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At some controversial point between 50,000 and 200,000 years ago, homo sapiens experienced a population bottleneck of less than 100,000 individuals (probably far less). One theory is that a volcanic eruption in Sumatra 70,000 years ago played a role. [info]
African climate: [timeline]
"From around 150,000 to 130,000 years ago, Africa experienced colder and more arid than present conditions. About 130,000 years ago, a warm phase moister than the present began, and this lasted until about 115,000 years ago, with greater rainforest extent and the deserts almost completely covered with vegetation. Subsequent cooling and drying of the climate led to a cold, arid maximum about 70,000 years ago, followed by a slight moderation of climate and then a second aridity maximum around 22,000-13,000 14C years ago."
77kyo art: BBC
50kyo population spurt: theory
40kyo Russians [archeo]
It's reasonably certain that this bottleneck population had advanced language-capabilities, and it's entirely possible they shared a single language at first. Their advanced language would have raised a significant barrier to interbreeding with less advanced groups.
They had dogs, fire, fishnets and baskets, they used bow and arrow for hunting, and they buried their dead.
By 10,000 BC, the descendants of this bottleneck group had repopulated most of the world, apparently exterminating the Neanderthals in the process. [DNA]
archeology, art and extinctions
One theory, based on Y-chromosomes in modern Europe, argues that the repopulation of Europe c30,000 BC was from the east-- Central Asia, not Anatolia: [info] [BBC]
Seven daughters of Eve model: [cite]
43000 BC (Ursula = 'Cro-Magnons', predates separation of races: cite): northern Greece to Europe incl France and Britain
23000 BC (Xenia): Caucasus west to Europe and east to Asia and America
18000 BC (Helena): southern France, to Britain by 10000
15000 BC (Velda): northern Spain to Scandinavia
15000 BC (Tara): central Italy to France and Ireland
13000 BC (Katrine): northern Italy
8000 BC (Jasmine): Syria to Europe
Cave paintings:
28000 BC: Chauvet Pont d'Arc [France]
15000 BC: Lascaux [France]
By 10,000 BC, human cultures worldwide were very similar, with no domesticated crops, no domesticated animal except dogs, no permanent structures, no pottery, no writing, no possibility of wealth beyond what one person could conveniently carry.
After 50,000 years of incremental changes, human languages must have diverged almost infinitely between Europe, Asia, and the Americas. (Basque may resemble Ursula's language most closely.) And in many of these areas, a time-traveller might already recognise the modern facial-types of the region.
Around the Fertile Crescent this cultural stability was about to change, with domestication of goats, sheep, cattle and pigs, and cultivation of wheat and barley. The extraordinary wealth that resulted led to a fairly rapid spread of this approach, first along the northern Mediterranean coast.
Gradually, local populations were won over to the new lifestyle, its wealth and security. (Hunting was in the men's blood, though, and would continue to loom large in all cultures.)
Overview of hunter-gatherers: [UNC]
Tribes of c40, led by best hunter, who is rewarded for continued excellence with extra wives
Earlier: Pleistocene, Neanderthal, Paleolithic
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