Archaeology Lecture 2

distinctive human traits

bipedal locomotion

meat eating

manufacture & use of tools

large brain & intelligence

Hominins

humans and all human ancestors

first appeared in East Africa between 10- 5 mya

~7 mya in the Miocene era

evidence of bipedalism in Hominins

definitive evidence from 4 mya

Lucy

Australopithecus afarensis skeleton from 3.2 mya

shows evidence of walking on two legs

found by Donald Johanson and Tom Gray

Laetoli footprints

88-foot trail of early hominin footprints in Laetoli, Tanzania

from 3.6 mya

excavated by Mary Leaky

Homo Habilis

2.5 to 1.6 mya

Bigger brains than Australopithecus related to tool use

Louis & Mary Leaky

married British Paleoanthropologists whose discoveries proved that humans originated from Africa

they excavated Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)

found the existence of Homo Habilis

Laetoli footprints

Olduvai Gorge

It formed through tectonic activity, located in northern Tanzania

contains many preserved skeletons of early Homonins

shows multiple vertical layers from 1.9 mya- 400 kya

Remains of large animals and stone tools

Great rift valley

A massive continuous trench and geological depression

includes the Olduvai Gorge

Was formed 20 to 30 million years ago by tectonic plates

from Syria (south Asia) to Mozambique (southern Africa)

preserved millions of years of Hominin fossils and tools

Lucy was found in the Afar depression (Ethiopia)

Oldest stone tools

Oldowan & Lomekwi tool industry

The oldest lomekwi tools dates back 3.3 mya (Lomekwi 3 site Kenya)

Basal paleolithic

Early hominin tool use is a cultural adaptation for

meat eating (Carnivory)

Evidence that humans were scavengers

cut marks from tools on bones

tooth marks on bones from animals indicates animals were there first