Middle Stone Age

David Reich proposes that Neanderthals may not be an evolutionary side branch, but rather a product of modern human cultural expansion: a population inventing the Middle Stone Age spread into Europe and Africa, mixed with local archaic humans, retained modern culture despite ~95% genetic replacement, sharing Y chromosomes, mtDNA, and toolkits—making them our ‘cultural cousins’.

A revolutionary breakthrough in stone tool making occurred 300-400,000 years ago in the Caucasus and East Africa, associated with widespread fire use and long-distance material transport, deemed equally significant as later human behavior revolutions.

The revolutionary breakthrough in stone toolmaking first appeared 300,000-400,000 years ago in the Caucasus and East Africa, an event possibly underappreciated in its significance.