples range between0·00 and 0·08; most are not significantlydifferent. MMDs between Taforalt and these samples vary from 0·02 to 0·14; seven values are not significant, including Capsians (0·06) and Shawia Berbers(0·04).” ref

“Nonsignificant MMDs also occur between Taforalt and Carthaginians (0·02), Soleb Nubians (0·02), Christian Nubians(0·04), Kharga Egyptians (0·01), and LishtEgyptians (0·05). Jebel Sahaba is significantly divergent from all others (MMD range=0·22–0·47). Although simplistic, the x-axis can be envisioned as a line representing increasing dental complexity. Therefore, Taforalt has the most mass-reduced, while Jebel Sahaba has the most mass-additive features. Finally, Afalou shows obvious separation from the rest, although, compared to Jebel Sahaba, it could possibly be seen as an outlier of the main cluster using a neighborhood approach to MDS cluster interpretation.MMDs between Afalou and post-Pleistocene samples are 0·08 to 0·27, whereas the corresponding value between Afalou and Taforalt is 0·17; all are signifi-cant. Analogous results were obtained using another distance measure[i.e., Konigsberg’s modified Mahalanobis, suggesting the affinities are actual, not an artifact of a particular statistical method. First, the idea that Iberomau-rusians are unrelated to subsequent NorthAfricans is not supported.” ref

“With Taforalt, at least, these is no conspicuous divergence to suggest they were a genetic dead-end.Second, Iberomaurusians are wholly unlikeLate Pleistocene Nubians, despite purported similarities in cultural manifestations and cranial robusticity. Indeed, Taforalt andJebel Sahaba appear to be at opposite ends of a dental morphological spectrum.With respect to population continuity, both Iberomaurusian samples show some degree of affiliation with all later NorthAfricans, as suggested by the sharing of many morphologically simple features found in the North African Dental Trait Complex.Taforalt exhibits the closest affiliation, based on its proximity to the post-Pleisocene cluster. Within the Maghreb, Taforalt is most akin to the Shawia Berbers and Capsians, although the small Capsian sample requires that these results be interpreted with caution; Afalou shows slight similitude to Canary Island Guanches. Together, theseaffinities may be indicative of regional population continuity, which supports several findings by Close, Lubell, and coworkers, and per-haps those hypothesizing an Iberomau-rusian/Guanche connection. However, there is no evidence for a close affinity between Afalouand Capsians, or with most other samples. Recent cranial analyses support these findings.” ref

“Thus, conversely, several conclusions by Balout, to further confuse matters, Taforalt is allied with West Asian-derived Carthaginians, and recent Egyptians and Nubians. If not perceived as an indicator of West Asian or NileValley influence, these affinities may simply represent an overall correspondence with the mass-reduced dental pattern prevalent in greater post-Pleistocene North Africa. The Capsiansample is also linked with some Nubians. Again, if this is not seen as support for a Capsian origin in the east, it may represent a fortuitous relationship due to sample size and heterogeneity, or perhaps is symptomatic of pervasive post-Pleistocene dental homogeneity. There are more definitive answers regarding the question of homogeneity between Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusians and Nubians. Extreme divergence between the two suggests they are not closely related.Whereas Afalou and, particularly, Taforaltdentitions are characterized by dental morphological reduction, the Nubians exhibit amass-additive dental patterns, like that in sub-Saharan peoples.” ref

“The latter possess a suite of 11 mass-additive traits that I termed the Sub-Saharan African Dental Complex. These findings bolster previous dental, cranial, and postcranial results. Thus, evidence for a common Mechta-Afalou population in both the Maghreb and Nubia is not supported. Calls for similarity based on such shared cranial features as prominent brows, projecting zygomatic arches, gonial eversion, alveolar prognathism, and complex teeth, among others, may be ill-founded. Except for several Afalou traits, it was demonstrated that Iberomaurusians do not posses complex teeth. Moreover, even a casual inspection of crania in the three samples reveals that many characteristicNubian traits, including, for example, alveolar prognathism, are uncommon or absent in Iberomaurusians.” ref

“Lastly, an additional, though not completely unexpected, finding entails the sig-nificant divergence between the two Ibero-maurusian samples. Besides shared cranialtraits, which can result from common environmental factors the Taforalt and Afalou-Bou-Rhummelsamples differ in a number of dental trait frequencies. As Ferembach notes, such morphological variations should not be too surprising, considering the two samples were separated by 700 km and up to 3000 years. Intra-Iberomaurusian diversity has been observed in terms of racial typologies, including Briggs’ A–Dcranial types, Chamla’s designation of ‘‘Typique’’ and ‘‘Gracilise´’’, and Camps’ ‘‘Mechta-Afalou clas-sique’’ and ‘‘Mechtoı¨des evolves’’. However, whether a result of sub-Saharan geneflow into Afalou, other genetic factors, or even dietary and behavioral variation, the diversity provides additional evidence for Late Pleistocene population heterogeneity in the region. Therefore, it may be unwise topool Taforalt and Afalou into a single Ibero-maurusian sample, as has often been the case in previous studies.” ref

“To briefly illustrate the importance of incorporating, for example, West Asians, this study incorporating concludes with a 22-trait comparison between the North Africans and a sample of Late Pleistocene (ca. 12,800–10,200 years ago)Natufians (NAT) from Israel. Data from these latter individuals are in Lipschultz; they were also recorded using the ASU System. Twenty-two rather than 29 traits (see Table 1) are compared using the MMD statistic because the other seven are not listed in his thesis.Although interobserver error cannot be ruled out as a factor, Natufians are significantly divergent fromIberomaurusians and other North Africans (MMD range=0·10–0·43). Despite contem-poraneity, they differ most from Afalou (0·27), Taforalt (0·27), and Jebel Sahaba (0·43). These findings support conclusions by Ferembach, Camps, Hershkovitz et al., Lahr & Arensburg, and others based on skeletal metric and nonmetricdata. It also suggests Late Pleistocenepopulation heterogeneity extended.” ref

The Iberomaurusian Enigma: North African

Abstract and Figures

“Data obtained during an ongoing dental investigation of African populations address two long-standing, hotly debated questions. First, was there genetic continuity between Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusians and later northwest Africans (e.g., Capsians, Berbers, Guanche)? Second, were skeletally-robust Iberomaurusians and northeast African Nubians variants of the same population? Iberomaurusians from Taforalt in Morocco and Afalou-Bou-Rhummel in Algeria, Nubians from Jebel Sahaba in Sudan, post-Pleistocene Capsians from Algeria and Tunisia, and a series of other samples were statistically compared using 29 discrete dental traits to help estimate diachronic local and regional affinities. Results revealed: (1) a relationship between the Iberomaurusians, particularly those from Taforalt(Morocco North Africa), and later Maghreb(western part of North Africa) and other North African samples, and (2) a divergence among contemporaneous Iberomaurusians and Nubian samples. Thus, some measure of long-term population continuity in the Maghreb and surrounding region is supported, whereas greater North African population heterogenity during the Late Pleistocene is implied.” ref

25,000-11,000 years ago Iberomaurusians

“The Iberomaurusian implies Afro-European cultural contact and is a backed bladelet lithic industry found near the coasts of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. It is also known from a single major site in Libya. The Iberomaurusian seems to have appeared around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), somewhere between c. 25,000 and 23,000 years ago. It would have lasted until the early Holocene c. 11,000 years ago. Maternally, the Taforalt remains had U6a and M1b mtDNA haplogroups, which are common among modern Afroasiatic-speaking populations in Africa. Basal U6* was found in a Romanian specimen of ancient DNA (Peștera Muierilor) dated to 35,000 years ago. U6 is thought to have entered North Africa from the Near East around 30,000 years ago. It has been found among Iberomaurusian specimens dating from the Epipaleolithic at the Taforalt prehistoric site.” ref, ref

Southern Africa

“One 2005 study has found haplogroup A in samples of various Khoisan-speaking tribes with frequency ranging from 10% to 70%. This particular haplogroup was not found in a sample of the Hadzabe from Tanzania, a population sometimes proposed as a remnant of a Late Stone Age Khoisanid population.” ref

“Aurignacian figurines have been found depicting faunal representations of the time period associated with now-extinct mammals, including mammoths, rhinoceros, and tarpan, along with anthropomorphized depictions that may be interpreted as some of the earliest evidence of religion.” ref

“The Aurignacian (/ɔːrɪɡˈneɪʃən/) is an archaeological tradition of the Upper Paleolithic associated with European early modern humans (EEMH) lasting from 43,000 to 26,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic developed in Europe some time after the Levant, where the Emiran period and the Ahmarian period form the first periods of the Upper Paleolithic, corresponding to the first stages of the expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa. They then migrated to Europe and created the first European culture of modern humans, the Aurignacian. An Early Aurignacian or Proto-Aurignacian stage is dated between about 43,000 and 37,000 years ago. The Aurignacian proper lasts from about 37,000 to 33,000 years ago. A Late Aurignacian phase transitional with the Gravettian dates to about 33,000 to 26,000 years ago. The type site is the Cave of Aurignac, Haute-Garonne, south-west France. The main preceding period is the Mousterian of the Neanderthals.” ref

“One of the oldest examples of figurative art, the Venus of Hohle Fels, comes from the Aurignacian and is dated to between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago (though now earlier figurative art may be known, see Lubang Jeriji Saléh). It was discovered in a cave at Schelklingen in Baden-Württemberg in western Germany. The German Lion-man figure is given a similar date range. The Bacho Kiro site in Bulgaria is one of the earliest known Aurignacian burials. A “Levantine Aurignacian” culture is known from the Levant, with a type of blade technology very similar to the European Aurignacian, following chronologically the Emiran and Early Ahmarian in the same area of the Near East, and also closely related to them. The Levantine Aurignacian may have preceded European Aurignacian, but there is a possibility that the Levantine Aurignacian was rather the result of reverse influence from the European Aurignacian: this remains unsettled.

Gravettians

“The Gravettian was an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian circa 33,000 years ago. It is archaeologically the last European culture many consider unified, and had mostly disappeared by c. 22,000 years ago, close to the Last Glacial Maximum, although some elements lasted until c. 17,000 years ago. At this point, it was replaced abruptly by the Solutrean in France and Spain, and developed into or continued as the Epigravettian in Italy, the Balkans, Ukraine, and Russia. They are known for their Venus figurines, which were typically carved from either ivory or limestone. The Gravettian culture was first identified at the site of La Gravette in the Dordogne department of southwestern France.” ref

Toba catastrophe theory

“The Youngest Toba eruption was a supervolcanic eruption that occurred around 75,000 years ago at the site of present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of the Earth‘s largest known explosive eruptions. The Toba catastrophe theory holds that this event caused a global volcanic winter of six to ten years and possibly a 1,000-year-long cooling episode.” ref

“In 1993, science journalist Ann Gibbons posited that a population bottleneck occurred in human evolution about 70,000 years ago, and she suggested that this was caused by the eruption. Geologist Michael R. Rampino of New York University and volcanologist Stephen Self of the University of Hawaii at Manoa support her suggestion. In 1998, the bottleneck theory was further developed by anthropologist Stanley H. Ambrose of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Both the link and global winter theories are controversial. The Youngest Toba eruption is the most closely studied supervolcanic eruption.” ref

“A startling discovery of 70,000-year-old artifacts and a python’s head carved of stone appears to represent the first known human rituals. Scientists had thought human intelligence had not evolved the capacity to perform group rituals until perhaps 40,000 years ago. But inside a cave in remote hills in Kalahari Desert of Botswana, archaeologists found the stone snake that was carved long ago. It is as tall as a man and 20 feet (6 meters) long.” ref

“You could see the mouth and eyes of the snake. It looked like a real python,” said Sheila Coulson of the University of Oslo. “The play of sunlight over the indentations gave them the appearance of snake skin. At night, the firelight gave one the feeling that the snake was actually moving.” More significantly, when Coulson and her colleagues dug a test pit near the stone figure, they found spearheads made of stone that had to have been brought to the cave from hundreds of miles away. The spearheads were burned in what only could be described as some sort of ritual, the scientists conclude.” ref

“Stone Age people took these colorful spearheads, brought them to the cave, and finished carving them there,” Coulson said Thursday. “Only the red spearheads were burned. It was a ritual destruction of artifacts. There was no sign of normal habitation. No ordinary tools were found at the site.” The discovery was made in a remote region of Botswana called Tsodilo Hills, the only uplifted area for miles around. It is known to modern San people as the “Mountains of the Gods” and the “Rock That Whispers.” Their legend has it that humankind descended from the python, and the ancient, arid streambeds around the hills are said to have been created by the python as it circled the hills in its ceaseless search for water.” ref

That legend made the discovery of the stone python all the more amazing. 

“Our find means that humans were more organized and had the capacity for abstract thinking at a much earlier point in history than we have previously assumed,” Coulson said. “All of the indications suggest that Tsodilo has been known to mankind for almost 100,000 years as a very special place in the prehistoric landscape.” ref

How Human Beings Almost Vanished From Earth In 70,000 BCE. 

“All of us today add up to, 7 billion human beings on earth, if clumped together weigh roughly 750 billion pounds. That, says Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson, is more than 100 times the biomass of any large animal that’s ever walked the Earth. And we’re still multiplying. Most demographers say we will hit 9 billion before we peak, and what happens then? Well, we’ve waxed. So we can wane. Let’s just hope we wane gently. Because once in our history, the world-wide population of human beings skidded so sharply we were down to roughly a thousand reproductive adults. One study says we hit as low as 40. Forty? Come on, that can’t be right. Well, the technical term is 40 “breeding pairs” (children not included). More likely there was a drastic dip and then 5,000 to 10,000 bedraggled Homo sapiens struggled together in pitiful little clumps hunting and gathering for thousands of years until, in the late Stone Age, we humans began to recover. But for a time there, says science writer Sam Kean, “We damn near went extinct.” ref

This town size of huddled and fearful human survives of the global made mass-death are conceivable as huge motivators both motivated afterlife thinking I would presume as well as reduce the group size so transmitting a common belief thinking seems easy to imagen. Therefore we can reasonably assume made it easier for a more shared group-animism belief to spread the globe when it is less than one town of people to start within the same area and shared genetics.

“The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in Southern Africa extending for 900,000 square kilometres (350,000 sq mi), covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal desert, whose name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means “vast place”.” ref

“Offerings to a Stone Snake Provide the Earliest Evidence of Religion, 70,000-year-old African ritual practices linked to the mythology of modern Botswanans.” ref

Botswana the Homeland of all Humanity alive Today

“Botswana (/bɒtˈswɑːnə/ ( listen), also UK: /bʊt-, bʊˈtʃw-/), officially the Republic of Botswana (Setswana: Lefatshe la Botswana; Kalanga: Hango yeBotswana), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with up to 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. Its border with Zambia to the north near Kazungula is poorly defined due to being in the midst of the Zambezi River. This border with Zambia is, at most, a few hundred meters long. midsized country of just over 2.3 million people, it is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. About 10 percent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone. Formerly one of the world’s poorest countries—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—Botswana has since transformed itself into an upper middle income country, with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.” ref

“Homo sapiens had first inhabited the country over 200,000 years ago. The Tswana ethnic group were descended mainly from Bantu-speaking tribes who migrated southward of Africa to modern Botswana around 600 AD, living in tribal enclaves as farmers and herders. In 1885, the British colonized the area and declared a protectorate under the name of Bechuanaland. As decolonization occurred, Bechuanaland became an independent Commonwealth republic under its current name on 30 September 1966. Since then, it has been a representative republic, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections and the lowest perceived corruption ranking in Africa since at least 1998. It is currently Africa’s oldest continuous democracy.” ref

“The economy is dominated by mining, cattle, and tourism. Botswana has a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $18,825 per year as of 2015, one of the highest in Africa. Its high gross national income (by some estimates the fourth-largest in Africa) gives the country a relatively high standard of living and the highest Human Development Index of continental Sub-Saharan Africa. Botswana is a member of the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the United Nations. The country has been adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Despite the success in programmes to make treatments available, and to educate the populace about how to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, the number of people with AIDS rose from 290,000 in 2005 to 320,000 in 2013. As of 2014, Botswana has the third-highest prevalence rate for HIV/AIDS, with roughly 20% of the population infected.” ref

Shades of the Rainbow Serpent? A KhoeSan Animal between Myth and Landscape in Southern Africa—Ethnographic Contextualisations of Rock Art Representations

“The snake is a potent entity in many cultures across the world, and is a noticeable global theme in rock art and inscribed landscapes. We mobilize our long-term ethnographic research with southern African KhoeSan peoples to situate and interpret the presence of snake motifs in the region’s rock art. We contextualize the snake as a transformative ontological mediator between every day and “entranced” KhoeSan worlds (those associated with “altered states of consciousness”), to weave together both mythological and shamanistic interpretations of southern African rock art. Ethnographic explorations of experiences of snakes as both an aspect of natural history and the physical environment, and as embodiments of multiplicitous and mythical meaning by which to live and understand life, shed light on the presence of snakes and associated snake-themes in southern African rock art. By drawing on ethnographic material, and in conjunction with review of literature, we highlight a dynamic assemblage of extant associations between snakes, rain, water, fertility, blood, fat, transformation, dance, and healing. We suggest that these extant associations have explanatory potential for understanding the meaning of these themes in the rock art created by the ancestors of contemporary KhoeSan peoples. Our paper contributes to a live debate regarding the interpretive relevance of ethnography for understanding rock art representations from the past.” ref

1. Introduction: on the Presence of Snakes in Southern African Rock Art

“In a much cited narrative, a British colonial magistrate, Joseph Orpen, travelled in 1873 through the Maluti-Drakensberg of the eastern Cape with a San guide named Qing (probably !Qing or !Ing), who had “escaped from the extermination of their remnant of a tribe in the Malutis”. On encountering panels of paintings on the Sehonghong River (Orpen’s “Mangolong”), Orpen questioned Qing as to their meaning. This represents possibly the only recorded time “a San person has been asked by Europeans to give interpretations of rock art while actually in a painted site”. Before publishing his findings, Orpen dispatched Qing’s comments and a copy of the paintings to the philologist Wilhelm Bleek in Cape Town, who in turn showed them to the /Xam Bushmen whose language and knowledge he was documenting with his sister-in-law, Lucy Lloyd. Despite considerable geographical distance from the Maluti mountains, Bleek’s /Xam Bushmen informants appeared familiar with the content depicted in the paintings and the descriptions by Qing. This was the first indication that there are and have been, considerable similarities in ideas and practices across a spectrum of San peoples in southern Africa despite different historical and geographical contexts, a view since elaborated for KhoeSan more broadly by various researchers.” ref

“Since then, the stories that Qing related to Orpen have received great attention by rock art scholars and KhoeSan ethnographers alike (for recent treatments. Challis et al. claim that Orpen’s text of these stories has “become the single most important source for the decipherment of rock art in the sub-continent”, precisely because the stories expressed therein, and the images with which they were accompanied, were coherent to contemporary /Xam informants in the Cape. They have thus continued to be interpreted in conjunction with the now renowned Bleek-Lloyd archive of /Xam narratives from the Cape, several hundred miles away.” ref

“Orpen’s presentation of Qing’s narrative is particularly notable for the mention of snakes. Qing asserts that men in the rock panel scene, painted with rhebok (Pelea capreolus) antelope heads and tails, were those who “mostly live under water” and who “tame eland (Taurotragus oryx) and snakes”. In another scene, a giant quadruped being pulled forward by a group of people via a line suggesting some sort of rope, is identified as a snake. Indeed, in Orpen’s 10-page narrative derived from Qing’s testimony, the term “snake” appears no fewer than 22 times. In this, snakes are associated with blood, with transformations from blood into both snakes and hartebeests (Alcelaphus buselaphus caama), and are conveyed in terms of power that can be both positively transformative as well as destructive. The mutability of KhoeSan categories and materiality is seen in multiple shifts between snakes and men. Thus, in a key narrative concerning a daughter of “Cagn”—the supreme and mutable deity of the KhoeSan (on which more below)—this potent entity is allied with snakes (“qabu”) who “were also men”. Snake meat is eaten and is clearly potently transformative.” ref

“We identify for our discussion below five key snake-associated themes that appear consecutively in Orpen’s  narrative of Qing’s testimony. These are:

1. snakes could “fill the country with water”;

2. snakes, health, and healing are entwined, such that ill-health is associated with dangerous snake potency, and healing—via the ministrations of a healer who is also snake-like—is akin to the emergence of a new state following shedding of the skin of a snake;

3. snake fat is a potent substance that when applied to a healer (p. 7) can facilitate their transformation into the snake-associated and potent altered state of perception needed for healing to occur;

4. the use of “charms”, i.e., potent substances, that include “burnt snake powder” both strengthens trance-states (associated with being snake-like), and supports healers in their return to the everyday consciousness of “normal” human-being;

5. “rhebok men”, supported by charms and the healing trance dance, are those who could tame and catch eland and snakes.” ref

“Given the prominence of snakes in this influential commentary, one might imagine that snakes would be more frequent in the rock art than they in fact are. Indeed, some analysts have suggested that the low incidence in southern African rupestrian motifs of felines, snakes, and birds of prey, i.e., images associated widely with hallucinatory states of consciousness, suggests a less “shamanic” orientation in this art than is proposed elsewhere, however, observes that “rarity does not always signal a lack of importance”. Although the numbers of snakes may be low in the art, this does not mean they were unimportant either “shamanistically” or in the wider contexts of everyday life that underpin such practices and associated “onto-epistemology”. The cultural ontology and ideational importance of snakes is indicated both in Qing’s comments above, and in the ways that snakes appear in the rock art when they are present. They are shown therianthropically, with features such as antelope heads or tusks that embed them as iconic and potent and thus for some analysts are associated with the altered states of consciousness associated with trance-journeying. They are painted so as to appear to run into and out of rock crevices or rain water stains on the rocks, a feature interpreted as metaphorically signalling movements between everyday and spirit worlds.” ref

“And they are sometimes represented at an enormous scale, as, for example, at a site named Rain Snake Shelter by Challis et al. on the Sehonghong River, Lesotho, in which the dimensions of a giant coiled snake are described as clearly imparting “a non-real quality to the imagery”. Indeed, Kinahan notes that a snake depicted at Snake Rock, in the Hungorob ravine of the Brandberg/Dâures, Namibia, is observable from over half a kilometer away. Thus, and as Lenssen-Erz states, whilst rock art researchers have often seen “a correlation between the importance of a symbol and the frequency of its occurrence in the paintings”, symbolic value might also be expressed by “the degree of elaboration that a motif experienced”. We add the caveat “might” because it is ultimately conjecture that frequency and elaboration of paintings reveals the significance of the subject matter to those who actually produced the images.” ref

“Against this brief background of the presence of snakes in southern African rock art, our intention in this paper is to mobilise our own long-term ethnographic research with southern African KhoeSan peoples to further situate and interpret the presence of snake motifs in the region’s rock art. Sullivan worked from 1992–2000 with various Damara and Nama !haoti (i.e., land associated lineages) throughout west Namibia, including //Khaoa-a, Dâure-daman, /Gaia, !Oe≠gā, Tsoaxau, Namidaman, //Ubun, Purros Damara, !Narenin and ≠Aonin, with later visits occurring in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2014. Since 1999, Low has conducted fieldwork principally with Nama, Topnaar, Damara, Hai//om, !Xun, Ju/’hoansi, Naro and ≠Khomani. We draw on this ethnographic work, as well as review of cognate literature, to emphasize a dynamic assemblage of extant cognitive associations between snakes, rain, environmental/landscape dynamics, water, fertility, blood, fat, transformation, dance, and healing. This chain is part of what D. Morris calls “emic symbolic associations and equivalences”, Lewis-Williams terms “sets of ideas” of things-that-go-together, and Lenssen-Erz, following functional linguistics, frames as the “cohesion” of entities that belong fluently together within a semantic context or context of meaning. Understanding such chains in terms of things-that-go-together-work-together is crucial to understanding KhoeSan ontology and epistemology. With others we suggest that this “things-that-go-together-work-together” onto-epistemology has contemporary explanatory potential for understanding the meaning of these themes in the rock art created by the ancestors of contemporary KhoeSan peoples.” ref

“We proceed by outlining some features of debate regarding the interpretive relevance of ethnography for understanding rock art representations from the past, so as to lay the ground for justifying our own affirmation of the importance of contemporary ethnographic information for shedding light on rock art from the past. We then present an array of our own and others’ ethnographic data in connection with the statements regarding snakes in the Qing transcript referred to above, which was itself prompted by consideration of rock art images. We conclude by connecting the symbolic significance of the snake as a transformative mediator between mythically informed every day and shamanic KhoeSan worlds—as a KhoeSan animal between myth and landscape—with a broader cross-cultural prevalence of snake motifs. Through this we comment on the potency of indigenous snake symbolism for producing multiplicitous and mythical meaning that is simultaneously widely cross-cultural and expressed in locally particular ways. We also provide some observations regarding KhoeSan ecocultural ethics and aesthetics, which we understand as existing in an adaptively poetic relationship with the dynamic socioecological contexts in which KhoeSan peoples dwell.” ref

2. The Present and the Past: on Ethnographic Analogy and Archaeological Interpretation in Southern African Rock Art

“Southern African rock art represents one of the most extensive examples of rock paintings and engravings in the world. Janette Deacon estimates there to be well over 50,000 rock art sites and two million individual images in the region. The paintings and engravings are thought to stretch from the early twentieth century as far back as 27,500 years. Notwithstanding the methodological problems of linking different sites and motifs with distinct historical ethnic groupings (which are themselves often the outcome of colonial and more recent administrative constructions, the vast majority of rock art in southern Africa today is attributed to peoples ancestral to current San-speaking peoples. The San (pronounced Saan) are also known as the “Bushmen”, due to a variously nomadic mode of subsistence relying predominantly on highly socialized and symbolically-textured practices of vertebrate hunting and the gathering of plant, invertebrate, and fish foods. They are a spectrum of peoples distinguished by a social milieu that is generally understood to produce radical egalitarianism. Together with contemporary Khoe-speaking peoples of southern Africa (including Nama, Damara, Griqua, Hai//om, and Naro), they speak related languages characterized by distinctive click consonants.

“From the triangulation described above between the rock art observed by Orpen in the 1870s, his San guide Qing, and contemporary commentaries provided by /Xam “Bushmen” via the interpretive expertise of Bleek and Lloyd, southern African rock art has been notable for the ways in which its analysis and interpretation have been intimately and convincingly linked with a rich colonial and recent ethnography. The considerable academic, popular and national interest that currently surrounds southern African rock art has its roots in the 1970s. At this time a small number of scholars, notably including Patricia Vinnicombe and David Lewis-Williams, turned to ethnography of “Bushmen” as a means of interpreting the art. They worked with both the folklore and linguistic material recorded predominantly amongst Cape /Xam Bushmen in the later nineteenth century by Bleek and Lloyd, and the intense post-1950s anthropology of the San, particularly amongst the northern Kalahari Ju/’hoansi who straddle the border between Namibia and Botswana. By triangulating these sources of material—the rock art itself, the Qing-Orpen testimony of 1874, the Bleek-Lloyd-/Xam archive, and ethnographic documentation flowing from contemporary anthropological research—these scholars established a comparative methodology of profound significance to southern African rock art and beyond.” ref

“This tendency towards interpreting ancient rock art through recourse to contemporary cultural practice has an old, if somewhat shaky lineage, going back to some of the earliest published studies of painted caves. “Ethno-archaeologist” Paul Taçon summarises discussion regarding this methodology for the Australian context, by re-emphasising the relevance of analogy between ethnographic data and prehistorical inscriptions. Thus, “analogy adds an ethnographic perspective to prehistoric data and provides models that may be appropriate for the understanding of archaeological data”. At the same time, archaeological material can also be invoked so as to illustrate continuity of extant praxes with past record. Echo-Hawk thus relates for north American contexts that “at least some archaeological evidence has been interpreted to suggest great time-depth for cultural continuity” and that “the comparison of oral traditions and archaeological information might yield unexpected congruities” if pursued with “a commitment to dialogue based on mutual respect”, in this case between academic archaeologists and local, indigenous people. Whilst there is a long, critical history in archaeology of the use of ethnographic analogy in archaeological interpretation, the southern African context offers a detail and depth of extant ethnographic possibility that, although not without its critics, is unmatched in many other contexts.” ref

“At the same time, the neat tale related above of the connections between historical and extant populations of San with the rock art attributed to them is a rather simplified version of the complex southern African and cultural context from which it derives. In particular, it downplays the reality of San connections with historical and contemporary Khoekhoe peoples who are normally (although by no means exclusively) associated with livestock herding, but who also speak a spectrum of related click languages and dialects. From approximately 2000 years ago herders and agriculturalists moved into the region from the north bringing their own cultural styles and content, and through trade, exchange, and local innovation some of the material cultures and practices associated with these migrations became taken up in the drier central and western regions of southern Africa. Quite how the culture of these herders and farmers entangled with, and/or emerged from that of the San is much debated. Some argue for the longstanding relative isolation of certain San peoples and a strong continuity between current practices and distant ancestral circumstances.” ref

“Others interpret current “hunting and gathering” subsistence practices as evidence of impoverishment from holding livestock herds in relatively recent times, or emphasise flows of cultural values and practices between San and Bantu speaking agropastoralists. Both of these phenomena have increased due to intensified disruption in the wake of European contact from the 1650s. Alan Barnard, following earlier observations by Isaac Schapera, interprets contemporary pastoral Khoekhoe peoples as originating from San peoples who acquired livestock and took on other associated cultural characteristics. In doing so he affirms a KhoeSan “cultural system” that permeates throughout southern Africa and shares a common vocabulary of ontological and epistemological assumptions, with place-based and regional particularities in expression. This is a position with which we concur. It reflects our own ethnographic observations of broadly shared onto-epistemological assumptions between a range of Khoe- and San-speaking peoples, particularly in the realms of healing and of non-deterministic flexibility in environmental knowledges and culturenature praxes.” ref

“As such, whilst it is the San who tend to be looked towards in terms of applying ethnographic data so as to derive meaning in southern African rock art, we maintain that it is possible to flesh out these understandings through embracing a wider interlinked Khoekhoe and San, or KhoeSan, cultural context. Particularly strong continuities are recognized between Khoekhoe and San peoples in arenas of folklore, healing, and environmental knowledge and use practices, and all of these domains are relevant to interpretations of southern African rock art, as well as for other archaeological investigation. As Hoff argues, themes and motifs embodied by the rock art connect with the ontologies and epistemologies of a much broader spectrum of KhoeSan peoples than of San-speakers alone. Indeed, a number of assertions are made in interpretations of southern African “San” rock art that can be seen to be problematic when ethnography concerning a broader spectrum of KhoeSan peoples is looked towards. For example, Lenssen-Erz refers to /Kaggen as “the trickster of the southern San” whereas, and as discussed further below, our own fieldwork demonstrates this deity figure to feature significantly in the onto-epistemology of various Damara !haoti. Ethnographic research conducted in recent times with this diversity of Khoe- and San-speaking peoples thus may continue to inform understanding of rock art themes, compositions, and socionature understandings, and thereby redress observations “of a rather sparse historical ethnography” that omits comment on entities in the rock art such as “eared snakes”.” ref

3. Triangulating a KhoeSan “rainbow snake assemblage” from rock art and ethnography

,”Given the above, in this section we work with a range of observations from rock art images and analyses, historical and contemporary ethnographic literature, and our own ethnographic fieldwork, to provide a further articulation of the assemblage of associations linked with a KhoeSan ontology of snakes that draws on both natural history and supernatural elements. In using the term “assemblage” we invoke a post-structuralist notion of the multiplicity of dynamically stable connections between bodies, scales, discourses, beliefs, practices and affects, that, in combination, are able to generate observable and patterned effects in the world.” ref

“We thus highlight the role of snakes in KhoeSan life as a key element in the emic associative assemblage that connects an iterative triad of experience formed of: (1) natural history observations of species and environmental phenomena; (2) mythological/cosmological understanding and framing; and (3) directed “shamanic” practice for the mediation of socioecological dynamics. We maintain that this assemblage is recognizable amongst a broader array of extant KhoeSan peoples than has hitherto been acknowledged, and that it has relevance for understanding the conduct of conduct, i.e., the governance of appropriate ecocultural behaviors, that has shaped the KhoeSan cultural spectrum, notwithstanding the particularities of expression arising in association with place, lineage, language, and temporal differences. Thus, as Bleek reminds us, “although the general character of the myths recorded by Mr. Orpen (from Qing of the Maluti “Bushmen”, Drakensburg, Lesotho) is mainly the same as that of those collected by us (from /Xam informants, Cape region, South Africa), yet there is not one of his myths which is exactly identical with any one of ours”. Like many of the analyses already referred to, we take as our starting point a close reading of Orpen’s transcript of the Maluti San narrative by Qing, structuring our analysis around the five consecutive and interlinked aspects.” ref

3.1. Snakes could “fill the country with water”

“This statement is linked in Qing’s narrative with an interaction between female and male snakes, in which the female is proactive and throws the male into water such that the water then rises to reach above the mountains—thus “the female snakes took their husbands on their (the husbands”) return and threw them into the water, and it rose up above the mountains’. There is an invocation here of large-size, immense water-associated potency in connection with landscape features and environmental dynamics, and interactions between differently gendered powers. Many of these features are present in an extraordinary paper by Ansie Hoff, in particular, provides ethnographic detail regarding “the Water Snake of the Khoekhoen and /Xam”, from a series of interviews with KhoeSan informants from the 1970s and 1990s, as well as rooting these details in historical observations recorded in Alexander, Andersson and Von Wielligh, and in the Orpen/Qing testimony and Bleek-Lloyd-/Xam archive.” ref

“In speaking of a series of “Great Snakes” that inhabit rivers and fountains, one of Hoff’s informants thus “saw the Fountain Snake traveling with its head in the cloud and its tail in a fountain”, a striking similarity with the description from Qing above, whilst another speaks of the River Snake being so long that “it leaves a path in water when swimming through it”. In recent years, the Khoe-speaking Hai//om rain shaman, Kadisen //Khumub, tells of encountering a 500 foot long snake as he was grading roads in Etosha National Park. The snake covered the entire road and flowed for several minutes (Andrew Botelle, personal communication). Echoing the description above of the River Snake, D. Morris proposes that belief in such a snake was a fundamental factor in the history of Dreikopseiland, an archaeological site near Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province. Morris outlines that the site includes something in the region of 3,500 engravings and is set within a blue-grey glaciated andesite river bed exposed over the last two and a half millennia. Amongst a variety of geometric engravings the site includes flowing pecked lines that appear around the borders of the water. These lines are highly reminiscent of snakes. More dramatically still, Morris suggests that when the river was at its lowest, and environmental-existential stress at its highest, intermittent smooth expanses of rock became exposed. To KhoeSan peoples familiar with notions that giant watersnakes inhabited the water courses of southern Africa, Morris proposes that when the water receded and the rock was exposed this may well have appeared as massive corporeal undulations of the water serpent, thus vividly reinforcing belief in this potent animal between myth and landscape.” ref

Engravings of sacred snake-tracks in a dream riverbed.

“Great Snakes” or Kai/ao, Sullivan personal fieldnotes) are known to live in permanent water sources including rivers and springs, and proof of their existence is linked with certain phenomena such as bubbling turbulence in waterholes. This is iterated in a recently filmed sequence of Khoe-speaking Hai//om in Namibia that conveys their simultaneous attraction to and fear of the bubbling, snake-associated water in !Gobaub waterhole close to a former dwelling place in what is now Etosha National Park in north-central Namibia. Hoff  reports further that the Great Water Snake’s presence is indicated by “an agreeable smell at a fountain or a rainbow in the water”. The reference to “an agreeable smell” may come from both the snake itself as well as in association with plants including “water-buchu” growing “at the Water Snake’s dwelling place”. This immediately also connects the Great Water Snake with a substance known and used for its potency throughout the spectrum of KhoeSan peoples to the present date—namely the mixture of aromatic plants known as “buchu” or “sâ.i” that as a finely ground powder is applied to both raise and calm energy as appropriate in specific situations. The reference here to “water-buchu” is likely to indicate the aromatic corms of Cyperaceae species commonly known to Damara/≠Nū Khoen informants in recent years as “sâ.i” or “perfume” plants, with the specific name !hare.s or /arebe.s. This set of associations thus weaves together immense snake potency, with water, the rainbow, smell, and perfume plants.” ref

“According to Hoff, these Great Snakes are described as ranging from multicolored (rainbow-like?) to black, are both “very pretty” and extremely fearsome, and can be both female and male. Most importantly, “the Great Snakes are supernatural beings which really exist in nature”. They are distinguished from a range of observations associated with the presence of “normal” Water Snakes which nonetheless also have symbolic significances. At the same time, an array of overlaps between Great and “ordinary” Water Snakes, combined with a KhoeSan tendency towards celebrating the mutability between different states of being (discussed further below), suggests to us that these different categories of snakes can also be seen in relationship with each other so as to tell us more about KhoeSan orientations towards life, landscape, and appropriate action. Hoff relates that the (every day) Water Snake is well-known among the Khoekhoen and has a strong association with water. Described as “small and brown, about the size of an ordinary snake”, it also “lives in a water source such as a fountain, gora (a water-hole in which seepage water collects) or borehole”. This is “a ‘good’ snake which does people no harm”. Indeed, “the availability of water in a water source is directly connected to the presence of this snake: if it is killed or moves away the water dries up”, and “the old people used to say ‘It is because of this snake that we have water to drink.” ref

“This snake is considered to guard waterholes and keep the water clean, such that if it is killed or removed the water will dry up. Hoff recounts a story in Alexander from the Nama of Namibia in which a fountain dries up following the slaughter of its guardian snake (in this case by a “Boschman”), leaving “ a water snake, about six feet long, brown above and yellow below, (lying)… dead beside it”. This description fits with that of the rock python (Python sebae natalensis), that frequently is found near waterholes and can attain lengths of several meters. In recent years, similar tales were told to one of us (Sullivan) of pythons (//gam/ao—literally “water snake”) associated with waterholes in southern Kunene Region (Namibia) and sometimes seen to lie on the grass beside it. Killing this snake is thought to cause the water in a spring to dry up, but the snake that actually cleans the water is a Great Snake, in this case, called gai//gams (literally “big water”). The places of such snake-associated springs, for example at Sesfontein/!Nani/aus, are considered to be clean or special (denoted as !anu, and with meanings varying from “clean” or “pure” to “sacred”), and inappropriate behaviors at such places are seen as generating disturbances in socio-ecological registers.” ref

“Here, then, we have a series of water-associated snakes ranging from huge, immensely potent supernatural snakes and large-scale environmental phenomena, to the more prosaic ordinary snake that might be a “python” that lives near waterholes in everyday reality. Whilst clearly distinct, it is tempting to see overlaps here between natural history and supernaturally charged realms that reinforce understandings of each and thus guide the range of possibilities for socialized mediations. Our proposition is that whilst understanding these snake categories as distinct, they might also be thought of as associational domains that connect with each other, their different characteristics and intensities being invoked in relation to specific contexts and situations so as to explain phenomena and guide appropriate action. After all, the pythons known to natural history display many of the characteristics associated with the potency that charge the Great Snakes known to KhoeSan. These characteristics include large-size, predisposition towards water where plants with aromatic potencies grow, and behaviors that are both beneficial and dangerous to humans. It thus seems reasonable that such shared characteristics between myth and natural history would not be lost on KhoeSan as they experience, construct and mediate daily life in relation to these snakes.” ref

“Mallen observes similarly that a proportionately immense painted “Great Snake” at a rock art site known as Lab X in Eastern Cape Province (South Africa), has acutely detailed characteristics that signal it is based on a female puffadder (Bitis arietans arietans). Whilst the combination here of natural history characteristics and embellished features designates a creature of “supernatural” potency, the appearance and behaviors of such creatures “are clearly modeled on” empirical observations of associated species as they appear in ordinary, everyday states of consciousness. Mallen notes further that characteristics of real puffadders, including their rainbow-like multicolored skin (/Xam associated puffadders with rainbows and the sky, Mallen and references therein), their tendency to be very noticeable just in advance of rainfall, and their ability to swim, would have cemented their invocation in rock art that might represent rain-making activities. The amplification of these very features in rock art depictions would in itself have been a means of calling forth that with which they are associated—namely rain. Indeed, the puffadder is identified by the /Xam as one of a suite of potent “Rain’s things” in the Bleek-Lloyd archive.” ref

“The above delineates a range of snake associations between categories of snakes, dynamic environmental phenomena, and appropriate responses and mediations. We move now to emphasize the latter in relation to the interconnected realms of ill-health and healing, both of which are again associated with multiplicitous evocations of snakes.” ref

3.2. Ill-Health Is Caused by Dangerous Snake Potency; Healing is a Transformative Emergence Signalled by the Shedding of a Snake Skin. Snake Potency thus can be both “Good” and “Bad”

“In this theme, human ill-health is clearly identified with dangerous snake potency, such that transformations towards health via the ministrations of a healer (also associated with snake potency) are linked with the shedding of the skin of a snake, as seen in everyday observations of snakes.” ref

“Thus,… the chief and his young men were saved (from the wall of water described in 3.1 above)… and Cagn sent Cogaz (his son) for them to come and turn from being snakes, and he told them to lie down, and he struck them with his stick, and as he struck each the body of a person came out, and the skin of a snake was left on the ground, and he sprinkled the skins with canna, and the snakes turned from being snakes, and they became his people. Historical sources similarly described the origins of sickness as being from arrows shot by Turos the python, whilst in other Khoe-speaking contexts the divinity, //Gauwa or //Gamab is cited as the source of sickness as well as of healing.” ref

“When an actual snake sheds its skin this is literally because its bodily form has outgrown the outer layer which does not grow. The body relinquishes its old skin, which “is shed in one piece and comes off inside out like a sock”. This is a very clearly observed process of transformation that provides an easy metaphorical association with healing effected through the shedding of what is not needed and may be causing harm, itself associated in this context with imbalanced and/or negative snake potency. Arguably, transformation and shifting between states of being is a core motif in KhoeSan orientations towards understanding being in the world. It is linked with an array of critical transitions, such as a girl’s transition to womanhood with the onset of menarche, and references to such transitions are embedded in observations of similar transformations of the other organisms inhabiting the landscapes where people dwell. Thus, snakes, the moon, and snails are all “children of the moon”, because “the moon dies and gets old and goes away. The snail also gets out of its shell and gets a new shell. Like a snake does” (Khoe-speaking Naro).” ref

“In associating snake potency with both ill-health and healing, the selection above from the Qing-Orpen testimony emphasizes ambivalence and transformation as a critical aspect of KhoeSan onto-epistemology. As such, a powerful “thing” or force, in this case, the “snake potency” associated with natural history, supernatural and mythical snakes, is understood as neither “good” nor “bad” in itself. Rather, its manifestation as positive or negative is situated indelibly within contexts that are themselves dynamic. So, for the Hai//om healer //Khumob, the supernatural figure of //Gamab (whose name apparently derives from the Khoe root for water, i.e., //gam), is conceived as ambiguously good and bad. This ambiguous potency is signaled by his association with a leopard on one side and a large three-eyed snake on the other, or, as a Khwe man observed to one of us, by a python worn as his belt. KhoeSan healers in northern Namiba are said to “have the rain wind” or rain potency, and the strongest acquire it by being struck by lightning, which is also a simultaneously fearfully dangerous and generative force, that again is associated with snakes. Understanding that an entity, state, or force may be ambiguously and even periodically both “good” and “bad”, or “positive” or “negative”, as described for snake potency in the Qing-Orpen theme discussed here, thus seems to be an essential dimension of KhoeSan understanding.” ref

“Arguably, however, this aspect of KhoeSan thought has been misunderstood, in particular, due to a relatively recent Judeo-Christian and missionary emphasis on categorizing things as either of “God” and “Heaven”, or of “Satan”, “Hell” and “the Devil”. Solomon, drawing on ethnographic work by Marshall with Kalahari !Kung San thus notes an association between a deity figure //Gauwa and malevolence, death, illness, and the “spirits of the dead” (the ancestors?). She associates this source of malevolence with the mantis-linked figures of G//amama amongst the G/wi San, !Kaonxa of //Gana San, Central Kalahari (who also becomes a big snake and is associated with water); as well as with /Gauwa, who amongst Christianised Naro Khoe-speakers is equated with Satan, and is notable for his attraction to women secluded in menarcheal initiation rites. Elsewhere Solomon reports that the /Xam San rain-being !Khwa—the embodiment of rain and of water in waterholes, who appears in herbivorous form as eland, rain bull, and rain animal (who are also associated with, as well as described as, snakes)—is linked with violent rain storms and attracted to females secluded in menarcheal initiation rites, and thus is seen as similar to //Gaua.” ref

“It is clear from this assemblage of KhoeSan terms and associations that what is being referred to is immensely potent and sometimes dangerously so, and also that there is an association here between “//Gauwa” and snakes who are known to “work together” because “they think the same way”. It is notable, however, that there is nothing in the latter references above to !Khwa or //Gaua that indicates malevolence specifically. It seems possible, then, that association with this mutable assemblage of rain (sometimes in violent storms), water in water-holes, rain-animals, eland, snakes, female potency, and menarche, whilst seen as posing potency that may be dangerous or even fearful, should not in itself be interpreted as categorically “evil”. Power, in considering the /Xam mythical dyad !Khwa and /Kaggen, and the Khoekhoe dyads Tsũi-//goab and //Gauab (//Gaunab), and Haitsi-Eibeb (Haitsi, Heibeb) and ≠Gama-≠gorib (Gâ-gorib), thus argues that these aspects are interchangeable since they are symbolically associated with the periodic and recurrent phases of dark and full of the lunar cycle. Indeed, our own enquiry into the figure of //Gâua.b via “ethnoentomology” study of the praying mantis suggests a noticeable degree of awe and respect regarding this figure and the unpredictable dynamics of life and landscape that his (and sometimes her) actions give rise, but not a fixed association with malevolence or “evil.” ref

“Given the influence of Christianity in the southern African region and the dominance of the “Satan” figure in this religion, it seems likely that the potent but generative assemblage denoted by the apparently corresponding figures of //Gauwa, G//amama, !Kaonxa, /Gauwa, /Gaua, !Khwa and //Gawa has become inappropriately fixed with negative “Satanic” characteristics. Indeed, it might perhaps also be noted that such a gloss would be a significant method of delegitimising a key ontological realm for KhoeSan throughout southern Africa, namely that of snake-associated transformative potency and the generative force of categorical ambivalence.” ref

“As Power draws us towards, we might instead see KhoeSan understanding and representation of dualisms as akin to the different peaks of the lunar cycle. Like the polarities of yin and yang in Chinese Taoist thought, neither of these is normatively “good” or “bad”. Indeed, as with the movements between everyday waking reality and experiences of primal, ancestral time in states of trance (on which more below), each of these states requires the other, in a generative interplay of forces. It is tempting to see such an onto-epistemology in the unusual rock art depiction of a massive and seemingly bi-headed human figure from the Brandberg/Dâures massif in Namibia. The potency of this figure is indicated by its large size and possibly by the human forms that in the juxtaposition of painted images appear to be falling from the figure’s armpits (associated with the potent sweat of a healer in an entranced state.” ref

“Whilst, ultimately, it is impossible to state categorically whether this juxtaposition of giant and falling human forms was intentional the co-incidence remains striking. Regardless, the massive bi-headed form alone evokes the primal and quotidian worlds as they may seem to each other (the fine white lines of the left-head give this a more ethereal and imaginal quality than that of the solid red paint characterizing its mirroring right head and body of the figure). Given the mutability and transformations between states that have already been noted, it seems fair to say that this two-headed human-like figure may also be a two-headed snake. But of course, all of this can only be an interpretive and non-testable projection, based on analogy, elision, and intuitive transpositions of ethnographic circumstances.” ref

“What we are seeking to articulate is a KhoeSan understanding of “ordinary” and “supernatural”/mythical/entranced realms as in relationship with each other: as dynamically entwined and infused with potency, and that can be engaged with and attuned in alignment with ecocultural values that guide choices. Arguably, it is the KhoeSan person’s “job” to manage unpredictably varying surges of potency as skillfully as possible. One way of doing this, as noted above, is by drawing on and applying substances which are themselves considered potent, in part due to their links with the assemblage of forms and states of being associated with snakes. One of these potent substances is snake fat, and it is to this that we now turn.” ref

3.3. Snake Fat is a Potent Substance that can Facilitate Transformation of a Healer into the Snake-Associated Potency through Which Healing can Occur

“This theme identifies snake fat as a substance that can transform a person into a non-ordinary, potent state, that is itself associated with becoming snake-like. Thus, those men took fat from a snake they had killed and dropped it on the meat (a rhebok), hunted by Qwanciqutshaa, another son of Cagn, who was hated by these young men (because they desired his wife), and when he (Qwanciqutshaa) cut a piece and put it in his mouth it fell out; and he cut another, and it fell out; and the third time it fell out, and the blood gushed out of his nose (signaling entrance into an altered state of consciousness). So he took all his things, his weapons, and clothes, and threw them into the sky, and he threw himself down into the river… (where) he turned into a snake.” ref

“In this description, bleeding from the nose and submergence in water are both key motifs that ethnography suggests signal entrance into an entranced and thus potent state of consciousness. The specific use of snake fat in strengthening this state can be understood in a range of ways. One is the conferment of “immunity” considered to occur through smearing the body with snake fat, particularly python fat, but also mamba fat or the fat of the large monitor lizard or leguuan (also part of the suite of “Rain’s Things” identified in the Bleek-Lloyd-/Xam archive, and described as the “servant” and “house-keeper” of the Great Water Snake in Hoff and Schmidt). What is potent here is both “fat” and the nature or essence of the animals from which this is taken.” ref

“Fat is in itself an important substance in terms of its inherent “potency”, which lies in both its tasty and nutritional value (especially in eland fat, which is associated with femaleness) and in its smell, which in itself confers potency and immunity (for more on fat, smell and wind in KhoeSan onto-epistemology and healing). Thus, in KhoeSan thought the smell of a person or animal equates to their intrinsic wind or breath of life, and thereby carries, in the wind, the essence of an organism. Snake fat is smelly and carries the wind or essence of the snake. The idea of fat being able to move through the wind reveals a KhoeSan understanding of wind and smell as the vehicle and agents of transformation. Rubbing fat on, like taking in snake venom, bestows in someone kinship qualities with a snake that are also transmitted via and through the wind that they thereby take on. Becoming a part of the snake family by having snake wind (via snake fat and thus smell) means snakes will not hurt a person. This equates to having sympathy with, and a measure of control over, both snakes and snake potencies, as suggested by Qing’s reference to “taming” snakes (see below).” ref

“Indeed, as well as the enhanced potency proffered through consumption of snake fat, Qing relates that snake fat transforms a man into a snake. This might be understood in a number of not necessarily mutually exclusive ways. It invokes the shift of a healer into the state of potency associated with the ability to effect the transformations required for healing; it associates this state of potency with the non-ordinary ancestral and mythical realm which might be seen as the realm from which the mysteries of both illness and healing emanate; and, as such, it perhaps also connects with a KhoeSan primal time when people and animals were the same and the possibility of one transforming into or lodging in the other thus remains. Snake fat clearly is one of a series of potent substances deployed to strengthen a person’s capacity through a range of transformational possibilities. In the next section we draw on contemporary ethnographic observations to contextualise a further reference in the Qing-Orpen testimony to the use of potent substances, namely “burnt snake powder”.” ref

3.4. The Use of “Charms”, i.e., Potent Substances, Including “Burnt Snake Powder” both Strengthens Trance-States (Associated with being Snake-Like) and Supports Healers in Their Return to the Everyday Consciousness of “Normal” Human-Being)

“In this motif, “charms”, i.e., potent substances, including that which contains “burnt snake powder”—probably consisting of snake poison, snake body parts and pungent smelling buchu/sâ.i plants—can be used both to strengthen trance-states, and to resuscitate healers by supporting their return from the “spoilt” snake-like state of trance to the everyday waking consciousness of “normal” human-being. Thus, Qwanciqutshaa’s (the son of Cagn mentioned above) “wife”, made a hut and went and picked things and made cannā, and put pieces in a row from the river bank to the hut. And the snake (i.e., Qwanciqutshaa in his transformed trance state) came out and ate up the charms, and went back into the water, and the next day she did the same; … And when the girl saw he had been there she placed charms again, and lay in wait; and the snake came out of the water and raised his head, and looked warily and suspiciously round, and then he glided out of the snake’s skin and walked, picking up the charm food.” ref

“In this case, the process of return to the human form of Qwanciqutshaa is further accompanied by the burning of the “snake’s skin” after sprinkling it with a potent plant substance. In another passage, the Qing-Orpen text relates that: Some fall down; some become as if mad and sick; blood runs from the noses of others whose charms are weak, and they eat charm medicine, in which there is burnt snake powder. When a man is sick, this dance is danced round him, and the dancers put both hands under their arm-pits, and press their hands on him, and when he coughs the initiated put on their hands and received what has injured him.” ref

“As in 3.3 above, these descriptions refer to the use of powerful, ritual substances or “charms”, including “burnt snake powder”, to assist both entrance into trance, and reemergence into an everyday state of consciousness. The second quotation also explicitly connects Qing’s narrative, the rock art images that in part prompted it, and various invocations of snakes, with what has become known as the “healing trance dance” in much KhoeSan ethnography and ethno-psychology. A shamanistic interpretation (as principally proposed by Lewis-Williams and colleagues) understands the healing trance dance as a suite of practices, including dance, rhythmic clapping, song and visionary intent, that induce the “spoiling” or transformation of a healer through their entrance into a snake-associated trance state. Qing in fact elaborated that what is invoked by the Maluti rock art images is a nightlong circular dance of men and women, the dance itself being given by the ambiguous mantis- and snake-associated mythical figure of “Cagn” (see above). When dancers collapse into trance they are thought of as “dying”—a designation that appropriately describes the temporary loss of individual ego-consciousness required by this shift in psychosomatic state and experience. “Charms” that were also given by Cagn, were, and continue to be, used to help with guiding such trancers “back to life”, i.e., back to everyday consciousness, also Andrew Botelle, personal communication).” ref

“Being “spoilt” was the description encountered by Biesele in the context of Ju/’hoansi trance dances, and is now considered a key descriptor in San rock art studies. Interpretations of what this alludes to vary. Lewis-Williams takes this to describe the experience of things becoming strange, unstable, and mutable that accompanies entrance into “shamanic” hallucinatory states of consciousness, and this seems to connect with the Qing-Orpen description above that “some become as if mad and sick”. Solomon instead argues that “spoiling ‘refers … to the separation of humans and animals, and to the San mythological time’”, i.e., that it is a narrative descriptor of a KhoeSan ancestral/mythical “primal time” populated by “predecessors of modern San” and by animals who “were also humans” that needs no recourse to the trancing associated with “shamanism”. ” ref

“We favour an interpretation that entangles both of these positions. As we have both observed and experienced, KhoeSan clearly do enter states of trance when taking part in healing dances. The effort required to do so is directed towards sourcing relevant information for “healing” at different interconnected levels (individual, social, ecological). And this information is influenced and generated in part from culturally-affirmed ancestral/primal/mythical realms experienced in these “journeys”.” ref

“To reconnect explicitly with snakes, the shift in consciousness experienced by those entering snake-associated trance states, often in healing dances, is also linked with snake-associated water, since the shaman’s entrance to a visionary state has been described as akin to being submerged under water. Whilst the description above seems to refer to the healing of an individual, contemporary ethnography reveals the healing trance dance and the enhanced snake-associated potent state of individual healers to also be associated with rainmaking activities in service to community sustenance. It is to this that we now turn in the final theme of our ethnographic discussion of snake themes in the Qing-Orpen testimony regarding rock art.” ref

“As noted above, Qing associated the painted scenes at the Melikane and Sehonghong shelters with the “spoiling” of “rhebok men” in dances which have subsequently become known as trance or healing dances, in which individuals in a submerged trance state (they “live mostly under water”) could “tame snakes” as well as eland by holding charms/potent substances out to it and “catching it with a long rein” Bleek and Lloyd’s informant Diä!kwain who was shown the images, described the animal form depicted in  as “a water thing or water cow” that was being led “over as large a tract of country as they can” so that rain may fall “wherever this animal goes”.” ref

“The paintings from the cave Mangolong represent rainmaking. We see here a water thing, or water cow… They then charm the animal, and attach a rope to its nose,—and in the upper part of the picture it is shown as led by the Bushmen, who desire to lead it over as large a tract of country as they can, in order that the rain should extend as far as possible,—their superstition being that wherever this animal goes, rain will fall. The strokes indicate rain. Of the Bushmen who drag the water cow, two are men (sorcerers), of whom the chief one is nearest to the animal. In their hands are boxes made of tortoise (!khu) shell (containing charmed boochoo).” ref

“An interpretation led by the shamanistic propositions of Lewis-Williams and colleagues is that here we have healers, possibly wearing rhebok-eared caps, experiencing a non-ordinary (“submerged”) state of consciousness, through which the abduction/capture of a mythical animal that is also a snake is envisioned or hallucinated. The “submerged” state of the men described by Qing can thus be interpreted as being in a dance-induced trance state—the state that enables the necessary potency for calling forth, working with and directing potent and important “supernatural” “animals”. Challis et al. triangulate between the Sehonghong painting observed by Orpen and that prompted Qing’s stories, a painting of a similarly reined in giant coiled snake at the nearby Rain Snake Shelter, and /Xam descriptions of rain-making in the Bleek-Lloyd archive, to interpret Qing’s description as a clear reference to rainmaking through capturing a massive rain-animal, in this case figuratively clearly a snake, in the realm of non-ordinary consciousness. Indeed, humans connected with and/or drawing forth rain-associated animals is a significant motif in the southern African rock art, as shown in.” ref

Rain-associated animals: Shake-like and Bull-like

“Challis et al. connect the narrative with rain-animals identified in the Bleek-Lloyd-/Xam archive, including those designated as “water thing”, “water cow”, and “rain bull” (also see summary in Hoff. These again reflect the ambiguously potent gender aspect of this snake-like presence. The /Xam term !khwa for both water and rain, as well as for the powerful “personification” of these, also suggests that these descriptors of the animal’s identity are interchangeable. Snakes are described further as belonging to the rain or !khwa-ka, i.e., “rain’s rain”. As D. Morris surmises, drawing especially from the work of Hoff, Schmidt, and Von Wielligh, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the characteristics of the water bull overlap closely with !Khwa, the /Xam personification of rain and the water-associated snakes that we met in 3.1 above. In effect, rain, water, snakes, and rain bull creatures seem to be aspects of one and the same thing.” ref

“Again, there are echoes here with contemporary Khoe-speaking Damara/≠Nū Khoen and Hai//om for whom the term /nanu.s meaning “rain”, is the same as that which designates the powerful female spirit entity—/Nanu.s. It is to /Nanu.s that rain-healers direct their trance journeying so as to implore her for rain which they bring back into the everyday world. Whilst the generative rain form may be different, there are thus significant correspondences in method and onto-epistemology between the descriptions noted above, and the knowledges and practices of Khoe “rain-shamans” into both historical and recent times. Further, for Khoe-speaking Damara there are snakes (/ao.s) in the clouds who are the children of /Nanu.s. Once again we have here an assemblage between rain, healing, and supernatural rain entities who are, or are associated with, snakes.” ref

“Solomon suggests instead that the “submerged” rhebok-human therianthropes in the rock art were intended as representations of ambiguously potent ancestral San of the mythological primal past, when humans and animals were not separate. Following Solomon, then, a different interpretation might see the human individuals in these images as “spirits of the dead” or ancestors from this primal time, the animal being subdued as the malevolent embodiment of the figure known variously as //Gaua, and the therianthropes as representations of the shared ontological status of humans and animals in this time.” ref

“If San individuals entering potent snake-associated trance states are also seen as connecting with ancestral visionary power that experiences human, animal, and spirit worlds to be mutable and corresponding with one another, however, then these explanations—the mythical and the shamanistic—need not be invoked as contradicting each other. As above, our own interpretation blends these positions. We interpret the images to indeed signify the experiences of individuals in an entranced and potent state of consciousness, but that part of this directed experience is comprised of entrance into the ancestral realm—constituted and affirmed in everyday awareness through stories and other onto-epistemological affirmations—where those who are entranced meet, negotiate with and even become the entities populating this primal realm. At the same time, if living KhoeSan are anything to go by, the very notion of looking for tight, consistent and persistent ideas, and categories seems to us to be problematic.” ref

“We also see these representations in strong connection with the material and dynamic landscapes within which they have been painted. For anyone who has spent time watching rainstorms “standing in the sky” and “walking” across the broad horizons of southern African landscapes, and particularly the dryland landscapes of west Namibia and the Kalahari, it is not a difficult leap to imagine the strange animal forms in the rock art as echoing the animal shapes made by rain clouds and falling rain. People dependent on this water would very much wish to draw this life-giving rain towards them. They would also have been well aware of the different desirabilities of types of rain.” ref

“On the one hand, the hard (masculine) rain of torrential downpours, that pummels people and land alike to cause great movements of topsoil across the landscape and violent flash floods in dry river beds and that, ouroborus-like, takes us back to the first key theme we identified in this section, wherein “snakes can fill the country with water”. And on the other hand, the soft (in Khoekhoegowab tsaura) sustained rain, associated with the fecund, female, and water-loving python, and that sinks into dry soil to bring out the green flush of grasses that is so attractive to grazing animals. It is tempting to see in the rock art of diverse “rain animals” emphases that reflect different requirements for intervention based around both inducing, seducing, and capturing soft feminine rain, and calming and taming violent masculine rainstorms. Both require the skilled intervention of individuals able to direct their consciousness into the “spirit world” wherein “rain animals” in whichever form can be met and negotiated with; and all such embodiments and interventions affirm a dynamic and mutable ontology informed by characteristics of “the snake”.” ref

“Some further interpretation of the complex and dynamic assemblage of snake forms and snake-like states of being that brings different, including primal, pasts into the present, and that weaves together a spectrum of varied snake-associated KhoeSan expressions. As Schmidt states, “there are no clear contours, no definite conceptions of mythical snakes but an immense conglomeration of information”, notable for its ambiguity and at times for its contradictory content. In our next and concluding section, we emphasize this aspect as precisely that which is significant about snakes in KhoeSan understanding and beyond—in both their natural history and supernatural manifestations.” ref

4. Conclusion—What an Extraordinary Snakey World We Live in…

“In July 2007, not far from where we first presented this paper (see endnote 1), what was described as “a mysterious serpent-shaped feature”, some 60 meters long and dating to more than 4000 years ago, was found inscribed on the landscape near Hereford, UK. Carefully sculptured from laid surfaces of deliberately fire-cracked stones to undulate up and down through the whole of its length, as well as snaking sideways through the landscape, archaeological speculation is that it was used for ritual purposes, perhaps involving movement along its length.” ref

“This “Rotherhithe Serpent”, as it has become known, is thought to be similar to the “Great Serpent Mound”, in Ohio, USA, a 405m long effigy of a serpent structured into the landscape some two thousand years ago. In the later centuries from AD 750 to 1200, the play of shadows on the Mayan Temple of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá becomes a giant snake descending to join a sculpted serpent head at the base of the pyramid’s 91 steps, a display timed precisely to occur each year on the spring and autumn equinoxes. In other contexts globally, naturally occurring landforms are celebrated as evoking snakelike forms. In the Caribbean Territory of Dominica, for example, “L’Escalier Tete-Chien”, the stairway of the great diamond-crested snake, is a volcanic rock feature protruding from the sea that marks where the Guardian of the Carib/Kalinago people emerged from his ocean resting place to the top of the mountain where he lives until the world is at peace again.” ref

“Australian aboriginal mythology is replete with references to snakes, including the “huge hideous snake, called Jeedara, or Ganba” who Mirning aboriginals believed “lived in the caves and blowholes of on the Nullarbor Plain”—the “hissing noises from the blowholes … the sound of the monstrous snake’s breathing”—and who “ate anyone who came into his territory”, and in the ancestral Dreamtime was able to push up “the steep sea-cliffs so as to swim along beneath them”. Ramona and Desmond Morris write further that “by far the most spectacular snakes in Australian aboriginal art are the mythical rainbow serpents. These usually live in waterholes during the dry season, but take to the thunder clouds when the rains come, sometimes appearing in the sky of rainbows”.” ref

“Back in southern Africa, Brian Morris identifies a role of the python amongst Malawian Chewa that has striking resemblance to the python amongst KhoeSan and indeed the anaconda in South American contexts, both constrictor snakes of enormous potential size—linked mythologically and empirically to waters, rivers, deep pools, and rainfall and accordingly a “key symbolic mediation between the supreme beings and humans”. And at “Python Rock” at Tsodilo Hills in Botswana, a site known for its concentration of rock art, a naturally occurring rock-form has been worked over millennia to enhance its snake-like appearance, through the addition of several hundred human-made indentations (cupules) into the rock surface whose dappled effects in sunlight are suggestive of snake-scales and movement. Although controversial (as many archaeological interpretations are), recent suggestions are that this effect would have been amplified at night through the use of fire, generating a perception of actual movement by this several metre long “snake” that may have stretched back by tens of thousands of years. Such variously snake-inscribed landscapes, landforms, and monuments are complemented by portrayals of snake-like forms on rock faces in diverse places globally.” ref

“Testifying to the global significance of snakes, in The Cult of the Serpent the biologist Mundkur takes in a large sweep of cross-disciplinary evidence to argue that the “near ubiquity of serpentine cults” in human culture, historically and currently around the world relates to the special qualities of fear and awe aroused in humans, and probably all primate species, by snakes. More symbolically-influenced interpretations hold that “the great snake” is a cross-cultural archetypal energy and mythical/symbolic motif that signals a unifying assemblage of associated entities/states of being infusing a dynamically animate earth whose liveliness could be appreciated and intervened with by humans. Clearly, the snake serves as a potent metaphor in many cultures across the world, being a noticeable global motif in rock art and inscribed landscapes, and a seemingly universal motif appearing in a collective unconscious of “iconic form constants”, as Bednarik has put it. Indeed, the Judeo-Christian reduction of the serpent and its potent symbolism to the status of feminine and devilish evil is a manifestation of this continuing potency, filtered through the particular lens of an ascendant patriarchy and the increasingly accumulative and land-controlling production strategies of the last several thousand years.” ref

“It seems, then, that snakes are par excellence the animal that it is “good to think with” The key question is what is it about snakes that make them so good to think with that in the diverse KhoeSan material presented above they seem to act as something of a hypostasis—as an underlying or foundational state—into which just about everything of significance collapses or finds resonance? Following Chris Knight, we maintain that the answer to this question lies in the observable resonance that snakes have with the mysteriously unpredictable and simultaneously generative and destructive ground of life’s nature.” ref

“This view maintains that snakes, in their myriad and empirically observed forms, are powerful to think with because they capture, reflect, and refract something of the ultimately uncategorisable mystery of life and vitality. This might be seen to be evoked by a range of directly observable behavioral and biological aspects. Their sinewy flexibility and muscular slithery movements, mysteriously enables them to propel themselves rapidly forward, despite the absence of limbs. Their ability to survive multiple sheddings of skins is suggestive of cyclical and full-bodied transformation, and resonant with observable and cross-scale dynamism. And a variety of simultaneously masculinised and feminised characteristics, including a simultaneous dryness to the touch combined with a moist appearance, and a phallic shape, combined with an ability to engulf or swallow prey like a vagina engulfing the phallus, evoke gendered ambiguities, mutabilities, and potencies. These and other characteristics speak of androgyny, paradox, and ambivalence, of shapeshifting and cyclical transformation, and of immanent movement, flux, and flow. As such perhaps snakes are good to think because they act fractal-like as a “portal” through which something is conveyed of the quality of life’s mysterious and unpredictably generative and destructive potency. As Knight states “what all these myths are referring to is not a thing at all”, but a logic—a way of thinking.” ref

“We consider that the ethnographic information we have discussed above affirms, in all its detail and particularity, the broad contours of this “logic”. At the same time, it is hardly surprising that snakes were significant to KhoeSan ancestors, given that southern Africa is rich snake country, from giant constricting pythons to deadly mambas and cobras to the less venomous, less gracile but more frequently encountered puff adder. Our suggestion in this paper, then, is that contemporary ethnography can continue to inform cultural knowledges regarding both natural history and the supernatural snakes that appear to people now, and are conveyed in the painted and inscribed snakes on rock faces. Through this triangulation, we hope to have enhanced the range of suggestive, if ultimately untestable, explanations of the role(s) of such snakes in the situated subjectivities of their artists.” ref

Acknowledgments

“We are grateful to the many KhoeSan people we have known and interviewed over the past two decades during our research. Sian Sullivan would like to thank in particular Andy Botelle of Mamokobo Video and Research, for making it possible for her to journey several times to rock art sites on the Brandberg/Dâures in Namibia. We both also appreciate the comments made by Andy Botelle, Martin Pedersen, Mike Hannis, and two anonymous reviewers on an earlier version of this paper. The paper has been written in the course of a Major Research Grant (AH/K005871) from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and we gratefully acknowledge this support.” ref

Rock Art in the Brandberg Area of Namibia: refined petroglyphs in South Africa: Link

Tsodilo Hills

“The Tsodilo Hills are a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS), consisting of rock art, rock shelters, depressions, and caves. It gained its WHS listing in 2001 because of its unique religious and spiritual significance to local peoples, as well as its unique record of human settlement over many millennia. UNESCO estimates there are over 4500 rock paintings at the site. The site consists of a few main hills known as the Child Hill, Female Hill, and Male Hill. There are four chief hills. The highest is 1,400 metres AMSL, one of the highest points in Botswana. The four hills are commonly described as the “Male” (the highest), “Female”, “Child”, plus an unnamed knoll. They are about 40 km from Shakawe and can be reached via a good graded dirt road.” ref

“There is a managed campsite between the two largest hills, with showers and toilets. It is near the most famous of the San paintings at the site, the Laurens van der Post panel, after the South-African writer who first described the paintings in his 1958 book ‘The Lost World of the Kalahari’. There is a small museum and an airstrip near the campsite. People have used the Tsodilo Hills for painting and ritual for thousands of years. UNESCO estimates that the hills contain 500 individual sites representing thousands of years of human habitation. The hills’ rock art has been linked to the local hunter gatherers. It is believed that ancestors of the San created some of the paintings at Tsodilo, and were also the ones to inhabit the caves and rock shelters. There is evidence that Bantu peoples were responsible for some of the artworks at the hills. Some of the paintings have been dated to be as early as 24,000 years ago.” ref

Rhino Cave

“Rhino Cave is located at the North end of the Female Hill and has two main walls where paintings are located. The white rhino painting (for which the cave is named) is located on the north wall, and is split by another painting of a red giraffe. Excavations of the cave floor turned up many lithic materials. This cave lacks ostrich egg shell, bone artifacts, pottery or iron, but there were a few mongongo shell fragments found in Later Stone Age layers.” ref

“Charcoal found during excavations has been dated to the African Iron Age, the Later Stone Age (LSA), and the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Mostly stone artifacts from the LSA were made from local materials such as quartz and jasper. MSA artifacts from the cave are mostly prepared projectile points. The points are typically found in various stages of production, some abandoned and some finished. The paintings of Rhino Cave are mostly located on the North wall, and have been painted in red or red-orange pigment, excepting the rhino which was painted in white. Around the rhino and the giraffe are various paintings, mostly in red, of geometrics. On the opposite wall, the cave is host to grooves and depressions that have been ground into the rock. They may have been created using hammer stones or grindstones from the LSA period, which have been found at Tsodilo.” ref

White Paintings

“The white colored rock art at Tsodilo is associated with Bantu peoples. Many of the white paintings are located in the aptly named White Paintings Rock Shelter, located on the Male Hill. (There are red paintings in this shelter, as well.) The white paintings depict animals, both domestic and wild, as well as human like figures. The human figures are usually painted with their hands on their hips. A handful of them are on horseback, suggesting that these were painted no earlier than the mid-1800s, when horses were first introduced to the area.” ref

“Dates taken from charcoal, ostrich egg shell, bone samples, and the deposits ranged from the MSA to LSA. (There is also evidence that the site was used during the historical period: a nylon button and European glass beads were found in the top layers of excavations at the site.) LSA layers included hammer stones and grindstones, along with bone artifacts and mircolithics. Pottery sherds, ostrich egg shell beads, and mongongo shells were also uncovered. MSA deposits included stone blades as well as other lithic tools.” ref

Red Paintings

“The Tsodilo Hills have a myriad of red rock art; it can be found all over the site. In Rhino Cave, some of the red paintings seem to be older than the white rhino. Red paintings here, and around Tsodilo, are attributed to the San people.” ref

Depression Rock Shelter Site

“Located on the northwest side of the Female Hill, this site gets its name from the depressions that have been ground into the shelter walls. Accompanying these marks are red paintings of what appear to be cattle, as well as geometrics. The rock shelter site, dated from charcoal samples, had its earliest occupation at least 30,000 years ago. Excavations dug up LSA stone tools and Iron Age artifacts. Pottery found in the deepest layers was dated to the first century, and is affiliated with the oldest stone artifacts found in this area. Mongongo nut shells were also uncovered in the various deposits, including the deepest layers, which makes them the oldest mongongo nuts ever found in archaeological context.” ref

Metallurgy

“The Tsodilo Hills are made up of a number of archaeological sites. Two of these sites, known as Divuyu and Nqoma, have evidence of Early Iron Age metal artifacts Excavated from the two sites contained fragments of jewelry and metal tools, all made from iron and/or copper. Jewelry pieces were from bangles, beads, chains, earrings, rings, and pendants, while tools included chisels, projectiles and arrow heads, and even blades. These two sites share similar fabrication technology, but have different styles of metal working. Slag and tuyères seem to indicate that Divuyu and Nqoma may have been iron smelting areas, making them one of the few Early Iron Age sites in southern Africa with evidence of metal working.” ref

Cultural significance

“These hills are of great cultural and spiritual significance to the San peoples of the Kalahari. They believe the hills are a resting place for the spirits of the deceased and that these spirits will cause misfortune and bad luck if anyone hunts or causes death near the hills. Tsodilo is also an object of debate regarding how the San once lived.” ref

Oral Traditions

“Many local peoples around the Tsodilo Hills have stories of times past that deal with the many painted caves and rock shelters at the site. Oral traditions often tell of the Zhu people, a local San group, using rock shelters for protection from the elements or as ritual areas. One tale claims that hunters would come into the rock shelters to contact ancestors if a hunt was unsuccessful. They would then ask for a good hunt the next time they went out. In thanks, when the hunt was successful, the people would return to the shelter and cook for their ancestors. In some of these alleged campsites, there is little to no evidence of fire remains.” ref

“Still, there are areas where rituals, such as rain making prayers, are performed. Older people in the area can still remember using some rock shelters as campsites when they were children. The Whites Paintings rock shelter may have been used as a camp during the rainy season as early as 70 – 80 years ago. The local San people believe Tsodilo is the birthplace of all life, art there made by the descendants of the first people. Tsodilo’s geography, trails and grooves in the earth are known as the trails and footprints of the first animals, making their way to the first watering hole). A natural water spring at Tsodilo, near the Female Hill, is used as both a water collection site and a ritual site. It is seen as sacred, and used by countless peoples to cleanse, heal, and protect.” ref

The claim of earliest known ritual (Damien agrees with it being the oldest)

“In 2006 the site known as Rhino Cave became prominent in the media when Sheila Coulson of the University of Oslo stated that 70,000-year-old artifacts and a rock resembling a python’s head representing the first known human rituals had been discovered. She also backed her interpretation of the site as a place of ritual based on other animals portrayed: “In the cave, we find only the San people’s three most important animals: the python, the elephant, and the giraffe. Since then some of the archaeologists involved in the original investigations of the site in 1995 and 1996 have challenged these interpretations. They point out that the indentations (known by archaeologists as cupules) described by Coulson do not necessarily all date to the same period and that “many of the depressions are very fresh while others are covered by a heavy patina.” Other sites nearby (over 20) also have depressions and do not represent animals. The Middle Stone Age radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating for this site does not support the 70,000 year figure, suggesting much more recent dates.” ref

“Discussing the painting, the archaeologists say that the painting described as an elephant is actually a rhino, that the red painting of a giraffe is no older than 400 AD and that the white painting of the rhino is more recent, and that experts in rock art believe the red and white paintings are by different groups. They refer to Coulson’s interpretation as a projection of modern beliefs on to the past and call Coulson’s interpretation a composite story that is “flatout misleading”. They respond to Coulson’s statement that these are the only paintings in the cave by saying that she has ignored red geometric paintings found on the cave wall. They also discuss the burned Middle Stone Age points, saying that there is nothing unusual in using nonlocal materials. They dismiss the claim that no ordinary tools were found at the site, noting that the many scrapers that are found are ordinary tools and that there is evidence of tool making at the site. Discussing the ‘secret chamber’, they point to the lack of evidence for San shamans using chambers in caves or for this one to have been used in such a way.” ref

Rain Serpents in Northern Australia and Southern Africa: a Common Ancestry? (proof)

“Through geneticists, we know that humans evolved in Africa close to 200,000 years ago. And in Africa symbolic culture was in place around 100,000 years ago before the successful colonization outside of Africa around 50,000 years ago, with a tentatively initial unsuccessful colonization outside of Africa migrations before or after 100,000 until around 50,000 years ago, where we see (‘Ust’-Ishim man) the 45,000-year-old remains from western Siberia.” ref

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African Back Migrations and the Status of Shamanism Origins as well as its Spreading

Shamanism: an approximately 30,000-year-old belief system

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African Bantu Languages and Peoples: Their Migrations, Culture, Beliefs, and Mythology

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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“The shaman is, above all, a connecting figure, bridging several worlds for his people, traveling between this world, the underworld, and the heavens. He transforms himself into an animal and talks with ghosts, the dead, the deities, and the ancestors. He dies and revives. He brings back knowledge from the shadow realm, thus linking his people to the spirits and places which were once mythically accessible to all.–anthropologist Barbara Meyerhoff” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Ust’-Ishim man

“‘Ust’-Ishim man is the term given to the 45,000-year-old remains of one of the early modern humans to inhabit western Siberia. The fossil is notable in that it had intact DNA which permitted the complete sequencing of its genome, the oldest modern human genome to be so decoded. The remains consist of a single bone—left femur—of a male hunter-gatherer, protruding from the bank of the Irtysh River by Nikolai Peristov, a Russian sculptor who specializes in carving mammoth ivory. Peristov showed the fossil to a forensic investigator who suggested that it might be of human origin. The fossil was named after the Ust’-Ishim District of Siberia where it had been discovered.” ref

“The fossil was examined by paleoanthropologists in the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, located in Leipzig, Germany. Carbon dating showed that the fossil dates back to 45,000 years ago, making it the oldest human fossil to be so dated. Scientists found the DNA intact and were able to sequence the complete genome of Ust’-Ishim man to contemporary standards of quality. Though genomes have been sequenced of hominins pre-dating Ust’-Ishim man, this is the oldest modern human genome to be sequenced to date.” ref

Y-DNA and mtDNA

“Ust’-Ishim man belongs to Y-DNA haplogroup K2a*, which is defined by the SNP M2308. The two subclades of K2a known from living men, the rare K2a1-Y28299 and the very common NO-M214, belong to a branch distinct from Ust’-Ishim man’s.] In the original paper, he was classified only as Haplogroup K2 (the clade ancestral to K2a). It may be inferred that K2a emerged in or near South Asia approximately 47,000 years ago – i.e. K2 is estimated to have originated in South East Asia, about 47,000–55,000 years ago, while its secondary descendant NO* is believed to have emerged approximately 38,000 to 47,000 years ago. He belonged to mitochondrial DNA haplogroup R*, differing from the root sequence of R by a single mutation. Both of these haplogroups and descendant subclades are now found among populations throughout Eurasia, Oceania, and The Americas, although no direct descendants of Ust Ishim man’s specific lineages are known from modern populations.” ref

“Examination of the sequenced genome indicates that Ust’-Ishim man lived at a point in time (270,000 to 45,000 years ago) between the first wave of anatomically modern humans that migrated out of Africa and the divergence of that population into distinct populations, in terms of autosomal DNA in different parts of Eurasia. Consequently, Ust’-Ishim man is not more closely related to the first two major migrations of Homo Sapiens eastward from Africa into Asia: a group that migrated along the coast of South Asia, or a group that moved north-east through Central Asia.] When compared to other ancient remains, Ust’-Ishim man is more closely related, in terms of autosomal DNA to Tianyuan man, found near Beijing and dating from 42,000 to 39,000 years ago; Mal’ta boy (or MA-1), a child who lived 24,000 years ago along the Bolshaya Belaya River near today’s Irkutsk in Siberia, or; La Braña man – a hunter-gatherer who lived in La Braña (modern Spain) about 8,000 years ago.” ref

Relationship with Neanderthals

“Analysis of modern human genomes reveals that humans interbred with Neanderthals between 37,000 and 86,000 years ago, resulting in the DNA of humans outside Africa containing between 1.5 and 2.1 percent DNA of Neanderthal origin. Neanderthal DNA in modern humans occurs in broken fragments; however, the Neanderthal DNA in Ust’-Ishim man occurs in clusters, indicating that Ust’-Ishim man lived in the immediate aftermath of the genetic interchange. The genomic sequencing of Ust’-Ishim man has led to refinement of the estimated date of mating between the two hominin species to between 52,000 and 58,000 years ago. No relationship between Denisovans and the Ust’-Ishim man has been checked, although Denisovans have some descendants in Oceania and Asia.” ref

Relationship with modern human populations

“Ust’-Ishim was more closely related to modern East Asian people, not to modern West Eurasian populations, such as the present Europeans. Modern West Eurasians are more closely related to other ancient remains. In a 2016 study, modern Tibetans were identified as the modern population that has the most alleles in common with Ust’-Ishim man. According to a 2017 study, “Siberian and East Asian populations shared 38% of their ancestry” with Ust’-Ishim man.” ref

Afroasiatic Urheimat?

(Urheimat: original home or location where a people or language originated)

“The Afroasiatic Urheimat is the hypothetical place where speakers of the proto-Afroasiatic language lived in a single linguistic community, or complex of communities, before this original language dispersed geographically and divided into separate distinct languages. This speech area is known as the Urheimat (“original homeland” in German). Afroasiatic languages are today distributed in parts of Africa and Western Asia. The contemporary Afroasiatic languages are spoken in the Near East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahara/Sahel. The various hypotheses for the Afroasiatic Urheimat are distributed throughout this territory; that is, it is generally assumed that proto-Afroasiatic was spoken in some region where Afroasiatic languages are still spoken today. However, there is argument as to which part of the contemporary Afroasiatic speech area corresponds with the original homeland.” ref

Date of Afroasiatic?

“The earliest written evidence of an Afroasiatic language is an Ancient Egyptian inscription dated c. 3400 BC (5,400 years ago). Symbols on Gerzean pottery resembling Egyptian hieroglyphs date back to c. 4000 BCE, suggesting a still earlier possible date. This gives us a minimum date for the age of Afroasiatic. However, Ancient Egyptian is highly divergent from proto-Afroasiatic, and considerable time must have elapsed in between them. Estimates of the date at which the proto-Afroasiatic language was spoken vary widely. They fall within a range between approximately 7,500 BCE (9,500 years ago) and approximately 16,000 BCE (18,000 years ago). According to Igor M. Diakonoff, proto-Afroasiatic was spoken 10,000 BCE. According to Christopher Ehret), proto-Afroasiatic was spoken c. 11,000 BCE at the latest, and possibly as early as c. 16,000 BCE. These dates are older than dates associated with most other protolanguages. Culturally this falls within the period of the Halfan culture which may have been proto-Afroasiatic.” ref

Levant theory

“Supporters of a non-North or north East African origin for Afroasiatic are particularly common among those with a background in Semitic or Egyptological studies, or amongst archaeological proponents of the “farming/language dispersal hypothesis” according to which major language groups dispersed with early farming technology in the Neolithic. The leading linguistic proponent of this idea in recent times is Alexander Militarev. Arguments for and against this position depend upon the contested proposal that farming-related words can be reconstructed in Proto-Afroasiatic, with farming technology being widely thought to have spread from the Levant into North Africa and then the Horn of Africa.” ref

“Militarev, who linked proto-Afroasiatic to the Levantine Natufian culture, that preceded the spread of farming technology, believes the language family to be about 10,000 years old. He wrote that the “Proto-Afrasian language, on the verge of a split into daughter languages”, meaning, in his scenario, into “Cushitic, Omotic, Egyptian, Semitic and Chadic-Berber”, “should be roughly dated to the ninth millennium BC”. But an Asiatic origin need not be associated exclusively with the migration of agricultural populations: according to linguists, words for dog (an Asian domesticate) reconstruct to Proto-Afroasiatic as well as words for bow and arrow, which according to some archaeologists spread rapidly across North Africa once they were introduced to North Africa from the Near East i.e. Ounan points.” ref

Red Sea/Horn of Africa theory

“The Horn of Africa, particularly the area of Ethiopia and Eritrea, has been proposed by some linguists as the origin of the language group because it includes the majority of the diversity of the Afroasiatic language family and has very diverse groups in close geographic proximity, sometimes considered a telltale sign for a linguistic geographic origin. Within this hypothesis there are competing variants.” ref

Red Sea coast

“Christopher Ehret has proposed the western Red Sea coast from Eritrea to southeastern Egypt. While Ehret disputes Militarev’s proposal that Proto-Afroasiatic shows signs of a common farming lexicon, he suggests that early Afroasiatic languages were involved in the even earlier development of intensive food collection in the areas of Ethiopia and Sudan. In other words, he proposes an even older age for Afroasiatic than Militarev, at least 15,000 years old and possibly older, and believes farming lexicon can only be reconstructed for branches of Afroasiatic. But, it is argued, the appearance of linguistic terms such as dog, bow, and arrow in Proto-Afroasiatic makes a date earlier than 9,500 BCE (coinciding with the end of the Younger Dryas) highly unlikely since dogs only appear at the earliest in the archaeological record after 12,000 BCE in the Near East, and arrowheads only appear after 9,500 BCE in North Africa and the Horn of Africa as a result of introduction from the Near East.” ref

“However, microlithic arrowheads appear in southern Africa (71,000 years ago) and possibly the Aterian culture (ca. 100-25,000 years agoP) suggesting that arrowheads may have been an invention originating in Africa and taken into the Near East by a pre-Afroasiatic late glacial migration. At the site of Nataruk in Turkana County, Kenya, obsidian bladelets found embedded in a skull and within the thoracic cavity of another skeleton dated to ca. 10,000 years ago, may suggest the use of stone-tipped arrows as weapons. After the end of the last glacial period, use of the bow seems to have spread to every inhabited continent, including the New World, except for Australia. However, these finds predate by far any proposed date for the evolution of Afroasiatic. In the next phase, unlike many other authors Ehret proposed an initial split between northern, southern, and Omotic. The northern group includes Semitic, Egyptian, and Berber (agreeing with others such as Diakonoff). He proposed that Chadic stems from Berber (some other authors group it with southern Afroasiatic languages such as Cushitic ones).” ref

Ethiopia

“Roger Blench has proposed Southwestern Ethiopia, in or around the Omo Valley. Compared to Militarev and Ehret he proposed a relatively young time-depth of approximately 7,500 years. Like Ehret he accepts that Omotic is Afroasiatic and sees the split of northern languages from Omotic as an important early development, but he did not group Egyptian or Chadic with any of these.” ref

North Africa theory

“Another proposal is that Semitic is an offshoot of a northern family of Afroasiatic languages, including Berber, and possibly Egyptian. It then entered the Levant and was possibly spread by what Juris Zarins calls the Syro-Arabian nomadic pastoralism complex, spreading south along the shores of the Red Sea and northeast around the edge of the “Fertile Crescent“. It is thought that Semitic speakers then crossed from South Arabia back into Eritrea. In contrast, Bender proposed on linguistic grounds that Cushitic (found in the Horn of Africa) shares important innovations with Semitic and Berber, and that these three split off early from the others, while still near an original homeland of all Afroasiatic.” ref

Sahel/Sahara theory

“Igor Diakonoff proposed the Eastern Sahara region, specifically the southern fringe of the Sahara. Lionel Bender proposed the area near Khartoum, Sudan, at the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile. The details of his theory are widely cited but controversial, as it involves the proposal that Semitic originated in Ethiopia and crossed to Asia directly from there over the Red Sea. This could also potentially solidify Bender’s argument, in that scholars today believe that there is a relationship between the Cushitic branch and the Chadic Branch; arguing that perhaps Chadic descends from Cushitic.” ref

“The most commonly cited genetic marker in recent decades has been the Y chromosome, which is passed from father to son along paternal lines in un-mixed form, and therefore gives a relatively clear definition of one human line of descent from common ancestors. There is a high frequency of haplogroup E1b1b in select Afro-Asiatic speakers. Several branches of humanity’s Y-DNA family tree have been proposed as having an association with the spread of Afroasiatic languages.” ref

1. “Haplogroup E1b1b is thought to have originated in the Horn of Africa and to have migrated out of Africa between 47,000 and 28,500 years ago. In general, Afroasiatic speaking populations have relatively high frequencies of this haplogroup, with the notable exception of Chadic speaking populations. Christopher Ehret and Shomarka Keita have suggested that the geography of the E1b1b lineage coincides with the distribution of Afroasiatic languages.” ref

2 .”Haplogroup J1c3 (Y-DNA), previously known as “J1e”, is actually a more common paternal lineage than E1b1b in most Semitic speaking populations, but this is associated with Middle Eastern origins and has apparently been spread from there after the original dispersion of Afroasiatic.” ref

3. “Haplogroup R1b1a (R-V88), and specifically its sub-clade R-V69, has a very strong relationship with Chadic speaking populations, who unlike other Afroasiatic speakers have low frequencies of Haplogroup E1b1b. The majority of R-V88 was found in northern and central Africa, in Chadic-speaking populations. It is less common in neighbouring populations. The authors also found evidence of high concentration in Western Egypt and evidence that the closest related types of R1b are found in the Middle East in the Levant, and to a lesser extent southern Europe. They proposed that an Eastern Saharan origin for Chadic R1b would agree with linguistic theories such as those of Christopher Ehret, that Chadic and Berber form a related group within Afroasiatic, which originated in the area of the Sahara. R1b-V88 had probably entered Africa from Western Asia, via Egypt, and moved south along the Nile river and eventually crossing over to West Africa between 9,200 and 5,600 years ago.” ref

“In contrast to the evidence from paternally inherited Y-DNA, a recent study has shown that a branch of mitochondrial haplogroup L3 links the maternal ancestry of Chadic-speakers from the Sahel with Cushitic-speakers from the Horn of Africa. Other mitochondrial lineages that are associated with Afroasiatic include mitochondrial haplogroups M1 and haplogroup U6. Gonzalez et al. suggest that Afroasiatic speakers may have dispersed from the Horn of Africa carrying the subclades M1a and U6a1.” ref

“According to an autosomal DNA study by Hodgson et al., the Afroasiatic languages were likely spread across Africa and the Near East by an ancestral population(s) carrying a newly identified non-African genetic component, which the researchers dub the “Ethio-Somali”. This Ethio-Somali component is today most common among Afroasiatic-speaking populations in the Horn of Africa. It is most closely related to the Maghrebi non-African genetic component, and is believed to have diverged from all other non-African ancestries at least 23,000 years ago. On this basis, the researchers suggest that the original Ethio-Somali carrying population(s) probably arrived in the pre-agricultural period from the Near East, having crossed over into northeastern Africa via the Sinai peninsula. The population then likely split into two branches, with one group heading westward toward the Maghreb and the other moving south into the Horn. A related hypothesis that associates the origin of the ancestors of Afroasiatic speakers as the result of a reflux population from Southwest Asia during the Late Palaeolithic was previously put forward by Daniel McCall.” ref

Nostratic hypothesis

“The Nostratic language family is a proposed macrofamily grouping together a number of language families including Indo-European, Uralic, Altaic, and even more controversially Afroasiatic. Following Pedersen, Illich-Svitych, and Dolgopolsky, most advocates of the theory have included Afroasiatic in Nostratic, though criticisms by Joseph Greenberg and others from the late 1980s onward suggested a reassessment of this position.” ref

“Ilya Yabonovich and other linguists, in examining the differences between the various members of the Afroasiatic family have realized that all of the old etymologies for this group were inherently semitocentric. The differences between Chadic, Omotic, Cushitic and Semitic, were wider than those seen between any members of the Indo-European family and as wide as some of the differences seen within and between separate language families, for example, Indo-European and Altaic. Certainly, the exclusion of Afroasiatic from the controversial Nostratic family has simplified matters of phonemics, not having to include the complex patterns seen in Afroasiatic languages.” ref

“Allan Bomhard retains Afroasiatic within Nostratic, despite his admission that Proto–Afroasiatic is very different from the other members of the proposed linguistic Nostratic superfamily. As a result, he suggests it was probably the first language to have split from the Nostratic linguistic superfamily. Recently, however, a consensus has been emerging among proponents of the Nostratic hypothesis. Greenberg in fact basically agreed with the Nostratic concept, though he stressed a deep internal division between its northern ‘tier’ (his Eurasiatic) and a southern ‘tier’ (principally Afroasiatic and Dravidian). The American Nostraticist Bomhard considers Eurasiatic a branch of Nostratic alongside other branches: Afroasiatic, Elamo-Dravidian, and Kartvelian. Similarly, Georgiy Starostin arrives at a tripartite overall grouping: he considers Afroasiatic, Nostratic, and Elamite to be roughly equidistant and more closely related to each other than to anything else. Sergei Starostin’s school has now re-included Afroasiatic in a broadly defined Nostratic, while reserving the term Eurasiatic to designate the narrower subgrouping which comprises the rest of the macrofamily. Recent proposals thus differ mainly on the precise placement of Dravidian and Kartvelian.” ref

Haplogroup U6 (mtDNA)

Geographic distribution

“Haplogroup U6 has a very wide geographic distribution across the northern half of Africa, the Middle East, and most of western and southern Europe. It has been found at low frequencies as far north as the Baltic and as far east as Central Asia and Iran. It is most common in North-West Africa, especially among the Mozabites (28%) and Kabyles (18%) of Algeria, as well as Mauritanians (14%) and Canary Islanders (13.5%). Other regions with frequencies of U6 exceeding 1% include 6-8% in Morocco and coastal Algeria, 5% in Tunisia, 4% in Libya, 2.5% in Lebanon, Portugal, Egypt, and Oman, 2% in Cyprus, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Guinea-Bissau, 1.5% in Saudi Arabia, and 1% in Syria, Jordan and in Spain. Isolated pockets of high U6 frequencies have been reported in Iberia, notably 8.5% in Huelva (western Andalusia) by Hernández et al., 7% in northern Portugal by Pereira et al., 4.3% in northern Portugal, 4% in central Spain, and 2.5% in central Portugal by Ottoni et al., and 2.6% in Catalonia by Garcia et al.. U6 is only found at trace frequencies among Ashkenazi Jews and in most of Europe. The highest frequencies observed in Europe outside Iberia are in south-west France (1.4%), Brittany (0.7%), in Tuscany (0.6%), Sicily (0.5%) and southern Italy (0.5%).” ref

Distribution of mtDNA haplogroup U6 in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East

Origins & History

“Although now found primarily in western, northern, and north-eastern Africa, haplogroup U6 descends from the western Eurasian haplogroup U, and therefore represents a back migration to Africa. Secher et al. estimated that U6 arose very approximately 35,000 years ago (±11 ky), during the Early Upper Paleolithic, and prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).” ref

“The oldest and largest subclade, U6a, would have appeared around the LGM. U6a lineages are thought to have spread in several waves across North Africa, probably starting around 20,000 years ago, following the northern coastline of Africa. Several U6a branches (U6a1, U6a3, U6a6, U6a6b, U6a7, and U6a7b) appear to have expanded within the Maghreb from 20,000 years ago, with some spreading to the Iberian Peninsula (U6a1, U6a1b). Marieke van de Loosdrecht et al. tested the DNA of seven 15,000-year-old modern humans from Taforalt Cave in northeastern Morocco, and six out of seven of them belonged to haplogroup U6a (clades U6a1b, U6a6b, U6a7, and U6a7b) – the last one belonging to M1b. The six males belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup E1b1b (M78). U6b, U6c, and U6d emerged later, some time between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago, from the end of the Last Glacial period.” ref

U6 Neolithic expansion

“U6a and U6b lineages underwent the most spectacular expansion since the Neolithic period, spreading from the Maghreb to West Africa (U6a3c, U6a3f, U6a5, U6b) and the Canary Islands (U6b1a), and crossing the Sahara all the way to the Sudan to Arabia (U6a3d). This expansion might have been carried by the arrival of domesticated cattle from the Middle East by men belonging to Y-haplogroup R1b-V88 as U6b is typically found in herding populations in which both R1b-V88 and U6b are present, including the Berbers of the Maghreb, the Fulani people of the Sahel and the Hausa people of Sudan. R1b-V88 cattle herders are believed to have started advancing into northern Africa during the Neolithic Subpluvial (c. 7250 BCE to 3250 BCE), when the Sahara was considerably wetter and greener than today, and would have reached the Maghreb by 4,500 BCE. Consequently, the expansion of R1b-V88 with the assimilated Maghreban lineages of that period (mostly H1, H3, U6, and HV0/V) would have taken place from c. 6,000 years ago, and may have continued until fairly recently in some regions.” ref

Canary Islands

Ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis of the Guanches, the aboriginal population of the Canary Islands, conducted by Maca-Meyer et al. and Fregel et al. confirmed the presence of mtDNA U6b1a and U6c1 in the archipelago prior to the European colonisation (alongside haplogroups HV0, H, J, K, L, N1b, T2c, W and X). Acheological evidence indicates that the Canary Islands were first settled c. 2,500 years ago.” ref

• U6

o U6a’b’d

o U6a: found in western and northern Africa, western Europe, the Middle East, and the Horn of Africa

o U6a1:

o U6a1a: found in the Maghreb, Iberia, and southern Italy

“The Maghreb, also known as Northwest Africa, the Arab Maghreb, and historically as “The Barbary coast”, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab World. The region includes Algeria, Libya, Mauritania (also considered part of West Africa), Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb also includes the disputed territories of Western Sahara (controlled mostly by Morocco and partly by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla (both controlled by Spain).[5] As of 2018, the region had a population of over 100 million people.” ref

o U6a1b: found in the Maghreb, Iberia, Italy, France, Belgium, and Scandinavia / found in Late Paleolithic Morocco

o U6a2

o U6a2a: found in Ethiopia

o U6a2b: found in Ethiopia and the Arabian peninsula

o U6a2c: found in Armenia, Egypt, and Portugal

o U6a3

o U6a3a: found in the Maghreb and Iberia

o U6a3a1: found in the Maghreb, Iberia and Finland

o U6a3a2: found in the Maghreb, Iberia, and Germany

o U6a3c: found in Ghana

o U6a3d: found in Egypt and Palestine

o U6a3e: found in the Maghreb and Iberia

o U6a3f: found in Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso and Nigeria

o U6a4: found in Iraq and Italy

o U6a5: found in the Maghreb, Iberia, Italy, Hungary, Chad, Cameroon, and Nigeria

o U6a5a

o U6a5b

o U6a6

o U6a6a: found in Morocco

o U6a6b: found in Morocco and Tunisia / found in Late Paleolithic Morocco

o U6a7: found in Late Paleolithic Morocco

o U6a7a

o U6a7a1: found in France, Italy, and Mauritania

o U6a7a1a: found among the Acadians

o U6a7a1b: found among Sephardic Jews

o U6a7a2: found in Britain

o U6a7b: found in Algeria, Tunisia, France, and Britain / found in Late Paleolithic Morocco

o U6a7c: found in Tunisia

o U6a8: found in the Maghreb

o U6a8a: found in the Maghreb

o U6a8b: found in the Maghreb and Spain

o U6b’d

o U6b: found mostly in southwest Asia, West Africa, and Iberia

“Iberia is a peninsula in the southwest corner of Europe, defining the westernmost edge of Eurasia. It is principally divided between Spain and Portugal, comprising most of their territory, as well as a small area of Southern France, Andorra, and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.” ref

o U6b1: found in northern Spain and the Canaries

o U6b2: found in Morocco and Spain

o U6b3: found in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain

o U6d: found mostly in the Maghreb and Iberia

o U6d1: found mostly in the Maghreb

o U6d1a: found in Britain

o U6d1b: found in the Maghreb and southern Italy

o U6d2: found in Algeria and Ethiopia

o U6d3: found in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain

o U6c : found mostly in the northern Maghreb and southwest Europe

o U6c1: found in Italy and the Canaries

o U6c2: found in Morocco and France” ref

Associated medical conditions

“Rollins et al examined the association between brain pH and mtDNA alleles. The highest brain pH was found in members of haplogroups U and K. Higher pH confers protection against Parkinson’s disease and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Another study by the University of Manchester suggests that a lower brain acidity (i.e. higher pH) has a protective effect against strokes. Research on intelligence point that people with higher IQ tend to have more alkaline brains. Higher pH is associated with better conductivity-transmission between neurons (source).” ref

“Hendrickson et al. studied the role played by mitochondrial function in AIDS progression in HIV-1 infected persons. They found that AIDS progression was slower for members of haplogroups U and K, except for U6a which had a faster progression.” ref

“The T16189C polymorphism, defining haplogroups U6a1a, U6a2, U6a3, U6a6a, U6a7c, U6a8, U6b1b, and U6c lowers the rate of mtDNA replication and consequently the number of mtDNA copies, reducing metabolic efficiency. It has been linked to maternally inherited thinness, thinness at birth and increased body mass index, and increased frequency of type 2 diabetes in the UK and in Asia.” ref

“The common C150T mutation has been found at strikingly higher frequency among Chinese and Italian centenarians and may be advantageous for longevity and resistance to stress. C150T defines haplogroups U6a3f, U6a4, U6a7a1b and U6c.” ref

A Back Migration from Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa Is Supported by High-Resolution Analysis of Human Y-Chromosome Haplotypes

The variation of 77 biallelic sites located in the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome was examined in 608 male subjects from 22 African populations. This survey revealed a total of 37 binary haplotypes, which were combined with microsatellite polymorphism data to evaluate internal diversities and to estimate coalescence ages of the binary haplotypes. The majority of binary haplotypes showed a nonuniform distribution across the continent. Analysis of molecular variance detected a high level of interpopulation diversity (ΦST=0.342), which appears to be partially related to the geography (ΦCT=0.230). In sub-Saharan Africa, the recent spread of a set of haplotypes partially erased pre-existing diversity, but a high level of population (ΦST=0.332) and geographic (ΦCT=0.179) structuring persists. Correspondence analysis shows that three main clusters of populations can be identified: northern, eastern, and sub-Saharan Africans. Among the latter, the Khoisan, the Pygmies, and the northern Cameroonians are clearly distinct from a tight cluster formed by the Niger-Congo–speaking populations from western, central-western, and southern Africa. Phylogeographic analyses suggest that a large component of the present Khoisan gene pool is eastern African in origin and that Asia was the source of a back migration to sub-Saharan Africa. Haplogroup IX Y chromosomes appear to have been involved in such a migration, the traces of which can now be observed mostly in northern Cameroon.” ref

15,000 years ago 

“West Eurasian populations can be modeled as the admixture of four different ancestral components (2): Eastern and Western European hunter-gatherer and Iranian and Levantine Neolithic. We explored the placement of Moroccan and Southern Iberian Neolithic samples in this context and compared their genetic affinities to ancient and present-day West Eurasian and Levant populations in the Human Origins panel, as well as to other available aDNA population data. Interestingly, PCA revealed that IAM individuals are similar to North African Later Stone Age samples from the Taforalt site in Morocco, dated ∼15,000 years ago. When projected, IAM samples are halfway between Taforalt and modern North Africans, in the Levantine corner of the PCA space. Southern Iberian Neolithic individuals from TOR cluster with Sardinians and with other Anatolian and European Neolithic samples. Moreover, KEB samples are placed halfway between the IAM and Anatolian/European farmer clusters, in close proximity to Levant aDNA samples and also to Guanche samples (from the indigenous population of the Canary Islands known to have a Berber origin). When compared using ADMIXTURE, IAM samples possess ∼100% of a component partially shared by aDNA samples from the Levant.” ref, ref, ref

“This IAM-like component is observed mainly in modern North African individuals, following a west-to-east cline, and in the Guanches. Interestingly, the Early Neolithic individuals from Iberia form a different cluster from the Anatolian, Aegean, and European Early Neolithic samples, sharing their main component with Middle Neolithic/Chalcolithic samples. Lastly, KEB can be explained as having both IAM-like and Iberian Early Neolithic components. The same admixture profile is observed in the Guanche samples, but the amount of IAM ancestry is consistently higher in all of the samples. Given that the Guanches could have originated in a different area of the Maghreb, this result might suggest that the European Neolithic impact in North Africa was heterogeneous.” ref, ref, ref

12,000 years ago

“Genetic data from present-day populations suggests that North African ancestry has contributions from four main sources: (i) an autochthonous Maghrebi component related to a back migration to Africa ∼12,000 y ago from Eurasia; (ii) a Middle Eastern component probably associated with the Arab conquest; (iii) a sub-Saharan component derived from trans-Saharan migrations; and (iv) a European component that has been linked to recent historic movements.” ref, ref, ref

7,000 and 5,000 years ago 

“Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome haplogroups obtained for IAM (Moroccan Early Neolithic) and KEB (Moroccan Late Neolithic) suggest either a population replacement or an important genetic influx into Morocco between 5,000 and 3,000 BCE. IAM samples belong to the mtDNA haplogroups U6a and M1—both of which are associated with the back migration to Africa from Eurasia in Upper Paleolithic times and observed in Moroccan Later Stone Age individuals—whereas KEB samples belong to haplogroups K1, T2, and X2, which are prominently found in Anatolian and European Neolithic samples. Regarding the paternal lineages, IAM individuals carry Y chromosomes distantly related to the typically North African E-M81 haplogroup, while the Y chromosome from KEB belongs to the T-M184 haplogroup; although scarce and broadly distributed today, this haplogroup has also been observed in European Neolithic individuals. Both mtDNA and Y chromosome lineages (K1, J2, and T2 haplogroups and G-M201 haplogroup, respectively) for samples from TOR (Iberian Early Neolithic) are similar to those observed in Europe during Neolithic times.” ref, ref, ref

6,000 years ago

“The Niger-Congo phylum is thought to have emerged around 6,000 years ago in West or Central Africa. Its expansion may have been associated with the expansion of Sahel agriculture in the African Neolithic period, following the desiccation of the Sahara in c. 3900 BCE. The Bantu expansion has spread the Bantu languages to Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa, partly replacing the indigenous populations of these regions. Beginning about 3,000 years ago, it reached South Africa about 1,700 years ago.” ref, ref, ref

 4,500 years ago

“Consistently, all comparisons produced significant positive values and indicated a higher similarity of IAM with Natufians and Levantine farmers. This suggests that most of IAM ancestry originates from an out-of-Africa source, as IAM shares more alleles with Levantines than with any sub-Saharan Africans, including the 4,500-y-old genome from Ethiopia. To further test the hypothesis that IAM is more closely related to out-of-Africa populations, we determined whether we could detect Neanderthal ancestry in IAM, which is typical of non-African populations. A signal of Neanderthal ancestry has been detected in modern North African populations. A lack of Neanderthal ancestry in IAM would imply that the signal observed today is a product of more recent migration into North Africa from the Middle East and Europe in historical times. Compared with the Neanderthal high coverage genome sequence from Altai and the low-coverage sequence from Vindija Cave, and using the S statistic, we detected a Neanderthal introgression signal into IAM, suggesting derivation from the same event shared by non-African populations.” ref, ref, ref

“FST and outgroup-f3 distances indicate a high similarity between IAM and Taforalt. As observed for IAM, most Taforalt sample ancestry derives from Epipaleolithic populations from the Levant. However, van de Loosdrecht et al. also reported that one third of Taforalt ancestry was of sub-Saharan African origin. To confirm whether IAM individuals show a sub-Saharan African component, we calculated f4(chimpanzee, African population; Natufian, IAM) in such a way that a positive result for f4 would indicate that IAM is composed both of Levantine and African ancestries. Consistent with the results observed for Taforalt, f4 values are significantly positive for West African populations, with the highest value observed for Gambian and Mandenka. Together, these results indicate the presence of the same ancestral components in ∼15,000-y-old and ∼7,000-y-old populations from Morocco, strongly suggesting a temporal continuity between Later Stone Age and Early Neolithic populations in the Maghreb. However, it is important to take into account that the number of ancient genomes available for comparison is still low and future sampling can provide further refinement in the evolutionary history of North Africa.” ref, ref, ref

“Both FST and outgroup-f3 statistical analyses indicate that KEB shares ancestry with IAM, as well as more genetic drift with Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations from Anatolia and Europe, with the highest shared genetic drift appearing in Iberian Early Neolithic samples. This pattern and the result from ADMIXTURE could be explained if the KEB population was a mixture between IAM-related and European Neolithic groups. To formally test this hypothesis, we used an admixture-f3 test. When calculated in the form f3(PopA, PopB; target), a negative value of the f3-statistic is indicative of the target population being a mixture of both PopA and PopB populations. For our analysis, we used KEB as the test population, IAM as a reference population, and one of the Anatolian and European Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations as the second reference population. All comparisons produced negative values of the f3-statistic, which suggests that the KEB population can be modeled as a mixture of IAM and Anatolian/European Neolithic.” ref, ref, ref

“TOR has more shared ancestry with Iberian Early Neolithic samples and other Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations from Europe. Archaeological studies have suggested that there was an Andalusian Early Neolithic culture with North African influences before the Cardial expansion into the Western Mediterranean basin. However, we observe that TOR samples have a similar genetic composition to that of Cardial individuals from Iberia, evidencing a common origin and ruling out an Andalusian Early Neolithic distinct from Cardial culture.” ref, ref, ref

“Lastly, although limited by low coverage, phenotypic predictions based on genetic variants of known effects agree with our estimates of global ancestry. IAM people did not possess any of the European SNPs associated with light pigmentation, and most likely had dark skin and eyes. IAM samples contain ancestral alleles for pigmentation-associated variants present in SLC24A5 (rs1426654), SLC45A2 (rs16891982), and OCA2 (rs1800401 and 12913832) genes. On the other hand, KEB individuals exhibit some European-derived alleles that predispose individuals to lighter skin and eye color, including those on genes SLC24A5 (rs1426654) and OCA2 (rs1800401).” ref, ref, ref

Conclusion

“Genetic analyses have revealed that the population history of modern North Africans is quite complex. Based on our aDNA analysis, we identify an Early Neolithic Moroccan component that is (i) restricted to North Africa in present-day populations; (ii) the sole ancestry in IAM samples; and (iii) similar to the one observed in Later Stone Age samples from Morocco. We conclude that this component, distantly related to that of Epipaleolithic communities from the Levant, represents the autochthonous Maghrebi ancestry associated with Berber populations. Our data suggests that human populations were isolated in the Maghreb since Upper Paleolithic times. Our hypothesis is in agreement with archaeological research pointing to the first stage of the Neolithic expansion in Morocco as the result of a local population that adopted some technological innovations, such as pottery production or farming, from neighboring areas.” ref, ref, ref

3,000 yeas ago

“By 3,000 BCE, a continuity in the Neolithic spread brought Mediterranean-like ancestry to the Maghreb, most likely from Iberia. Other archaeological remains, such as African elephant ivory and ostrich eggs found in Iberian sites, confirm the existence of contacts and exchange networks through both sides of the Gibraltar strait at this time. Our analyses strongly support that at least some of the European ancestry observed today in North Africa is related to prehistoric migrations, and local Berber populations were already admixed with Europeans before the Roman conquest. Furthermore, additional European/Iberian ancestry could have reached the Maghreb after KEB people; this scenario is supported by the presence of Iberian-like Bell-Beaker pottery in more recent stratigraphic layers of IAM and KEB caves. Future paleogenomic efforts in North Africa will further disentangle the complex history of migrations that forged the ancestry of the admixed populations we observe today.” ref, ref, ref

“In sub-Saharan Africa, the spread of two haplotypes that are related through the presence of the DYS271 derived allele (haplotypes 22 and 24) seems to have partially erased pre-existing genetic differences among different geographic regions. These haplotypes were found in all sub-Saharan areas analyzed, with a cumulative frequency of ∼80% in western Africa and southern Cameroon. Nevertheless, a high level of population (ΦST=0.332, P<10−4) and geographic (ΦCT=0.179, P=.006) structuring can be detected south of the Sahara, the result of both a different local impact of these haplotypes and the presence at high frequency of population-specific haplotypes (M51 and M14 lineages in Khoisan, M112 lineages in Khoisan and Pygmies, haplotype 117 in northern Cameroonians). These findings are clearly depicted by the correspondence analysis, which identifies four clusters of populations corresponding to Khoisan, Pygmies, northern Cameroonians, and a group of poorly differentiated Niger-Congo–speaking populations from western, central-western, and southern Africa.” ref, ref, ref

Recent Population Expansions in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Impact on Pre-Existing Hunter-Gatherer Communities

“Among the most common haplotypes, haplotypes 22, 24, and 41 have been found to be present in all of the sub-Saharan regions analyzed here. Network analysis of the STRs associated with these haplotypes showed a low degree of geographic differentiation, suggesting that their present-day distribution is the consequence of relatively recent range expansion(s). Previous studies associated the diffusion of Bantu-speaking peoples from central-western Africa toward southern Africa with the presence of DYS271-bearing chromosomes (haplotypes 22, 24, and derivatives). Here we propose that haplotype 41, which reaches a frequency of 15% in the southern African Bantu, might also have been involved in such an expansion event. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the mean-variance of STR alleles of haplotype 41 chromosomes is higher in the central-western Africans than in the southern Khoisan (0.14 and 0.07, respectively), a finding which also holds true for DYS271 haplotypes 22 and 24.” ref, ref, ref

“The impact of the Bantu expansion on pre-existing hunter-gatherer communities was also appreciable. The contribution of Bantu-speaking peoples to the male-specific gene pool of the Pygmies is >50%, and a similar degree of admixture is detected also in the Khoisan-speaking !Kung (45%) and Khwe (58%). These Y-chromosome data agree with mtDNA data showing a higher “Bantu component” in the Khwe than in the !Kung, and they also correlate with the physical appearance of the former. However, the impact of the Bantu on the hunter-gatherer communities could have been less extreme in other southern African regions, as is possibly indicated by the 17% of Bantu chromosomes observed in the composite Khoisan sample analyzed by Underhill et al.” ref, ref, ref

“Although haplotypes 22, 24, and 41 were probably all involved in the Bantu expansion, the processes that determined the current distribution of these haplotypes in the Sudanese belt (a region south of the Sahara extending from western to central Africa) seem to have been more complex and perhaps involved a separate expansion. In particular, haplotype 24 and its derivative, haplotype 22, harbor opposite clinal distributions in the region, a finding that is at odds with the hypothesis of a parallel dispersion of these two lineages in the area. Haplotype 22 has a frequency of 23% in Cameroon (where it represents 42% of haplotypes carrying the DYS271 mutation), 13% in Burkina Faso (16% of haplotypes carrying the DYS271 mutation), and only 1% in Senegal, whereas haplotype 24 reaches its highest frequency (81%) in Senegal. A possible explanation might be that haplotype 24 chromosomes were already present across the Sudanese belt when the M191 mutation, which defines haplotype 22, arose in central-western Africa. Only then would a later demic expansion have brought haplotype 22 chromosomes from central-western to western Africa, giving rise to the opposite clinal distributions of haplotypes 22 and 24.” ref, ref, ref

Khoisan Origins and Genetic Affinities

“The Khoisan people exhibit a number of characteristics, such as light skin color, female steatopygia, and macronymphia, and the presence of “click” sounds in their language, that make them markedly distinct from neighboring Bantu groups and other sub-Saharan Africans. Genetic analyses based on autosomal and mtDNA markers also showed that the Khoisan represent an outlier group in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, a finding confirmed by our correspondence analysis. If we exclude the recent introduction of Bantu chromosomes (see above), the current Khoisan Y chromosomes fall into only four distinct subsets: those carrying the M51 (haplotype 4) and M14 (haplotypes 6 and 7) mutations, which are Khoisan-specific, and those characterized by the M112 (haplotype 15) and M35 (haplotype 35) mutations, which are shared with Pygmies and Ethiopians, respectively.” ref, ref, ref

“These haplotypes are not closely related and coalesce to the root of the Y-chromosome phylogeny, suggesting that, as previously noted, the gene pool of modern Khoisan people is the result of several admixture events, ending with Bantu population-mediated gene flow. Of note is the observation that the M51 lineage found in the Khoisan, which represents 26% of the Khoisan chromosomes analyzed to date, and the M13 lineage, which is found at a high frequency in Ethiopia (41%, including data from Underhill et al.), are united by M220, which is indicative of a shared common paternal ancestry. These findings, along with the sharing of haplotype 35, suggest a certain degree of ancient genetic affinity between Khoisan and Ethiopians.” ref, ref, ref

“Hypotheses about the presence of some ancestors of modern Khoisan in eastern Africa have been made on the basis of Khoisan-like skeletal materials found in eastern and northeastern Africa and on the basis of linguistic affinities with some modern eastern African populations that also use “clicks” in their languages. Such a scenario is reinforced by the observation that haplotype 28, from which haplotype 35 is derived, and haplotype 5, which is phylogenetically the closest to haplotypes 2 and 4, have been found in Ethiopia but not in southern Africa. Although these data support the sharing of an ancestral gene pool between Khoisan and Ethiopians, the high divergence of haplotypes carrying the M13 and M51 mutations and the extensive interpopulation STR diversity observed within haplotype 35 indicate that the Ethiopian and Khoisan Y-chromosome components have been separated for a considerable period of time.” ref, ref, ref

Group IX Chromosomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Asian Origin?

“In sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of the haplotypes fall within one of three groups sharing the ancestral allelic state at the M89 locus. In contrast, the majority of non-African chromosomes carry the derived allele at this locus. The only notable exception in sub-Saharan Africa is represented by a set of chromosomes that harbors the M207 and M173 mutations (haplotype 117) and is found in different linguistic groups of northern Cameroon, at an average frequency of 40%. These two mutations define all members of group IX (haplotypes 110–123 in the study by Underhill et al.), a haplogroup that shares the M9 mutation with haplogroups VII, VIII, and X (haplotypes 81–96, 97–109, and 124–131, respectively, in the study by Underhill et al.” ref, ref, ref

“So far, all group IX chromosomes from Europe and the Middle East that we analyzed were found to carry either the M269 mutation (haplotype 117b and derivatives) or the SRY10831 and M17 mutations (haplotypes 119–122). Both of these groups of haplotypes are very common in western Eurasia but harbor opposite frequency clines (R.S., unpublished data; P.A.U., unpublished data). Haplotypes carrying the SRY10831 mutation are not restricted to western Eurasia but are also common in central, northern, and southern Asia. Exclusive to Asia is a third group IX lineage, characterized by the M73 mutation (haplotype 123). The fourth and last group IX lineage identified so far is represented by the Cameroonian haplotype 117, which lacks any known downstream mutations.” ref, ref, ref

“How can the presence of Group IX chromosomes at considerable frequency in Cameroon be explained? A priori, we can envision three possibilities. First, group IX chromosomes in Cameroon are due to rather recent male gene flow from Europe or the Near East. Second, the entire M9 superclade (haplogroups VII–X) has an African origin. Third, group IX chromosomes in Cameroon represent a footprint of a male back migration from Asia to Africa. The first scenario seems to be very unlikely, because only derived haplotypes, carrying the M269 or M17/SRY10831 mutations, have been detected in western Eurasia.” ref, ref, ref

“The second hypothesis, an African origin of the M9 superclade that includes haplotype 117, would imply a subsequent impressive extinction of derivative lineages in sub-Saharan Africa, since no other haplotypes carrying the M9 mutation (haplogroups VII–X) have been observed in this region (the only exception being represented by a few haplotype 109 chromosomes found in the Fulbe from Cameroon). The last scenario, that of a back migration from Asia to Africa, currently appears to be by far the most plausible. This is because most of the M9 haplotypes (the majority of group VII and VIII lineages, as well as some group IX and X lineages reported by Underhill et al. have been observed only in Asia. Moreover, this possibility appears to be further supported by the recent finding of the UTY2+/M173− intermediate haplotype in central and northeastern Asia (the UTY2 marker corresponds to M207 in the present study).” ref, ref, ref

“On the basis of phylogeographic Y-haplotype analyses, Asia has been regarded as the source of several old migrations leading to the peopling of America, Oceania, and Europe. In particular, M173-bearing chromosomes in Europe are considered to delineate an ancient expansion from Asia during the Upper Paleolithic, ∼30,000 years ago. It is quite reasonable to hypothesize that an ancient Asian gene pool was the source of both the European (haplotype 117b) and Cameroonian (haplotype 117) M173 chromosomes. The fact that haplotype 117 is rare or absent in Asia or the Middle East, suggests that a large portion of its microsatellite diversity in Cameroon accumulated within the African continent after the proposed back-migration event, probably as a consequence of a population expansion.” ref, ref, ref

“The coalescence age of the African haplotype 117, which we estimated as 4,100 years (95% CI 2,400–8,060 years), could thus represent a date for such an expansion and a lower limit for the time of entry into Africa. The occurrence of the latter event may not necessarily be recent. Although anthropological evidence indicates recent movements between western Asia and Africa by pastoralists, the phylogeography and diversity patterns of M173-associated lineages suggest an earlier demographic history. The absence in northern Cameroon of Y haplotypes affiliated with the recolonization of Europe following the Last Glacial Maximum, as well as the subsequent Neolithic transition, is consistent with this interpretation. Interestingly, phylogenetic analysis of primate T-cell lymphotropic viruses type 1 indicate a putative Asian origin followed by a simian- or human-mediated introduction to Africa ⩾20,000 years ago.” ref, ref, ref

“An ancient human back migration from Asia to Africa had already been proposed, on the basis of nested cladistic analysis of Y-chromosome data. They suggested that the presence of YAP+ chromosomes in Africa was due to such an event, but this has recently been questioned by Underhill et al. and Underhill and Roseman, primarily on the basis of the Asian-specific YAP+ subclade that neutralizes the previous phylogenetic inferences. Thus, the only evidence of a migration from Asia to sub-Saharan Africa that is fully supported by Y-chromosome data relies, at least for the moment, on the finding of haplogroup IX chromosomes in Cameroon.” ref, ref, ref

“Interestingly, a frequency of 13% has been previously reported in an Egyptian sample for a group of chromosomes defined as haplotype 1C and closely related to the M173 chromosomes. Unfortunately, this sample was not available for the present study. Although we cannot define more precisely the haplotype of the Egyptian 1C Y chromosomes, it is worth noting that four of six of these chromosomes showed dinucleotide microsatellite haplotypes that matched or were one-step neighbors of the M173 chromosomes found in Cameroon. The genetic uniqueness of the northern Cameroon populations outlined here is based entirely on Y-chromosome evidence. It is desirable that additional markers are examined to provide a complement to the Y-chromosome data. In particular, an mtDNA analysis might help to evaluate possible sex-specific differences in migratory behavior.” ref, ref, ref

Further Considerations and Future Research Directions

“The present study reports the most extensive survey of Y-chromosome diversity in Africa, in terms of number of markers and populations, and has allowed us to initiate the disentangling of some of the emerging patterns of its complex variation. However, several areas of the continent have not been yet covered, including large portions of the Saharan/Sahelian belt (Niger and Chad), northern Africa (from Tunisia to Egypt), and eastern Africa south of Ethiopia (Kenya and neighboring nation-states). The analysis of these areas is necessary for an understanding of the origin and the present distribution of several interesting lineages, for which we have only partial information, to date. In particular, the analysis of areas around northern Cameroon could help to better define both the origin of group IX haplotype 117 and the distribution of the M13-bearing lineages. The presence of M13 chromosomes in central-western Africa seems to indicate a migration from eastern Africa to central-western Africa that, on the basis of STR data, could be rather ancient).” ref, ref, ref

“Also, the analysis of additional populations from eastern and northern Africa could shed some light on the origin and dispersion of the M78 chromosomes observed at high frequencies in both regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, some haplotypes observed at a low frequency could represent important signatures of pre-Neolithic settlements that have been overwhelmed by the strong demographic impact of farmers. The significance of these low-frequency haplotypes can be evaluated only by surveying much more consistent population samples. At this stage, we can only tentatively propose that group II haplotypes carrying the M236/288 mutations (haplotypes 19 and 19b), as well as the chromosomes carrying the M33 mutation (haplotypes 42 and 43), might represent some of these pre-Neolithic candidates. Finally, although the current Y-chromosome phylogeny fully supports the “out of Africa” model, the possibility of more precisely localizing the geographic origin of modern humans within the continent awaits more genetic—as well as nongenetic—information.” ref, ref, ref

Study finds genetic link to extinct relative of humans in 4 modern West African populations

“UCLA genomic research uses statistics – rather than ancient DNA – to look back more than 600,000 years. Matthew Chin | February 13, 2020, UCLA computational biologists have discovered that four populations in West Africa can trace about 8% of their genetic ancestry to an archaic hominin, an extinct relative of humans that branched off from the hominid evolutionary tree more than 600,000 years ago — about 100,000 years earlier than Neanderthals did. The study is published in Science Advances.” ref

“Over the past decade, advances in computing, statistical analysis, molecular biology, and genetics have revealed a richer picture of humans and their interactions with ancient relatives, such as Neanderthals. But research on the genetic ancestry of African populations has lagged behind discoveries about people with ancestral roots in Europe. The researchers, from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, analyzed modern DNA obtained from an international repository of genomic data. In the past, researchers would have needed to compare the modern DNA to so-called “reference DNA” from ancient fossils to draw such conclusions. But the improved statistical techniques available today enabled them to look backward in time hundreds of thousands of years without fossil DNA. “This opens a new path in understanding the complexity of human evolutionary history in Africa, where the picture hasn’t been as clear,” said Sriram Sankararaman, the study’s principal investigator, a UCLA assistant professor with appointments in computer science, human genetics, and computational medicine.” ref

The archaic hominin identified in the UCLA research is a close evolutionary relative of humans.

“There is not a lot known about these archaic hominins, which makes finding out how this ‘ghost population’ fits into human evolutionary history challenging. But our findings are very exciting,” said Sankararaman, who also is a member of UCLA’s Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program. Previous genomic studies have presented evidence that modern populations in Africa have complex genetic lineages, in which humans and close evolutionary relatives intermixed as recently as just a few thousand years ago. But this study may provide the strongest evidence yet that this intermixture took place. The UCLA research reveals much more of that story for the four modern groups of people, the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Mende of Sierra Leone, the Esan of Nigeria, and the Gambian in Western Divisions of Gambia.” ref

“We don’t need reference DNA from fossils of the archaic hominin to confirm that, somewhere deep in our ancestry, humans intermixed with them,” Sankararaman said. “We can now see that such events took place by looking at our DNA itself.” Segments of Neanderthal DNA extracted from fossils have been found in most modern populations outside of Africa. DNA has also been extracted and analyzed from the more recently discovered Denisovans, another extinct group of archaic humans, whose DNA is found in people living today in South Asia and Oceania. Archaeological evidence shows that modern and archaic humans coexisted in Africa, and some fossils have features that suggest mixing between the two populations. However, usable DNA has not yet been extracted from archaic human fossils that have been found in that region — which is why the researchers’ ability to draw conclusions about evolution without reference DNA information could go such a long way toward solving previously unanswered questions.” ref

“Although the researchers found evidence of the archaic population’s DNA in modern humans, the findings are not clear enough to determine whether these two distinct populations intermixed just once or several times over hundreds of thousands of years. Sankararaman and Arun Durvasula, a UCLA graduate student studying human genetics, used two new statistical methods that look for patterns in the genome that could reveal the presence of DNA from a distantly related unknown archaic population. They looked at genomic data of 405 people from the 1000 Genomes Project, an international public repository of genomic data from around the world. The results of both analyses were consistent. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Okawa Foundation.” ref

100,000-Year-Old Ochre Toolkit Discovered In South Africa

“Ochre may have been applied with symbolic intent as decoration on bodies and clothing during the Middle Stone Age,” says Professor Christopher Henshilwood from the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, who together with his international team discovered a processing workshop in 2008 where a liquefied ochre-rich mixture was produced. The two coeval, spatially associated toolkits were discovered in situ (not been moved from its original place of deposition) and the kits included ochre, bone, charcoal, grindstones, and hammerstones. The grinding and scraping of ochre to produce a powder for use as a pigment was common practice in Africa and the Near East only after about 100,000 years ago.” ref

“This discovery represents an important benchmark in the evolution of complex human cognition (mental processes) in that it shows that humans had the conceptual ability to source, combine and store substances that were then possibly used to enhance their social practices,” explains Henshilwood. “We believe that the manufacturing process involved the rubbing of pieces of ochre on quartzite slabs to produce a fine red powder. Ochre chips were crushed with quartz, quartzite, and silcrete hammerstones/grinders and combined with heated crushed, mammal-bone, charcoal, stone chips, and a liquid, which was then introduced to the abalone shells and gently stirred. A bone was probably used to stir the mixture and to transfer some of the mixture out of the shell.” ref

“The quartz sediments in which the ochre containers were buried were dated to about 100,000 years using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. This is consistent with the thermoluminescence dating of burnt lithics and the dating of calcium carbonate concretions using uranium-series dating methods.
“The recovery of these toolkits adds evidence for early technological and behavioral developments associated with humans and documents their deliberate planning, production, and curation of pigmented compound and the use of containers. It also demonstrates that humans had an elementary knowledge of chemistry and the ability for long-term planning 100,000 years ago,” concludes Henshilwood.” ref

“Geographic distribution of the type 2N VWD families studied in Italy and migration fluxes from Africa to Asia and Europe in the last 100,000 years.” ref

It is something but insufficient evidence of a developed afterlife thinking. 

“75,000-70,000 offerings to a Stone shaped like a Snake they found in a Cave Provide seems to be some of the clearest Earliest Evidence of African ritual practices, with a similarity to the mythology in modern Botswanans.” ref

More than 100 multicolored spear points next to the snake and closely resemble those found elsewhere in Africa, rare colors and patterns, seemingly from far and wide were brought to the cave around 77,000 years ago, or so.

Toba catastrophe theory

“The Youngest Toba eruption was a supervolcanic eruption that occurred around 75,000 years ago at the site of present-day Lake Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of the Earth‘s largest known explosive eruptions. The Toba catastrophe theory holds that this event caused a global volcanic winter of six to ten years and possibly a 1,000-year-long cooling episode. In 1993, science journalist Ann Gibbons posited that a population bottleneck occurred in human evolution about 70,000 years ago, and she suggested that this was caused by the eruption. Geologist Michael R. Rampino of New York University and volcanologist Stephen Self of the University of Hawaii at Manoa support her suggestion. In 1998, the bottleneck theory was further developed by anthropologist Stanley H. Ambrose of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Both the link and global winter theories are controversial. The Youngest Toba eruption is the most closely studied supervolcanic eruption.” ref

Neanderthal Ancestry Identifies Oldest Modern Human Genome

“Ancient DNA from Neanderthals and early modern humans has recently shown that the groups likely interbred somewhere in the Near East after modern humans left Africa some 50,000 years ago. As a result, all people outside Africa carry around 2% to 3% Neanderthal DNA. In modern human genomes, those Neanderthal DNA segments became increasingly shorter over time and their length can be used to estimate when an individual lived. Archaeological data published last year furthermore suggests that modern humans were already present in southeastern Europe 47-43,000 years ago, but due to a scarcity of fairly complete human fossils and the lack of genomic DNA, there is little understanding of who these early human colonists were — or of their relationships to ancient and present-day human groups. In a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, an international team of researchers reports what is likely the oldest reconstructed modern human genome to date. First discovered in Czechia, the woman known to researchers as Zlatý kůň (golden horse in Czech) displayed longer stretches of Neanderthal DNA than the 45,000-year-old Ust’-Ishim individual from Siberia, the so-far oldest modern human genome. Analysis suggests that she was part of a population that formed before the populations that gave rise to present-day Europeans and Asians split apart.” ref

“A recent anthropological study based on the shape of Zlatý kůň’s skull showed similarities with people who lived in Europe before the Last Glacial Maximum — at least 30,000 years ago — but radiocarbon dating produced sporadic results, some as recent as 15,000 years ago. It wasn’t until Jaroslav Brůžek from the Faculty of Science, Prague and Petr Velemínský of Prague’s National Museum collaborated with the genetics laboratories of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History that a clearer picture came into view. “We found evidence of cow DNA contamination in the analyzed bone, which suggests that a bovine-based glue used in the past to consolidate the skull was returning radiocarbon dates younger than the fossil’s true age,” says Cosimo Posth, co-lead author of the study. Posth was formerly a research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and is currently Professor of Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics at the University of Tübingen.” ref

“However, it was the Neanderthal DNA that led the team to their major conclusions about the age of the fossil. Zlatý kůň carried about the same amount Neanderthal DNA in her genome, as Ust Ishim or other modern humans outside Africa, but the segments with Neanderthal ancestry were on average much longer. “The results of our DNA analysis show that Zlatý kůň lived closer in time to the admixture event with Neanderthals,” says Kay Prüfer, co-lead author of the study. The scientists were able to estimate that Zlatý kůň lived approximately 2,000 years after the last admixture. Based on these findings, the team argues that Zlatý kůň represents the oldest human genome to date, roughly the same age as — if not a few hundred years older than — Ust’-Ishim.” ref

“It is quite intriguing that the earliest modern humans in Europe ultimately didn’t succeed! Just as with Ust’-Ishim and the so far oldest European skull from Oase 1, Zlatý kůň shows no genetic continuity with modern humans that lived in Europe after 40,000 years ago,” says Johannes Krause, senior author of the study and director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. One possible explanation for the discontinuity is the Campanian Ignimbrite volcanic eruption roughly 39,000 years ago, which severely affected climate in the northern hemisphere and may have reduced the survival chances of Neanderthals and early modern humans in large parts of Ice Age Europe. As advances in ancient DNA reveal more about the story of our species, future genetic studies of other early European individuals will help to reconstruct the history and decline of the first modern humans to expand out of Africa and into Eurasia before the formation of modern-day non-African populations.” ref

When rock art meets machine learning

“Young Dakal clan landowner Desmond Lindsay visits this site on his country for the first time. Most sites are remote and often impossible to even approach closely by vehicle. Photo: Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation (MLMAC). Rock art of human figures created over thousands of years in Arnhem Land has been put through a transformative machine learning study to analyze style changes over the years.” ref

“The study – just published in Australian Archaeology – has tested different styles labeled ‘Northern Running figures’, ‘Dynamic figures’, ‘Post Dynamic figures’ and ‘Simple figures with Boomerangs’ to understand how these styles relate to one another. Working with the Mimal and Marrku Traditional Owners of the Wilton River area in Australia’s Top End, South Australian researchers led by Flinders University archaeologist Dr Daryl Wesley have taken a closer look at the art of this region. Flinders researcher Jarrad Kowlessar and the team used machine learning to analyse images of rock art collected during surveys in Marrku country in 2018 and 2019.” ref

“Co-authors include Dudley Lawrence and Abraham Weson and others from the Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation, Alfred Nayinggul from the Njanjma Aboriginal Corporation, Dr Ian Moffat from Flinders and University of Adelaide researcher James Keal. The reconstructed rock art chronology, just published in Australian Archaeology, uses existing data sets of more than 14 million different photos of a wide range of things from animals such as dogs, cats, lizards and insects to objects like chairs, tables and cups. “In total the computer saw more than 1000 different types of objects and learned to tell the difference between them just by looking at photos of them,” Dr Wesley explains. “The important skill this computer developed was a mathematical model that has the ability to tell how similar two different images are to one another.” Then the mathematical modeling was applied to the images collected in northern Australia. “This approach allows us to use the computer program to show how unique the rock art is in the Wilton River and how it relates to the rock art in other parts of Arnhem Land,” Dr Wesley says.” ref

“We can use this to help to show how rock art styles are shared by Traditional Owners in Arnhem Land and which are unique to each group through the past.” Machine learning allows a computer to ‘learn’ different things about information that may take a human many years to look through and learn from, explains a Flinders University PhD candidate in archaeology Jarrad Kowlessar, who has pioneered the machine learning approach for rock art analysis. “One amazing outcome is that the machine learning approach ordered the styles in the same chronology that archaeologists have ordered them in by inspecting which appear on top of which. This shows that similarity and time are closely linked in the Arnhem Land rock art and that human figures drawn closer in time were more similar to one another then those drawn a long time apart,” he says.” ref

“For example, the machine learning algorithm has plotted Northern Running figures and Dynamic figures very close to one another on the graph it produces. This shows that these styles which we know are closer to each other in age are also closer to each other in appearance, which might be a very hard thing to notice without an approach like this”. The article points out the new methodology removed a large degree of individual human interpretation and possible bias by using a machine learning approach called ‘transfer learning’. This allowed the computer to understand how each style related to one another directly – independently of the researchers involved. Researchers are enthusiastic about this methodology breaking new ground for a large amount of archaeological research to understand all sorts of different human material culture in a different way.” ref

“The paper, ‘Reconstructing rock art chronology with transfer learning: A case study from Arnhem Land, Australia’ (2021) by Jarrad Kowlessar, James Keal, Daryl Wesley, Ian Moffat, Dudley Lawrence, Abraham Weson, Alfred Nayinggul and the Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation has been published in Australian Archaeology (Taylor & Francis Online) DOI 10.1080/03122417.2021.1895481″ ref

Tiamat

“In the religion of ancient Babylon, Tiamat (Akkadian: ???????????????? DTI.AMAT or ???????????? DTAM.TUM, Greek: Θαλάττη Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creation. She is referred to as a woman, and described as “the glistening one.” It is suggested that there are two parts to the Tiamat mythos, the first in which Tiamat is a creator goddess, through a sacred marriage between different waters, peacefully creating the cosmos through successive generations. In the second Chaoskampf Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos.[6] Some sources identify her with images of a sea serpent or dragon.” ref

“In the Enûma Elish, the Babylonian epic of creation, she gives birth to the first generation of deities; her husband, Apsu, correctly assuming they are planning to kill him and usurp his throne, later makes war upon them and is killed. Enraged, she also wars upon her husband’s murderers, taking on the form of a massive sea dragon. She is then slain by Enki‘s son, the storm-god Marduk, but not before she had brought forth the monsters of the Mesopotamian pantheon, including the first dragons, whose bodies she filled with “poison instead of blood”. Marduk then forms the heavens and the Earth from her divided body.” ref

Etymology

“Thorkild Jacobsen[8] and Walter Burkert both argue for a connection with the Akkadian word for sea, tâmtu(????????????), following an early form, ti’amtum. Burkert continues by making a linguistic connection to Tethys. The later form Θαλάττη, thaláttē, which appears in the Hellenistic Babylonian writer Berossus‘ first volume of universal history, is clearly related to Greek Θάλαττα, thálatta, an Eastern variant of Θάλασσα, thalassa, ‘sea’. It is thought that the proper name ti’amat, which is the construct or vocative form, was dropped in secondary translations of the original texts because some Akkadian copyists of Enûma Elish substituted the ordinary word tāmtu (“sea”) for Tiamat, the two names having become essentially the same due to association. Tiamat also has been claimed to be cognate with Northwest Semitic tehom (תְּהוֹם) (“the deeps, abyss”), in the Book of Genesis 1:2.” ref

“The Babylonian epic Enuma Elish is named for its incipit: “When above” the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the subterranean ocean was there, “the first, the begetter”, and Tiamat, the overground sea, “she who bore them all”; they were “mixing their waters”. It is thought that female deities are older than male ones in Mesopotamia and Tiamat may have begun as part of the cult of Nammu, a female principle of a watery creative force, with equally strong connections to the underworld, which predates the appearance of Ea-Enki. Harriet Crawford finds this “mixing of the waters” to be a natural feature of the middle Persian Gulf, where fresh waters from the Arabian aquifer mix and mingle with the salt waters of the sea. This characteristic is especially true of the region of Bahrain, whose name in Arabic means “two seas”, and which is thought to be the site of Dilmun, the original site of the Sumerian creation beliefs. The difference in density of salt and fresh water drives a perceptible separation.” ref

Appearance

“In the Enûma Elish her physical description includes a tail, a thigh, “lower parts” (which shake together), a belly, an udder, ribs, a neck, a head, a skull, eyes, nostrils, a mouth, and lips. She has insides (possibly “entrails”), a heart, arteries, and blood.” ref

“Tiamat is usually described as a sea serpent or dragon, although Assyriologist Alexander Heidel disagreed with this identification and argued that “dragon form can not be imputed to Tiamat with certainty.” Other scholars have disregarded Heidel’s argument: Joseph Fontenrose in particular found it “not convincing” and concluded that “there is reason to believe that Tiamat was sometimes, not necessarily always, conceived as a dragoness.” The Enûma Elish states that Tiamat gave birth to dragons and serpents among a more general list of monsters including scorpion men and merpeople, but does not identify her form as that of a dragon; however, other sources containing the same myth do refer to her as such. The depiction of Tiamat as a multi-headed dragon was popularized in the 1970s as a fixture of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game inspired by earlier sources associating Tiamat with later mythological characters such as Lotan (Leviathan).” ref

Mythology

“Abzu (or Apsû) fathered upon Tiamat the elder deities Lahmu and Lahamu (masc. the “hairy”), a title given to the gatekeepers at Enki’s Abzu/E’engurra-temple in Eridu. Lahmu and Lahamu, in turn, were the parents of the ‘ends’ of the heavens (Anshar, from an-šar = heaven-totality/end) and the earth (Kishar); Anshar and Kishar were considered to meet at the horizon, becoming, thereby, the parents of Anu (Heaven) and Ki (Earth). Tiamat was the “shining” personification of the sea who roared and smote in the chaos of original creation. She and Apsu filled the cosmic abyss with the primeval waters. She is “Ummu-Hubur who formed all things”.” ref

“In the myth recorded on cuneiform tablets, the deity Enki (later Ea) believed correctly that Apsu was planning to murder the younger deities, upset with the noisy tumult they created, and so captured him and held him prisoner beneath his temple, the E-Abzu (“temple of Abzu”). This angered Kingu, their son, who reported the event to Tiamat, whereupon she fashioned eleven monsters to battle the deities in order to avenge Apsu’s death. These were her own offspring: Bašmu (“Venomous Snake”), Ušumgallu (“Great Dragon”), Mušmaḫḫū (“Exalted Serpent”), Mušḫuššu (“Furious Snake”), Laḫmu (the “Hairy One”), Ugallu (the “Big Weather-Beast”), Uridimmu (“Mad Lion”), Girtablullû (“Scorpion-Man”), Umū dabrūtu (“Violent Storms”), Kulullû (“Fish-Man”) and Kusarikku (“Bull-Man”).” ref

“Tiamat possessed the Tablet of Destinies and in the primordial battle she gave them to Kingu, the deity she had chosen as her lover and the leader of her host, and who was also one of her children. The terrified deities were rescued by Anu, who secured their promise to revere him as “king of the gods“. He fought Tiamat with the arrows of the winds, a net, a club, and an invincible spear. Anu was later replaced by Enlil and, in the late version that has survived after the First Dynasty of Babylon, by Marduk, the son of Ea.” ref

“And the lord stood upon Tiamat’s hinder parts,
And with his merciless club he smashed her skull.
He cut through the channels of her blood,
And he made the North wind bear it away into secret places.” ref

“Slicing Tiamat in half, he made from her ribs the vault of heaven and earth. Her weeping eyes became the sources of the Tigris and the Euphrates, her tail became the Milky Way. With the approval of the elder deities, he took from Kingu the Tablet of Destinies, installing himself as the head of the Babylonian pantheon. Kingu was captured and later was slain: his red blood mixed with the red clay of the Earth would make the body of humankind, created to act as the servant of the younger Igigi deities.” ref

“The principal theme of the epic is the rightful elevation of Marduk to command over all the deities. “It has long been realized that the Marduk epic, for all its local coloring and probable elaboration by the Babylonian theologians, reflects in substance older Sumerian material,” American Assyriologist E. A. Speiser remarked in 1942 adding “The exact Sumerian prototype, however, has not turned up so far.” This surmise that the Babylonian version of the story is based upon a modified version of an older epic, in which Enlil, not Marduk, was the god who slew Tiamat, is more recently dismissed as “distinctly improbable”. In fact, Marduk has no precise Sumerian prototype. It is generally accepted amongst modern Assyriologists that the Enûma Elish—the Babylonian creation epic to which this mythological strand is attributed—was written as Babylonian political and religious propaganda rather than reflecting a Sumerian tradition; the dating of the epic is not completely clear, but judging from the mythological topics covered and the cuneiform versions discovered thus far, it is likely to date to the 15th century BCE.” ref

Interpretations

“The Tiamat myth is one of the earliest recorded versions of the Chaoskampf, the battle between a culture hero and a chthonic or aquatic monster, serpent or dragon. Chaoskampf motifs in other mythologies linked directly or indirectly to the Tiamat myth include the Hittite Illuyanka myth, and in Greek tradition Apollo‘s killing of the Python as a necessary action to take over the Delphic Oracle. According to some analyses there are two parts to the Tiamat myth, the first in which Tiamat is creator goddess, through a “sacred marriage” between different waters, peacefully creating the cosmos through successive generations. In the second “Chaoskampf” Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos.” ref

“Robert Graves considered Tiamat’s death by Marduk as evidence for his hypothesis of an ancient shift in power from a matriarchal society to a patriarchy. Graves’ ideas were later developed into the Great Goddess theory by Marija Gimbutas, Merlin Stone and others. The theory suggests Tiamat and other ancient monster figures were depictions of former supreme deities of peaceful, woman-centered religions that turned into monsters when violent. Their defeat at the hands of a male hero corresponded to the overthrow of these matristic religions and societies by male-dominated ones. This theory is rejected by academic authors such as Lotte Motz, Cynthia Eller and others.” ref

In popular culture

• “The five headed draconic goddess in the Dungeons & Dragons game is named Tiamat, and stars as one of the primary antagonists in the Dungeons & Dragons TV series.
• Tiamat appears as a six-headed dragon in the first Final Fantasy as a member of the Four Fiends.
• In Bruce Coville’s Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (from the Magic Shop series), a boy is given a dragon egg from Elias’s magic shop and names the dragon Tiamat, with whom he develops a mental connection.
• The mobile game Fate/Grand Order depicts Tiamat as a powerful goddess and an Evil of Humanity. She firstly appears as a woman with gigantic horns, then as a massive humanoid with demonic horns and a tail, and finally as a draconic being of similar size. The anime Fate/Grand Order – Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia shows her in the same manner as the game.
• In Japanese anime, manga and light novels series Shakugan no Shana Tiamat is a female Crimson Lord from a parallel universe called Crimson Realm (紅世, Guze), bound by contract to one of the characters.
• In music, Tiamat is a Swedish Gothic Metal band that formed in Stockholm in 1987.
• In the 2010 video game Darksiders, one of the Chosen that must be slain by Horseman War is Tiamat, the gigantic queen of Vampire bats.
• The eighth book of The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey is called Tiamat’s Wrath, and was published in 2019.
• Tiamat, in the image of a giant mermaid, appears as a boss in the platform video game Spelunky 2.
• Tiamat is one of the playable gods in the MOBA SMITE, the first mage released in 2021.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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This is my thoughts/speculations on the origins of Totemism

Totemism as seen in Europe: 50,000 years ago, mainly the Aurignacian culture

• Pre-Aurignacian “Châtelperronian” (Western Europe, mainly Spain and France, possible transitional/cultural diffusion between Neanderthals and humans around 50,000-40,000 years ago)
• Archaic–Aurignacian/Proto-Aurignacian (Europe around 46,000-35,000) 
• Aurignacian “classical/early to late” (Europe and other areas around 38,000 – 26,000 years ago)

Totemism as seen in Europe: 50,000 years ago, mainly the Aurignacian culture

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Explaining the Earliest Religious Expression, that of Animism (beginning 100,000 to 70,000 years ago?) to Totemism (beginning 30,000 to 3,000 years ago?) in Southern Africa: LINK

• Animism: an approximately 100,000-year-old belief system?
• Totemism: an approximately 50,000-year-old belief system?
• Totemism and Shamanism Dispersal Theory Expressed around 50,000 to 30,000 years ago
• Back-migrations to Africa, Starting with Eurasia to North Africa around 45,000 years ago
• Possible Religion Motivations in the First Cave Art at around 43,000 years ago?

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref

Our origins originate from Southern African (NOT THE FIRST ANCESTORS EVER AS THAT WOULD BE NORTH AFRICA AROUND 300,000 YEARS AGO TO EAST AFRICA AROUND 200,000 YEARS AGO OR SO BUT RATHER OUR LAST MAIN COMMON ANCESTORS AROUND 100,000 YEARS AGO), with a population divergence around 120,000 to 110,000 years ago and this is after the two other main areas of North and East Africa either migrated south or largely went extinct around 100,000 years ago. This is the most recent glacial era that consisted of a larger pattern of glacial and interglacial periods beginning around 115,000 which may have influenced both the migrating south and possibly could connect to some of the influences relating to the extinctions as well. Moreover, as these Ancient Southern African peoples developed over time, they also expanded out from there to populate the globe, and the DNA of us all points to a southern African origin. Furthermore, it seems as they expanded back out, they either replaced the other populations in central and east Africa that may have been left or absorbed any remaining individuals. ref

Southern African Middle Stone Age sites:

(Ap) Apollo 11; (BAM) Bambata; (BBC) Blombos Cave; (BC) Border Cave; (BGB)Boegoeberg; (BPA) Boomplaas; (BRS) Bushman Rock Shelter; (BUN) Bundu Farm; (CF)Cufema Reach; (CK) Canteen Kopje; (COH) Cave of Hearths; (CSB) Cape St Blaize; (DK)Die Kelders Cave 1; (DRS) Diepkloof Rock Shelter; (EBC) Elands Bay Cave; (FL) Florisbad; (≠GI) ≠Gi; (HP) Howiesons Poort; (HRS) Hollow Rock Shelter; (KD) Klipdrift; (KKH) Klein Kliphuis; (KH) Khami; (KK) Kudu Koppie; (KP) Kathu Pan; (KRM) Klasies River Main Site; (L) Langebaan; (MBA) Mumbwa Caves; (MC) Mwulu’s Cave; (MEL)Melikane; (MON) Montagu Cave; (NBC) Nelson Bay Cave; (NG) Ngalue; (NT) Ntloana Tšoana; (OBP) Olieboomspoort; (PC) Peers Cave; (POC) Pockenbank; (PL) Plover’s Lake; (POM) Pomongwe; (PP) Pinnacle Point; (RCC) Rose Cottage Cave; (RED) Redcliff; (RHC) Rhino Cave; (SCV) Seacow Valley; (SFT) Soutfontein; (SEH) Sehonghong; (SIB)Sibudu Cave; (SPZ) Spitzkloof Rock Shelter; (SS) Sunnyside 1; (STB) Strathalan Cave B; (STK) Sterkfontein; (TR) Twin Rivers; (UMH) Umhlatuzana; (VR) Varsche Rivier 003; (WPS) White Paintings Shelter; (WK) Wonderkrater; (WW) Wonderwerk; (YFT)Ysterfontein 1; (ZOM) Zombepata Cave. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Adapted from: ref

Here we see the tracings of the engraved ochres from the Blombos cave site’s in South Africa, from its Middle Stone Age layers and their stratigraphic locations where they were found in the dirt and the years they relate to. M1 dates to around 73,000 years ago, M2 around 85,000 to 77,000 years ago, and M3 dates to around 100,000 to 99,000 years ago. Middle Stone Age generally started around 280,000 years ago and ended around 25,000 years ago or so. Therefore, amazing as it is, here we have proof that “Symbolic Meaning,” seems to be clear at the beginning of Animism, as seen in Africa 100,000 years ago. In a landmark study, it was demonstrated, for the first time, that there are seeming tradition in the production of geometric engraved representations, includes the production of a number of different patterns and this set of evolving traditions have roots that go back in time to at least 100,000 years ago (around a time I say Animism begins in Africa). The fact that they were created, that most of them are deliberate and were made with representational intent, strongly suggests they functioned as artifacts within a society by symbols with meaning. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago

Evidence from Rhino Cave, in Botswana produced results that revealed a very special set of behavioral patterns which best-fit ritualized behavior. There were colorful non-local stone tools carefully and often elaborately made just to be offered to the stone snake; burned and smashed beyond use then abandoned. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

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At Border Cave, a “savanna-woodland” vegetation community is implied before 100,000 years ago and the matching density of stone tools vary considerably through time, with high frequencies of stone blades occurring before 100,000 years ago. ref 

Around 74,000 years ago, in Border Cave, South Africa, the burial of a 4 to 6-month-old child was found in a pit with a personal ornament, a perforated Conus shell. ref

Border Cave is the only African site covering a time span of 250,000 years, with Middle Stone Age human remains, and also records the first emergence of key cultural innovations such as things like grass bedding dated between 70,000 to 30,000 years ago. ref 

In South Africa, some of the oldest beads are made of marine shells that come from the Still Bay layers of Blombos Cave dating back to around 72,000 years ago, and engraved ostrich eggshells dated to around 60,000 years ago from Diepkloof in South Africa. Some of the oldest beads made of non-marine shells involve ostrich eggshells and from Border Cave, there are some that date to around 42,000 years ago. Beads were also collected from the late MSA/early LSA context of similar age at Apollo 11 and from layers associated with MSA at Boomplaas Cave. Furthermore, beads were also reported from the MSA at Cave of Hearths. Other sub-contemporaneous beads have been recovered north of South Africa. ref 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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60,000 years old fragments of engraved ostrich eggshells from the Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Western Cape, South Africa. 

Symbolic meaning expressed in art or designs and patterns, starting with animism at 100,000 years ago and more so around 50,000 years ago with the emergence of totemism and shamanism 30,000 years ago which I think all connect in a general way to religious thinking or mindsets that create the art or patterns and are not only a much older phenomenon than previously thought and has its roots in the African continent. Such early symbolic expression is seen in things like personal ornamentation and engraved designs, traditions that go far back into African prehistory. The patterns are symbolic and could have been used to express religious clan connections, group relations or personal expression. The patterns may indeed have a meaning and while abstract in representation they are unequivocal evidence for symbolic thought and one step closer to language. Ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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34,000 years ago Lunar Calendar Cave art around the Time Shift From Totemism to Early Shamanism?

“The Oldest Lunar Calendars and Earliest Constellations have been identified in cave art found in France and Germany. The astronomer-priests of these late Upper Paleolithic Cultures understood mathematical sets, and the interplay between the moon annual cycle, ecliptic, solstice and seasonal changes on earth. The archaeological record’s earliest data that speaks to human awareness of the stars and ‘heavens’ dates to the Aurignacian Culture of Europe, around 34,000 years ago. Between 1964 and the early 1990s, Alexander Marshack published breakthrough research that documented the mathematical and astronomical knowledge in the Late Upper Paleolithic Cultures of Europe. Marshack deciphered sets of marks carved into animal bones, and occasionally on the walls of caves, as records of the lunar cycle. These marks are sets of crescents or lines. Artisans carefully controlled line thickness so that a correlation with lunar phases would be as easy as possible to perceive. Sets of marks were often laid out in a serpentine pattern that suggests a snake deity or streams and rivers. Many of these lunar calendars were made on small pieces of stone, bone or antler so that they could be easily carried. These small, portable, lightweight lunar calendars were easily carried on extended journeys such as long hunting trips and seasonal migrations.” ref

“Hunting the largest animals was arduous, and might require hunters to follow herds of horses, bison, mammoth or ibex for many weeks. (Other big animals such as the auroch, cave bear and cave lion were well known but rarely hunted for food because they had a special status in the mythic realm. The Auroch is very important to the search for earliest constellations.) The phases of the moon depicted in these sets of marks are inexact. Precision was impossible unless all nights were perfectly clear which is an unrealistic expectation. The arithmetic counting skill implied by these small lunar calendars is obvious. The recognition that there are phases of the moon and seasons of the year that can be counted – that should be counted because they are important – is profound. “All animal activities are time factored, simply because time passes, the future is forever arriving. The reality of time factoring is objective physics and does not depend upon human awareness or consciousness. Until Marshack’s work, many archeologists believed the sets of marks he chose to study were nothing but the aimless doodles of bored toolmakers. What Marshack uncovered is the intuitive discovery of mathematical sets and the application of those sets to the construction of a calendar.” Bone is the preferred medium because it allows for easy transport and a long calendar lifetime. Mankind’s earliest astronomy brought the clan into the multi-dimensional universe of the gods. Objects used in the most potent rituals had the highest contextual, cultural value and were treated with great reverence.” ref

“Regarding the Aurignacian, between 43,000 and 35,000 years ago, the archaeological record from habitations is relatively poor in the Ardèche (Abri des Pécheurs, Grotte du Figuier) while appearing more abundant in the Languedoc (La Salpétrière, La Balauzière, Esquicho-Grapaou, La Laouza etc.). The same applies to the sites of the early phases of the Gravettian. During climatic fluctuations, and unlike the deep caves such as Chauvet, the porch and shelter fills seem to have better recorded the cold episodes than the humid phases. To date, 20 decorated caves are indexed in the gorges of the Ardèche and nearby; in other words as far as the valley of the Gardon (Baume-Latrone). This group includes several important caves (Ebbou, Oulen, Émilie etc.) which are not precisely dated and were judged to be of secondary importance until the discovery of the Chauvet Cave.” ref

“A 10,000-year-old engraved stone could be a lunar calendar. The rare pebble — found high up in the mountains near Rome, Italy, the hammer-stone was found on top of Monte Alta in the Alban Hills.  It’s believed that our early ancestors would’ve used the stone to keep track of the moon’s cycles. Notches were engraved “as if they were being used to count, calculate or store the record of some kind of information. And these notches — which total either 27 or 28 — suggest the stone’s engraver used the pebble to track lunar cycles.” ref

“Archaeologists excavating in Scotland found a series of huge pits were dug by Mesolithic people to track the cycle of the Moon. They found a series of twelve huge, specially shaped pits designed to mimic the various phases of the Moon. The holes aligned perfectly on the midwinter solstice to help the hunter-gathers of Mesolithic Britain keep precise track of the passage of the seasons and the lunar cycle. The holes were dug in the shapes of various phases of the moon. “Waxing, waning, crescents, and gibbous, they’re all there and arranged in a 50-meter-long (164-foot) arc. The one representing the full moon is large and circular, approximately two meters (roughly seven feet) across, and placed right in the center. And this arc is arranged perfectly with a notch in the landscape where the sun would have risen on the day of the midwinter solstice about 10,000 years ago. Placing their calendar in the landscape the way they did would have let the people who built it to recalibrate the lunar months every winter to bring their lunar calendar in line with the solar year. This means that any effort to keep track of the seasons using the moon alone will slowly drift ever further from true. An observer needs to know when to add or subtract an extra month to make good the time or hit the reset button and start counting again.” ref

“A moon-shaped calendar was found in Smederevska Palanka, Serbia that dates back 8,000 years, and is made from a wild boar’s tusk engraved with markings to denote a lunar cycle. Farmers may have used the device to plan when to plant crops. It is made from the tusk of a wild boar and is marked with engravings thought to denote a lunar cycle of 28 days, as well as the four phases of the moon.” ref

“A lunisolar calendar was found at Warren Field in Scotland and has been dated to c. 8000 BCE, during the Mesolithic period. Some scholars argue for lunar calendars still earlier—Rappenglück in the marks on a c. 17,000-year-old cave painting at Lascaux and Marshack in the marks on a c. 27,000-year-old bone baton—but their findings remain controversial. Scholars have argued that ancient hunters conducted regular astronomical observations of the Moon back in the Upper Palaeolithic. Samuel L. Macey dates the earliest uses of the Moon as a time-measuring device back to 28,000–30,000 years ago.” ref

“A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon‘s phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gregorian calendar, is a solar calendar system that originally evolved out of a lunar calendar system. A purely lunar calendar is also distinguished from a lunisolar calendar, whose lunar months are brought into alignment with the solar year through some process of intercalation. The details of when months begin varies from calendar to calendar, with some using new, full, or crescent moons and others employing detailed calculations.” ref

“Since each lunation is approximately 29+¹⁄₂ days, it is common for the months of a lunar calendar to alternate between 29 and 30 days. Since the period of 12 such lunations, a lunar year, is 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 34 seconds (354.36707 days), purely lunar calendars are 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year. In purely lunar calendars, which do not make use of intercalation, like the Islamic calendar, the lunar months cycle through all the seasons of a solar year over the course of a 33–34 lunar-year cycle.” ref

“Although the Gregorian calendar is in common and legal use in most countries, traditional lunar and lunisolar calendars continue to be used throughout the world to determine religious festivals and national holidays. Such holidays include Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew calendar); Easter (the Computus); the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian New Year (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian calendars, respectively); the Nepali New Year (Nepali calendar); the Mid-Autumn Festival and Chuseok (Chinese and Korean calendars); Loi Krathong (Thai calendar); Sunuwar calendar; Vesak/Buddha’s Birthday (Buddhist calendar); Diwali (Hindu calendars); Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha (Islamic calendar).” ref

“The Japanese Calendar formerly used both the lunar and lunisolar calendar before it was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar during the Meiji government in 1872. Holidays such as the Japanese New Year were simply transposed on top as opposed to being calculated like other countries that use the lunisolar and Gregorian calendars together, for example, the Japanese New Year now falls on January 1, creating a month delay as opposed to other East Asian Countries. See customary issues in modern Japan.” ref

“Most calendars referred to as “lunar” calendars are in fact lunisolar calendars. Their months are based on observations of the lunar cycle, with intercalation being used to bring them into general agreement with the solar year. The solar “civic calendar” that was used in ancient Egypt showed traces of its origin in the earlier lunar calendar, which continued to be used alongside it for religious and agricultural purposes. Present-day lunisolar calendars include the Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindu, and Thai calendars.” ref

“Synodic months are 29 or 30 days in length, making a lunar year of 12 months about 11 to 12 days shorter than a solar year. Some lunar calendars do not use intercalation, for example, the lunar Hijri calendar used by most Muslims. For those that do, such as the Hebrew calendar, and Buddhist Calendars in Myanmar, the most common form of intercalation is to add an additional month every second or third year. Some lunisolar calendars are also calibrated by annual natural events which are affected by lunar cycles as well as the solar cycle. An example of this is the lunar calendar of the Banks Islands, which includes three months in which the edible palolo worms mass on the beaches. These events occur at the last quarter of the lunar month, as the reproductive cycle of the palolos is synchronized with the moon.” ref

“Lunar and lunisolar calendars differ as to which day is the first day of the month. In some lunisolar calendars, such as the Chinese calendar, the first day of a month is the day when an astronomical new moon occurs in a particular time zone. In others, such as some Hindu calendars, each month begins on the day after the full moon. Others are based on the first sighting of the lunar crescent, such as the lunar Hijri calendar (and, historically, the Hebrew calendar).” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

People don’t commonly teach religious history, even that of their own claimed religion. No, rather they teach a limited “pro their religion” history of their religion from a religious perspective favorable to the religion of choice. 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Do you truly think “Religious Belief” is only a matter of some personal choice?

Do you not see how coercive one’s world of choice is limited to the obvious hereditary belief, in most religious choices available to the child of religious parents or caregivers? Religion is more commonly like a family, culture, society, etc. available belief that limits the belief choices of the child and that is when “Religious Belief” is not only a matter of some personal choice and when it becomes hereditary faith, not because of the quality of its alleged facts or proposed truths but because everyone else important to the child believes similarly so they do as well simply mimicking authority beliefs handed to them. Because children are raised in religion rather than being presented all possible choices but rather one limited dogmatic brand of “Religious Belief” where children only have a choice of following the belief as instructed, and then personally claim the faith hereditary belief seen in the confirming to the belief they have held themselves all their lives. This is obvious in statements asked and answered by children claiming a faith they barely understand but they do understand that their family believes “this or that” faith, so they feel obligated to believe it too. While I do agree that “Religious Belief” should only be a matter of some personal choice, it rarely is… End Hereditary Religion!

Opposition to Imposed Hereditary Religion

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey 

“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art