Editing Early modern human (section)

===Early ''Homo sapiens''===
{{further|Human subspecies|Middle Paleolithic|Mousterian|Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans|Homo sapiens idaltu|Skhul and Qafzeh hominins}}
[[File:Skhul.JPG|thumb|100 to 80 thousand year old [[Skhul V]] from [[Israel]]]]
The term [[Middle Paleolithic]] is intended to cover the time between the first emergence of ''H. sapiens'' (roughly 300,000 years ago) and the period held by some to mark the emergence of full [[behavioral modernity]] (roughly by 50,000 years ago, corresponding to the start of the [[Upper Paleolithic]]).

Many of the early modern human finds, like those of [[Jebel Irhoud]], [[Omo remains|Omo]], [[Homo sapiens idaltu|Herto]], [[Florisbad Skull|Florisbad]], [[Skhul remains|Skhul]], and [[Peștera cu Oase]] exhibit a mix of archaic and modern traits.<ref name="Oppenheimer">{{cite book |last=Oppenheimer |first=S. |title=Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World |year=2003 |publisher=Robinson |isbn=978-1841196978}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.2035108100 |last1=Trinkaus |first1=E. |last2=Moldovan |first2=O. |last3=Milota |first3=Ș. |last4=Bîlgăr |first4=A. |last5=Sarcina |first5=L. |last6=Athreya |first6=S. |last7=Bailey |first7=S. E. |last8=Rodrigo |first8=R. |last9=Gherase |first9=M. |last10=Higham |first10=T. |last11=Ramsey |first11=C. B. |last12=Van Der Plicht |first12=J. |year=2003 |title=An early modern human from Peștera cu Oase, Romania |journal=PNAS |volume=100 |issue=20|pages=11231–11236 |pmid=14504393 |pmc=208740 |bibcode=2003PNAS..10011231T |display-authors=8 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="NAT-20170607a">{{cite journal |last=Callaway |first=Ewan |title=Oldest Homo sapiens fossil claim rewrites our species' history |url= http://www.nature.com/news/oldest-homo-sapiens-fossil-claim-rewrites-our-species-history-1.22114 |date=7 June 2017 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |doi=10.1038/nature.2017.22114 |access-date=11 June 2017 }}</ref> Skhul V, for example, has prominent brow ridges and a projecting face. However, the [[Neurocranium|brain case]] is quite rounded and distinct from that of the Neanderthals and is similar to the brain case of modern humans. It is uncertain whether the robust traits of some of the early modern humans like Skhul V reflects [[Archaic human admixture with modern humans|mixed ancestry]] or retention of older traits.<ref name="Reich et al.">{{Cite journal|first1=David |last1=Reich |first2=Richard E. |last2=Green |first3=Martin |last3=Kircher |first4=Johannes |last4=Krause |first5=Nick |last5=Patterson |first6=Eric Y. |last6=Durand |first7=Bence |last7=Viola |first8=Adrian W. |last8=Briggs |first9=Udo |last9=Stenzel |first10=Philip L. F. |last10=Johnson |first11=Tomislav |last11=Maricic |first12=Jeffrey M. |last12=Good |first13=Tomas |last13=marques-Bonet |first14=Can |last14=Alkan |first15=Qiaomei |last15=Fu |first16=Swapan |last16=Mallick |first17=Heng |last17=Li |first18=Matthias |last18=Meyer |first19=Evan E. |last19=Eichler |first20=Mark |last20=Stoneking |first21=Michael |last21=Richards |first22=Sahra |last22=Talamo |first23=Michael V. |last23=Shunkov |first24=Anatoli P. |last24=Derevianko |first25=Jean-Jacques |last25=Hublin |first26=Janet |last26=Kelso |first27=Montgomery |last27=Slatkin |name-list-style=amp|first28=Svante |last28=Pääbo |display-authors=8 |year=2010 |title=Genetic history of an archaic hominin group from Denisova Cave in Siberia |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=468 |issue=7327 |pages=1053–1060 |doi=10.1038/nature09710 |pmid=21179161|bibcode= 2010Natur.468.1053R |pmc=4306417 |hdl=10230/25596}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Trinkaus |first=Erik |title=Early modern humans |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |date=October 2005 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=207–230 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.34.030905.154913|s2cid=9039428 |s2cid-access=free}}</ref>

The "gracile" or lightly built skeleton of anatomically modern humans has been connected to a change in behavior, including increased cooperation and "resource transport".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Meldrum, Jeff |author2=Hilton, Charles E. |title=From Biped to Strider: The Emergence of Modern Human Walking, Running, and Resource Transport |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfIWVrxg-hEC |date= 2004 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0306480003}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Vonk, Jennifer |author2=Shackelford, Todd K. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Evolutionary Psychology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btS8XyqTY6MC&pg=PA429 |date= 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press, US |isbn=978-0199738182 |pages=429–}}</ref>

There is evidence that the characteristic human brain development, especially the prefrontal cortex, was due to "an exceptional acceleration of [[metabolome]] evolution ... paralleled by a drastic reduction in muscle strength. The observed rapid metabolic changes in brain and muscle, together with the unique human cognitive skills and low muscle performance, might reflect parallel mechanisms in human evolution."<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001871 |pmid=24866127 |title=Exceptional Evolutionary Divergence of Human Muscle and Brain Metabolomes Parallels Human Cognitive and Physical Uniqueness |journal=PLOS Biology |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=e1001871 |year=2014 |last1=Bozek |first1=Katarzyna |last2=Wei |first2=Yuning |last3=Yan |first3=Zheng |last4=Liu |first4=Xiling |last5=Xiong |first5=Jieyi |last6=Sugimoto |first6=Masahiro |last7=Tomita |first7=Masaru |last8=Pääbo |first8=Svante |last9=Pieszek |first9=Raik |last10=Sherwood |first10=Chet C. |last11=Hof |first11=Patrick R. |last12=Ely |first12=John J. |last13=Steinhauser |first13=Dirk |last14=Willmitzer |first14=Lothar |last15=Bangsbo |first15=Jens |last16=Hansson |first16=Ola |last17=Call |first17=Josep |last18=Giavalisco |first18=Patrick |last19=Khaitovich |first19=Philipp |pmc=4035273 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[Schöningen spears]] and their correlation of finds are evidence that complex technological skills already existed 300,000 years ago, and are the first obvious proof of an active [[Big game hunting|(big game) hunt]]. ''H. heidelbergensis'' already had intellectual and cognitive skills like anticipatory planning, thinking and acting that so far have only been attributed to modern man.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Thieme |first=H |year=2007 |title=Der große Wurf von Schöningen: Das neue Bild zur Kultur des frühen Menschen |pages=224–328 |encyclopedia=Die Schöninger Speere – Mensch und Jagd vor 400 000 Jahren |publisher=Konrad Theiss Verlag |isbn=978-3896460400}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Haidle |first=M.N. |year=2006 |title=Menschenaffen? Affenmenschen? Mensch! Kognition und Sprache im Altpaläolithikum |pages=69–97 |editor-last=Conard |editor-first=N.J. |encyclopedia=Woher kommt der Mensch |publisher=Attempto Verlag |isbn=3893083812}}</ref>

The ongoing admixture events within anatomically modern human populations make it difficult to estimate the age of the matrilinear and patrilinear most recent common ancestors of modern populations ([[Mitochondrial Eve]] and [[Y-chromosomal Adam]]). Estimates of the age of Y-chromosomal Adam have been pushed back significantly with the discovery of an ancient Y-chromosomal lineage in 2013, to likely beyond 300,000 years ago.{{refn|group=note|(95% confidence interval 237–581 kya)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mendez |first1=Fernando |last2=Krahn |first2=Thomas |last3=Schrack |first3=Bonnie |last4=Krahn |first4=Astrid-Maria |last5=Veeramah |first5=Krishna |last6=Woerner |first6=August |last7=Fomine |first7=Forka Leypey Mathew |last8=Bradman |first8=Neil |last9=Thomas |first9=Mark |title=An African American paternal lineage adds an extremely ancient root to the human Y chromosome phylogenetic tree |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |date=7 March 2013 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.02.002 |url=http://haplogroup-a.com/Ancient-Root-AJHG2013.pdf |volume=92 |issue=3 |pages=454–459 |pmid=23453668 |pmc=3591855 |access-date=21 April 2018 |archive-date=24 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924160717/http://haplogroup-a.com/Ancient-Root-AJHG2013.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>}} There have, however, been no reports of the survival of Y-chromosomal or mitochondrial DNA clearly deriving from archaic humans (which would push back the age of the most recent patrilinear or matrilinear ancestor beyond 500,000 years).<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Krings M, Stone A, Schmitz RW, Krainitzki H, Stoneking M, Pääbo S |title=Neandertal DNA sequences and the origin of modern humans |journal=Cell |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=19–30 |date=July 1997 |pmid=9230299 |doi=10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80310-4|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0025-0960-8 |s2cid=13581775 |hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/no-neandertals-gene-pool |last=Hill |first=Deborah |date=16 March 2004 |title=No Neandertals in the Gene Pool |publisher=Science |access-date=6 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Serre |year=2004 |title=No evidence of Neandertal mtDNA contribution to early modern humans |journal=[[PLOS Biology]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=313–317 |pmid=15024415 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020057 |last2=Langaney |first2=A. |last3=Chech |first3=M. |last4=Teschler-Nicola |first4=M. |last5=Paunovic |first5=M. |last6=Mennecier |first6=P. |last7=Hofreiter |first7=M. |last8=Possnert |first8=G. |last9=Pääbo |first9=S. |pmc=368159 |first1=D. |author4-link=Maria Teschler-Nicola |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Fossil teeth found at [[Qesem Cave]] (Israel) and dated to between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago have been compared to the dental material from the younger (120,000–80,000 years ago) [[Skhul and Qafzeh hominins]].{{refn|group=note|"Although none of the Qesem teeth shows a suite of Neanderthal characters, a few traits may suggest some affinities with members of the Neanderthal evolutionary lineage. However, the balance of the evidence suggests a closer similarity with the Skhul/Qafzeh dental material, although many of these resemblances likely represent plesiomorphous features."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hershkovitz |first1=I |last2=Smith |first2=P |last3=Sarig |first3=R |last4=Quam |first4=R |last5=Rodríguez |first5=L |last6=García |first6=R |last7=Arsuaga |first7=JL |last8=Barkai |first8=R |last9=Gopher |first9=A |title=Middle pleistocene dental remains from Qesem Cave (Israel) |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |year=2011 |volume=144 |issue=4 |pages=575–592 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21446 |pmid=21404234 |s2cid=3106938}}</ref>}}