Causes of the Ice Age Cycles • Tilt in the Earth’s Axis of Rotation 41,000 Years – 22 deg to 24 ½ deg—currently 23 ½ deg.

• Precession of the Equinox 26,000 years • Rotational Change in the Earth’s Elliptical Orbit – 100,000 years

• Energy emitted by sun is variable • Composition of the Earth’s atmosphere

Orientation of Earth’s Axis Determines the Seasons

Precession of the Equinox Plane of Earth’s Orbit around Sun

The First Americans

Exploring the Origin of Humans in the Americas

Lecture 4 Outline • • • • • • •

Evolution of Humans in Africa Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum Migrations out of Africa African Cultures and Maritime Capability Evidence of Africans in America Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum European Cultures and Maritime Capability

Human Evolution in Africa

San People of Namibia San People represent the genetically “oldest human population on Earth”

Baka People (Pygmies) West Africa and Central Africa

• Swahili People • Part of the Niger-Congo Language Group

Circa 135,000 YBP in Africa Three main lines diverged San People mtDNA L0 Y DNA A Homo Sapiens in Africa

Pygmy People mtDNA L1 Y DNA B Niger-Congo People MtDNA L2, L3, U5 Y DNA E

By 100,000-70,000 YBP Homo Sapiens had migrated out of Africa Niger-Congo People MtDNA L2, L3, U5 All people outside of Africa are descended from this mtDNA haplogroup

L0 L1

150,000-120,000 YBP

African Climate During the Migration Out of Africa

100,000-18,000 YBP

African Climate During the Migration Out of Africa

African Cultural Development 5,000 to 1,000 YBP • About 5,000 YBP chiefdoms developed along the Nile Valley • Population growth followed on the success of wheat & barley agriculture and sheep, goat and cattle • Ta-Seti, a Nubian, was one the most powerful chiefdom 5,500 YBP (3,500 BC) • Consolidation followed and Narmer emerged in 3,100 BC as the first Pharaoh –a sacred ruler of a unified Chiefdoms of Egypt at the time of Ta-Seti Egypt

• Egypt grew to be the dominant economic and military state in North Africa under the pharaonic dynasties until conquered by Persia ca. 500 BC • Egypt had extensive trade networks in Africa , the Middle East and the Mediterranean

Egyptian Maritime Capability

Min of the Desert Replica of Egyptian Ships sailing in 1,500 BC

Solar Bark of Cheops Ca. 2,500 BC

Kingdom of Kush 1,070 BC-350 AD

Kingdom of Kush • The Kingdom of Kush conquered Egypt ca. 727 BC • Kush eventually faded away after prolonged conflict with Roman occupation in Egypt. • At their height they controlled a corridor of nearly 1,000 miles of the Nile Valley

Aksum Kingdom Ca. 500 BC • Aksum emerged as a regional power • Traded as far as the Black Sea & India • Manufactured glass, crystal and brass for export • Kings lived in palaces built of stone & were buried under megaliths • Had gold and silver coinage

Kingdoms of West Africa • By 4,000 YBP (2000BC) large population centers and urban areas existed in West Africa • Prosperity based on cultivation of sorghum and millet • Desert nomads acquired meat and other foods from farmers of the grasslands and from fishermen on the Niger River. The forest dwellers provided furs and meat • Dhar Tichitt and Oualata were prominent among the early urban centers, dated to 2000 BC, in present day Mauritania

Mauritania 2000 BC to 300 BC • 2000 BC, the area was savannah with productive agriculture • By 300 BC the area was fast becoming desert • The population moved south. Left behind 500 abandoned settlements of stone houses • By 300 BC, this culture produced iron • Cemeteries indicate that a sizeable population existed there

Mauritania

Central Nigeria 1000-200 BC • The Nok Culture produced pottery • By 500 BC they produced iron • The bronze art of the Yoruba and the Kingdom of Benin are seen as the successors to Nok, having evolved from that vanished culture Nok Pottery Figure

Cameroon 2000 BC • Bantu speakers began to spread eastward originating in Cameroon • Eventually the Bantu culture spread across Africa to the Indian Ocean • They also spread south as far as Durban

Cameroon

Kingdom of Ghana 750-1078 AD

• Ancient Ghana derived power and wealth from gold, and the use of the camel increased the quantity of goods that were transported • Ghana was also a great military power. According to one narrative, the king had at his command 200,000 warriors and an additional 40,000 archers

Kingdom of Mali 1078-1300 AD Mansa Musa shown on a 1335 Map of Europe and Africa

• Founded by Mansa (King) Sundiata Keita • Two generations later, Mansa Musa ruled over a kingdom that supposedly was larger than any kingdom in Europe at the time • Cities such as Timbuktu became important trading centers for all of West Africa, as well as famous centers of wealth, culture and learning • The Kingdom of Mali had a semi-democratic government & one of the world’s oldest constitutions – The Kurukan Fuga (ca. 1235 AD)

African Voyage to America 1311 AD • Egyptian scholar Ibn Fadi Al-Umari documented a voyage from Mali to America in 1311 AD • The account of the voyage was written in Al-Umari’s encyclopedia in 1345 AD • The Mali expedition was organized and led by Mansa Abubakari, predecessor of Mansa Musa • A vast fleet sailed from Mali carrying enough supplies for 2 years. • He never returned ….

Evidence of Africans in America

Dr. Ivan van Sertima

Olmec

• Afro-Darienite is a significant group of pre-historic, preColumbian Blacks who existed in South America and Central America. These Blacks were the Africans that the Spanish first saw during their exploration of the narrow strip of land between Columbia and Central America • Peter Martyr d' Anghera noted that the Conquistadors fought against a tribe of black people in Central America in 1513 while on their quest to find the South Sea. Source: De Orbe Novo Decades, published 1516

• Las Casas later wrote about Columbus, saying: • “…That after he would navigate, the Lord pleasing, to the west, and from there would go to this Espanola in which route he would prove the theory of the King John aforesaid; and that he thought to investigate the report of the Indians of the Espanola (Haiti) who said that there had come to Espanola from the south and the south-east, a black people who have the tops of their spears made of a metal which they call “guanine” of which he had sent samples to the Sovereigns to have them assayed, when it was found that of 32 parts, 18 were of gold, 6 of silver and 8 of copper

• That metallic blend is identical to West African gold

• Columbus was surprised to find the Native people of the Americas bartering with a woven cloth, identical in design and style to that which he had seen in West Africa. • In The Journal of the Third Voyages, he noted that the Indians “brought handkerchiefs of cotton, very symmetrically woven and worked in colors like those brought from Guinea, from the rivers of Sierra Leone, and of no difference.”

• When Balboa entered the Province of Quareca, he found no gold but some black slaves belonging to the King of the place. Having asked the King where he obtained these slaves, he received as an answer that people of that color lived quite near to there and that they were constantly at war with them…These Black were entirely like the Blacks of Guinea.

• To the south-west, near the Nicaraguan border at Tegulcigalpa, another group of Blacks were reported. They were known as “Jaras.” • This name appears to be the same as Jarra in Gambia, and Diara in Senegal and Mali.

Linguistic Clues Linguistic research has uncovered a number of words having an Arabic or West African root which are found in the Native languages of the Caribbean. The following are a few of the similarities: Caribbean Goanna, caona, Guani, guanine

Mandinka Ghana (Arabic Ghani)

English Gold

Nucay, nozay

Nucay, nozay

Metal iron or gold jewelry

Tuob, tumbaga

Tuob, tumbaga

Gold, a gold weight, a king’s title

European Cultures

Europe 50,000 YBP

Neanderthal

European Cultures • Homo sapiens emerged from Africa – reached Europe by 50,000 YBP

• They coexisted with Neanderthals until about 30,000 YBP – They also interbred with Neanderthals

• Initial Homo sapiens migrants were hunter-gatherers • Followed by farmers from the east 10,000-15,000 YBP

Aurignacian Culture • Earliest Homo Sapiens arrived in Europe about 50,000 YBP in Bulgaria • Moved up Danube and west to Hungary • Then south to Austria and Italy

Humans in Europe 20,000 YBP • 34,000 YBP the Gravettian culture appeared in the Crimean Mountains (southern Ukraine) – Spread southwestward to Italy – Sculptural artistry

• 24,000 YBP the Solutrean culture appeared in Southern France and Spain – Created an advanced stone working technology – Cave art associated with this culture

• Neanderthals were extinct by this time

Glaciers

Solutrean England

Coastline

Gravettian

Gravettian Culture Big game hunters from The Ukraine

Solutrean Culture

A European Hunter-Gatherer • Dated to 8,000 YBP • Remains found in Spain • DNA analysis revealed • Dark Skin • Blue Eyes • Inability to digest milk and grain starches • About 8,500 YBP farmers from east began to displace the hunter-gatherers

Aleck’s DNA Compared to La Brana Man’s DNA X Chromosome 23

Base Pairs with Full Match = Base Pairs with Half Match = Base Pairs with No-call = Base Pairs with No Match =

Base Pairs not included in comparison = Matching segments greater than 1 centiMorgans =

Aleck’s DNA Compared to La Brana Man’s DNA Chr

Start Location

End Location

Centimorgans (cM)

SNPs

1

51,967,617

53,528,267

1.4

220

1

99,339,481

100,973,196

1.4

238

6

12,410,555

13,533,511

2.1

201

6

127,044,326

129,704,050

1.5

238

11

58,785,863

60,277,801

1.4

214

11

65,566,339

67,555,842

1.1

282

12

20,867,979

21,516,764

1.1

240

12

108,794,969

111,640,806

1.5

297

17

4,747,877

5,841,251

2.7

253

17

66,898,262

67,938,262

1.8

201

19

10,339,945

11,508,141

1.4

242

Total of segments > 1 cM = 17.4 cM Indicates a Distant Match

Magdalenian Culture 17,000-12,000 YBP

Otzi the Iceman 5,300 YBP

Food Resources 22,000 YBP

Horse

Aurochs

Reindeer

Also Ibex, Chamois and Rabbits were part of the diet

Food Resources 22,000 YBP

Acorns, pistachios, wild olives, pine nuts, hazel nuts, and various fruit and berries made up some of the vegetation eaten by hunter-gatherers in Europe

European Maritime Capability

Tools made by Homo heidelbergensis 130,000 YBP found on the island of Crete

Since Crete was not connected to the mainland at that time, humans must have traveled there using watercraft

European Maritime Capability

Pesse Canoe Found in Netherlands Dated to 10,000 YBP

European Maritime Capability

El Castillo Cave, Spain—Cave art possibly of boats Dated 20,000-40,000 YBP

Hide-Covered Boat Technology

European Maritime Capability

Umiak—an example of a hide-covered boat

Solutrean Living Conditions

Solutrean Territory

Solutrean Life • Climate was subarctic • Atlantic sea ice reached the latitude of the lower Bay of Biscay • Dry Steppe environment – – – –

Extremely cold in winter Extreme heat in summer Vegetation mostly grass of low nutritional value Absence of megafauna forced conversion to marine fauna as a food source

Solutrean Living Conditions

Solutrean Migration to America? • A trip to the mid-Atlantic region from Iberia (Spain) following the edge of the sea ice – – – –

Would be 3,000 nautical miles Such a trip would take 30 to 60 days Drinking water would be obtained from melting ice Hunting and fishing would provide an adequate supply of food

• Hide-covered boats propelled by paddles • Feasible for people living a sub-arctic maritime life similar to the Inuit of North America

Evidence of Solutreans in America • Stone Tool Technology—precursor to Clovis • Distribution of Clovis tools greater in eastern North America • Solutrean Tool made of European flint found in America • mtDNA X present in some Native Americans

Evidence of Solutreans in America To Be Continued in Lecture 5 and 6

Next Lecture • Clovis First—a Crumbling Theory

•

Questions & Comments