Behavioral modernity

Behavioral modernity is a suite of <a href="/facts/Behavior/0Y1VqmVX">behavioral</a> and <a href="/facts/Cognition/ga0tSBul">cognitive</a> traits believed to distinguish current <a href="/facts/Human/rlcTENsr">Homo sapiens</a> from other <a href="/facts/Early_modern_human/AxD254MP">anatomically modern humans</a>, <a href="/facts/Hominini/SflaMavS">hominins</a>, and <a href="/facts/Primate/Hl8RNE2X">primates</a>. Most scholars agree that modern <a href="/facts/Human/rlcTENsr">human</a> behavior can be characterized by <a href="/facts/Abstraction/p7l9eHGd">abstract thinking</a>, <a href="/facts/Planning/ckzCp5tv">planning</a> depth, <a href="/facts/Symbol/GS8mTn0h">symbolic</a> behavior (e.g., <a href="/facts/Art/ILbnQHHb">art</a>, <a href="/facts/Ornament_(art)/byhAkelV">ornamentation</a>), <a href="/facts/Music/hDVP0xsQ">music</a> and <a href="/facts/Dance/s9SeYNR9">dance</a>, exploitation of large <a href="/facts/Game_(hunting)/2l9PGr3X">game</a>, and <a href="/facts/Blade_(archaeology)/ovFDJJLh">blade</a> technology, among others.
Underlying these behaviors and technological innovations are cognitive and cultural foundations that have been documented experimentally and ethnographically by <a href="/facts/Evolutionary_anthropology/9YToECjY">evolutionary</a> and <a href="/facts/Cultural_anthropology/6WK5EDeu">cultural anthropologists</a>. These human universal patterns include cumulative cultural adaptation, <a href="/facts/Social_norm/Qu2jGBz3">social norms</a>, <a href="/facts/Language/IRcTok2q">language</a>, and extensive help and <a href="/facts/Cooperation/G7HKPKXj">cooperation</a> beyond close <a href="/facts/Kinship/grXkJ2u7">kin</a>.
Within the tradition of evolutionary anthropology and related disciplines, it has been argued that the development of these modern behavioral traits, in combination with the climatic conditions of the <a href="/facts/Last_Glacial_Period/mIYwj8e9">Last Glacial Period</a> and <a href="/facts/Last_Glacial_Maximum/BXQyc9IP">Last Glacial Maximum</a> causing <a href="/facts/Population_bottleneck/VB5DY1jG">population bottlenecks</a>, contributed to the evolutionary success of Homo sapiens worldwide relative to <a href="/facts/Neanderthal/19rBo6ze">Neanderthals</a>, <a href="/facts/Denisovans/ysNIvyS0">Denisovans</a>, and other <a href="/facts/Archaic_humans/DDp9HANE">archaic humans</a>.
Debate continues as to whether anatomically modern humans were behaviorally modern as well. There are many theories on the evolution of behavioral modernity. These approaches tend to fall into two camps: cognitive and gradualist. The Later <a href="/facts/Upper_Paleolithic/BnpabgyJ">Upper Paleolithic</a> Model theorizes that modern human behavior arose through cognitive, genetic changes in Africa abruptly around 40,000–50,000 years ago around the time of the <a href="/facts/Out-of-Africa_migration/SJXAFKMA">Out-of-Africa migration</a>, prompting the movement of some modern humans out of Africa and across the world.
Other models focus on how modern human behavior may have arisen through gradual steps, with the archaeological signatures of such behavior appearing only through demographic or subsistence-based changes. Many cite evidence of behavioral modernity earlier (by at least about 150,000–75,000 years ago and possibly earlier) namely in the African <a href="/facts/Middle_Stone_Age/TVwXQYXW">Middle Stone Age</a>. Anthropologists <a href="/facts/Sally_McBrearty/2SK3QbYW">Sally McBrearty</a> and <a href="/facts/Alison_S._Brooks/IrTl2Qyq">Alison S. Brooks</a> have been notable proponents of gradualism—challenging Europe-centered models by situating more change in the African Middle Stone Age—though this model is more difficult to substantiate due to the general thinning of the <a href="/facts/Fossil_record/by7NzIA1">fossil record</a> as one goes further back in time.

Behavioral modernity open-in-new

Behavioral modernity