Exploration of "behavioral modernity” and “modern human behavior” in human evolution
Received date: 2024-08-05
Accepted date: 2024-11-08
Online published: 2025-04-15
The evolution and widespread of Homo sapiens is a key event in the human evolution history. By the end of the Late Pleistocene, our species was distributed across every continent except Antarctica, and adopted to varied ecological niches. The behavioral complexity and the cultural diversity are believed to act as one of the most pronounced abilities to get success. The fossil and genetic evidence were applied to discuss the extinction of archaic populations, such as the Denisovans and the Neanderthals and their complicated interbreeding with Homo sapiens. The archaeological records served on the discussion about the behavioral evolution from the emergence of “behavioral complexity or modernity’ to the fully developed modern human ‘behavioral package’. In this paper, we reviewed the discussion on the modern human behavioral evolution in the western side of the Old World. Based on the African archaeological records, the behavioral origins of Homo sapiens can be traced back to the first material culture produced by our species in Africa and phased as Middle Stone Age (MSA); while the western Eurasian records the behavioral complexity raised with the origin of Neanderthals and phased as Middle Paleolithic (MP). Then around the middle of Late Pleistocene, as the wide distribution of Homo sapiens and the extinction of archaic populations, a complete ‘modernity package’ finally developed and shows more cultural diversity globally, which including the advanced lithic tools (blade, microblade), bone tools, increased geographic range, specialized hunting, the use of aquatic resources, long distance exchange, systematic processing and use of pigment, and art and decoration.
However, recently in Eastern Asia efforts were made to explore the complexity of the ‘behavioral complexity or modernity’, the technological innovations and behavioral adaptations process are still barely known. The lithic assemblages have long been regarded as simple, conservative technologies, and major changes in raw material procurement, core reduction, retouch and typology tended to be clustered until 40 kaBP, without a ‘middle phase’ showing distinguished transition. These years, facing with the high degree of hominin morphological variability which has been suggested by recent fossil and genetic evidence, such as the early modern humans, Denisovans, H. longi, and some other unassigned taxons (Xujiayao and Xuchang), and growing new archeological data, we need to rethink the ‘behavioral modernity’ process happened in Eastern Aisa and its application to the evolutionary history of our species worldwide.
Key words： modern human; behavioral modernity; transition phase; human evolution
YANG Shixia . Exploration of "behavioral modernity” and “modern human behavior” in human evolution[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2025 , 44(02) : 181 -192 . DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2025.0014
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