The revolution that still isn't: The origins of behavioral complexity in Homo sapiens
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Oxford CEBM level 5 by design analogy; narrative archaeological review and theoretical framework synthesis.
OpenAlex W4365446030 · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103358
What was done
The authors conducted a geographically structured review of archaeological evidence from the African Middle Stone Age to evaluate three scenarios of modern human origins: a discrete modern human "package," a gradual pan-African emergence of behavioral complexity, and a direct link to neurological or brain changes.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data. It notes that decades of research have failed to establish a discrete threshold for a modernity package. Instead, technological innovations show asynchronous appearance and duration across African regions with long periods of stasis and non-cumulative development, arguing against continuous continent-wide gradualism. The authors propose that demographic factors (population structure, size, connectivity) best explain the variable expression of complex behaviors, noting a weakening link between modern human biology and behavior from approximately 300 ka ago.
Why it matters
It synthesizes Middle Stone Age archaeological findings to reject single-package and strictly gradualist models of behavioral modernity, reframing human behavioral origins as a historically contingent, metapopulation-driven mosaic.
Limits
The abstract provides no quantitative metrics or counts of reviewed studies and archaeological sites. As a qualitative narrative synthesis, the conclusions depend on archaeological preservation, chronological dating precision, and theoretical interpretation rather than systematic meta-analysis.
Cited by
- contradicts Humans did not have language until approximately 10,000 years ago, and writing and cognitive intelligence developed only in the last 10,000 to 20,000 years.