Hominids

Kenyanthropus platyops

"Flat-faced man" --3.5 and 3.2 MYA --Kenya --Lived same time as A. afarensis --Harsh diets, roots and grasses

Homo habilis

"Handy Man" --Tanzania, East Africa --Eastern and Southern Africa --2.4 to 1.4 MYA --1st stone tool maker --Broad range of foods, including leaves, woody plants, and some animal tissues, no hard foods like brittle nuts or seeds, dried meats or tubers

Australipithecus afarensis

"Lucy" --Ethiopia --4-3 MYA --Walked upright but with arms in proportion to body were longer --Skull similar to chimp --Canine teeth are much smaller -looks more ape-like --Strong, females smaller than males --Vegetarians --No evidence of fire, tools, communication skills

Paranthropus boisei

"Nutcracker man" --Tanzania --2-1 MYA --Upright, robust, --Large saggital crest --Omnivores --No evidence of fire, tools, communication skills

Australipithecus africanus

"Taung child" --Africa --4-1 MYA --Upright --Males bigger than females --Vegetarians --No evidence of fire, tools, communication skills

Homo erectus

"Upright man" and "Java man" --Africa--migrated to Europe and Asia --1.5 MYA --Robust--great strength --Omnivore --Fire--cooked meat --Tools: hand axes, scrapers --Tall, up to 6 feet

We now have an excellent ____________ of how humans evolved from ____________ and migrated to populate the rest of the earth. The evidence matches the ________ and fills in the _________.

"road map" Africa fossils gaps

"Homo sapiens"

"wise man" or "wise human"

Homo neanderthalensis

--150,000-300,000 years ago --Europe --Named after Neander Valley -German Valley in which their remains were 1st discovered --Co-existed with early H. sapiens --Larger brain size than H. sapiens --Muscular --Ice Age--isolated group of hominids --Adapted to cold climate -clothes -caves --Buried their dead, rituals --Fire --Advanced tool making skills --Skilled hunters --Debate over whether they were ancestors of Homo Sapiens or the result of a separate evolutionary path--Analysis of their DNA supports the idea that they were not direct ancestors of us

Modern apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans)

--Not bipedal --Do not have a large brain case compared to ours --Do not make tools

Bipedalism

--Primary feature distinguishing hominids from other hominoids is walking erect on two legs--erect bipedalism --Adaptations for bipedalism in the partial skeleton of "Lucy," an australopithecine (3.2 MYA), clearly seen in the hip, spine, and leg bones

Ardipithicus ramidus

--Widely accepted as oldest known hominid --4.4 MY old --Limited fossil evidence, but parts of jaw and skeleton

Earliest fossil hominid sites

--are in Africa --now span from about 6-7 MYA to about 1.6 MYA

Characteristics of Homo sapiens

--cave dwellers --specialized bone and stone tools --11,000 years ago humans had developed agriculture --no longer solely dependent on hunting and gathering

Advantages of a bigger brain

--increased learning capability --increased ability to adapt to new situations --increased language --increased creativity --increased child care -stronger mother-child bond -more opportunity to pass knowledge

Disadvantages of a bigger brain

--more difficult childbirth --requires more food --increased gestation and infant care --offspring are spaced further apart

What we know about how A. afarensis, A. africanus, and K. platyops lived

--open woodlands --along wooded streams in the savannas --ate fruits and soft foods --maybe had a tool-culture like modern chimps

Laetoli Footprints

1. Clearly show that the creatures who made them were fully bipedal 2. Big toe hardly diverges from the rest of the foot unlike in apes 3. Gait= "heel-strike" followed by "toe-off"--the way modern humans walk

Why did bipedalism become the primary adaptation of hominids?

1. carrying behavior 2. reduction of overall heat stress--facilitates heat loss by exposing body to air currents, only humans have sweat glands that produce moisture to cool body 3. most energy efficient way to travel long distances 4. allows for better vision in open environments and defensive action against predators by freeing hands to throw objects

An even more impressive fossil was found in _________, but________________________.

1978 there were no bones to it at all

What is a hominid?

Any human-like species, including us Bipedal (walks on two legs) Intelligent (large brain, uses tools) Great apes, although not all great apes are hominids

How many species of hominids have there been over the last 5 million years or so

At least a dozen

Common characteristics of Homo

Big brain (>600c) High forehead, round skull Small teeth Shorter arms, longer legs Delicate skeleton

Major groups of hominid sites

Ethiopia Kenya Tanzania South Africa

How many how many hominid fossils and artifacts have been found

Hundreds

Kenya site

Lake Turkana

"Homo"

Latin--means "man" or "human"

"Sapiens"

Latin--means "wise" or "intelligent"

Ethiopia site

Middle Awash valley and Hadar (Australopithecus afarensis)

Orrorin tugenensis

Oldest hominid (possibly) --6 MYA (genetic evidence that this is about the time our line splits from apes) --Only a few limited fossils, but... teeth similar to ours pieces of femur suggest bipedalism

Tanzania site

Olduvai Gorge

Homo

Several species Begin ~2.3 MYA (overlap w/ Australo.)

South Africa site

Various sites in limestone caverns centered around Sterkfontein

Does this mean that we all came from Africa?

Yes!

Species of Australopithecus

anamensis (4.2-3.9 MYA) afarensis (3.6-2.9 MYA) Lucy--very complete skeleton Laetoli footprints garhi (2.5 MYA) possibly oldest stone tools robustus (1.8-1.5 MYA) bone digging tools africanus, aethiopithecus, and boisei (3-1.4 MYA)

Homo sapiens are...

anatomically modern humans in Africa by 200,000 years ago

What makes a hominid?

bipedalism

Most species...

have gone extinct--there are a lot of dead ends

Hominids are not the same as...

modern apes

Chimpanzees are...

our closest relative--our DNA is 98% similar to theirs

Together, hominid fossils begin to show...

our family tree--how we evolved to who we are today

Anthropologists compare...

skulls, teeth, bones, and tools

We are still not exactly sure when________________, but an amazing discovery in 1974 proved_________________.

when the first bipedal hominids evolved hominids were bipedal a lot earlier than previously believed