Anthropology Exam

Lucy fossil

3.2 million years old, Australopithecus afarensis

When did the great rift valley form

25 million years ago, oligocene epoch

Why did the great rift valley form

Tectonic activity in east Africa 25 million years ago

When was the first Australopithecine found

1924, in a taung limestone quarry by miners

First australopithecine found

“Taung child”, cranium, Australopithecus africanus child

Who discovered the first Paranthropus boisei fossil

Mary Leakey

Laetoli footprints

Fossilized trackway of an adult and child Australopithecine walking through ancient volcanic ash in Laetoli, Tanzania

Why is the femora angled inward

So support of the boy is shifted from the hips onto the knees

Did the ability to increase food supply from spiny thorin bushes contribute to development of bipedalism among Miocene apes

No

Visual predation hypothesis

Matt cart mill argued that hunting behavior in tree dwelling primates was responsible for the evolution of their enchanted visual and manual abilities

When did anthropoids diversify and expand while prosimians became less prominent

Oligocene epoch

Potassium argon analysis

Absolute dating technique based upon the decay of radioactive isotopes of potassium and argon (used for fossils over 100,000 years old )

Relative date

Not the precise age

When was the Native American Graves Protection and Reparation act passed

1990

Datum point

starting/reference point for a grid in an excavation

Soil marks

Stains that show up on the surface of recently plowed fields, indicates an archeological site

Grid system

Records the exact location of an artifact or fossil horizontally and vertically

Midden

Garbage dump

What is unique about physical remains from before 2 to 2.6 million years ago

They are in isolation with no context

Taphonomy

Study of how bones and other materials become preserved in the earth as fossils

Artifact

Any object fashioned or altered by humans

Knuckle walking

Distinctive form of locomotion used by chimps and gorillas

Only new world monkeys have

Prehensile tails

New world monkeys only live in

South and Central America

Tarsiers resemble monkeys in

Their nose and lips, and the part of the brain for vision

Dental comb

Only lemurs and lorises have this, comprised of lower canine and incisor teeth

Brachiation

Ability to use the arms to move from branch to branch with the body hanging suspended between the arms

The evolution of larger brains in primates is not due to

The development of very specialized dental formulas

Binocular vision

Visual fields of each eye overlap creating depth perception

Human dental formula

2-1-2-3, 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars, 3 molars

2 subfamilies of the Hominid family

Paninae and Homininae

Grade

A level of biological organization seen among a group of species

Clade

Taxonomic grouping that contains a single common ancestor and all its descendants

R selected

The animal has many offspring who receive low levels of parental involvement

Homeotherms

Mammals maintain a constant body temperature allowing for a wide range of adaptation

When did the first mammals appear

200 million years ago

Habituation

Acceptance of a human observer as a neutral element by animals

Stabilizing selection example

Human brain size not increasing significantly for 200,000 years

A volcanic eruption on a small island that wipes out half the population of 100 is likely to cause

Genetic drift

Key to natural selection

Reproductive success

Four main forces of evolution

Natural selection, gene flow, genetic drift, mutation

Polygenetic inheritance

things like height, skin color, and liability to disease are controlled by multiple genes

Law of independent assortment

Gregor Mendel argues that different genetic traits are inherited as seperate qualities

Jean Baptiste Lamarck came up with what while trying to discover and explain the mechanism of evolution

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

Homologous structures example

Hands of human and wing of bat

Analogous structures example

Wings of bird and butterflies

Species

Smallest unit in biological classification

Cultural research management

Branch of archaeology that seeks to locate and protect cultural resources

Homo habilis

South Africa 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago. 5’0. Discovered by Mary Leakey. 650 cc brain. Rudimentary speech. Primitive face. Oldowan tool industry.

Homo erectus

North, East, and South Africa and west and east Asia and Europe. 1.9 million to 300,000 years ago. Tall bodies large brains. Descended from H.habilis. Oldest hominin to have migrated out of Africa. Thick brow. 1st to master fire. Innovation in stone tools, Acheulean toolkit.

Homo sapiens

Evolved in Africa 300,000 years ago. Earliest skill found in Jebel Irhoud. Morocco. Rapid culture and tool sophistication 45,000 years ago called Cro Magnon culture. 100,000 years ago we left Africa.

Omomyidae

Extinct family in the primate order. Ancestor to haplorrhines. Asia 55 to 34 million years ago.

Adapidae

Extinct family in the primate order that lived during the Eocene 55 to 34 million years ago. Ancestor to strepsirrhines.

Denisovans

Asia 500,000 to 30,000 years ago. First discovered in Denisova cave. Not many fossils. Many people in Australia and Oceania have 5% denisovan dna. Used tools, jewelry, and were the first to polish stone.

Neanderthals

Europe and southwest to Central Asia 400,000 to 20,000 years ago. About the size of modern humans but stockier. Larger noses. 1,450 cc brain. Diverse tools the Mousterian tool industry, fire, clothing, shelters, and art. Buried their dead. First discovered in feltover cave in Germany. Our closest extinct human relative.

Strepsirrhine

Suborder in primate order. prosimians. Primitive primates. Tooth comb, claw like nail, wet noses. (Lemurs and lorises). Asia, Africa, Europe. 60 Mya.

Haplorrrhini

Suborder of primates. Has 2 infra orders: tarsiiformes and simiformes(platyrhini and catarrhini). Dry noses, dinural, larger. 60 Mya

Tarsiirformes

Infra order, includes superfamily tarsiodea and ceboidea. Long ankle bone. Are part of haplorhini. 60 Mya.

Simiformes

Infra order includes platyrrhini and catarhini and apes and humans. 45 million years ago.

Platyrrhine

Central and south America. Includes New world monkeys, marmosets, and tamarins. Nostrils on side, prehensile tails. 40 Mya

Catarrhini

Africa and Asia. 2 super families: Cercopithecoidea and Homininoidea. narrow downward facing nostrils. 40 Mya

Cercopithecoidea

Old world monkeys. Part of catarrhini. 45 Mya

Hominoidea

greater and lesser apes. No tails. 30 Mya.

Hominid aka Hominidae

10 Mya. Family of primates. All modern and extinct great apes. 7 million years ago moved out of trees.

Hominin

7 Mya. Tribe within hominidae. Humans and our ancestors. 7 Mya.

arboreal hypothesis

A hypothesis for primate evolution that proposes that life in the trees was responsible for enhanced visual acuity and manual dexterity in primates

Visual predation hypothesis

A hypothesis for primate evolution that proposes that hunting behavior in tree-dwelling primates was responsible for their enhanced visual acuity and manual dexterity

What are the 5 groups of primates

Lemurs and lorises, Tarsiers, New world monkeys, Old world monkeys, and Apes

Lemurs and lorises

most primitive, Africa, keener sense of smell, dental comb, wrist scent glands, primate hands, resembles rodents and insectivores. Evolved 65 mya

Tarsiers

South Asia, smallest primate, claw like fingernails, flat face, humongous eyes compared to body. Evolved 58 mya.

New world monkeys

Central and south America. 2,1,3,3 dental formula. Prehensile tails, broad flat noses and nostrils face outward, grasping hands, can be arboreal and terrestrial. Evolved 40 mya.

Old World Monkeys

Africa and Asia. 2,1,2,3 dental formula. Narrow noses with nostrils facing downward. True opposable thumbs. Smarter than new world monkeys. Arboreal or terrestrial. Evolved 22 mya.

Apes

Africa and Asia. 2,1,2,3 dental formula. No tail. Shoulder anatomy for hanging under our shoulders. True opposable thumbs.

What features do living primates share

opposable thumbs, 5 digits, flat nails, pads at the tips of fingers, reduced reliance on smell, depth perception, binocular vision, slow reproductive rate, large brain, and postorbital bars

R selected

high productive rate, many offspring with less care

K selected

few offspring, high parental involvement

Paranthropus

more robust, sagittal crest, molars, massive jaws. It is different from Australopithecus because of this chewing morphology specialization for tough plant based foods

Australopithecus

gracile (slender), smaller teeth