Physical Modifications of the Body

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Human Uniqueness Compared to "Great Apes": 
Absolute Difference
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Culture
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Physical modification of the body, typically in culturally standardized ways and often for esthetic purposes, is very widespread if not universal.  Physical modification occurs in non-human primates in both captivity and the wild, and is known as self-decoration. It is not common, but present. 

Timing

Timing of appearance of the difference in the Hominin Lineage as a defined date or a lineage separation event. The point in time associated with lineage separation events may change in the future as the scientific community agrees upon better time estimates. Lineage separation events are defined in 2017 as:

  • the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and old world monkeys was 25,000 - 30,000 thousand (25 - 30 million) years ago
  • the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and chimpanzees was 6,000 - 8,000 thousand (6 - 8 million) years ago
  • the emergence of the genus Homo was 2,000 thousand (2 million) years ago
  • the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and neanderthals was 500 thousand years ago
  • the common ancestor of modern humans was 100 - 300 thousand years ago

Definite Appearance: 
100 thousand years ago
Related MOCA Topics
Related Topics (hover over title for reason):
Topic Certainty
Art
Referenced By:
Topic Certainty
Art Likely
Genital Mutilation True
Self-Injury Likely
Tool Making Likely

References

  1. The age of hand stencils in Maltravieso cave (Extremadura, Spain) established by U-Th dating, and its implications for the early development of art, Standish, Christopher D., Pettitt Paul, Collado Hipolito, Aguilar Juan Carlos, J. Milton Andy, García-Diez Marcos, Hoffmann Dirk L., Zilhao Joao, and Pike Alistair W. G. , Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2025/02/01/, Volume 61, p.104891, (2025)
  2. An Integrated Evolutionary Scenario for the Culturalization of the Human Body, d’Errico, Francesco , (2024)
  3. Assigning a social status from face adornments: an fMRI study, Salagnon, M, d’Errico F, Rigaud S, and Mellet E , Brain Structure and Function, 2024/03/28, Volume 229, Issue 5, p.1103-1120, (2024)
  4. Finger Amputation in the Ethnographic and Archaeological Record, McCauley, Brea, and Collard Mark , (2024)
  5. The oxford handbook of the archaeology and anthropology of body modification, Manni, Franz, and D'Errico Francesco , (2023)

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