Term
Time frame
Sahelanthropus tchadensis |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Orrorin Tugenensis |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Ardipithecus ramidus |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Australopithecus anamensis |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Australopithecus afarensis |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Australopithecus africanus |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Australopithecus garhi |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Australopithecus aethiopicus |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Australopithecus boisei |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Australopithecus robustus |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Homo habilis/Homo rudolphensis |
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Definition
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Term
Time frame
Homo erectus/ Homo ergaster |
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Definition
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Term
Cranial Features
Sahelanthropus tchadensis |
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Definition
| Flat face, u-shaped dental arcade, small canines, anterior foramen magnum, heavy brow ridges, small cranial capacity (320-380cm3) |
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Term
Cranial Features
Orrorin Tugenesis |
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Definition
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Term
Cranial Features
Ardipithecus ramidus |
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Definition
| Dentition is transitional between apes and Australopithecines |
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Term
Cranial Features
Australopithecus anamensis |
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Definition
| Thick enamel on molars, sectorial premolars, prognathic |
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Term
Cranial Features
Australopithecus afarensis |
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Definition
| (Gracile) Low, sloping forehead, large canines in males, cranial capacity ~420 c.c., thick tooth enamel, prognathic |
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Term
Cranial Features
Australopithecus africanus |
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Definition
| (Gracile) prognathic face, smaller front teeth, parabolic dental arcade |
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Term
Cranial Features
Australopithecus garhi |
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Definition
| (Intermediate) Large teeth, but arched dental arcade like humans |
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Term
Cranial Features
Australopithecus aethiopicus |
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Definition
| (Robust) large teeth and chewing apparatus, large muscle attachments, 410-530 c.c. |
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Term
Cranial Features
Australopithecus boisei |
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Definition
| (Robust) large teeth and chewing apparatus, dished face, large muscle attachments, 500-530 c.c. |
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Term
Cranial Features
Australopithecus robustus |
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Definition
| (Robust) large teeth and chewing apparatus, large muscle attachments |
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Term
Cranial Features
Homo habilis/ Homo rudolphensis |
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Definition
| 500-750 c.c., smaller teeth than Australopithicines, thinner cranial bones |
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Term
Cranial Features
Homo erectus/ Homo ergaster |
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Definition
| ~1000 c.c., heavy brow, sloping forehead, receding chin, powerful jaws, etc. |
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Sahelanthropus tchadensis |
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Definition
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Orrorin Tugenensis |
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Definition
| bipedal, size of modern chimp |
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Ardipithecus ramidus |
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Definition
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Australopithecus anamensis |
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Definition
| bipedal, with climbing capabilities |
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Australopithecus afarensis |
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Definition
| bipedal with climbing capabilities |
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Australopithecus africanus |
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Definition
| 3.8-4.5 ft tall, bipedal, retained climbing capabilities |
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Australopithecus garhi |
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Definition
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Australopithecus aethiopicus |
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Definition
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Australopithecus boisei |
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Definition
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Australopithecus robustus |
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Definition
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Homo habilis/ Homo rudolphensis |
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Definition
| 3.5-4 ft tall, modern feet (but very small) |
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Term
Postcranial Anatomy
Homo erectus/ Homo ergaster |
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Definition
| Modern postcranial skeleton |
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Sahelanthropus tchadensis |
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Definition
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Orrorin Tugenensis |
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Definition
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Ardipithecus ramidus |
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Definition
| Associated fauna indicate that it may have been a forest dweller |
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Australopithecus anamensis |
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Definition
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Australopithecus afarensis |
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Definition
| Lucy, Laetoli footprints, "First Family", etc. |
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Australopithecus africanus |
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Definition
| First Australopithecine ever discovered, Raymond Dart |
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Australopithecus garhi |
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Definition
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Australopithecus aethiopicus |
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Definition
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Australopithecus boisei |
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Definition
| Discovered by Leakey's at Olduvai in 1959 |
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Australopithecus robustus |
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Definition
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Homo habilis/ Homo rudolphensis |
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Definition
| Made first stone tools (Oldowan Tool tradition--for scavenging meat) Called "Handy Man" The first fossil members of genus Homo |
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Term
Culture/Interesting Facts
Homo erectus/ Homo ergaster |
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Definition
| Made Acheulean Tools (hand axe), first hominid to migrate out of Africa |
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Term
Geographic Location
Sahelanthropus tchadensis |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Orrorin Tugenensis |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Ardipithecus ramidus |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Australopithecus anamensis |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Australopithecus afarensis |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Australopithecus africanus |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Australopithecus garhi |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Australopithecus aethiopicus |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Australopithecus boisei |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Australopithecus robustus |
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Definition
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Term
Geographic Location
Homo habilis/ Homo rudolphensis |
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Definition
| Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa |
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Term
Geographic Location
Homo erectus/ Homo ergaster |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Evolution above the species level |
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Term
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Definition
| The process of forming new species |
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Term
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Definition
| A factor that separates breeding populations, thereby preventing gene flow, creating divergent subspecies and ultimately (if maintained) divergent species |
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Term
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Definition
| Speciation through a branching mechanism where by an ancestral population gives rise to two or more descendant populations |
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Term
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Definition
| Change in the timing of developmental events that is often responsible for changes in the shape or size of a body part |
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Term
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Definition
| A gene responsible for large-scale effects on growth and development that are frequently responsible for major reorganization of body plans in organisms |
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Term
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Definition
| A model of macroevolutionary change that suggests evolution occurs via long periods of stability or stasis punctuated by periods of rapid change |
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Term
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Definition
| A sustained directional shift in a population's average characteristics |
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Term
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Definition
| Characteristics that define a group of organisms that did not exist in ancestral populations |
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Term
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Definition
| Characteristics possessed by an organism or group of organisms due to shared ancestry |
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Term
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Definition
| In biological evolution a process by which unrelated populations develop similarities to one another due to similar function rather than shared ancestry |
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Term
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Definition
| According to the theory of plate tectonics, the movement of continents embedded in underlying plates on the earths's surface in relation to one another over the history of life on earth |
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Term
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Definition
| Rapid diversification of an evolving population as it adapts to a variety of available niches |
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Term
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Definition
| Possessing characteristics that, by chance, are advantageous in future environmental conditions |
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Term
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Definition
| An animal that maintains a relatively constant body temperature despite environmental fluctuations |
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Term
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Definition
| An animal whose body temperature rises or falls according to the temperature of the surrounding environment |
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Term
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Definition
| Reproduction involving the production of relatively few offspring with high parental investment in each |
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Term
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Definition
| Reproduction involving the production of large numbers of offspring with relatively low parental investment in each |
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Term
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Definition
| A theory for primate evolution that proposes that life in the trees was responsible for enhanced visual acuity and manual dexterity in primates |
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Term
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Definition
| A hypothesis for primate evolution that proposes that hunting behavior in tree-dwelling primates was responsible for their enhanced visual acuity and manual dexterity |
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Term
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Definition
| The hypothesis that dates of divergences among related species can be calculated through an examination of the genetic mutations that have accrued since the divergence |
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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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Term
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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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Term
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Definition
| Semi-arid plains environment as in eastern Africa |
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Term
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Definition
| One of the earliest bipeds that lived in eastern Africa about 4.4 to 5.8 million years ago |
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Term
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Definition
| A space between the canines and other teeth allowing large projecting canines space within the jaw |
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Term
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Definition
| A new proposed genus and species of bipeds contemporary with early australopithecines; may not be separate genus |
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Term
| Gracile australopithecines |
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Definition
| Members of the genus Australopithecus possessing a more lightly built chewing apparatus; likely had a diet that included more meat than 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 2.5-1.1 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 mid-line 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
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Definition
| A technique of stone tool manufacture performed by striking the raw material with a hammer-stone or by striking raw material against a stone anvil to remove flakes |
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Term
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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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Term
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Definition
| The first stone tool industry, beginning between 2.5 and 2.6 million years ago |
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Term
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Definition
| The cultural elaborations and meanings assigned to the biological differentiation between the sexes |
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Term
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Definition
| The tissue inside of long-bones where blood cells are produced |
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Term
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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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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
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Definition
| The opening in the skull that accommodates the tongue-controlling hypoglossal nerve |
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