Before discussing the Nowans as a biological entity, it is necessary for me step out of character and discuss some of the considerations involved. Unlike the ongoing arguments with Neandertals, I have unambiguously made the Nowans a seperate species. That automatically raises lots of questions. It is difficult, even for paleoanthropologists to accept and understand some of the uniquely human cultural attributes that may have only evolved with modern Homo sapiens. A brief catalog would have to include lots of things we take for granted.
Looking at the brief and far from exhaustive list above, certain items share an almost unnoticed commonality. They are symbolic systems. In fact, it has been argued convincingly that Homo sapiens always deals with the world through the intermediary of symbols. We think, see, feel, love, do whatever, in symbols. It is impossible to say when this began. It appears to some, myself included, that it was the decisive factor leading to the replacement of Neandertals by Modern Humans. But the more disturbing question is whether or not this symbolic leap as I like to call it could have occurred twice. Frankly, it is unlikely. At the same time, it is nearly impossible to imagine a civilization without it. So, I have made the Nowans undergo this symbolic leap in their history too. I have tried to alter their symbol use in subtle ways which as more of these ethnographic notes are put on the web, will become apparent.
Also we should remember some other ways that humans are unusual as compared to our closest biological relatives. We are for example very fertile, very weak, very fast runners, we vocalize rapidly and fairly effortlessly, we have a weak sense of smell, we are hairless, and we are relatively monogamous (serial monogamy to be sure.)
One other note is necessary. At this writing, the family tree
of hominids is far from clear and the subject of much argument.
The argument I currently accept has Homo sapiens descended
from Homo heidelbergensis, which in turn arose from
Homo ergaster, which in turn arose from either Homo
rudolphensis or Homo habilis. In this schema, Homo
neandertalensis and Homo erectus are both sidebars and
deadends not directly involved in Homo sapiens' ancestry.
Needless to say, while many will accept the above, many will not,
but it is the starting point for my story.
Sometime around 500,000 years BP, Homo erectus crossed over into Pan. How and where are not known but their oldest remains are found in sediments of this age in a dozen sites in the Great Central Valley. Other younger sites are known from many areas, especially along the southern coast. These early hominids appear to be identical to those found in China, the socalled 'Peking Man.'
Beginning about 125,000 years ago, a new species appears. Now called Homo panensis, this species was characterized by larger brain (average capacity 1320cc) and a reduction of robusticity. Homo panensis apparently spread over all the island except the coldest and least hospitable areas. The remains of more than 500 individuals are now known. Lithic technology, while greatly in advance of Homo erectus, still lagged behind many other parts of the world. Homo panensis survived until about 12,000 BP. The last 5000 years or so of their existance was shared with another new species, Homo intelligens.
The earliest remains of Homo intelligens are found in the eastern foothills of the Herowi Mountains and a few isolated east coast caves. It is commonly assumed that the almost mythical Hawklords of Nowan history were the first Homo intelligens but while there is little doubt that they were Homo intelligens, it is impossible to say they were the first examples of the species. In any case, before the last Ice Age marked the close of their culture, they had virtually replaced Homo panensis.
The realization that the inhabitants of Pan were really a
seperate species of hominid did not become truly apparent until
the early part of the 20th century. Of course the kind of naive
racism that so permeated the world at the time had often assumed
that each of the races of the world were seperate species but
most biologists were aware of the flaws in their arguments. The
differences found in Pan were of an order of magnitude greater
than those imagined between other ethnic groups of humanity.
Externally, the Nowans (or more precisely, Homo intelligens, henceforward HI), are very homogenous. Skin color tends to be a very light ruddy brown. Hair color is uniformly reddish, centering around a medium auburn. Hair texture is unique, closely resemble small tight waves or perhaps better, the hair style refered to as 'crimped.' Eye color is almost black and the eyes are marked by the common epicanthic eyefold of Eastern Asia. Pigmented skin (e.g. lips) has a distinctive purplish to purplish-pink color.
As a species, HIs have more sexual dimorphism than HS. Males average about 183-193cm, females about 160-165cm. Both genders are more heavily muscled and much stronger than their HS counterparts. Differences in pelvis anatomy mean they are not as fast as runners though. Brain size averages about 1750cc in males, about 1500cc in females. Fingers are very nearly equal in length to each other as are toes also.
HI retains the full 32 teeth of hominid dentition and problems with 'wisdom teeth' are unknown. The scooped incisors found in Eastern Asia are ubiquitous. The cranium is somewhat elongate by Homo sapiens standards, but shares a dome-like cross section. HI lack the canine fossa, giving them all the appearance of having particularly prominent cheekbones. Compared to Homo sapiens, HI has slightly more prominent browridges, slightly less prominent chins, somewhat more slope to their foreheads, somewhat more massive jaws. Crania are also characterized by slight sagital keeling and a noticeable occipital 'bun'. Both of the last two are probably related to the heavy musculature of HI.
HI females do not experience menstrual cycles but rather undergo estrus, a fact which has profoundly shaped the development of HI culture and biology. Neither gender develops secondary body hair (beard, underarms, pubic regions). Estrus in the female is denoted by swelling and darkening in nipples and labiae as well as pheromone production. Thus there is less reliance on secondary signals of sexual maturity. Females tend to be broader across the hips and shoulders than HS women. The first is related to the large pelvic opening needed for HI infants and the latter to the heavy musculature. In common with HS, but unlike other primates, HI women have breasts which tend to be rather hemispherical in shape in contrast to those of HS women.
Estrus typically begins at about the age of 13-14 but actual fertility rarely occurs before the ages of 15-16. This phenonenom of 'false estrus' occurs throughout the lifetime of female HI. A typical estrus, real or false, lasts for 10-12 days. They occur about 4-5 times per year. The exceptions is during pregnancy. Estrus ceases several months before parturition and does not resume for some 4-6 months afterwards. Typically these are false estrus and fertile estrus does not resume for a period of 2-3 years after each birth.
Fertility is lower in HI than in HS. The modern record for children produced by a mother is only 7. The gestation period is 280 days and children are born even more premature than HS babies and typically lag about a year behind in their development compared to them. This fragile state at birth produces a larger number of stillborn infants as well as a higher rate of infant death.
HI have a much better sense of smell than HS and it is
reflected in their physiology. For example, the olfactory bulb
in HI is 3x times larger than human, roughly 0.03% of brain
volume (apes have 0.07%, HS 0.01%). HI have about 3 sq.cm. of
olfactory mucosa in their sinuses with 50,000 receptor cells per
sq.mm for a total of 45,000,000 receptors. Compare HS which have
only about 2 sq.cm of olfactory mucosa with about 30,000 receptor
cells per square mm (for a total of about 6,000,000), far fewer
than in other mammals. The scent producing apocrine glands in HI
are concentrated in basically the same areas as in East Asian HS
and like the latter, HI lack the axillary organ and its
associated apocrine glands. In other words, Body Odor is fainter
and far more subtle in HI than in some HS races (notably the
Caucasoid and Negroid).
Reflecting the fact that HI can literally smell fear, anger
and certain other emotions, the standard greeting for males is to
grasp each other's forearms, lean forward smell the other's neck.
Neither gender uses perfumes or colognes to the extent of some HS
societies. Women do use them in an attempt to mask estrus when
they are unmarried or to feign estrus in the case of prostitutes.
Women tend to become pregnant only with males whose scents
are different from their own and to whom they have become
habituated, other blastocysts are usually reabsorbed. Neither
gender can sense their own pheromones but both are acutely tuned
to those of the opposite gender and they play a key role in
sexual arousal. Women become particularly sensitive to male
pheromones during estrus. Women who are living with similarly
scented females, i.e. close relatives, tend to have their estrus
periods at intervals that shown maximum differentiation. No such
interval periodication is apparent for non-related women in
similar environments. It is interesting to note that while males
cannot identify false estrus, their bodies apparently can for
their sperm counts are lower than for fertile estrus.
Arousal, whether from anger, fear, or sexual excitement is marked not only by pheronome production but also by certain visual and audible signals. At the peak of arousal, the head hair is pulled into a more upright position. In short haired individuals this literally gives the effect of hair standing on end. With the more common long hair, it produces a somewhat manelike effect. The hairs are not stiff enough to straighten but near the roots they are indeed erected. Blushing, especially across the face and chest is common during arousal. Finally, HIs growl. They produce subtly different growls depending upon the source of arousal.
HI males typically live to be about 80, females about 85. The modern records are 120 and 135 respectively.
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© 2001 Brad Coon