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| Among other features, anatomically modern Homo sapiens is characterized by a higher, more well-rounded skull and a smaller face than most archaics and by the presence of a noticeable chin. Modern humans appeared first 200,000 years ago in Africa and by about 90,000 years ago in the Middle East. By 50,000 years ago, the culture of H. sapiens had begun to change rapidly; the use of more sophisticated stone tools (especially blade tools) and bone tools spread, burials of the dead became more elaborate, and art appeared. Modern humans had colonized Australia by 60,000 years ago and the New World by at least 15,000 years ago. There is ongoing debate regarding the origin of modern humans. The African replacement model proposes that modern humans arose as a new species around 200,000 years ago in Africa and then spread across the Old World, replacing preexisting archaic humans. The assimilation model proposes that modern human anatomy did appear first in Africa, but that there was genetic mixing with the expanding African population and populations outside of Africa. At present, there is some consensus that modern humans did evolve first in Africa, but debate continues as to whether non-African populations were replaced or assimilated. Current fossil and genetic evidence appears to better support the assimilation model, although it is not clear how much mixing occurred. Human evolution did not end after the initial appearance of modern humans. Although there have been some biological changes during our recent past, most of our species' evolution over the past 10,000 years has been cultural. Perhaps the single most important event was the development of agriculture, which changed our entire way of life. Predicting the specifics of future human evolution is problematic, but our future will no doubt involve more and more cultural change, which occurs at a far greater rate than biological evolution. This does not mean that biological evolution has stopped; rather, our fate is becoming increasingly affected by cultural change. |