Foundations to 1200: Hominids, Homo Sapiens, and the Paleolithic Era

Vocabulary flashcards covering hominid evolutionary features, key fossil findings, variants of Homo sapiens, and the Paleolithic Era based on the lecture material.

Hominids

Human-like creatures called primates that appeared three to four million years ago in southern and eastern Africa.

Mary and Louis Leakey

Researchers who excavated hominid fossils in the Great Rift Valley.

Lucy

An Australopithecine fossil found in 1974.

Bipedalism

One of three major differences separating hominids from earlier primates, providing the ability to walk upright.

Sizable brain

A feature of hominids that enables abstract thought and fine motor control.

Larynx

An anatomical feature in hominids that allows for complex speech.

Homo sapiens

Modern humans who emerged 100,000 to 200,000 years ago, used advanced tools, wore clothing, created semipermanent or permanent dwellings, organized into social groups, and spread from Africa to Europe and Asia.

Neanderthal

The earliest variant of Homo sapiens, which appeared 100,000 to 250,000 years ago.

Cro-Magnon

A more advanced variant of Homo sapiens that appeared 60,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Paleolithic Age.

Paleolithic Era

Also known as the Old Stone Age, the historical period during which Cro-Magnon appeared 60,000 to 100,000 years ago.