The modern human species Homo sapiens is the only surviving evolutionary lineage of hominins. H. sapiens evolved in Africa from Homo Heidelbergensis ancestors. Several examples have been found, such as the Kabwe and Bodo skulls, of human remains that are intermediate between H. heidelbergensis and H. sapiens. Humans had reached their modern anatomical form by about 200,000 to 100,000 years ago.

Cultural evolution of Homo sapiens in Africa began early and progressed slowly. Remains of modern humans who lived 100,000 years ago at what is now the Klasies River Mouth at the tip of South Africa provide no evidence of artistic culture beyond that of H. heidelbergensis. However, a harpoon tip made from bone about 90,000 years ago, found at Katanda in Zaire, exhibits workmanship far in advance of the Acheulean technology of H. heidelbergensis. A piece of red ochre, found in Blombos Cave in South Africa, was inscribed with intersecting lines 77,000 years ago. Ostrich egg shell beads inscribed with patterns date back 50,000 years. Artistic productions in Africa before 10,000 years ago are rare, perhaps because of the decomposition of the media in which they were produced. Shell beads discovered in the Middle East may be 100,000 years old and may represent the oldest art of H. sapiens.

Some Homo sapiens populations migrated out of Africa. When they did so, they often encountered other human species. By 90,000 years ago, they had already moved northward into what is now the Middle East. They coexisted for almost 60,000 years with Neandertals who had evolved in Europe and moved southward. Although anatomically distinct and apparently not interbreeding, modern humans and Neandertals at that time had similar tool technologies and lifestyles. Pierced shells, suitable for bodily decoration, date back 70,000 years. A 50,000-year-old flint plaque inscribed with concentric circles was found in Israel. The shells and plaque were probably from H. sapiens but the possibility that Neanderthals made them cannot be discounted. Modern humans encountered Homo erectus (and perhaps also the Flores Island people) in Indonesia and may have arrived near what is now Mungo in Australia more than 60,000 years ago. Almost immediately, H. sapiens began producing rock art in Australia . . .

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