Coevolution of Human Beain Size and Paleolithic Culture in the Northern Hemisphere: Relation to Geomagnetic Intensity

Abstract

A statistical survey of changes in human cranial capacity, paleolithic culture and geomagnetic intensity over geological time shows these to have followed a parallel if irregular course since the advent of Homo erectus in the northern hemisphere. Peak rates of the brainculture coevolutionary process occurred in the Mindel and Wurm ice ages, in phase with the highest mean geomagnetic intensities recorded during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene, respectively. This triple association is not likely the result of chance: a geomagnetic-neuroendocrine mechanism involving the hippocampus and growth hormone is offered as a possible explanation.