CRO-MAGNON: HOW THE ICE AGE GAVE BIRTH TO THE FIRST MODERN HUMANS

Popular books on our species history sooner or later ask the perennial question – Where do we come from? For those of a metaphysical bent this may pique curiosity about how human consciousness or the noosphere arose, and whether humans are destined by some teleological or anthropic plan to be the biosphere's conscious organ: or as clever physicists have said, the universe's way of observing itself. For the less metaphysically- inclined, popular anthropology expositions generally ask what the archeological evidence from the last few million years tells us about the emergence of our own, self-same family (the hominid gang) and our modern, Cro-Magnon species (H. sapiens sapiens) and our technological and cultural relationships with pre-modern ancestors, among whom the Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) seem to have been our closest biological and cultural relatives. Almost inevitably both approaches raise more questions than they answer both from the viewpoint of physical evidence and the latest psychological paradigms applied to interpreting it (see previous review of Hoffecker's Landscape of the Mind). In Cro-Magnon, British archeologist and prolific writer Brian Fagan adopts the latter, conventional approach, and inevitably we are told that very little tangible evidence other than stone and bone remains for scrutiny. Perishable organic remains are frustratingly rare and so of little help in generating useful cultural insights. Nevertheless, modern archeology and various support sciences like genetics and paleo-climatology slowly help bring the misty past into better focus. Fagan helps this process by penning imaginative "stories" that help us visualize daily life during various chapters in our family history. The cumulative effect of this padding device is quite intriguing, and as a reader I could identify with various generations of ancestors as they "made their way" through Ice Age landscapes, incrementally benefiting from their own ingenuity and resourcefulness. The latest conventional wisdom holds that modern Homo sapiens emerged in Africa little more than 100,000 years ago, long after more primitive species (Homo erectus), also of African origin, had spread to much of the rest of the old world (Europe and Asia). Thus, our "modern" ancestors evolved in a world already sparsely-populated by ancestral species with rudimentary stone tool technology but little sign of the ability to promulgate rapid, cultural innovation. Although scarcity of evidence limits what we can say about these ancestors, the record of Neanderthal culture in Europe between 250,000 and 30,000 B.P. is somewhat better. Fagan paints a sympathetic picture of the Neanderthal species as a "quiet" and unobtrusive people, possibly, no one knows, with an emotionally charged language of gestures and proto-speech which one archeologist (Steven Mithen) called the Hmmmmm communication system: holistic, manipulative, multi-modal, musical and mimetic! [To me this extraordinary sound byte smacks of a post-modern, reconciliation tribunal, designed to atone for our previous prejudicial and chauvinistic casting of Neanderthals as stupid, callous brutes]! We now respect their emotional sensitivity and unobtrusive ability to be seen and not heard. Silence is golden and helps you fly below the evolutionary radar, which in turn leaves archeologists with the opportunity for endless speculation! No matter! Despite the intractable problems of identifying the origin of language in our own or other species (see previous review) it seems reasonably clear that Homo sapiens replayed an earlier "out of Africa" migration by infiltrating Europe, via the Middle East, between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago. By this time, as DNA evidence informs us, the Neanderthals had split from modern humans, with both species evolving independently in an Ice Age world with significant climatic fluctuations and the occasional catastrophic events such as the gigantic eruption of Mount Toba (Indonesia) 73,500 years ago, which some infer had the potential to extinguish both species, but didn't- thank Toba! Perhaps for these or other uncertain reasons the Neanderthals went into decline as the Cro-Magnons rose to ascendency. Given our Cro-Magnon desire to explain history, Fagan speculates that Neanderthals "lacked the qualities of imagination and self-awareness found in moderns." Here we avoid egregious slander but nevertheless imply they lacked those special qualities we are evidently thankful to possess. Even though it is politically correct to treat Neanderthals with respect [don't speak ill of the dead] there is no doubt that we Cro-Magnons had the edge for most of the last 50-60,000 years. We are justly proud of the flowering of art and refined technology that was so evident by about 30,000 B. P. [incidentally the approximate date when Neanderthals seem to have disappeared]. In addition to much celebrate cave art like Lascaux, "the Sistine Chapel of Prehistory," we find clay, bone and ivory sculptures including the famous Löwensmensch or "Lion Man" described by Fagan as something mystical … a connection between the living and the supernatural …the oldest imaginary being." Perhaps "imaginary being" is not the best description, as the Lion Man may represent a palpably-real, experiential phenomenon from the subconscious realm of dreams or visions. Fagan occasionally uses the term centauric, referring to the traditional mythic beast symbol (half human –half animal) and not in the higher, vision logic sense used by Ken Wilber to denote an integral mind-body consciousness. Thus, Fagan considers Cro-Magnons "dynamic partners in a world populated by animals" deserving respect. He touches on consciousness if only to state that "Neanderthals possessed and entirely different form of consciousness." I take this to be self-evident given their cultural creations, and would accept that Cro-magnons "sense of heightened consciousness … [at some point]… conceived of a supernatural realm." But "all we can do is look … through a cloudy lens, armed with observations of hunter-gatherer" and animal totem traditions extant today, among which Eskimo and !Kung San Bushmen culture are frequently mentioned. As reported in Discover Magazine (Dec 2013) our prehistoric Cro-Magnon ancestors, like the aforementioned extant cultures were astute nature observers whose depictions of animals in motion are more frequently correct than most historic art, and even illustrations that postdate the first studies based on stop-motion photography! Again appropriate respect is due our astute ancestors. In the closing chapters Fagan makes much of the invention of the eyed needle as the "most revolutionary artifact … that … changed history." It was not that we had previously gone naked in biting Ice Age winters, rather we learned to efficiently tailor our clothes and tool kits, presumably to be less drafty and cumbersome. Like Hoffecker (previous review) Fagan touches on the importance of dog domestication, a best friendship that may go back some 30,000 years. Finally, for discussion by SMN feminists and doctors, Fagan casually states that the notion that the well-known "Venus" figurines represent a Mother Goddess cult "seems far-fetched" because many hunter-gatherers have "stringent sex taboos" especially during the first years of a baby's life. Instead the distribution of body fat seems more and indication of "obesity" and perhaps a celebration of the value of "fat consumption which increased weight" to help survival. Since Fagan is a man, perhaps his lack of enthusiasm for the popular notion of a feminine Mother Goddess phase of prehistory will be challenged by those of the feminine persuasion. Likewise, there are those who might infer that women first patented the revolutionary, history-changing art of designing and darning reindeer skin leggings. But who knows, perhaps I misrepresent some innovative male tailor? As always one wonders which archeological theories most readily pass the eye of the needle test. Is there a better metaphor for the perennial problems that plague archaeology? This may be a good place for a man to reserve further comment, but I will add that while most hand axe and hand tool artifacts are interpreted by anthropologists as proof of our ancestor's technological ability to manipulate the tangible physical world, hand prints are frequently interpreted rather differently, not as tools but as symbols of reaching for contact with the supernatural world. Although this seems to prove our ancestors a versatile, multi-tasking bunch, we ultimately remain at a loss to fully understand our own Cro-Magnon consciousness and how its dynamics played out over the last 50,000 years. There is no doubt that many aspects of our family history remain mysterious, fascinating and subject to reinterpretation by our own ever-changing consciousness.