Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA.
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
Evol Anthropol. 2021 Jan;30(1):84-98. doi: 10.1002/evan.21883. Epub 2021 Feb 5.
Contemporary understandings of paleoanthropological data illustrate that the search for a line defining, or a specific point designating, "modern human" is problematic. Here we lend support to the argument for the need to look for patterns in the paleoanthropological record that indicate how multiple evolutionary processes intersected to form the human niche, a concept critical to assessing the development and processes involved in the emergence of a contemporary human phenotype. We suggest that incorporating key elements of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) into our endeavors offers a better and more integrative toolkit for modeling and assessing the evolution of the genus Homo. To illustrate our points, we highlight how aspects of the genetic exchanges, morphology, and material culture of the later Pleistocene complicate the concept of "modern" human behavior and suggest that multiple evolutionary patterns, processes, and pathways intersected to form the human niche.
当代对古人类学数据的理解表明，寻找定义“现代人”的界限或特定点是有问题的。在这里，我们支持这样一种观点，即需要在古人类学记录中寻找表明多种进化过程如何交汇以形成人类生态位的模式，这一概念对于评估现代人类表型的出现所涉及的发展和过程至关重要。我们认为，将扩展进化综合（EES）的关键要素纳入我们的努力之中，为塑造和评估人类属的进化提供了更好、更具综合性的工具包。为了说明我们的观点，我们强调了更新世后期遗传交流、形态和物质文化的各个方面如何使“现代”人类行为的概念复杂化，并表明多种进化模式、过程和途径相交形成了人类生态位。
