ANTH SG FINAL

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Upper Paleolithic

• DEF: "Upper Old Stone Age." A tool technology used by homo sapiens.Refers to the most recent part of the Old Stone Age, associated with early modern Homo Sapiens and characterized by finely crafted stone and other types of tools with various functions • SIG: There was great variation in this tool technology exemplifying increasing sophistication and specialization of tools. The evolution of traditions from Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic negates ideas of mass movement of people to account for changes. The size, shape and articulations of the Neandertal hand reflect the kind of precise manual dexterity crucial for the fine-crafting tools found

Homo naledi

• DEF: 1550 Specimens, 15 individuals. Extinct species of hominin, found in 2013 in South Africa's Guateng Province in the rising star cave system known as the "Cradle of Human Kind". They have small bodies and small cranial cavities and have traits similar to the australopithecine. it stood upright and was bipedal and their hands seemed to be suited best for tool making and object manipulation. • SIG: shows the evolution of Homo over time and in different regions.

Skhul

• DEF: 5 skeleton from Israel, great example of a hominin with archaic features including a somewhat forward projecting face and pronounced brow ridges and modern features such a as a distinctive chin and no occipital bun. The Skhul and Herto hominins were on the verge of modernity or were very early modern H.Sapiens, perhaps the earliest in western asia and Africa. One of the sites in Israel where modern humans were found in caves. • SIG: An example of modern humans migrating outside of Africa. Modern human skulls were found here. The earliest evidence for the deliberate burial of the dead is here, the practice represented the origins of symbolic behavior.

red ochre

• DEF: A Pigment derived from the mineral hematite - used for body painting as it was commonly found on the floors of caves. According to some scholars, Neolithic burials used red ochre pigments symbolically, either to represent a return to the earth or possibly as a form of ritual rebirth, in which the color symbolizes blood and the Great Goddess. Paintings of animals made with red and yellow ochre pigments have been found in paleolithic sites at Pech Merle in France (ca. 25,000 years old), and the cave of Altamira in Spain (ca. 15,000-16,500 BC). The cave of Lascaux has an image of a horse colored with yellow ochre estimated to be 17,300 years old. • SIG: evidence that Neanderthals used symbolism at least 10,000 years before the appearance of the modern H. Sapiens

shovel-shaped incisor

• DEF: A dental trait, commonly found among Native Americans and Asians in which the incisors' posterior aspect has varying degrees of concavity • SIG: Shovel-shaped incisors were common in China. This trait is most often found today in Asian populations.

FOXP2

• DEF: A key gene in human evolution. Mutations of this gene leads to deficits in linguistic processing and orofacial movements. Two specific mutations in FOXP2 are fixed in humans compared to chimps. relates to the language of neanderthals. They had the FOXP2 gene. • SIG: This was a key gene in human evolution.

Kabwe

• DEF: A site in Zambia. Where Archaic H. Sapiens known as "Broken hill man" or "Rhodesian man" - among 1st human fossils discovered in asia - found by miners searching for metal deposits in caves. They have big brow ridges and smaller neck muscles. 350,000 - 200,000yBP • SIG: The skull found here is one of the few fossil humans for which we have a good idea of the cause of death.

Ubeidiya

• DEF: A site on the Jordan River in Israel, on a natural corridor out of Africa. It does not contain any hominid fossils, but contains stone tools similar to those from the Oldowan industry and many african mammal bones. • SIG:It is one of the Earliest sites in Eurasia.

hunter-gatherer

• DEF: A society in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals. Features include-long cranial vault, large robust mandible, large teeth, few malocclusions, much tooth wear • SIG: Homo Erectus was a hunter-gatherer

Homo heidelbergensis

• DEF: A species of archaic human with brain size close to that of modern humans, but a larger less modern face that lived in Africa, Europe and Asia between 800,000 and 200,000 years ago. • SIG: represents a stage in the evolution from Homo erectus to modern homo sapiens. It turns out as well that later populations of homo heidelbergensis in Europe show a number of physical similarities to a later group of European hominins that lived at the same time as modern humans—the Neanderthals.

Homo rudolfensis

• DEF: A species of early Homo from Africa that lived 1.9 million years ago, with a brain size somewhat larger than Homo habilis but with larger back teeth and a broader face. • SIG: is thought to be more primitive than homo habilis, despite the slightly larger cranial capacity

Petroluna

Cave in Greece with archaic humans

Homo habilis

DEF: An early species of Homo that lived in Africa between 1.9 million years and 1.44 million years ago. Homo habilis possessed a brain size of between 510 and 650 ml, larger than that of the Australopithecus, but smaller than other species of early Homo. Homo habilis also possessed smaller teeth than those of Australopithecus, but still somewhat larger than modern humans. Based on the postcranial skeleton, Homo habilis retained the more primitive bipedal anatomy seen in the Australopithecus. SIG: Homo habilis represents a transition from Australopithecus to a later, larger-brained species in the genus Homo. One of the earliest species of genus Homo.

Diastema/ gap between teeth

DEF: a space between two teeth SIG: slices food, especially leaves and other plants ; dietary significance

Homo erectus

• DEF: A species of the genus Homo that arose 1.9 MYA in Africa and then spread to parts of Asia and Europe. Homo erectus possessed very large brains like Homo rudolfensis, but also reduced in size back chewing teeth, like Homo habilis • SIG: most reasonable of the early homo species to be considered ancestor to the later in time hominid species, including modern humans. One of the earliest species of genus Homo.

Middle Paleolithic

• DEF: A tool technology used by Homo Heidelbergensis and Neanderthals. The middle part of the Old Stone Age, associated with Mousterian tools which Neanderthals produced using the levallois technique. • SIG: The evolution of traditions from Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic negates ideas of mass movement of people to account for changes. This culture' stone tool technology includes complex stone tool production that negates idea that Neandertal were unintelligent as they required considerable hand-eye coordination.

autosomal / nuclear DNA

• DEF: All chromosomes except the sex chromosomes, that occur in pairs in all somatic cells (not the gametes) Nonsex chromosomes • SIG: Extractions from Neanderthal bones of nuclear DNA have been interpreted as documenting varying levels of evolutionary distance between this group and living humans.

Dmanisi

• DEF: An archaeological site in Georgia that was discovered during restorations to an ancient church. It is one of the earliest sites in Eurasia. • SIG: It is considered to be the earliest hominid site outside of Africa. The earliest evidence of Homo Erectus was found here. The strong resemblance between Dmanisi Homo Erectus and some East African Homo Erectus indicates that Asian Homo Erectus originated in Africa.

Venus figurines

• DEF: An art form made by Modern humans. It was a ceramic sculpture that was a pregnant woman with big boobs and butts, fertility symbols) Venus figurines" is an umbrella term for hundreds of prehistoric statuettes of women portrayed with similar physical attributes. These figurines were carved from soft stone (such as steatite, calcite or limestone), bone or ivory, or formed with clay and fired • SIG: Relates to the Art forms of the Origins of Modern Humans.

Atapuerca / Sima de los Huesos

• DEF: Caves in Spain that had a rich fossil record of the earliest human beings in Europe, from nearly one million years ago and extending up to the common era. SIG: The earliest European fossils were found in the caves of Atapuerca. The earliest specimen of Homo Heidelbergensis was found in the Gran Dolina cave in Atapuerca. It was a cranial remain from Italy

Multi-Regional Model

• DEF: Features/theories include-modern humans evolved from earlier archaic populations in their respective regions (Africa, Europe, Asia). The transition to modernity happened regionally without replacement. e.g. African archaic H.Sapiens gave rise to African modern H.sapiens. Throughout evolution, there is always significant gene flow on the borders of populations, there is continuity of morphology in all regions of the globe. • SIG: One of two key models that anthropologists use to explain modern H. Sapiens origins. Emphasizes the importance of gene flow across population boundaries

Jean-Jacques Hublin

• DEF: French Paleoanthropologist currently a professor at Max Planck Society, Leiden University • SIG: He is best known for his work on the Pleistocene hominins, and on the Neandertals and early H. sapiens especially with DNA relation (FOXP2)

cline

• DEF: Geographic continuum, a gradual change from one population to the next. ex blood type frequencies or skin color. • SIG: Humans demonstrate clinical variation

Out of Africa Model

• DEF: H. Sapiens first evolved in Africa and spread to Asia and Europe 50,000 yBP, replacing the indigenous archaic H.sapiens living on both continents with no gene flow. Feature/theory of this model include - modern biology, behavior and culture originated in Africa and modern humans spread from Africa to Europe. • SIG: One of two key models that anthropologists use to explain modern H. Sapiens origins, the other is the multiregional model. Evidence that All living people are descendants of the original African group.

Zhoukoudian

• DEF: Homo erectus site. It is the most northerly of the early homo sites located in North China. Fossil bones of about 45 individuals were found at Zhoukoudian site, and they have general features like those of Homo erectus, including large brow ridges with low sloping foreheads and projecting faces without a chin. Brain sizes of these fossils varied from 900 to 1200ml, the latter within the range of living humans • SIG: It is unclear whether the hominids actually occupied the cave during the winter. If so, it would be the first indirect evidence for the use of clothing. Some stone tools as well as animal bones with cuts and burnt bones indicates the use of fire. There is no evidence for burials.

Dali

• DEF: In central China. Skulls found in Dali possessed the features of an early or archaic Homo Sapiens. It also has a flat face, similar to those of living peoples in Asia. The Dali skull has a lack of facial jutting. The fossils in Dali suggest that there is a continuity of relatively flat faces and shovel-shaped incisors. • SIG: The skull fossils found in Dali suggested the continuity of human evolution in East Asia. These fossils are important because they support the theory of multi-regional evolution. In China they believe that flat faces and shovel shaped incisors were the traits passed through evolution due to the region where their species developed. The reason they believe this is due to the fact that the skeletal structure dali has shovel shaped incisors and a flat face which are common traits in today's chinese homo sapiens.

Holocene

• DEF: It encompasses the growth and impacts of the human species worldwide. The development of major civilizations and overall significant transition toward urban living in the present. Followed the pleistocene period • SIG: The development of major civilizations and overall significant transition toward urban living in the present. Followed the pleistocene period

Perning

• DEF: It is the earliest of a series of sites on the island of Java (Indonesia). A child's skull is dated to 1.4. • SIG:

La Chapelle-aux-Saints

• DEF: It was a cave bordering the Sourdoire valley in central France. It was the first Neanderthal tomb that recognized the first Neanderthal burial site. Found by Jean and Amedee Bouyssonie as well as L. Bardon in 1905-1908. Found the skeleton of an adult Neanderthal man • SIG: First evidence of a burial site by Neanderthals

mitochondrial DNA

• DEF: Miniature chromosome containing 37 Genes is inherited just from the mother. Identifies a person's physical appearance. Studies of mtDNA haplogroups in Native Americans have yielded information about human migrations from Asia to the Americas • SIG: Neanderthals had mitochondrial DNA. Suggests that Neanderthals were a separate species and there was no interbreeding with modern humans (it is possible that mitochondrial DNA did not show interbreeding because of some genetic drift). Extractions from Neanderthal bones of nuclear DNA have been interpreted as documenting varying levels of evolutionary distance between this group and living humans

Morton Collection controversy

• DEF: Morton's skulls — the global collection amassed by the 19th-century physical anthropologist Samuel George Morton.In a 1981 book, "The Mismeasure of Man," the paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould asserted that Morton, believing that brain size was a measure of intelligence, had subconsciously manipulated the brain volumes of European, Asian and African skulls to favor his bias that Europeans had larger brains and Africans smaller ones. But now physical anthropologists at the University of Pennsylvania, which owns Morton's collection, have remeasured the skulls, and in an article that does little to burnish Dr. Gould's reputation as a scholar, they conclude that almost every detail of his analysis is wrong. • SIG: Morton's original analysis was correct and there is no evidence proving his theories wrong. but Morton's conclusions were still erroneous. Cranial capacity variation in human populations appears to be largely a function of climate, and has no bearing on intelligence. There was also a lot of controversy surrounding Mortons Collection. This controversy concerns the fact that the time that the collection was amassed and the data that was collected from it were used as a means to justify slavery. It was shown in the 1970's by Stephen J Gould that we shouldn't believe Morton's conclusions because brain sizes don't impact intelligence within a species. Brain size only impacts the intelligence of a species outside of their own species and in comparison to other species. For example a human has a larger brain than a dog, and is therefore more intelligent, but a larger human with a bigger brain is not necessarily smarter than another human that is not as large with a slightly smaller brain. Morton may have fudged his data because he didn't collect data on body size, and he didn't incorporate sexual dimorphism, and he took more females for the non european skeletons. He also took mental insane asylums patients as his examples for the european skeletons and those men may have been crazy but were very large in size making it so that they would have a larger brain but would not be considered more intelligent.

deliberate burial of the dead

• DEF: Neanderthals deliberately buried their dead. The presence of some flowers over the bodies and dug pits with skeletons shows some sort of deliberate burials. This event was reconstructed based on the presence of fossil pollen in the graves. • SIG: It exemplified the culture of Neanderthals and that they believed in afterlife. Burial is a more recent behavior and serves a ritualistic purpose. It is a way for Neanderthals to express supernatural beliefs. When our ancestors began this practice, it represented the origins of symbolic behavior, or at least religious beliefs and concept of the self. These burials were not performed only by modern human-like creatures, but by Neanderthals too. Exemplified that Neanderthals were capable of very complex behavior.

Vindija

• DEF: One of the sites from which DNA was retrieved. All of the samples that produced the genetic material come from the Vindija Site in Croatia. It contains archaeological levels of the Mousterian and Upper Paleolithic tools. • SIG: The evidence found shows the ending of the neanderthal record in eastern europe dating to 32,000 yBP

hyoid

• DEF: Relates to the language of Homo Heidelbergensis. It is the U shaped bone in the neck that supports the tongue. It is a part of the neck that can survive from ancient settings. Various muscles and ligaments attach it to the skull, mandible, tongue, larynx and pharynx collectively producing speech • SIG: In Homo Heidelbergensis, humans can make a wider number of sounds and do so faster than apes because the larynx and hyoid bone are positioned higher in the throat, in humans the hyoid bone continues to descend. Neanderthals had a hyoid bone that was identical to that of modern humans.

Homo sapiens

• DEF: Species of bipedal primates to which modern humans belong. They are characterized by a brain capacity, dependence upon language and the creation and utilization of complex tools • SIG:species of primates of which humans today belong

Assimilation Model

• DEF: The Features and theories of this include- modern humans first evolved in Africa then spread to Europe and Asia, once they arrived in Europe and Asia, modern humans underwent gene flow with Neanderthals. • SIG: Another model that anthropologists used to explain modern H. Sapiens origins. The admixture is the biological foundation for modern H.sapiens living outside of Africa. Explains Neanderthal's disappearance was not extinction but assimilation by larger, more genetically diverse population.

brow ridge / supraorbital torus

• DEF: The large ridges of bones above the eye orbits. • SIG: These are very noticeable in Homo Erectus and are the structural support for forces exerted by chewing and protection of the eyes and face

Oase

• DEF: The location where the earliest H. Sapiens were present as early as 35,000yBP in the Czech Republic and in Pestra cu Oase (Romania). The Oase 2 skull from that site is distinctively modern, contrasting with Neandertals that lived during the same time. • SIG: Shows more expansion out of Africa and into Europe

Mousterian

• DEF: The stone tool culture in which neandertals produced tools using the levallois technique. Neanderthals made these tools from flint. The Mousterian tradition were the tools used by Neanderthals in the Middle Paleolithic. • SIG: a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age. The introduction replaced the use of front teeth as tools, reducing the amount of anterior tooth wear in some later neanderthals

occipital bun

• DEF: This is when the back of the skull is puffed out • SIG: One of a physical characteristic of the Neanderthals.

Lake Turkana

• DEF: Where the Turkana Boy was discovered in 1984. It is a site in Northern Kenya where the earliest well documented fossils of Homo have been found. The fossils of at least 5 pre-australopithecine were found in the Tugen Hills on the western side of the lake • SIG: Homo Habilis, Rudolfensis and erectus were all found at Lake Turkana. Also the oldest australopithecus were found here

Nariokotome

• DEF: a fossil site on the west side of lake turkana, kenya • SIG: where the most complete skeleton of an early hominid was found, the Nariokotome boy.

Levallois technique

• DEF: a method of making more sophisticated stone tools in which a stone core is prepared in such a way that finished tools can be removed from it by a final blow. Also known as the prepared-core method. • SIG: This tool technique maximizes the utility of stone cores--more tools can be made from a single core and shows how Homo Heidelbergensis can visualize their final product. The use of such a technique indicates that neanderthals could visualize the shape and size of a tool from a stone core an advanced cognitive ability

selective sweep

• DEF: a region of the genome that stays relatively unchanged because of selective pressure on beneficial mutations within that region. Also this is when a chunk of genes rises to prominence very quickly because something was a favored in the natural selection gene. A person who has one type of gene typically has the other gene which makes it so that the other gene comes along with the favored gene and becomes prevalent as well. • SIG: There was a relatively recent "selective sweep" in the FOXP2 region of the human genome.

Homo neanderthalensis

• DEF: a species of the Early Homo that lived in Europe and then eventually the middle east, closest extinct human relative. Defining features include: large middle part of the face, angled cheek bones, large nose, Bodies were shorter than us but the brain size was almost the same. • SIG:Closest extinct human relative

Potassium Argon Dating

• DEF: absolute dating method that determines the time of origin of rocks by measuring the ratio of radioactive argon to radioactive potassium in the rock. • SIG: has been particularly useful in dating the earliest of hominin sites in East Africa

Charles Dawson

• DEF: amateur archaeologist who, in 1912 in England, discovered fossilised bone fragments said to have belonged to a human ancestor from 500,000 years ago; claimed that he had found the "missing link" between ape and man (see "Piltdown Man") • SIG: his discovery generated major attention around the subject of human evolution and it took over 40 years to debunk his hoax

Shanidar

• DEF: an archaeological site located in Iraq. The remains of 8 Neanderthals, dating from 35,000 to 65,000 years ago, have been found within the cave. • SIG: The presence of some flowers over the bodies shows some sort of deliberate burials. This event was reconstructed based on the presence of fossil pollen in the graves.

Anatomically Modern Human

• DEF: high and vertical forehead, a round and tall skull, small browridges, a small face, small teeth, and a projecting shin; more gracile, narrower bones than predecessors • SIG: Displays distinctions between archaic and modern human anatomically

Piltdown Man

• DEF: hoax in which bone fragments found in England in 1912 were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human, said to have belonged to a human ancestor from 500,000 years ago, found by amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson who claimed he had discovered the "missing link" between ape and man (see "Charles Dawson") • SIG: prominent for two reasons → the attention it generated around the subject of human evolution, and the length of time, 40+ years, that elapsed from its alleged initial discovery to its definitive exposure as a composite forgery.

chin

• DEF: the protruding part of the face below the mouth, formed by the apex of the lower jaw. • SIG: Homo erectus' in North China had large brow ridges, low sloping foreheads and projecting faces without a chin. Chins were found in homo sapiens, but the Homo Heidelbergensis lacked a chin. This was a general feature of Homo Erectus.

Schöningen Spears

• DEF: they are 8 wooden throwing spears from the Paleolithic age, that were found between 1994-1998 in the open cast lignite mine in Germany. They are the oldest completely preserved hunting weapons in the world. • SIG: Give us first evidence of the "active hunt"

La Ferrassie

• DEF:Archaeological site in Savignac-de-Miremont France. • SIG:This was the finding site of the most complete Neanderthal skull ever found (1909)

Homo floresiensis

• DEF:Nicknamed the "Hobbit" for its diminutive size, a possible new species of homo found in Liang Bua Cave on the Indonesia Island of Flores in 2003; • SIG: Famous for its small body and size and its ability to stay alive until recent times; because we do not know if it is a dwarfed human species or a person with a developmental/genetic disorder (microcephaly: a condition in which the cranium is abnormally small and the brain is underdeveloped)

Pleistocene

• DEF:This is the time period when Neanderthals disappeared because of their assimilation by much larger, more genetically diverse populations migrating from africa into Europe during this time period. • SIG:This is the period that marked when the Homo increasingly became a predator genus. The last 50,000 years of the Pleistocene is when we saw fully modern people spread not only into asia and europe but also to continents that had not been previously occupied by humans.

Denisovans

• DEF:archaic H.Sapiens sharing a common origin with neanderthals.We do not have evidence as to what they look like. they date back to 40,000yBP in Southern Siberia near Russia • SIG: H.Sapien expansion into Russia


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