Term
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Definition
| The mode of locomotion in which an organism walks upright on its two hind legs characteristic of humans and their ancestors. |
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Definition
| The genus including several species of early bipeds from eastern, southern, and central Africa living between about 1.1 and 4.3 million years ago, one of whom was directly ancestral to humans. |
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Definition
| The large opening at the base of the skull. |
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Definition
| Consists of a separation between geological plates, extending from the Middle East through the Red Sea and eastern Africa into southern Africa. |
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Definition
| Semi-arid plains environment as in eastern Africa. |
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Definition
| One of the earliest bipeds that lived in eastern Africa about 4.4 to 5.8 million years ago found in Kanapoi, Ethiopia. |
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Definition
| Consists of bones from almost all parts of a single skeleton discovered in 1974 in the Afar triangle of Ethipoia (hence the name aferensis). |
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Definition
| A collection of bones from at least thirteend individuals, ranging in age from infancy to adulthood, who dies together as a result of some single calamity. |
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Term
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Definition
Location: Kenya
Dates: 3.9-4.2 mya
Notable Features/Fossil Specimens: Oldest australopithecine |
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Term
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Definition
Location: Ethiopia and Tanzania
Dates: 2.9-3.9 mya
Notable Features.Fossil Specimens: Well represented in fossil record (Lucy, First Family, Laetoli footprints,"Lucy's baby") |
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Term
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Definition
-South Africa
-2.3-3 mya
-First discovered, gracile, well represented in fossil record (Taung) |
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Term
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Definition
Location: Kenya
Dates: 2.5 mya
Notable Features/Fossil Specimens: Oldest robust australopithecine ("Black Skull")
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Definition
Location: Chad
Dates: 3-3.5 mya
Notable Features/Fossil Specimens: Only australopithecine from central Africa |
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Definition
Location: Kenya
Dates: 1.2-2.3 mya
Notable Features/Fossil Specimens: Later robust form co-existed with early Homo ("Zinj") |
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Term
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Definition
Location: Ethiopia
Dates: 2.5 mya
Notable Features/Fossil Specimens: Later East African australopithecine with humanlike dentition |
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Definition
Location: South Africa
Dates: 1-2 mya
Notable Features/Fossil Specimens: Robust co-existed with early Homo |
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Term
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Definition
| A new proposed genus and species of bipeds contemporary with early australoppithecines; may not be seperate genus. |
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Term
| gracile australopithecines |
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Definition
| Members of the genus Australopithecus possessing a more lightly buit chewing apparatus; likely had a diet that included more meat then that of the robust australopithecines. |
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Term
| robust australopithecines |
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Definition
| Several species within the genus Australopithecus, who lived from 2.5 and 1.1 million years ago in eastern and southern Africa; known for the rugged nature of their chewing apparatus (large back teeth, large chewing muscles, and a bony ridge on their skull tops for the insertion of these large muscles). |
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Term
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Definition
| A crest running from front to back on the top of the skull along the midline to provide a surface of bone for the attachment of the large temporal muscles for chewing. |
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Term
| law of competitive exclusion |
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Definition
| When two closely related species compete for the same niche, one will out-compete the other, bringing about the latter's extinction. |
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Term
| examples of gracile australopithecines |
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Definition
| A. anamensis, A aferensis, and A. africanus |
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Term
| examples of robust australopithecines |
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Definition
| A. aethiopicus, A. boisei, A. gahri, and A. robustus |
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Term
| characteristics of A. africanus |
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Definition
64-100 pounds
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 feet tall
400 cc of cranal cavity
sexually dimorphic
craniums were shaped like a football |
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Term
| characteristics of A. robustus |
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Definition
80-120 pounds
4 - 5 1/2 feet tall
500-530 cc of cranal cavity
sagittal crest
massire teeth and jaw |
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Term
| List the benefits of adapting bipedalism. |
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Definition
| Adaptation to savannah life and the dry environment(thin hair everywhere but our heads, less exposure to heat), freeing of hands to carry food, babies, and tools, better vision, and improve efficiency. |
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Term
| List the costs of adapting bipedalism. |
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Definition
| Just as we can see further and better our predators can see us further and better, we now have exposed our belly and neck, and are also susceptible to back problems, joint problems, hemorrhoids, and sinus problems. |
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Term
| List the modifications made by bipedalism. |
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Definition
| Switch from C to S shaped spine, change in foramen magnum placement, and the changes in placement, structure and size of our bones such as pelvis, ankle, knee, the arch of our foot, and the bones in our feet. |
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Term
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Definition
| "Handy man." The first fossil members of the genus Homo appearing 2.5 million years ago, with larger brains and smaller faces than australopithecines. |
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Term
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Definition
| Place more or less similar-looking fossil specimens together in more inclusive groups. |
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Definition
| Focus on the variation in the fossil record, interpreting minor differences in the shape of skeletons or skulls as evidence of distinctive biological species with corresponding cultural capacities. |
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Definition
| A technique of stone tool manufacture performed by striking the raw material with a hammerstone or by striking raw material against a srone anvil to remove flakes. |
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Definition
| The first part of the Old Stone Age beginning with the earliest Oldowan tools spanning from about 200,000 or 250,000 to 2.6 million years ago. |
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Definition
| The first stone tool industry, beginning between 2.5 and 2.6 million years ago. |
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Definition
| The cultural elaborations and meanings assigned to the biological differentiation between the sexes. |
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Definition
| The tissue inside of long bones where blood cells are produced. |
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Definition
| In a food chain, the third animal group (second to scavenge) to obtain meat from a kill made by a predator. |
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Definition
| Alternate species designation for Homo erectus fossils from Eurasia and Africa. Some paleoanthropologists feel that the large-brained successors to H. habilis from Africa and Asia are too different to be placed in the same species. Therefore, they use this name for the African specimens, saving H. erectus for the Asian fossils. Some paleoanthropologists place the recent discoveries from Dmanisi into this taxon. |
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Definition
| Alternative species designation for Homo erectus fossils from Eurasia and Africa. This name was coined by splitters for the earliest Homo fossils from western Europe discovered in Spain; this name is Latin for "explorer" or "pioneer." |
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Definition
| Aternative species designation for Homo erectus fossils from Eurasia and Africa. Originally coined for the Mauer jaw (Mauer is not far from Heidelberg, Germany), this name is now used by some as a designation for all European fossils from about 500,000 years ago untill the appearance of the Neanderthals. |
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Term
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Definition
| The tool-making tradition of Homo erectus in Africa, Europe, and Southwest Asia in which hand-axes were developed from the earlier Oldowan chopper. |
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Term
| bipolar percussion methos |
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Definition
| Holding the raw material against an anvilm but striking it at the same time with a hammerstone. |
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Term
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Definition
| The opening in the skull that accommodates the tongue-controlling hypoglossal nerve. |
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Definition
| An extinct, direct ancestor of modern humans; situated on the evolutionary line between Homo habilis and Homo sapiens; first appeared about 1.8 million years ago and could be found throughout the Old World untill about 200,000 years ago; associated with the first use of fire; similar to modern humans in all body proportions except cranial capacity. |
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Term
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Definition
| A gene that facilitates understanding grammar and speech in humans. |
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Term
| Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals) |
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Definition
| A close relative of modern humans that lived from about 200,000 years ago to about 30,000 years ago in Europe and western Asia. They has short, muscular bodies, adapted to cold climates and had larger brains than modern humans. They were skilled toolmakers and buried their dead. |
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Definition
| Tool making technique by which three or four long triangular flakes were detached from a specially prepared core. Developed by members of the genus Homo transitional from H. erectus to H. sapiens. |
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Definition
| The fastening of small stone bifaces and flakes to handles of wood. |
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Definition
| A distinct group within the genus Homo inhabiting Europe and Southwest Asia from approximately 30,000 to 125,000 years ago. |
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Definition
| The middle part of the Old Stone Age characterized by the development of the Mousterian tradition of tool making and the earlier Levalloisian traditions. |
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Definition
| The tool industry of the Neandertals and their contemporaries of Europe, Southwest Asia, and northern Africa from 40,000 to 125,000 years ago. |
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Definition
| The hypothesis that modern humans originated through a process of simultaneous local transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens throughout the inhabited world. |
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Term
| recent African origins or "Eve" hypothesis |
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Definition
| The hypothesis that all modern people are derived from one single population of archaic H. sapiens from Africa who migrated out of Africa after 100,000 years ago, replacing all other archaic forms due to their superior cultural capabilities. Also called the out of Africa hypothesis. |
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Term
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Definition
| Tool-making tradition in Europe and western Asia at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. |
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Term
| characteristics of H. habilis |
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Definition
East Africa and South Africa
5 feet tall
600 cc
football shaped head
use and make stone tools
"Handy Man" |
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Term
| characteristics of H. rudolfensis |
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Definition
| Basically the same as H. habilis someone just felt like giving them a different name. |
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Term
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Definition
| A slingshoot for a spear; a spear thrower. |
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Definition
| Anthropologist that believes that starting with Homo erectus, that we are all Homo sapiens. |
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Definition
| The largest part (10,000 to 40,000 years ago) of the Old Stone Age, featuring toold industries characterized by long slim blades and an explosion of creative symbolic forms. |
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Definition
| A European of the Upper Paleolithic after about 36,000 years ago. |
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Term
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Definition
| A technique of stone tool manufacture by which long, parallel-sided flakes are struck off the dges of a specially prepared core. |
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Term
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Definition
| A technique of stone tool manufacture in which a bone, antler, or wooden tool is used to press, rather than strike off, small flakes from a piece of flint or similar stone. |
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Term
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Definition
| A stone tool with chisel-like edges used for working bone and antler. |
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Term
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Definition
| Bright pulsating forms tha tare generated by the central nervous system and seen in states of trance. |
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Definition
| The greater Australian landmass including Australia, New Guinea, and Tansmania. At time of maximum glaciation and low sea levels, these were continuous. |
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Definition
| The combined landmass of the contemporary islands of Java, Sumantra, Borneo, and Bali that was continuous with mainland Southeast Asia at times of low sea levels corresponding to maximum glaciation. |
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Definition
| The earliest inhabitants of North America. |
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Definition
| A broad concept including intelligiebce, educability, concept formation, self-awareness, self-evaluation, attention span, sensitivity indiscrimination, and creativity. |
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Definition
| Provides a key to understanding the chronologies of different prehistoric cultures; it is a scholarly method of uncovering and analyzing the material remains of people long dead. |
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Definition
| Of or relating to an Upper Paleolithic culture characterized by leaf-shaped finely flaked stone implements. |
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Definition
| To restore or return to the country of origin, allegiance, or citizenship. |
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Definition
| A method of absolute dating in archaeology using organic material and based on the decay rate of the radioactive isotope Carbon-14; useful for objects less than 50,000 years old. |
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Definition
| Inherited only in the maternal line. |
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Term
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Definition
| A large lancelike projectile fluted at the base and flanked at both sides. |
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Term
| Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) |
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Definition
| A ten-year-old federal law whos purpose was to re-unite Native American skeletal remains, funerary items and ceremonial objects with living members of the culture that had produced them. |
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Definition
| A conventional term used to refer to the period of time before the appearence of written records. Does not deny the existence of history, merely of written history. |
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Definition
| Any object fashioned or altered by humans. |
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Definition
| The durable aspects of culture such as tools, structures, and art. |
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Definition
| Any mineralized trace or impression of an organism that has been preserved in earth's crust from past geological time. |
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Definition
| The study of how bones and other materials come to be preserved in the earth and fossils. |
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Definition
| A stain that shows up on the surface of recently plowed fields that reveals an archaeological site. |
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Definition
| A refuse or garbage disposal area in an archeological site. |
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Definition
| A system for recording data in three dimensions from an archaeological excavation. |
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Definition
| The starting, or refernce, point for a grid system. |
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Definition
| An archaeological technique employed to recover very tiny objects by immersion of soil samples in water to seperate heavy from light particles. |
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Definition
| Layered; said of archaeological sites where the remains lie in layers, one upon another, |
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Definition
| Preserved fecal material providing evidence of the diet and health of paat organisms. |
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Definition
| A cast of the inside of a skull; helps determine the size and shape of the brain. |
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Term
| polymerase chain reaction (PCR) |
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Definition
| A technique for amplifying or creating multiple copies of fragments of DNA so that it can be studied in the laboratory. |
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Definition
| The archaeological study of human remains emphasizing the preservation of cultural and social processes in the skeleton. |
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Definition
| In archaeology and paleoanthropology, designating and event, abject, or fossil as being older or younger than another. |
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Term
| absolute or chronometric dating |
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Definition
| In archaeology and paleoanthropology, dates for recovered material based on solar years, centuries, or other units of absolute time. |
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Term
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Definition
| In archaeology and paleoanthropology, the most reliable method of relative dating by means of strata. |
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Term
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Definition
| In archaeology or paleoanthropology, a technique for relative dating based on the fact that the amount of fluorine in bones is proportional to their age. |
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Definition
| A technique for relative dating by putting groups of objects into a sequence in relation to one another. |
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Term
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Definition
| In archaeology and paleoanthropology, a method of relative dating based on changes in fossil pollen over time. |
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Term
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Definition
| In archaeology, a method of chronometric dating based on the number of rings of growth found in a tree trunk. |
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Term
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Definition
| In archaeology and paleoanthropology, a technique for chronometric dating that measures the ratio of radioactive potassium to argon in volcanic debris associateed with human remains. |
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Term
| Why wasn't Raymond Dart's discovery not widely accepted? |
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Definition
| First, most scientists favored Asia to be the location of our evolutionary history and second, the morphological changes in skull shape between childhood and maturity allowed some to discount the importance of the fossil. |
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Term
| What are the three different kinds of archaeological sites? |
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Definition
| Processing sites, quarrying sites, and camp sites/living sites. |
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Term
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Definition
| Consist of the remains of large animals and a few stone artifacts. |
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Term
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Definition
| The places where chert/flint was gathered and the early stages of tool manufacturing were performed. |
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Term
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Definition
| Consist of discarded artifacts that reflect a variety of tools, tool fragments, and broken bits of bone from different animals. |
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Definition
| Site located on the banks of the Solo River, Eugene DuBois (in 1891) found first a molar, a month later he found the top of a skull and the next year a femur. The femur convinved DuBois he did not have a fossil ape, but rather a fossil hominid. |
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Term
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Definition
| Over the last 50 years, the bones of atleast 40 individuals have been uncovered at this site. In addition over 100,000 artifacts have been uncovered at this site, which was occupied by Homo erectus from 480kya to 230kya. The skulls of this site have the cranial capacity of about 200cc larger than those of another site. |
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Term
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Definition
| This site, formerly known as Lake Rudolf, has a complex geologoc history. In addition to the usual volcanic and erosional forces in action the movement of tectonic plates has effected the landscape here dramatically. |
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Term
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Definition
| The classic "tool" of the Acheulean tradition. A teardrop shaped stone tool that has had flakes taken from both sides of the working edges. More than likely used to process animal carcasses. |
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Term
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Definition
| A remarkable site discoverd during the construction of apartments near the French Rivera in 1965. Excavation revealed that the site had 21 seperate living floors and yielded over 35,000 different objects. |
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Term
| What are the four steps in archaeology? |
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Definition
| Locating a site, excavating a site, analyzing and interpreting a site, then researching and reporting. |
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Term
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Definition
| Those things which create sites such as the discard of artifacts or the abandonment of a site and then the subsequent deposit of sediment over it. |
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Term
| transformational processes |
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Definition
| Those processes which can change or siturb a site such as reoccupation, utility trenching, chemical activity of the soil or groundwater, earthquakes, and plant growth or animal activity. |
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Term
| V. Gordon Childe's theory on the origin of food production |
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Definition
| Dramatic climate change took place during the period 10-9kya and people had to gather around oases to exist. This led people to intensify their efforts to manipulate and cultivate animals and plants living in close proximity to them. |
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Term
| Braidwood and Wiley's theory on the origin of food production |
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Definition
| Domestication of plants and animals would only arise when people had sophisticate knowledge of the environment and a culture that was suited for it. |
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Term
| Binford and Flannery's theory on the origin of food production |
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Definition
| There must have been external factors to cause the adaptation of horticulture and then agriculture. It couldn't be just the economy of food gathering since many hunting and gathering societies have more leisure time and greater variety of food sources than agriculturalists. Regional concentrations of population had pushed groups into marginal areas and had to cultivate and herd to maximize resources. |
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Term
| Cohen's theory on the origin of food production |
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Definition
| The world wide population expansion caused people to forst probably weed and guard plants from animal pests and also domesticated animals. |
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Term
| List the results of food production. |
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Definition
Declining health and overreliance on a few food sources
Sedentary living
Furniture is built
Clothing is woven
Pottery is made for storage and later decorated
Trade networks and regular exchange of resources
Beginning of stratified societies |
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