What is the earliest Homo sapiens sapiens skeleton/fossil found so far without any archaic traits?
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M$3 Answers
Humans living today are diverse in regard to physical appearance, so it would be very difficult to find a single fossil that represented humans "exactly" as we are today. If an early anatomically modern person were transplanted into a current metropolitan society, I doubt that they would be noticed because of significant physical differences. So, I don't really understand why you specifically state "not early modern, cro-mag ect". From a skeletal standpoint these humans were "basically exactly as we are today".
However, humans did not become modern with regard to behavior until about 50,000 years ago. The transition to modern human culture is, in my mind, a much more important evolutionary change. But, this change cannot be detected in the biological human remains that have been found (brains are not easily fossilized see: taphonomy). Only cultural remains (hunting tools, artwork, burials, ect.) indicate that important changes had taken place.
It is certain that there are genetic differences between populations of early modern humans and humans alive today, and genetic changes will continue to occur over time. Human evolution has not stopped, and there are some physical differences that our society places a lot of emphasis on (read:pale vs dark skin color) that may not have been present until 12,000 to 6,000 years ago.
(By the way Cro-Magnon is no longer a favored term, and the "Cro-Magnon" people were Homo sapiens sapiens).
http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/faq/Encarta/genushomo.htm#modern
http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/faq/Encarta/diversity.htm#fossil
http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/faq/Encarta/encarta.htm
http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/johanson.html
http://genetics.suite101.com/article.cfm/when_caucasians_turned_white
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/4784/eurospaleonlyrecentlypu0.jpg
http://www.colby.edu/~ragastal/Taphonomy.htm
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M$
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M$
Uh... actually I am still reading everything loki has commented on. Sorry I work full time, plus have a business of my own and a toddler to take care of. Takes me a little bit to find the time to read everything :) You think you look like someone from 100k-200k years ago? Eek! :) That was just the beginning of anatomically correct humans, certainly not what we look like today.
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M$
Right, but I am looking for Homo sapiens sapiens. Not early modern, cro-mag etc. Oldest known remains of *exactly* as we are today.
I appreciate the effort, but it is not the answer I am looking for. I need to know *exactly* as we are today. Those links only point to the origin of modern man such as cro-mag etc, which are similar to what we are today, but not the same. Oddly enough I have found it very difficult to find this information, while information about the origins of modern man is abundant.
The first referred article says just that - it begins with:
"All people today are classified as HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS--i.e., the sapiens variety of the species Homo sapiens. THE FIRST BEGAN TO APPEAR nearly 200,000 years ago" ... etc...
And, the second article says:
"Now, a new study of the 1967 fossil site indicates the earliest known members of our species, Homo sapiens, roamed Africa about 195,000 years ago.
"It pushes back the beginning of ANATOMICALLY MODERN HUMANS," says geologist Frank Brown, a co-author of the study and dean of the University of Utah's College of Mines and Earth Sciences"
Emphasis in both quotes are mine.
Now, it's up to you to decide if that qualifies as "Homo sapiens sapiens" featured in your question...
Now I'm on an early modern human DNA vs contemporary human DNA marathon! Can't stop reading... LOL.
Relatively interesting examples:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051112125213.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070227105530.htm
As you can see modern European populations carry a direct line of decent from the Cro-Magnons (+ other early modern humans) and (of course) recent DNA mutations (some very advantageous). There is not really a single change in our DNA that you can point to as the one that made us human, unless the theory that a single evolutionary event completely reorganized the human brain is correct.
Our brains may have been capable of fully modern behavior for tens of thousands of years before the 50,000 year mark- perhaps it just took us that long to accumulate knowledge and develop the cultural sophistication of the people of that time period. But, if a huge biological reorganization of the human brain did occur, and I think it is quite possible that it did, it had to have happened before 50,000 years ago. Then, somewhere around 50,000 years ago, it would have become a common phenotype within one or more human populations- leading to "behavioral modernity".
So, I would say we were fully modern in both appearance and, more importantly, behavior well before your date of 10,000 years.
ttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2.html
I would still argue that the most "Cro-Magnons" could blend in with the physical diversity of living humans; perhaps they would not be considered attractive humans, but fully human none the less. Check out some of the reconstructions I've found.
Let me, again, emphasize the point that current human populations do differ on a genetic level from early modern humans. However, that is the nature of biological organisms. The genetic material of a population will change over time. If you would like a better understanding of this concept with regard to humans, please see the below wikipedia articles.
I hope this addresses your question concerning fossils.
If you are looking for the genetic/environmental/behavioral/cultural changes that caused modern society to come about, then we are talking about a different matter. Those answers will not be found in the skeletal remains of human beings, and perhaps you need to ask a new question.
http://pro.corbis.com/search/Enlargement.aspx?CID=isg&mediauid={21EEDDB6-6C0E-419F-8AA1-631720A4FE48}
http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/cro-magnon-man-in-europe-and-africa/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_modernity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Paleolithic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_genetics
Here are a few more very interesting links:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715204741.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080319104600.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424130710.htm
Thanks loki for the effort, well worth the tip! :) I can't say I agree with you saying Cro-Magnon man looks like us, but perhaps people are just missing what I am trying to ask. I agree the Cro-Mag is VERY similar, but still not the same. And I can certainly see how we would share DNA as well, I never questioned that. So it looks like Cro-Mag man could still be found 10k years ago, then there seems to be a gap of skeletal remains found (or ones I could find pictures of). But it looks like from what I have found it is somewhere in that time where we lost the last of our archaic physical traits.
Thank you for your reply, there is some interesting reading in those links. I agree the behavioral changes 40-50k years ago are an important change.... but still haven't found what I am looking for :-) This is close to what I am looking for, but it is lacking pictures for many of the examples in the less than 50k old section: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_evolution_fossils
So to give a better idea of what I am looking for, look at the skull of Cro-Magnon 1 and Wadjack 1. To me they both appear similar, and yes, while anatomically correct, I think they would still stand out in a crowd today. Even with racial diversity taken into account, I think there is enough differences that you could notice. Now take a look at Otzi (the iceman)... that is an example of someone that looks exactly as we are today. So I know that at least 5k years back we look the same, any similar examples at 10k (obviously not looking for a mummy)? Or is a best guess somewhere between 5-10k? Interesting that this would be about the time of the oldest known (complex) civilizations...