End of term Exam
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
The earliest pre-Australopithecine species were found in central Africa with possible evidence of bipedalism. Found at the site of Torosmenalla in the Djurab Desert of northern Chad. It was named Sahelanthropus tchadensis after the Sahel, the belt of dry scrubland immediately south of the Sahara Desert, and the country of Chad. It was nicknamed Toumaï, meaning "hope of life" in the local language. In the absence of radiometric dates, the fossils are thought to be between 7 and 5.2 million years old. 7-5.2 million B.P
Hand ax
Large core tool with a sharp cutting edge, blunted at one end so it can be held in the hand.
Which physical attribute associated with Homo erectus indicated a more "human" body type than the previous species of hominin?
Thinner legs Bigger brains Longer arms
Describe how mtDNA is transmitted across generations.
Through the maternal line.
Olduvai Gorge
a site of fossil beds in northern Tanzania, containing the most continuous known record of humanity over the past 2 million years, including fossils from 65 hominids 1.9 to 1.5 million B.P.
Mesozoic
age of dinosaurs earliest mammals creeping around The dividing line between the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic is marked by the relatively rapid extinction of a very large number of organisms, including the dinosaurs, which had dominated the earth for so long
Cave art
art that was painted on the sides of cave walls. This art typically depicts animals and hunters. The earliest cave art has been dated to 40,800 B.P., about the time when the earliest H. sapiens populations entered Europe.
Aegyptopithecus
the largest primate found in Fayum, Egypt; an Oligocene propliopithecid genus, possibly ancestral to catarrhines. Dated between 30.2 and 29.5 million B.P. Discovered in 1906 Aegyptopithecus male probably weighed about 6 kilograms (13 pounds) and is the largest of the Fayum primates A good example of a transitional form. Its long snout and relatively small brain case remind us of the adapiforms. The size of the eye sockets suggests that Aegyptopithecus was diurnal. The relative expansion of the visual areas of the brain and the relative decrease in the olfactory areas, as seen in the endocranial cast, provide evidence for the importance of vision over smell. Dental formula 2.1.2.3/2.1.2.3 It was probably a slow-moving arboreal quadruped.
Bipedalism
walking on two hindlimbs in an upright posture Although many primates can walk upright on their legs for short periods of time, habitual erect bipedalism is found in only one primate species. The heel of the foot strikes the ground first; the cycle ends when the individual pushes off with the big toe. This is called the heel-toe stride.
From the book, the term sometimes used to describe a future version of our species, where humans and machines have combined, and our future evolution is planned out, is
"posthuman"
How many years ago did humans and chimpanzees split based on comparing differences in their genomes?
About 6 million years ago
What happened to the rainforest environment that encouraged the development of bipedalism?
It dried out, becoming a mosaic of different environments
The pelvis of Australopithecus africanus is most similar to:
That of a human
Males typically have a spike in the velocity curve of their growth at years old.
14½
Which method of using Turkana Boy's bones gives his true age at death?
Checking the "beads" in the enamel of his teeth
Sexual dimorphism
Differences in structure between males and females of the same species For example, male orangutans are considerably larger than females, and, in one subspecies, they also possess a fl ange of fl esh around the face
Which of the following areas is the one best associated with the effect that pollution has had on the human endocrine system?
Differential Fertility
Identify the species by the following information: Date - 0.3 - current Distribution: Worldwide Brain Size: 1350 cc
Homo sapiens
Which of the following populations has the highest percentage with blood type B?
Japanese
Which of the following is the stone tool cultural traditions is associated with the Neanderthals
Mousterian
What was the unfortunate fate of the Homo erectus fossils from Zhoukoutian, China?
They were mysteriously lost during World War II.
Which of the following terms refers to a proportionate rise in the number of people living in cities compared to those living in rural areas?
Urbanization
The Homo erectus fossils found at Dmanisi in Georgia are more primitive than Turkana Boy, indicating that the migration out of Africa occurred earlier than previously predicted. By stratigraphic dating, the site of Dmanisi has been dated to:
1.8 million years ago
ACCORDING TO THE BOOK, which of the following is the earliest date for an African Homo sapiens fossil?
195 kya
the earliest date for an African Homo sapiens fossil?
195 kya
According to the text, approximately what date is the Earth's population around nine billion humans?
2050
What is the starting date for the Aurignacian tradition?
28 kya
According to the genetic clock determined by comparing human lice to gorilla lice, how long ago did the ancestors of humans begin to lose their body hair?
3 million years ago
The CT scan of Salam's fossilized skull shows her unerupted teeth. How old does this indicate she was when she died?
3 years old
What does the movie indicate are the most recent dates associated with what might be the last population of Homo erectus that has been found in Asia?
50,000 years ago
What was the cranial capacity of Turkana Boy?
900 cc
Darwinus
A 47-million-year-old fossil Darwinius massillae, which was nicknamed "Ida," was touted as "the missing link" in human evolution. Aka D. massillae A very unusual fossil, discovered in 1984, was published in 2009. Named Darwinius masillae, it came from a site in Germany dated to 47 million years ago. The specimen is in an exceptional state of preservation, with virtually the entire skeleton intact along with outlines of the soft tissue. The site of Messel is known for such fossils, having been a volcanic lake. Animals overcome by the gases emanating from the lake quickly sank into the sediments at the bottom of the lake. The specimen is that of a small juvenile female. In spite of the original claims of anthropoid affinities, Darwinius is clearly an adapiform.
Mesolithic
A cultural stage characterized by generalized hunting and gathering and the advent of farming.
Iron Ages
A cultural stage characterized by the use of iron as the main metal.
Neolithic
A cultural stage marked by established farming.
Paleospecies
A group of similar fossils whose range of morphological variation does not exceed the range of variation of a closely related living species
Sterkfontein
A set of limestone caves of special interest to paleoanthropologists is located in Gauteng province. 4.0-2.5 B.P. Au. Africanus (485 cranial capacity cubic cm) and Au. africanus (428 cranial capacity cubic cm). Both are considered Sterkfontein.
Flake
A small piece of stone that is removed from a core when the core is struck by a hammerstone or bone hammer. Two examples of flake tools are the scraper, a flake with a scraping edge on the end or side, and the burin, a tool with a thick point.
Compound tool
A tool that is composed of several parts, for example, a harpoon.
Chad
Africa The Chad mandible resembles Au. afarensis in many ways yet differs from other specimens of that species in some features. In 1996, the discoverers placed the specimen into the new species Australopithecus bahrelghazalia
Allen's Rule
Among mammals, populations of the same species living near the equator tend to have body parts that protrude more and to have longer limbs than do populations farther away from the equator. One of the principles describes the general relationships between the surface area of the body and the mass of the body in mammals, including humans. Skin color and body build are generally clinal in nature as described by Gloger's, Bergmann's, and Allen's rules.
Both Salam and Lucy belong to which species?
Australopithecus afarensis
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 3.9 - 3.0 mya Distribution: East Africa Brain Size: 400-500 cc
Australopithecus afarensis
Even though the brains of A. afarensis are roughly the same size as chimps, what evidence from the Salam's skull indicates that the nature of the brain was still undergoing important changes?
Australopithecus afarensis had prolonged childhoods compared to modern chimpanzees.
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 3.5 - 2.5 mya Distribution: South Africa Brain Size: 430-485 cc
Australopithecus africanus
Which of these is the oldest Australopithecine?
Australopithecus anamensis
Which Australopithecine was found in Central Africa
Australopithecus bahrelgazali
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 2.5 mya Distribution: East Africa Brain Size: 450 cc
Australopithecus garhi
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 3.0 mya Distribution: South African Brain Size: unknown
Australopithecus prometheus
Which of these is the youngest member of Genus Australopithecus?
Australopithecus sediba
The term "australopithecine" refers to which of the following genera?
Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Kenyanthropus
The fossil known as "Lucy" belongs to which species?
Australopitheucs afarensis
Which of the following fossil species are associated with South Africa (the country)?
Australopitheucs africanus
Plesiadapiforms
Back in the Paleocene lived a large group of small arboreal mammals that today we call the plesiadapiforms. Some paleoanthropologists consider them to be very early representatives of the primate order. Others think of them as related to the primates, but clearly not within the order; sometimes they are placed in an order of their own. They were discovered over 100 years ago, and more than 75 paleospecies are recognized from North America and Europe. They were a highly successful group of mammals that underwent a considerable adaptive radiation during the Paleocene. Plesiadapiforms were small arboreal quadrupeds. Their limbs were relatively short and ended in claws; they lacked a grasping big toe. An impression in limestone shows a long, bushy tail. The snout is long, and the lower incisors lie in a horizontal position and act as pincers against the specialized upper central incisors. There is a large diastema in both the upper and the lower jaws. The skull lacks a postorbital bar, and the brain is relatively small. Because of these characteristics, many primatologists believe that the plesiadapiformes were not direct ancestors of the later primates but were an early offshoot from the group that included the actual primate ancestor.
Name the now vanished landmass over which the ancestors of modern Native Americans migrated from the Old World to the New.
Berengia
Which of the following sites has the earliest evidence of Homo heidelbergensis (as in "when it was alive" as opposed to "when it was found")?
Bodo, Ethiopia
Phylogeny and evolution
Both Homo and Paranthropus are seen as evolving from a late species of Australopithecus. Members of the genus Homo coexisted with Paranthropus until the latter became extinct. Many paleoanthropologists have suggested that Homo originated in Africa around 2.5 million years ago.
Michel Brunet found Toumaï, the 6 million year old skull of a new species, Sahleanthropus tchadensis, in Chad. He has stated that this species is bipedal based on what attributes of the fossil?
Both features
Melanin
Brown-black pigment is found in the skin, eyes, and hair. A pigment that gives the skin its color
Breccia
Cave fill consisting of masses of bone cemented together with calcium carbonate that has dissolved out of limestone aka Breccia bone
Chapter 12
Cenozoic AGE OF MAMMALS Paleocene begins 65.5 million years ago Eocene begins 55.8 million years ago Oligocene begins 33.9 million years ago Miocene begins 23.0 million years ago Pliocene begins 5.3 million years ago Pleistocene begins 2.6 million years ago Holocene begins 10,000 years ago CENOZOIC Paleocene ORDER: PRIMATES (kinda, sorta) EXAMPLE: PLESIADAPIFORMES (tree-shrew) WHERE? "NORTH EUROMERICA" By Paleocene times, at the beginning of the Cenozoic era, all of the dinosaurs and many other forms of life were extinct and mammals began their adaptive radiation.
In which of the following countries was Australopithecus bahrelghazalia found?
Chad
Adaptation
Changes in gene frequencies resulting from selective pressures being placed on a population by environmental factors; result in a greater fitness of the population to its ecological niche. A trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce
Why is the method you chose the correct way to determine his age at death?
Checking the beads in the enamel of his teeth is the best way to do it because it involves comparing the enamel under an electron microscope, which looks like rods. If you count the beads in the strings, you can figure out how many days the teeth were growing.
Folk taxonomy
Classification of some class of phenomena based on cultural tradition a classification system composed of a hierarchy of groups based on cultural traditions and beliefs, usually not on empirical facts. Folk taxonomies are often used to justify the mistreatment of "others". Folk taxonomies have little to no scientific value in terms of being accurate representatives of biological variation between people.
According to the movie, after the gap in the fossil record around 2 million years ago, there is the following evidence indicating the first hominid toolmakers:
Cut marks and smashed long bones The non-random methods of breaking rocks A new species, Homo habilis, had hands where the shape of the bones indicated increased dexterity Answer: All of these
Which of the following archaeological finds have been used to demonstrate that Neanderthals had symbolic thought and culture similar to that of modern humans?
Deliberate burials involving possible grave goods Objects that may have been modified "artistically" for purposes such as bone jewelry
Atl-atl
Designed by Paleo-Indians for hunting. It was made by finding a stick with a notch where the end of a spear could rest, thus giving more leverage to make more powerful throws over longer distances. The atlatl, or spear-thrower, is an ancient weapon used by men for tens of thousands of years.
Which of the following Homo erectus sites demonstrates the earliest evidence of Genus Homo's spread out of Africa?
Dmanisi
Paleocene
During the Paleocene, North America and Europe were connected as a single continent. The western and eastern parts of North America were separated by a large sea, and northwestern North America was connected by land to northeastern Asia. Other waterways covered parts of what is now South America, Africa, and Eurasia. During the Paleocene, climates were warm and wet, and mountains rose to new heights. Deciduous broad-leaved forests extended northward to approximately the latitude of today's Oslo, Norway, and Seward, Alaska, and coniferous forests extended farther northward. Much of the present-day western United States was covered with subtropical forests and savanna. The early primates evolved within this setting.
Dental formulas (2 of 'em!)
Formal designation of the types and numbers of teeth. The dental formula indicates that in one-half of the upper jaw and lower jaw there are two incisors, one canine, two premolars, and three molars. All the Old World anthropoids have 32 teeth, and the dental formula is: The dental formula 2.1.2.3/2.1.2.3 All the Ceboidea are characterized by three premolars per quadrant; among the ceboids, the cebids have retained three molars while the marmosets and tamarins have two. In the formula, the four numbers, separated by dots, are the number of incisors, canines, premolars, and molars, respectively, per quadrant 3 . 1 . 4 . 3 / 3 . 1 . 4 . 3
Why is the difference between the skeletal age of Turkana Boy and the age determined from his dentition important?
His skeletal age was estimated at 14 while his dentition revealed about age 8. It shows he grew up fast like an ape and gives clues about his life.
Dmanisi
Homo Erectus fossils found in Georgia that show differences (size, less robust, thinner browridge, projecting lower face) that give evidence that Homo Erectus was the first Homo species to leave Africa. 1.9-1.5 B.P Dmanisi hominins were of short stature, around 5 feet tall. Their arm-to-leg proportions were similar to those of H. ergaster and H. sapiens. The Dmanisi fossils represent relatively small-brained individuals who made rather primitive stone tools. Yet they were able to leave Africa and thus were capable of travel over long distance. The increase in cranial capacity and stature that characterize H. sapiens were not present in the fi rst populations to leave Africa.
Which member of Genus Homo is found ONLY in Europe?
Homo antecessor
Which member of Genus Homo, other than Homo sapiens, has the widest Distribution, emcompassing all of the Old World (except Australia, New Guinea and Madagascar)?
Homo erectus
Idenitfy the species by the following information: Date: 1.9-1.5 mya Distribution: African, W. Asia Brain Size: 850-900 cc
Homo ergaster
Which member of Genus Homo possesses the smallest cranial capacity?
Homo floresienses
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 1.9-1.6 mya Distribution: East Africa Brain Size: 500-675 cc
Homo habilis
Which of the following pairs of species represents the full range of cranial capacities present in Genus Homo (e.g. smallest known to largest known)?
Homo habilis/Homo neanderthalensis
Which member of Genus Homo OTHER than Homo erectus or Homo sapiens has been found in Africa, Asia and Europe?
Homo heidelbergensis
Which "odd-ball" member of Genus Homo has small brains (450 - 550 cc) and is only found in South Africa?
Homo naledi
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 0.3 - 0.03 mya Distribution: Europe, Asia Brain Size: 1525-1625 cc
Homo neanderthalensis
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 2.0-1.8 mya Distribution: E. Africa Brain Size: 750 cc
Homo rudolphensis
Which of the following species has the earliest dates of Genus Homo?
Homo rudolphensis
Laetoli
Location in Tanzania where tracks of australopithecine footprints were found showing that australopithecines walked upright Near Lake Eyasi 3.7-3.5 B.P
Acheulian
Lower Paleolithic tool tradition associated with H. Erectus Acheulean tradition The most frequent cultural manifestation of the Lower Paleolithic; is characterized by several highly diagnostic tool types, including the hand ax.
Paleolithic (Lower, Middle, Upper)
Lower: A cultural stage that begins with the manufacture of the first stone tools. Middle: Refers to the stone tools of the Neandertals and their contemporaries. Upper: Refers to the stone tools of anatomically modern peoples.
In which Western Hemisphere site was the oldest evidence of human habitation found based on lithic evidence (e.g. stone tools)?
Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Pennsylvania, USA
Paranthropus robustus has a geographical preference for which habitat resource or context?
Montane forest Open/xeric
The temporal-nuchal crest is pronounced in the Australopithecines. What purpose does such a feature represent?
Muscle attachment for substantial chewing muscles
The "Black Skull" belongs to which of the following species?
Paranthropus aethiopicus
Which member of Genus Paranthropus has the earliest dates?
Paranthropus aethiopicus
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 2.4 - 1.2 mya Distribution: East Africa Brain Size: 475-530 cc
Paranthropus boisei
Which Australopithecine species has the largest cranial capacity?
Paranthropus boisei Paranthropus robustus
Which is the only member of genus Paranthropus found in South Africa?
Parathropus robustus
Olduwan
Pebbles with flakes knocked off one side, simple choppers, hammers, and diggers Oldowan tools were clearly made with precision, skill, and thought by chimps.
According to Richard Wrangham, Homo erectus must have mastered fire earlier than it has been discovered in the archaeological record, because they had to have it for which of the following reasons?
Protection at night Cooking A gathering place Answer: all of the above
Turkana boy
Raymond A. Dart named the skull Australopithecus africanus, from Australo, meaning "southern," and pithecus, meaning "ape." He named it "Taung" after the quarry in which it was found, and he called it "baby" because it was a child. Taung baby was a bipedal hominin The mandibular fragment, facial skeleton, and natural endocranial cast of the "Taung Baby" were found in Taung, South Africa, in 1924. No evidence has been found to suggest that Australo pithecus or Paranthropus existed outside the African continent.
Salam
Selam was discovered in Dikika, Ethiopia, in 2000, and was thought to be a three-year-old female. She is an Australopithecus afarensis. It was given the name Selam ("Peace"); it is also referred to as "Lucy's Baby." It is dated to 3.3 million years ago, somewhat earlier than the Lucy skeleton from Hadar. CT scans of the skull show small canine teeth forming, indicating the specimen is female.
Lucy
She was found in 1974, and the find consists of 40 percent of a skeleton. "Lucy" provided the first opportunity for anyone to study the skull and postcranial remains of the same individual from this antiquity. Lucy is a female Au. afarensis skeleton from Hadar, Ethiopia.
According to Ralph Holloway's controversial idea, the development of Broca's Area of the Homo erectus brain is a "solid indication" of which of the following?
Symbolic communication
Chapter 17
TAXONOMY REVIEW Kingdom Phylum Class Order Suborder Infraorder Superfamily Family Subfamily Tribe Genus Species The hominoids of the Miocene include the genera Dryopithecus, Pliopithecus, Sivapithecus, Oreopithecus, and Gigantopithecus. Gigantopithecus, allegedly survived long enough to be contemporary with members of the genus Homo. The Origins of the Hominins These species include Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Orrorin tugenensis, Ardiptihecus kadabba, and Ardipithecus ramidus.
Raymond Dart named what he thought the material culture of the early Australopithecines could be. He called it the "osteodontokeratic culture" and thought it was composed of which materials:
Teeth, bones, and horns
Cenozoic
The Cenozoic is called the Age of Mammals because it represents the time of the adaptive radiation of mammals into the numerous and various ecological niches that they occupy today. The Cenozoic began 65.5 million years ago. The Cenozoic can be divided into two subareas, the Tertiary and the Quaternary, concepts first defined in the eighteenth century
Chapter 17 continued
The Plesiadapiformes The earliest primates may be the Plesiadapiformes, who were small, arboreal quadrupeds. The Plesiadapiformes had a long snout, small brain, and claws, and lack both a postorbital bar and a grasping big toe.Because of this, many primatologists believe the plesiadapiformes were not direct ancestors of later primates. Two genera of plesiadapiformes are Purgatorius and Plesiadapis. Evolution of the Anthropoidea The suborder Anthropoidea includes the living monkeys, apes and humans.There is debate over whether the anthropoids first evolved in Africa or Asia. The Anthropoids of the Fayum The primates of the upper levels belong to the families Parapithecidae and Propliopithecidae.The Parapithecidae, including Aegyptopithecus, may represent a group of primates ancestral to both the cercopithecoids and the hominoids. The New World monkeys, the ceboids, are probably derived from early African anthropoids that traveled across the then-narrower Atlantic Ocean on natural rafts. The Old World monkeys, the cercopithecoids, were relatively scarce in the Miocene. Evolution of the Hominoidea The earliest hominoids to appear in the fossil record date between 22 and 18 million B.P. from early Miocene fossil beds of east Africa and Saudi Arabia. They most likely evolved from Oligocene primates, such as the propliopithecids. Most of the Miocene hominoids disappeared by around 8 million years ago, during the Late Miocene. The Miocene Hominoid Radiation The fossil hominoids of the Early Miocene radiation belong to a number of genera. They tend to fall into two major groups, represented by the genera Proconsul and Afropithecus.
Why is the loss of body hair considered important?
The benefit of being hairless is that it helps us stay cool by sweating while hunting during the heat of the day. Being able to cool down gave us an edge over other animals and made us better long distance runners (persistent runners)
Beringia
The landmass, some 2000 kilometers (1250 miles) from north to south, that connected Siberia and Alaska during the glacials.
The original theory of human evolution, going all the way back to Darwin, is that humans left the trees and became bipedal on the savannah, causing their brains to increase in size. What evidence is beginning to cast doubt on that theory?
The size of the brain remained constant for over a million years after bipedalism evolved.
Bronze Age
The stage of cultural history that includes the earliest civilizations and the development of metallurgy.
Mousterian
The stone tool culture in which Neandertals produced tools using the Levallois technique. The cultural tradition associated most frequently with Neandertals is the Mousterian, named after the cave of Le Moustier in France. Some non-Neandertals are also found in association with Mousterian assemblages, and non-Mousterian cultural traditions existed during the time period of the Neandertals. Mousterian tradition: a Middle Paleolithic cultural tradition associated with the Neandertals, characterized by an increase in the number and variety of flake tools and an ultimate deemphasis of the hand ax.
Chapter 18
The world is being physically changed by both nonhuman and human causes such as pollution. The world is becoming crowded. The increase in population brings with it numerous problems such as the scarcity of clean water, availability of food, and the rapid spread of disease. Urbanization and industrialization are recent phenomena that are having an impact on humans today. Today, the major predators of human populations are enemy populations, small organisms, and microorganisms.
The dorsal groove on the scapula of Neanderthals indicates they had superior throwing abilities while retaining find motor skills when compared to modern Homo sapiens. Which of the following activities could this affect (back then, not now)?
Throwing a spear
Bergmann's Rule
Within the same species of mammals, the average weight of the members of a population increases and the surface area of the body decreases as the average environmental temperature decreases. Another principle describes the general relationships between the surface area of the body and the mass of the body in mammals, including humans.
Gloger's Rule
Within the same species of mammals, there is a tendency to fi nd more heavily pigmented forms near the equator and lighter forms away from the equator
In examining the epidemiology of past human populations, which of the following became a more significant problem because of the increased interactions between humans and animals once animal domestication started?
Zoonoses
Both Lucy and Salam have shoulders like chimpanzees, pelvises more like humans and knees very much like humans. This indicates that they were
both arboreal and terrestrial
The "hobbits" of Fiji, Homo floresiensis, are seemingly more primitive than most other Homo erectus skeletons that have been found. One explanation for this earlier dispersal by a more primitive ancestor might be that they
climate change expanded the grasslands habitat of their prey
Osteodontokeratic culture
concept put forth by paleontologist Raymond Dart proposing that Australopithecus used the bones, teeth, and horns of animals as tools
Gracile
delicate or slender build Gracile refers to any member of the species belonging to the genus Australopithecus with a relatively lighter build, especially in the skull and teeth, but robust refers to the species of the genus Australopithecus, especially those belonging to the contested genus, Paranthropus.
Chronospecies
different stages in the same evolving lineage that existed at different points in time
Proconsul africanus
from Kenya The prognathous face and the lack of brow ridges. The skull appears more delicately built than the skulls of contemporary apes. This animal was probably an arboreal quadruped that lacked the specializations for suspensory behavior that are found in modern apes. Proconsul is associated with forest habitats. The discovery of a last sacral vertebra shows that Proconsul, like all contemporary apes, had no tail.
According to the film, what was the major selective force in human evolution?
rapid climate change
Replacement vs. Regional Continuity
replacement model: The hypothesis states that modern H. sapiens evolved in Africa and radiated out of this area, replacing existing hominin populations regional continuity model: the hypothesis that states that modern H. sapiens had multiple origins from existing local populations; each local population of archaic humans gave rise to a population of modern H. sapiens.
Ardipithecus kadabba & ramidus
root hominin, gives root to Australopiths: A. anamensis, afarensis, africanus, Kenyanthropus East Africa rift valley, Kenya, Ethiopia -Ardipithecus kadabba: Middle Awash, Ethiopia, and 5.8-5.2 million B.P. -Ardipithecus ramidus, Aramis, and Gona, Ethiopia, 4.4 million B.P. Ardipithecus ramidus, from the Middle Awash of the Afar, is dated at 4.4 million years old. The skeleton exhibits a mosaic of specializations for erect bipedalism and arboreal locomotion, although the upper limb lacks features for suspensory behavior. Ar. ramidus lived near large rivers surrounded by both woodlands and savanna grasslands in the surrounding floodplains. The investigators conclude that Ardipithecus represents a species close to the last common ancestor of the lineages leading to modern humans and chimpanzees. This means that this common ancestor did not resemble a modern chimpanzee.
Robust
strong and healthy; vigorous robust features would later lead to Paranthropus; the other population includes "Lucy" and leads to Au. africanus and Homo.
Domestication
taming of animals The control of the reproductive cycle of plants and animals.
Homo erectus skulls may still lack a chin, but they do have a thickening of bone on the inside of the mandible. This is called
the mandibular torus
Evidence indicates that Neanderthals had robust faces and large canines in order to withstand considerable stresses. One theory, based on the wear on teeth is that they...
using their mouths to chew hides and other nonfood material.
The primary difference between kwashiorkor and marasmus is...
... the second includes a deficiency in carbohydrates
Clinal distribution
A distribution of frequencies that show a systematic gradation over space; also called continuous variation patterned distribution across a geographic gradient Clinal variation arises in at least two ways: There is a gradual change in some selective pressure. A particular trait may originate in a specific area and then spread outward through gene flow. Both skin color and body size and shape show clinal variation.
Gigantopithecus
A genus of the late Miocene hominid from Asia; the world's largest primate. as tall as 2.75 meters (9 feet) and may have weighed as much as 272 kilograms (600 pounds). Ralph found teeth in Hong Kong.
Race
A group of human beings distinguished by physical traits, blood types, genetic code patterns, or genetically inherited characteristics. A taxonomic division of a species that differs biologically in a significant number of genetic characteristics from other races of the same species. Races do not exist in a biological sense. However, race does exist in a social sense and has significant cultural and political meaning. While some have equated certain races with cultural superiority and the development of civilization, researchers have pointed out that where civilizations arose had to do with availability of domesticatable plants and animals and issues of geography that made the spread of these plants and animals possible.
Core
A nodule of rock from which flakes are removed Ex: a hand ax
Orrorin tugenensis
A preaustralopithecine species found in East Africa displayed some of the earliest evidence of bipedalism Tugen Hills in western Kenya 6.2-5.6 million B.P
Which of the following is an example of a non-behavioral adjustment to the environmental stress of living in a cold environment:
Building an igloo.
How far did Homo rectus spread in the first hominin migration out of Africa?
Indonesia
Taung skull
Investigators scanned the Taung skull and compared it with scans of both a human and a chimpanzee at the same stage of first-molar eruption. The scans revealed that the Australopithecus dentition growth and eruption pattern more closely resembled that of a three- to four-year-old chimpanzee than that of a five- to seven-year-old human. Studies of bone growth in the Taung facial skeleton show a pattern similar to that of the chimpanzee. All these studies suggest that the prolongation of childhood may be a relatively late development in hominin evolution. The early hominin fossils include dentition from infants and juveniles, including the "Taung Baby." This jaw contains a complete set of deciduous teeth and the first adult molars that are in the process of erupting. In modern humans, these features would characterize the dentition of a six-year-old child. Because of the Taung fossil, many paleoanthropologists see evidence of a long childhood period in Australopithecus. One feature of modern humans is a lengthened childhood period compared with that of apes. This prolonged maturation is related to the development of learned behavior as a major mode of hominin adaptation.
Identify the species by the following information: Date: 2.0 mya Distribution: South Africa Brain Size: 420 cc
Australopithecus sediba
Which of the following researchers attempted to divide the human species into "races" using cephalic index?
Anders Retzius
Becoming Human
Video watched in class