Anthropology 101 exam 3

Homo erectus was first discovered by Eugène Dubois in

Java (1891)

Nariokotome Boy

Date: 1.6 MYA

Find location: Lake Turkana, Kenya

Homo erectus Locations

Africa (Olduvai Gorge, Lake Turkana, Ileret, Bouri, Buia, Bodo, Gona, Olorgesailie);

Asia (Dmanisi, Kocabaş, Trinil, Sangiran, Sambungmacan, Gongwangling, Majuangou, Zhoukoudian);

Europe (Gran Dolina, Mauer, Boxgrove)

Neandertals location

La Chapelle aux Saints, Krapina Neandertals

Neandertals found in Amud,Kebara, and Tabun Shanidar

bipedalism advantages

Freeing up the hands to create tools and carry things.

Being taller makes one appear more threatening to predators, and one can see further.

Effective heat management and/or greater endurance abilities also help.

bipedalism disadvantages

Being more vulnerable, and so easier to see by predators.

Enormous amounts of stress on the body(back injuries, circulatory system).

Moving on two legs rather than four would made ancestors slower (limited speed).

Seven Traits of Bipedalism

1. Position of the foramen magnum

2. Shape of the spine

3. Shape of the pelvis

4. Length of leg

5. Valgus knee

6. Longitudinal foot arch

7. Opposable big toe

Lumpers

Lumpers tend to assume there is considerable variability within genera and species and therefore tend to have relatively few taxonomic categories for the several million years of human evolution.

Splitters

Splitters, on the other hand, tend to assume there is relatively little variability within genera and species,and therefore tend to recognize many different genera and species over the millions of years.

Orrorin tugenensis

Date: 6 MYA

Find location: Tugen Hills, Kenya by Brigitte Senet and Martin Pickford

Femora indicative of bipedalism; curved hand phalanges (suggests some time in trees); Non-honing chewing

complex

Lived in a forest

AUSTRALOPITHECINE ADAPTATIONS

Australopithecus is the stem group of bipedal apes.

Finds in South and East Africa.

East African material tends to be better preserved and more reliably dated.

Evolution of earliest hominins resulted in a diverse group of species.

Early bipedal Australopithecus appear to have become more specialized in two directions:dental and mental.

Cooking, collecting, cutting vs. post-canine megadontia.

No large changes in brain size at this time

Animal bone with cut marks date to 3.3 MYA and in 2015,stone tools were found dating to 3.3 MYA.

Early stone tools were used for cutting meat from bones and smashing bones to get to marrow.

Various species of Australopithecus used stone tools.

Challenges idea that Homo (and Homo habilis) were the first to use stone tools

Pre-australopithecines

Wear on tip of canine, but with modified honing

Walked on two legs occasionally but had many features adaptive for tree climbing

Small, chimp-sized brains

Australopithecines

Canines are fully non honing with apical wear

Tree-climbing traits diminish and species are nearly fully adapted for upright, terrestrial bipedalism

Slight increase in brain size

Australopithecines anamensis

Date: 4 MYA

Find location: Lake Turkana and in Ethiopia

Named and studied by Meave Leakey Carol Ward,and Alan Walker; other remains studied by Tim White

Physically somewhat similar to Australopithecus

No complete skulls or skeletons, but isolated elements can still tell us a lot! > but nearly complete cranium found in 2019. Stay tuned!

Large canines (but with apical wear), parallel tooth rows ( = ape-like)

Arm and hand elements indicate that A. anamensis may have still climbed trees occasionally in its wooded habitat

Tibia is quite human-like and indicates that this species was well adapted for upright walking.

Australopithecines garhi

Date: 2.5 MYA

Find location: Middle Awash, Ethiopia (Berhane Asfaw)

Cranial: Small cranial capacity (450 cc); sagittal crest

Dentition is midway between gracile and robust Australopithecines

More humanlike humerus-to-femur ratio; Evidence of tool use (cut marks on gazelle bones)

Australopithecus (Paranthropus)

2 - 1.5 MYA

Swatkrans, Kromdraai,Drimolen (SouthAfrica)

Small brain (530 cc)

Massive posterior teeth

Robust skull with sagittal crest

Lived in open grasslands

Terms

The earliest hominins likely evolved 7 - 6 MYA and are in the genus Sahelanthropus. Subsequent fossil finds have been placed into the genera Orrorin, Ardipithecus, and Australopithecus. Each species adds another piece to a larger picture of our hominin ancestors and relatives.

ROBUST AUSTRALOPITHECINES VERSUS EARLY HOMO

Increase in Brain size

Reduction in robusticity of the face

Reduction in robusticity of teeth

OLDOWAN TOOLS

Earliest recognizable stone tool tradition (2.5 MYA)

Consists of small rocks on which another rock has been used to knock off a few pieces, thus forming a sharp edge.

Used for food processing and procurement

Sites: Olduvai Gorge, Gona

Homo Habilis tool

Chopper (oldwan tool)

a large, heavy stone tool with a sharp edge where small pieces of rock have been removed.

Flake (oldwan tool)

a small piece of rock that has been removed from a larger rock and can be used as is or further modified into a specialized tool.

Homo habilis

Bigger brains, tool use, and adaptive flexibility.

First discovered by Louis Leakey, Philip Tobias, andJohn Napier• 2.5- 1.8 MYA