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Sahelanthropus tchadensis

Earliest known hominin species; lived in Central Africa.

Ardipithecus ramidus

Known for an opposable big toe; early biped with climbing abilities.

Australopithecus afarensis

"“Lucy” species; fully bipedal with small cranial capacity."

Paranthropus boisei

Had a sagittal crest and large jaws for heavy chewing.

Homo habilis

Known as “handy man”; used Oldowan tools; early member of genus Homo.

Homo erectus

Used Acheulean tools and fire; first hominin to migrate widely.

Homo neanderthalensis

Robust body; Mousterian tools; practiced burial; interbred with AMH.

Homo sapiens

Anatomically modern humans; symbolic thought and complex language.

Sagittal crest

Bony ridge on skull for jaw-muscle attachment.

Zygomatic arches

Cheekbones; indicate chewing muscle size.

Brow ridge

Bone above the eyes; prominent in earlier hominins.

Dentition

Arrangement and size of teeth; indicates diet.

Cranial capacity

Brain size measured in cc; increases through hominin evolution.

Foramen magnum

Hole where spinal cord enters skull; position indicates bipedality.

Shared vs. derived traits

Shared = inherited from common ancestor; derived = unique adaptations.

Three human traits

Bipedalism

Advantages of bipedalism

Energy-efficient

Disadvantages of bipedalism

Back pain

Skeletal changes for bipedality

Foramen magnum under skull; lumbar lordosis; bowl-shaped pelvis; long legs; angled femur; stable foot; aligned big toe.

Chimp vs human dentition

Humans = smaller canines & no diastema; chimps = larger canines.

Why hominin fossils rare

Require specific preservation conditions; limited sites.

Lucy

Australopithecus afarensis skeleton showing clear bipedal traits.

Laetoli footprints

Fossilized tracks confirming early bipedalism.

Paranthropus vs Homo

Robust vs gracile lineages; chewing specialists vs toolmakers.

Why lose fur

Thermoregulation; reduced parasites; allows sweating.

Benefits of fire

Cooking food

Shanidar 1

Evidence of Neanderthal care for injured individuals.

Shanidar 3

Possible inter-group conflict evidence.

La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1

First complete Neanderthal skeleton; aged individual.

Neanderthal genome

Sequenced by Svante Pääbo; shows gene flow with modern humans.

Neanderthal–AMH interaction

Interbreeding; eventual Neanderthal extinction.

Human origin models

Multiregional

Oldowan tools

Core becomes tool; associated with Homo habilis.

Acheulean tools

Hand axes; associated with Homo erectus.

Mousterian tools

Flake tools via Levallois technique; Neanderthals.

Blade tools

Specialized flakes with fine edges; Homo sapiens.

Tool specialization

Different tools for specific tasks; sign of advanced cognition.

Symbolic expression

Artistic representation (e.g.

Venus of Willendorf

Small female figurine symbolizing fertility.

Artifact

Any object modified or used by humans.

Materiality

Social meaning of physical objects.

Habitation site

Place where people lived and left remains.

Stratigraphy

Study of soil layers to interpret archaeological sequence.

Archaeology as destructive

Excavation removes context permanently.

Three ways objects change

Use, Reuse, Discard

NAGPRA

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Ethical issues

Ownership

Slack Farm

Looting case highlighting need for repatriation laws.

Repatriation

Returning cultural objects to descendant communities.

Neolithic Revolution

Shift to food production and permanent settlements.

Ramifications of food production

Population growth

Sedentism

Permanent settlement; leads to storage and private property.

Çatal Hüyük

Early Neolithic city in Turkey; evidence of agriculture and art.

Mohenjo Daro

Indus Valley city; urban planning and stratification.

Domesticated plants change

Larger seeds

Adaptive strategies

Foraging

Foraging

Hunter-gatherer lifestyle; mobile and egalitarian.

Horticulture

Small-scale gardening using simple tools.

Pastoralism

Herding animals; may be partially mobile (transhumance).

Agriculture

Intensive farming with irrigation and plowing; produces surplus.

Terrace farming (Moray)

Inca innovation; controls temperature and water use.

State vs Empire

Centralized political power vs expanded territorial control.

Social stratification evidence

Pyramids (Egypt); Royal Standard of Ur.

Four state features

Power, wealth, authority, prestige

Political power

Ability to influence others and maintain social order.

Resistance

Overt (rebellion) vs covert (hidden acts).

Social control

Mechanisms to regulate behavior and maintain order.

Hegemony

Dominance through ideology and consent rather than force.

Surveillance

Observation used to enforce social control.

Panopticon

Prison design metaphor for constant surveillance and self-discipline.

Language vs dialect

Language = mutually unintelligible systems; dialect = regional variety.

Call systems vs language

Animal calls = fixed meanings; language = open and symbolic.

Phoneme

Smallest sound unit that changes meaning (minimal pair test).

Morpheme

Smallest unit of meaning; free vs bound (e.g.

Phonology

Study of sound systems.

Morphology

Study of word structure.

Productivity

Ability to create new expressions and sentences.

Lexicon

Vocabulary of a language.

Syntax

Rules for word order and sentence structure.

Focal vocabulary

Words important to a particular culture or activity.

Nonverbal communication

Kinesics (body movement)

Second-order information

Cultural or contextual meaning beyond literal speech.

Code switching

Alternating between languages or dialects depending on context.

AAVE vs SAE

African American Vernacular English vs Standard American English.

Language ideologies

Beliefs about language and power relations.

Luu reading

Argues for respecting linguistic diversity and language identity.