CC BY
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Section HUMAN EVOLUTION
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resembles the Ahmarian complex known from other sites in the Levant. The second, earliest of these, corresponds to the so-called Initial Upper Paleolithic phase. The Initial Upper Paleolithic is considered a tech-nocomplex transitional between Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Paleolithic deposits preserved within Uçagizli Cave span a period of approximately 12,000 years; Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates indicate ages between 29,000 and 41,000 radiocarbon years (circa 31,000 to 43,000 calendar years). In all layers of the cave abundant amount of shell beads which used as ornaments, have been found. Advanced lithic technology and coordinated ornament use found in the cave indicate the presence of the first modern humans in Anatolia.
Key words: Anatolia, first moderns, Initial Upper Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, ornament using
Human are very special and very different. These are the only living being on earth endeavoring in self investigation. Then one can ask if the evolution processes regarding human are specific to this species only, or not. My answer is "yes". This species had to experience three consecutive and important leaps before becoming modern human. 1. The Leap of Bipedalism. 6-7 mya as a result of Rift and plateau formation in east Africa, a primate made an adaptive response to that formation. This adaptive response was hunting and gathering food in shallow waters on two legs. This shallow water made a selective pressure on that primate to walk bipedally. 2. The Leap of Mental Overturning. When about 2 mya the body erection reached a certain angle, the embryo made an adaptive response to this vertical body posture. The embryo turned upside down. This is the mental overturning that started the growth of the cranium as well as the brain. 3. The Leap of Mental Threshold. After chasing its enemy, the chimp throws the stick and does not say to itself: "This stick has served me effectively; I better keep it for another occasion". If the chimp had a brain of 500 cc, would it say: "I better keep this stick and even improve it". The chimp may not think so with 500 cc brain, not even with a 550 cc or even a 600 cc brain. But there will be a time and a brain capacity that such a thought will occur. I call that point "Mental Threshold". Once this mental threshold was transcended, the hominid that held a stone in one hand and a stick in the other; had the courage to intrude into the hunting zone of any animal including the worst predator.
Key words: mentis eversionis, bipedalism, mental overturning, mental threshold, human evolution
Contact information: Gûleç Erksin Savaç, e-mail:egulec@ankara.edu.tr.
THE THREE LEAPS IN THE HUMAN EVOLUTION
Kaynak Oktay
Independent Researcher, Izmir, Turkey
Contact information: Kaynak Oktay, e-mail: oktaykaynak@hotmail.com.
19 Конгресс Европейской Антропологической Ассоциации МГУ имени М.В.Ломоносова, Москва, 25-29 августа, 2014
Вестник Московского университета. Серия XXIII АНТРОПОЛОГИЯ — 3/2014
