Behaviorally Modern Humans: The Origin of Us

Current evidence indicates that multiple upright-walking, tool-dependent species in the genus Homo co-existed in the Old World (Africa, Asia and Europe) for most of the last 2 million years. Yet only one surviving species of Homo exists today. Even 100,000 years ago, at least four Homo species shared the Old World. One of the enduring questions of human origins is when, where and how we "Behaviorally Modern Humans" emerged and why and how we eventually replaced all the other human-like species. In the past, competing theories have generated much controversy and even some acrimonious debate. This symposium set aside such theories and debates and took a fresh look at the situation today. The focus was on critical examination of the available evidence from multiple sources, including climate proxies, geology, fossils, archaeology, linguistics, immunology, genetics and genomics, as well as evolutionary neuroscience/cognitive archaeology. While the symposium may not have come to any definitive conclusions, it offered the best interpretation of current evidence, and suggested research agendas for the future. [DOWNLOAD ABSTRACTS AND BIO FILES BELOW]

Event Sessions

Media for each talk can be played by clicking on icons in the "Media" column, or by clicking on the individual talk titles below and then the attachment file at the bottom of the page.

Date	Media	Session Title	Speakers
Fri 5/10		Welcome	Margaret Schoeninger, University of California, San Diego
Fri 5/10		Background and Introductory Remarks	Ajit Varki, UC San Diego School of Medicine
Fri 5/10		African Climate of the Last 400,000 Years	Rick Potts, Smithsonian Institution
Fri 5/10		Fossil Record of Anatomically Modern Humans	Chris Stringer, Natural History Museum, London
Fri 5/10		East African Archaeological Evidence	Alison Brooks, George Washington University Sally McBrearty, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Fri 5/10		South African Archaeological Evidence	Lyn Wadley, University of the Witwatersrand
Fri 5/10		Interbreeding with Archaic Humans in Africa	Michael Hammer, University of Arizona
Fri 5/10		Relationships of Ancient African Languages	Christopher Ehret, UCLA
Fri 5/10		Evidence for the Spread of Modern Humans	Ofer Bar-Yosef, Harvard University
Fri 5/10		Interbreeding with Archaic Humans Outside Africa	Richard Green , University of California, Santa Cruz
Fri 5/10		Stone Tools and Cognition: Lessons from Australia	Iain Davidson, University of New England (retired)
Fri 5/10		Wrap-Up and Overview	Alison Brooks, George Washington University
Fri 5/10		Question and Answer Session	Ajit Varki, UC San Diego School of Medicine Alison Brooks, George Washington University
Fri 5/10		Closing Remarks	Fred Gage, Salk Institute