Term
|
Definition
| The study of humans as a species |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The notion that humans are animals + culture made possible by accidents of evolution = no god intervention |
|
|
Term
| What is natural selection? |
|
Definition
| Nature presents us with environments. Mutations within a species which help it survive in the environment will tend to be passed on. This is nature's reward. i.e: genes that are useful to survival (race) |
|
|
Term
| Are surviving animals superior because of their survival? |
|
Definition
| No, it was luck. Example: dinosaurs were big, massive food decline, only small animals and reptiles survived |
|
|
Term
| What is paleoanthropolgy? |
|
Definition
| Defined as the study of early humans |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The carcasses, bones, and skeletal remains of dead animals |
|
|
Term
| How do archeologists determine whether or not a place has been previously inhabited? |
|
Definition
| By examining artefacts- tools or materials made or modified for use by hominids |
|
|
Term
| What is stratagraphic layering & dating? |
|
Definition
| Strata= layers, therefore dating is according to which layer the fossil was found in |
|
|
Term
| How did fluorine analysis expose the Piltdown Man hoax? |
|
Definition
-Human skull was considerably older than the jaw found with it
- Should have absorbed the same amount of fluorine, skull contained significantly more |
|
|
Term
| Chronometric methods of dating? |
|
Definition
| Based on different rate of decay of some isotopes (follows specific mathematical pattern, geological clock, etc) |
|
|
Term
| Potassium argon/carbon 14 dating work on similar principles- explain |
|
Definition
| Both isotopes are composed of organic material such as bone, cannot be measured. The rock matrix in which the fossilized bones are found can be, though |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A hole in the skull where our vertebras enter- important for bipedalism |
|
|
Term
| Give me some info on Australapithecus Afarensis |
|
Definition
- Longest enduring species ever documented
- Geographically diverse
- A.A locomotion was characterized as bipedal; slow-moving (strolling) fashion + short stride
-Lucy find, 40% of skeleton, most complete individual of its time
- Less evolved than later occurring hominids
- Much more adapted to tree climbing than later Australopiths (scapule -> Dikika infant shoulder)
- Upper limbs are larger than the leg length IN PROPORTION to humans
- Short hominid ("saw-off")
-Obligate bipedal-> forced into bipedalism as a means of survival, there was no choice, natural selection, etc. |
|
|
Term
| Give me some info on Australopithecus Africanus |
|
Definition
-Founded by Raymond Dart 1934
- Taung Child: Small brained, big-toothed, well adapted bipeds
-Less arboreal than its predecessors
- Short ("saw-off")
- No scapula (shoulder blade) adapted to tree life
- No overlapping canines (suggesting male dominant groups)
- 6.my -> 10% brain increase (enchephelization)
- Small brained! |
|
|
Term
| How difficult is walking, really? |
|
Definition
- Foot must be altered to act as a stable support instead of grasping a limb.
- Foot is used like a prop--> landing on the heel, pushing on big toe
- Remodelling of limbs to allow for the full extension of the knees, maintaining the center of support, etc. |
|
|
Term
| What skeletal adaptations were necessary for bipedalism? |
|
Definition
Foot altered from aboreal + grasping for support
-Ligaments, muscles, tendons
-Elongated leg in RELATION to upper limbs
-Foreman magnum |
|
|
Term
| What distinguishes human from animal culture? |
|
Definition
Learning ability "in complexity several orders of magnitude beyond that of any other animal".
-Only humans are so dependant for survival on their symbolic communication and its' cultural byproducts |
|
|
Term
| How did hominid cultures come to develop faster than animal cultures? How did this learning ability develop? |
|
Definition
Bipedalism was a trigger: It allowed our ancestors to exploit resources over a greater area than other primates
- Some claim that this would have led to hominids to meet at central spots to share food and to store components of tools |
|
|
Term
| Give me some info on Early Homo |
|
Definition
- Cranial capacity was significantly larger
-Lived alongside Homo erectus in East Africa, Australopithecus in South Africa
- Restricted ranges: lived in relative small/confined area, meaning they were seperate from other groups, creating narrower gene pools and new species by "mating" with each other
- Increased encephelization |
|
|
Term
| Give me some info on Homo erectus. |
|
Definition
- 1.8mya to 200, 000 years ago
- East Turkana / Olduvai Gorge: Browridge is huge, braincase is small and thing, usually cranial bones are thicker
-Ethiopian/Bouri find resembles Asian H. erectus, which scientists believe indicate that the Asian and African fossiles were not necessarily an entirely different species
- Dmanisi find: skeleton shows H. erectus ate food without chewing, which suggests much assistance in order to survive |
|
|
Term
| Give me some info on H. erectus from China |
|
Definition
- There was a gradual improvement in tool making, sophistication of the Olduvai Gorge's tools (Oldawan tools were very primitive and inefficient)
- Carried around STONE which suggested FORESIGHT
- Most likely scavengers as opposed to hunter/gatherers |
|
|
Term
| Interpretations of Homo erectus? |
|
Definition
-Intraspecific variation (all the same species comprised of individuals who have different morphology)
- Above theory is based on the Dmanisi find
- Migrations: most likely appeared in East Africa and migrated to Asia & Europe
- Larger brain, taller stature, robust build, as well as change in facial structure (long, low skull)
- Contemporaries introduced more sophisticated tools, migrated extensively, allowed for survival in new conditions/environments |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The modern Republic of Georgia, between the Black and Caspian Seas |
|
|
Term
| Give me some info on Homo Sapiens. |
|
Definition
- May or may not have mated with Neanderthals upon arrival in Europe
- Child from Portugal suggests "admixture":
Similarities between anatomically modern humans, as well as similar traits to Neanderthal's |
|
|
Term
| What is the Upper Paleolithic? |
|
Definition
The most "recent" stone age --> Paleo means old and lithic means stone, therefore "upper" refers to the most recent.
-Was the era of technological innovation |
|
|
Term
| Describe plant life/animal life during the Upper Paleolithic |
|
Definition
- Plan life: tundra, flowering plants, mosses, and other vegetation such as lichen
- Animal life: bison, reindeer, mammoths (hunters paradise, dispersed everywhere) |
|
|
Term
| How did Homo sapiens cope with the change of the Wurm glaciation? |
|
Definition
- Wurm: Germany!
- Improved technology (the needle that could be used to sew thread to keep warm)
- Became animists -> believed in the spirituality of everything, created tools sometimes for purely aesthetic purposes |
|
|
Term
| What evidence is there to support the technological innovation? |
|
Definition
- Tools were created for a specific purpose
- Variety of tools to create a tool kit
- Tools useful depending on the region |
|
|
Term
| Explosion in geographical distribution of art is thanks to...? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What portable art existed in the Upper Paleolithic? |
|
Definition
-The Venus Figures
-Engravings on tools
- The tools themselves |
|
|
