Form the New York Times- Chris Stringer, anthropology curator of the Natural History Museum London, has a new book out about the emergence of modern humans. Prof. Stringer is a big name in paleoanthropology, and he is often asked to comment on new finds and such. I haven't read the book yet, but he seems to be arguing that when AMH left Africa about 60,000 years ago, they already had all the cognitive skills that they (we) would put to use elsewhere, such as painting caves and carving statues and making more impressive tools. Most of these artifacts are found in Europe, but he believes it is only a a matter of time before some remarkable artifacts are discovered in Africa. Up to now African cultural remains are not quite as impressive as those from Europe, which invites the question... why not? There's a nice slideshow attached to the story as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/science/chris-stringer-on-the-origins-and-rise-of-modern-humans.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/science/chris-stringer-on-the-origins-and-rise-of-modern-humans.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
