There Is Much Debate Among Scientists About When, Where, and How

There is much debate among scientists about when, where, and how anatomically modern humans achieved behavioral modernity. Some researchers suggest that about 50,000 years ago a genetic mutation acted to rewire the human brain, allowing for an advance in language and other related modern behaviors. Others propose

A) a hearth hypothesis, suggesting that the most important trigger to behavioral modernity was Homo's capacity, achieved 50,000 years ago, for manipulating fire and thus living in caves and cooking their meat.
B) that the advent of the nuclear family within larger nomadic groups made possible intense social interactions that triggered more complex social behaviors.
C) that instead of a sudden event in Europe due to a mutation, behavioral modernity resulted from a slow process of cultural accumulation within Africa, where Homo sapiens became fully human long before 40,000 years ago.
D) a culinary hypothesis, suggesting that Homo's capacity to increase the range of foods in the diet triggered the necessary brain development to make modern behaviors possible.
E) that drastic climatic changes 40,000 years ago led archaic humans to turn to ritual-a definite sign of behavioral modernity-to explain the unforeseen environmental changes that suddenly altered their way of life.

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