Editing Middle Paleolithic (section)

==Origin of behavioral modernity==
{{Human timeline}}
The earliest evidence of [[behavioral modernity]] first appears during the Middle Paleolithic; undisputed evidence of behavioral modernity, however, only becomes common during the following Upper Paleolithic period.<ref name="Miller2006"/>

Middle Paleolithic burials at sites such as [[Krapina]] in Croatia (dated to {{circa}} 130,000 BP) and the [[Skhul and Qafzeh hominids|Qafzeh and Es Skhul caves]] in Israel ({{circa}} 100,000 BP) have led some anthropologists and archeologists (such as [[Philip Lieberman]]) to believe that Middle Paleolithic cultures may have possessed a developing [[religious]] ideology which included concepts such as an [[afterlife]]; other scholars suggest the bodies were buried for secular reasons.<ref name="evolving_graves">{{cite web |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_24_160/ai_81827792/ |title= Evolving in their graves: early burials hold clues to human origins |date=2001-12-15| author=Ben Harder| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623015743/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_24_160/ai_81827792/ |archive-date=2012-06-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Lieberman|first= Philip|author-link= Philip Lieberman|title= Uniquely Human: The Evolution of Speech, Thought, and Selfless Behavior|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3tS2MULo5rYC&pg=PA162|year= 1991|publisher= Harvard University Press|isbn= 978-0-674-92183-2|access-date= 2016-05-16|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160502154700/https://books.google.com/books?id=3tS2MULo5rYC&pg=PA162|archive-date= 2016-05-02|url-status= live}}</ref>

According to recent{{when|date=November 2019}} archeological findings from ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' sites in the [[Atapuerca Mountains]], the practice of intentional burial may have begun much earlier during the late [[Lower Paleolithic]], but this theory is widely questioned in the scientific community. Cut-marks on [[Neanderthal|Neandertal]] bones from various sites – such as [[Combe Grenal]] and the Moula [[rock shelter]] in [[France]] – may imply that Neanderthals, like some contemporary human cultures, may have practiced [[excarnation]] for presumably religious reasons (see [[Neanderthal behavior#Cannibalism|Neanderthal behavior § Cannibalism or ritual defleshing?]]).

The earliest undisputed evidence of artistic expression during the Paleolithic period comes from Middle Paleolithic/[[Middle Stone Age]] sites such as [[Blombos Cave]] in the form of bracelets,<ref>{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3629559.stm |title= Cave yields 'earliest jewellery' |work= [[BBC News]] |author= Jonathan Amos |access-date= 2008-03-12 |date= 2004-04-15 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111016155941/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3629559.stm |archive-date= 2011-10-16 |url-status= live }}</ref> beads,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0415_040415_oldestjewelry.html |title= Oldest Jewelry? "Beads" Discovered in African Cave |work= National Geographic News |author= Hillary Mayell |access-date= 2008-03-03 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110822001734/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0415_040415_oldestjewelry.html |archive-date= 2011-08-22 |url-status= dead }}</ref> art rock,<ref name=Henahan>{{cite web |url= http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SU/caveart.html |title= Blombos Cave art |access-date= 2008-03-12 |author= Sean Henahan |work= Science news |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110807083105/http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SU/caveart.php |archive-date= 2011-08-07 |url-status= live }}</ref> [[ochre]] used as body paint and perhaps in ritual,<ref name="Miller2006"/><ref name="Henahan"/> though earlier examples of artistic expression such as the [[Venus of Tan-Tan]] and the patterns found on elephant bones from [[Bilzingsleben (Paleolithic site)|Bilzingsleben]] in [[Thuringia]] may have been produced by [[Acheulean]] tool-users such as ''[[Homo erectus]]'' prior to the start of the Middle Paleolithic period.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_13/Human_Evolution.html "Human Evolution", ''Microsoft Encarta'' Online Encyclopedia 2007]. Microsoft Corporation. Contributed by Richard B. Potts. 2009-11-01.</ref> Activities such as catching large fish and hunting large game animals with specialized tools indicate increased group-wide cooperation and more elaborate social organization.<ref name="Miller2006"/>

In addition to developing advanced cultural traits, humans also first began to take part in long-distance trade between [[band society|groups]] for rare commodities (such as [[ochre]] (which was often used for religious purposes such as ritual<ref name="Henahan"/><ref>{{cite book |author= Felipe Fernandez Armesto |title= Ideas that changed the world |publisher= Dorling Kindersley Limited |location= New York |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-0-7566-3298-4 |page= [https://archive.org/details/ideasthatchanged0000fern_a2p4/page/400 400] |url= https://archive.org/details/ideasthatchanged0000fern_a2p4/page/400 }}; [https://books.google.com/books?id=tFIAAAAACAAJ&dq=Ideas+that+changed+the+world+by+Felipe+Fernandez+Armesto]</ref>)) and raw materials during the Middle Paleolithic as early as 120,000 years ago.<ref name="Miller2006"/><ref name="Hillary Mayell">
{{cite web |url= http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2_2.html |title= When Did "Modern" Behavior Emerge in Humans? |work= National Geographic News |author= Hillary Mayell |access-date= 2008-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102131649/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/38293939.html |archive-date=2013-11-02}}
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Inter-group trade may have appeared during the Middle Paleolithic because trade between bands would have helped ensure their survival by allowing them to exchange resources and commodities such as raw materials during times of relative scarcity (i.e., famine or drought).<ref name="Hillary Mayell"/>