Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS
Pervobytnaia arkheologiia. Zhurnal mezhdistsiplinarnykh issledovanii
Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
Pervobytnaia arkheologiia. Zhurnal mezhdistsiplinarnykh issledovanii
Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

Rozov N. S. Stages of anthropogenesis — a working model to explain sapient shifts

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Institute of Philosophy and Law SB RAS, 8 Nikolaev St., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia [nrozov@gmail.com]

Abstract. This paper presents a simplified structure of the eight anthropogenic stages as a conditional empirical model for theoretical explanation of the breakthroughs to humanity — the sapient shifts, i. e. the most significant evolutionary changes in hominids, which brought them closer to Homo sapiens. The construction of such a model is hampered by large variations not only in the dating, genealogical relationships, and technological succession, but also in the taxonomy of hominid species. The requirements for the model and criteria for drawing the boundaries between the stages are explicitly fixed. It is not possible to maintain complete unity of the foundations, because the significance of the aspects varied in the aspect of the progressive sapientation of the supposed pivotal lineage. In the most controversial cases, we had to accept conditional dating based on the remains of the species indicative of the stage. In general, the stage structure corresponds to the basic canons of Paleolithic subdivisions and Homo sapiens genealogy. The version of the volcanic winter effect following the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Toba is considered. An argument is made in favor of a relaxed version of the Out of Africa scenario (replacement with leakage). The difficulties of a theoretical explanation of the sapient shifts are discussed and a list of cognitive components required along with the constructed model for such an explanation is given.

Keywords: stages of anthropogenesis, sapientation, paleoanthropology, early human evolution, protosapiens, Neanderthals, Cro-Magnon.

Received 23.11.2022, accepted 22.03.2023

DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2023-1-5-21

For citation: Rozov N. S. Stages of anthropogenesis — a working model to explain sapient shifts. Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 2023 (1), 5–21. (in Russ.). DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2023-1-5-21

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