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
