If, however, such advantages were dramatic and mainly determined by biological change, we should expect to find them reflected in the material culture produced by these early, anatomically modern populations. Complex technologies, regional trends in the style and decoration of tools, use of pigments, abstract and representational depiction, burials, grave goods, and personal ornaments are among the more common long-lasting creations that attest to the complex symbolic nature of ethnographically recorded human cultures.
但如果这些优势是显著的，并且主要由生物性变化决定的，那么我们就应该可以发现它们从这些早期的、在解剖学上已可被称为现代人的人口所创造的物质文化中反映出来。复杂的技术，在工具的设计和装饰方面的地区性特点，颜料的使用，抽象和具象的描画，墓葬，陪葬品和个人装饰物都是常见的持久性创造物。它们可以证明以人种学的方式记录下来的人类文化所具有的复杂的符号性特点。