The modern man: a revision of his definition and a new estimation of his emergence date

Abstract - In spite of important anthropological data stored up to date, the recent human evolution is still a subject of great controversy. Here I present a revision of the definition of modern man and an attempt to estimate the date of his emergence within a grand synthesis between rigorous anthropological basic data. The anatomical feature criterion can not be considered as a rigorous criterion for recognizing the real modern man from Homo remains. Such recognition must be done indirectly from analysis of cultural products and, if possible, directly by ancient DNA analysis. During the last 20 000 years period, Homo peoples have shown a first real cultural progress, which reflects strongly their possession of the superior level of the potential intellectual aptitude that marks the definition of modern man. Based on many arguments, I consider that the real modern man, Homo sapiens sapiens, emerged at about 20 000 years ago. Conclusions of this study completed by those that I have previously advanced on the emergence place and the expansion of modern humans show a complete hypothetical scenario on our unique and recent origin.