Human Evolution Study Guide

Paleontology

Study of ancient life

Archaeology

Study of human behavior through material remains

Paleoanthropology

Combines both the study human evolution

Provenience

Exact location

Association

What is found together

Stratigraphy

Layer relationships

Body fossils

Bones, teeth

Trace fossils

Footprints, burrows

Formation of fossils

Death, burial, mineral replacement, fossilization

Aeolian

Wind

Lacustrine

Lakes

Alluvium

Rivers

Colluvium

Landslide

Karstic

Limestone

Rock shelters

Contain well preserved things

Superposition

Bottom = older

Horizontality

Layers are deposited parallel to Earth’s surface

Cross cutting

Layer that cuts across others in younger than those it cuts

Lithostratigraphy

Uses correlation of rock units to estimate the relative age of different areas

Biostratigraphy

Based upon the principle of faunal succession

Paleomagnetism

Study of Earth’s past magnetic field recorded in rocks, which helps date rock layers based on changes in magnetic direction over time

Radiocarbon (C-14)

Organic material, <50,000 years

Potassium-Argon

Volcanic rock material, up to billions years

Uranium series

Cave deposit material, thousands - millions

Thermoluminescence

Burned materials, up to 500,000 years

OSL

Sediment material, up to 400,000 years

Holocene

0.01- present, age of humans

Pleistocene

2.6-0.01 Ma, Ice age

Pliocene

5.3-2.6 Ma, early hominins

Miocene

23.0 - 5.3 Ma, cooling and drying with grasslands

Oligocene

33.9-23.0 Ma, global cooling

Eocene

55.8-33.9 Ma, hothouse climate

Paleocene

65.0-55.8 Ma, rapid diversification of mammals

Milankovitch cylces

Eccentricity, tilt, precession

Ecology

Study of how living organisms interact with one another and their environment

Facultative

Walk on two legs sometimes

Habitual

Walk on two legs regularly, but still use other forms of movement

Obligate

Walk on two legs all the time

Hypothesis to explain bipedalism

postural feeding, thermoregulation, free hands, savanna, vigilance and threat, efficient energetics, terrestrial food gathering

Postural feeding problem

Other terrestrially adapted primates retain quadrupedalism

Thermoregulation problem

There are quadrupeds that occupy open areas with a lot of sun exposure

Free hands problem

 No evidence

Savanna problem

Grassland began after earliest bipeds

Vigilence and threat problem

Rare among chimpanzees

Efficient problem

No consensus

Terrestrial food gathering problem

Also accessible by quadrupedal

Foramen magnum

Balance the skull on the spine

Spine

S-shaped for shock absorption

Pelvis

Short, bowl shaped for balance

Femur

Inward angle with valgus knee

Foot

Arch, non-opposable toe

Probable hominins

Sahelanthropus (~7–6 Ma), Orrorin (~6 Ma), Ardipithecus (~4.4 Ma)

Australopithecus

Gracile, smaller teeth, more general diet

Paranthropus

Robust, huge molars, sagittal crest

Humero-femoral index

Quantify the length of difference between the entire arm and the entire leg of an individual

Humero-femoral index formula

(Humerus length / femur length) x 100

Humerus

Arm

Femur

Upper thigh

Scapula

Shoulder

Pelvis

Hip

C3 Photosynthesis

Woody plants (trees, bushes, shrubs, and fruit)

C4 Photosynthesis

Grasses and sedges

Oldowan

First stone tools, core and flakes

Homo habilis

First homo, 600-750 cc, associated with tools

Homo erectus

First to leave Africa, 750-1250 cc, modern body proportions

Turkana boy

Homo erectus fossil

Chimpanzees eat

Ripe fruits

Tarsiers eat

Insects

Humans eat

Cooked/processed foods

Gorillas eat

Leaves and herbaceous plants

Adaptations for hard object feeding

Low and rounded cusped molars, strong and robust masticatory apparatus

Adaptations for frugivory

Procumbent incisors, thick enamel

Adaptations for folivory

Pointy premolars, high and sharped cusped molars

Masseter

Originates on the zygomatic arch and inserts on the lower part of the ascending ramus of the mandible

Diastema

Gap next to the canine that leaves space for the corresponding upper or lower canine when the mouth is closed

Acheulean tool

Advanced stone tools, more planning

Proof of meat eating

Locomotion efficiency, vitamin A poisoning, parasites, expensive tissue hypothesis

Expensive tissue Hypothesis

Humans evolved large, energy-hungry brains because their digestive tracts became smaller

Central place foraging

Gathered food and brought it back

Simple residential mobility

Move while foraging

Central place foraging

Residential mobility + logistical mobility

Social learning

Acquiring knowledge or skill by observing or interacting with others

Triadic attention

Being able to share focus with someone on something else

Impacts of fire

Cooking, warmth/light, protection

Coefficient of variation removes differences due to

Size

Coefficient of variation measurement is greater than 10%

Likely have multiple species

KNM-ER 1813

Homo habilis

KNM-ER 1470

Homo rudolfensis

Platform

Flat area containing the point where the hammerstone struck

Point of percussion

Exact point where the hammerstone struck the core

Bulb of percussion

Bulge resulting from the percussion

Cortex

Outside rind of the nodule

Homo heidelbergensis

800-300 kya, 1000 - 1400 cc, mix of erectus and modern traits

Neanderthals

Occipital bun, curved brow ridge, midfacial prognathism, rounded cranium

Bergmann’s Rule

In colder temperatures, there are larger bodies to better retain heat

Allen’s rule

In colder temperatures, there are shorter limbs to keep in heat

Hafting

Attaching a stone to a handle

Levallois technology

Neanderthal planned stone tool making

Variation between individuals within a species can occur due to

Age, gender, temporal, geographic variation

Flake

Small sharp piece of stone that is removed from a larger stone