Arky Midterm 1 (real)

Understand the difference between linguistic maps and political maps/boundaries.

Modern political boundaries are recent colonial artifacts that cut across older indigenous ethnolinguistic distributions and group dozens of distinct language groups into arbitrary single states.

Understand how language can be used as a proxy for ethnic boundaries.

Language is an imperfect proxy for ethnic identity and cannot be equated with biological ancestry or political borders.

A single language can function as a regional lingua franca across multiple distinct ethnic groups (e.g., Swahili across East Africa, Hausa in West Africa).

Distinct groups can switch languages entirely; for example, Mbuti rainforest foragers adopted the languages of their agricultural Bantu and Central Sudanic neighbours without biological replacement.

Know what nominal classes are in African languages.

In Bantu languages (such as Swahili), nouns are grouped into grammatical classes that use prefixes to differentiate singular and plural (e.g., mto = river, mito = rivers).

Understand how nominal classes can indicate plurals.

The noun prefix spreads across every modifying adjective and verb in the sentence, creating an alliterative sentence agreement system (e.g., Mito hii mikubwa inayopita…).

Know the Swahili example discussed in class.

mto = river, mito = rivers

Understand how colonialism changed African crop production.

Over the last $2,000$ years and intensifying under colonial rule, introduced cultigens (such as maize, cassava, and Asian rice) replaced indigenous crops.

Know the consequences of colonial crop replacement for earlier African economies.

Indigenous crop names were frequently transferred to newly introduced cultivars, obscuring historical production systems.

Understand the range of political systems discussed in class.

Africa historically supported the entire spectrum of anthropological political systems existing simultaneously:

• Mobile hunter-gatherer bands.

• Acephalous (stateless/decentralized) societies organized by segmentary lineages or age-grades.

• Petty and centralized chiefdoms.

• Expansive kingdoms and empires.

Understand the anthropological meaning and significance of these political systems.

Africa never possessed a single "typical" social structure; highly stratified imperial states coexisted alongside autonomous, non-centralized forager and pastoralist societies.

Know the geological features and processes discussed in the lecture.

1. Cratons (Basement Complex): Ancient crystalline igneous and metamorphic rocks dating to the Precambrian

2. Mesozoic ($225\text{--}65\text{ Ma}$): Marine sedimentary strata, such as limestone layers, which formed during marine transgressions and now host karst cave systems.

3. Cenozoic ($65\text{ Ma -- present}$): Active tectonic rifting (East African Rift System) and associated volcanism

Understand cratons and where they belong in the geological column or sequence, depending on the definition used in class.

Cratons sit strictly at the base of the geological sequence.

Study the East African system in detail. The professor emphasized this topic and indicated there would be several questions about it.

Extensional tectonics thin and fracture the continental crust along normal faults, displacing fault-bounded crustal blocks

Know the physiographic units created by folding.

Down-dropped blocks (Basins / Graben): Subsiding rift valley floors that trap inland drainage to form deep rift lakes (Turkana, Tanganyika, Albert, Nyasa) and collect thick, continuous sedimentary sequences essential for hominin fossil preservation.

Uplifted blocks (Shoulders / Horst): Elevated flanking plateaus and escarpments.

Understand the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).

A low-pressure thermal belt created where solar radiation heats the landmass, drawing in moist air masses from the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Know the seasonal position of the ITCZ in July versus December.

Shifts northward during the boreal summer (July position: north of the equator, bringing rainfall to the northern tropics and Sahel).

Shifts southward during the austral summer (January/December position: south of the equator, bringing rainfall to southern Africa).

Equator-proximate zones experience two wet seasons as the convergence band passes overhead twice annually.

Study Francis White’s vegetation classification and map.

• Arid: $1\text{--}400\text{ mm/yr}$.

• Semi-arid / Subtropical: $400\text{--}800\text{ mm/yr}$.

• Seasonally Dry: $800\text{--}1,400\text{ mm/yr}$.

• Wet Tropical (Non-seasonal): Over $1,400\text{ mm/yr}$.

Know the location of the Guinea-Congolian region.

Location: Equatorial belt of West and Central Africa, centered around the Congo Basin (within $5^\circ\text{N}$ and $5^\circ\text{S}$).

Know the location of the Zambezian region

Location: South-central Africa south of the equatorial rainforest (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique).

Physiognomy: Open woodland with an open tree canopy ($\le 40\%$ woody cover, trees reaching $25\text{ m}$) that allows sunlight to fuel an extensive understory grass layer.

Climate & Ecology: Seasonally dry tropical climate; highest plant biodiversity in Africa ($8,500$ plant species, $54\%$ endemic).

Know the location of the Somalian–Maasai region.

Location: The Horn of Africa, eastern Ethiopia, Kenya, northern Tanzania (including the Serengeti), extending into the southern Arabian peninsula.

Physiognomy: Deciduous bushland and spiny thicket; stunted woody cover rarely exceeding $8\text{ m}$; transitions to open grassland wherever woody cover drops below $10\%$.

Climate & Ecology: Arid to semi-arid ($\le 500\text{ mm/yr}$ of precipitation).

Know the location of the Afromontane region.

Location: Discontinuous high-elevation peaks and ranges throughout Africa (Ethiopian Highlands, Albertine Rift mountains, Mount Cameroon).

Physiognomy: An ecological "archipelago" of isolated montane forest islands; characterized by altitudinal zonation, high incidence of frost, and dense high-altitude bamboo thickets on volcanic soils.

Climate & Ecology: High precipitation ($> 1,250\text{ mm/yr}$ in volcanic bamboo zones), hosting $\approx 4,000$ plant species with specialized high-elevation adaptations.

Understand why visible physical or “racial” traits are not reliable indicators of an individual’s entire genome.

Visible external features (such as pigmentation, hair texture, and facial morphology) are superficial adaptations to localized climate and UV exposure. They do not correlate with whole-genome relatedness or deep phylogenetic lineage.

Understand why visible traits do not reliably represent phylogenetic evolution or ancestry on their own.

Phylogenetic relationships require testing via invisible molecular and chemical markers: nuclear genomic sequencing, mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosome lineages, and biochemical markers.

Understand the relationships between African foragers and neighbouring political systems.

Forager interactions with neighboring food producers range from balanced mutualistic symbiosis to political marginalization.

Understand symbiotic relationships between foragers and neighbouring groups.

The Mbuti pygmies maintain an active exchange relationship with neighbouring Bantu/Sudanic horticulturalists, trading forest meat, honey, and labor for cultivated starches and metal tools while adopting the farmers' language.

Understand why residential mobility should not automatically be considered “primitive.”

High residential mobility is an intentional, highly organized socioeconomic strategy, not a sign of cultural stagnation or primitiveness.

Understand what residential mobility allows people to achieve.

Allows local plant and animal resources to regenerate.

Regulates camp population density relative to local carrying capacity.

Prevents political subordination by centralized states.

Know what residential mobility responds to.

Functions as a social mechanism to de-escalate and resolve conflict (aggrieved parties move away).

Know what ethnoarchaeology is.

The systematic observation of living societies (e.g., Hadza carcass transport, marrow fracturing, spatial refuse patterning) to formulate models for interpreting the depositional signatures of extinct hominins.

Understand the concept of ape ethnoarchaeology.

Studies tool production, space use, and resource extraction among non-human primates (primarily Pan troglodytes) to reconstruct early baseline hominid behavior before the emergence of the genus Homo.

Non-human material culture has deep antiquity, estimated between $7\text{ Ma}$ and $14\text{ Ma}$.

Taï Forest Chimpanzee Nut Cracking (Ivory Coast):

Chimpanzees transport hard stone and wooden hammers up to designated anvils to crack five tree-nut species, extracting over $3,000\text{ kcal/day}$.

Skill acquisition takes $\approx 7$ years of social observation and practice; adult females crack nuts at an observed ratio of $20:1$ relative to males.

Excavations at the chimpanzee archaeological site Panda 100 demonstrate that unintentional stone flaking, fractured hammerstones, and focused debris scatters can mimic early Oldowan stone assemblages, proving that fractured lithics do not necessarily require human cognitive intentionality.

Meat consumption

Cooperative hunting of red colobus monkeys yields high success rates; meat is actively partitioned among coalition partners, and long-term sharing patterns correlate with social access and alliances.

Leaf clipping

Behaviors such as "leaf-clipping" carry arbitrary, socially learned communicative conventions (signaling courtship or play depending on group culture).

Social Complexity

Grooming consumes over $25\%$ of waking time; chimpanzees engage in coalitionary politics, tactical deception, border patrols, and targeted lethal intergroup aggression.

Be able to compare the human pelvis with the chimpanzee pelvis.

Bipedal Hominin: Iliac blades are short, broad, and laterally curved into a bowl-shaped basin. This reorganization positions the gluteal muscles (gluteus medius and minimus) laterally as abductors to stabilize the pelvis over the stance leg during single-limb support.

Quadrupedal Ape: Iliac blades are tall, narrow, and oriented flat against the back, functioning primarily in trunk extension rather than lateral pelvic stabilization.

Understand how the femur provides evidence about locomotion.

Bipedal Hominin: The femoral shaft slopes inward from the hip joint to the knee, creating the valgus/bicondylar angle. This places the knees and feet directly underneath the body's center of gravity during locomotion.

Quadrupedal Ape: The femoral shaft is vertical and lacks a valgus angle, leaving the knees positioned wide apart.

Be able to interpret anatomical evidence when comparing humans, chimpanzees, and early hominins.

Knee Joint Anatomy:

• Bipeds have expanded articular condyles and can lock the knee joint in full extension; chimpanzee knees remain permanently flexed during locomotion.

Cranial Base (Foramen Magnum):

• Located anteriorly and oriented downward directly beneath the skull base in bipeds, balancing the cranium on an upright vertical spine.

• Located posteriorly (toward the back of the skull) in quadrupedal apes, requiring heavy nuchal musculature to support a projecting head.

Foot Morphology:

• Fully bipedal hominins possess an aligned, adducted, non-opposable hallux (big toe) and rigid longitudinal and transverse arches for weight-bearing propulsion.

• Climbing primates possess an abducted, divergent, grasping hallux with flexible midfoot joints

Know the species name and know the characteristics and evidence discussed in the lecture.

Sahelanthropus tchadensis ($7\text{--}6\text{ Ma}$, Chad):

• Represented by the TM 266 ("Toumaï") cranium; small cranial capacity ($\approx 360\text{ cc}$), prominent brow ridge, small ape-atypical canines, and a forward-shifted foramen magnum suggesting facultative bipedalism.

Know the species name, know the distinctive foot morphology, know the distinctive hand morphology and understand why its foot and hand anatomy is important.

Ardipithecus ramidus ($4.4\text{ Ma}$, Middle Awash, Ethiopia):

• Represented by "Ardi". Features a mosaic anatomy adapted for both facultative terrestrial bipedalism and arboreal climbing: divergent, opposable big toe combined with a rigid midfoot sole; long, curved manual phalanges; equal limb proportions; upper pelvis showing bipedal remodeling alongside an ape-like lower ischium.

Know the species name, understand the postcranial evidence discussed in class and know what the postcranial remains suggest.

Australopithecus anamensis ($4.2\text{--}3.9\text{ Ma}$, Lake Turkana, Kenya and Middle Awash, Ethiopia):

• Proximal and distal tibia morphology demonstrates clear obligate terrestrial bipedalism; primitive upper anatomy includes curved finger bones and a wrist (capitate) lacking precision grip mechanics.

Be able to compare the two species, know the morphological differences emphasized in the lecture and be able to identify relevant differences from specimens, images, or descriptions.

Australopithecus afarensis* vs. *Australopithecus africanus:

• Au. afarensis ($3.85\text{--}2.95\text{ Ma}$, East Africa; "Lucy", Laetoli footprints dated $3.7\text{--}3.5\text{ Ma}$): Small brain ($\approx 433\text{ cc}$), moderate prognathism, strong subnasal projection, intermediate dental arcade.

• Au. africanus ($3.3\text{--}2.1\text{ Ma}$, South Africa; Taung Child, Mrs. Ples): Slightly larger brain ($\approx 451\text{ cc}$), more rounded neurocranium, reduced anterior dentition, but retains long climbing upper limbs and a sloping, projecting midface.

Paranthropus aethiopicus

• Know its major anatomical and morphological characteristics.

• Be prepared to distinguish it from other Paranthropus species.

Paranthropus aethiopicus ($2.7\text{--}2.3\text{ Ma}$, Omo and West Turkana; "Black Skull" KNM-WT 17000):

• The earliest and most extreme robust australopithecine; small brain ($\approx 410\text{ cc}$); possesses an enormous sagittal crest, extremely wide, flaring zygomatic arches, marked facial prognathism, and massive megadont molars and premolars.

• Contrasted with Paranthropus boisei ($\approx 1.8\text{ Ma}$, East Africa; OH 5 "Zinj", characterized by a dish-shaped face and massive molar crown surface) and Paranthropus robustus ($1.8\text{--}1.2\text{ Ma}$, South Africa; dish-shaped face, utilized bone tools for digging termite mounds).

Earliest Homo sapiens discussed in class

• Know that the fossil specimens discussed came from Morocco.

• Know the site name.

• Understand the use of CT scans.

• Understand how 3D skull reconstructions are used to study fossils.

• Know what these techniques can reveal about fossil anatomy.

Jebel Irhoud ($\approx 300\text{ ka}$, Morocco):

• Oldest known fossil representatives of Homo sapiens, analyzed via micro-computed tomography (CT) and 3D virtual reconstructions.

• Derived traits: Vertically short, retracted face tucked under the anterior braincase; delicate supraorbital morphology; large brain volume ($\approx 1,400\text{ cc}$).

• Primitive traits: Elongated, non-globular endocranial vault; large dentition; absence of a projecting chin.

Recognize a sagittal crest.

A bony ridge running along the sagittal suture of the cranium that anchors the temporalis muscle. A tall crest signifies massive chewing loads focusing on the back molars (diagnostic of Paranthropus).

Understand what prognathism refers to.

Facial Prognathism: Degree to which the jaws project forward beyond the anterior margin of the frontal bone. Marked prognathism represents a primitive condition associated with large anterior teeth; an orthognathic, retracted face tucked under the neurocranium is derived (Homo).

Recognize large zygomatic arches.

Check for arch thickness and lateral flaring. Broad, forward-flaring zygomatic arches provide origin sites for the masseter muscles and allow a large temporalis muscle bundle to pass beneath.

Be able to examine the shape of the dental arcade in the mandible or maxilla.

Dental Arcade Shape:

• U-shaped / Rectangular: Parallel postcanine tooth rows separated by large canines with diastemata (primitive ape condition).

• Parabolic / Divergent: Broadly curved, outward-diverging tooth rows with small, spatulate canines lacking diastemata (derived human condition).

• Early hominins (e.g., Australopithecus) exhibit an intermediate shape.

Understand the distinction between primitive and derived traits as used in the course.

Primitive vs. Derived Traits:

• Primitive (Plesiomorphic): Features inherited from ancestral lineages (e.g., small braincase, large canines, parallel tooth rows, flat iliac blades).

• Derived (Apomorphic): Evolutionary novelties unique to a specific clade (e.g., expanded brain volume, chin, valgus angle, parabolic arcade).

Understand the reduction sequence and the order of stone-tool production.

• When reading scars on a core or tool, an uninterrupted, complete flake scar cuts across and truncates adjacent scars, demonstrating that it was detached later in the sequence.

• Reduction Strategies: Radial/centripetal flaking produces scars pointing inward from the margin toward the core center; prepared-core (Mode 3 / Levallois) strategies shape the core faces systematically to produce a pre-determined, standardized flake.

Distinguish the dorsal side of a flake from the ventral side.

• Ventral Surface (Interior Face): The surface separated from the core interior. Identified by the point of impact, striking platform at the proximal end, bulb of percussion, eraillure scar, and ripples (concentric waves of force radiating outward).

• Dorsal Surface (Exterior Face): The previous exterior surface of the core. Identified by negative flake scars from earlier removals, dorsal ridges (arêtes), platform preparation trimming, or patches of weathered outer rock cortex.

Understand accidents or unintended outcomes that can occur during stone breaking.

Feather: Normal detachment tapering cleanly to a razor-sharp distal edge.

Hinge: Termination where the fracture path veers sharply outward toward the exterior, leaving a rounded, blunt lip on the core.

Step: Premature snap of the fracture path at a $90^\circ$ angle, creating a right-angle step fracture on the core face that requires corrective removals.

Overshot (Plunging): Failure where the fracture wave dives inward and downward, removing the entire distal or lateral base of the core.

Understand how ethnoarchaeology can help interpret animal effects on archaeological remains.

FLK (Frida Leakey Korongo) Bed I Localities:

• Dated to $\approx 1.8\text{ Ma}$ at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.

• FLK Zinj: Excavated by Mary Leakey in 1959; site of the discovery of OH 5 (Paranthropus boisei). Features dense concentrations of Oldowan Mode 1 choppers and flakes alongside thousands of processed animal bones.

• Hominin Co-occurrence: The presence of P. boisei at FLK does not prove it manufactured the stone tools, as fossil remains of Homo habilis (such as OH 7 and OH 8 at nearby FLK NN) occur in the same stratigraphic horizon.

Understand how animals can leave marks on bones.

• Tooth scores underlying cut marks indicate carnivores had initial access to the carcass and hominins scavenged scraps.

• Cut marks truncated or crossed over by tooth marks prove hominins had primary access to the meat, leaving scraps for secondary carnivore scavengers.

Know the examples discussed involving chimpanzees, lions, male birds, and other animals.

Lions: Deflesh large ungulates in open settings, leaving intact long bones and accessible marrow cavity shafts.

Leopards: Hoist and cache whole medium-sized carcasses into trees, creating arboreal food sources accessible to hominin scavengers.

Hyenas: Use heavy bone-crushing jaws to shatter, fragment, and consume long-bone shafts, altering skeletal element representation.

Understand how different sedimentary environments affect preservation.

Bone preservation is driven by sedimentological texture, grain size, and depositional water energy:

Low-Energy Environments (Lakeshores, Calm Floodplains, Backswamps): Fine-grained sediments (clays, silts) settle gently, burying bones and stone tools rapidly without abrasion or transport, preserving their spatial association.

High-Energy Environments (Braided Channels, River Terraces, Alluvial Debris Flows): Coarse-grained sediments (sands, gravels, conglomerates) roll, abrade, fragment, and hydraulically sort artifacts by mass and surface area, destroying primary archaeological context.

Review the information about Homo habilis and diet.

While cut marks and fracture notches indicate meat extraction and marrow processing, microscopic analyses (phytoliths, starch residues, and dental micro-wear) demonstrate that Homo habilis was a flexible, broad-spectrum omnivore consuming diverse plant resources (tubers, fruits, seeds) rather than an exclusive hyper-carnivore.

Know what starch granules are.

Water-insoluble polymers of glucose synthesized by plants to store energy, composed of two molecular structures:

Amylose: Unbranched or linear chains linked by $\alpha$-(1,4)-glycosidic bonds.

Amylopectin: Highly branched polymers containing $\alpha$-(1,4) and periodic $\alpha$-(1,6) branch points.

Survive inside microscopic crevices on stone-tool working edges, in dental calculus, and within sediments.

Analyzed using polarized light microscopy and X-ray diffraction to identify crystalline structures: A-type (cereals/maize), B-type (tubers/high-amylose crops), and C-type (legumes/peas).

Know what phytogenic silica is.

Microscopic structural bodies of amorphous silica ($\text{SiO}_2$) formed when living plants absorb soluble silicic acid from groundwater, precipitating solid silica inside and between cell walls.

Insoluble, durable, and preserved indefinitely in archaeological sediments after organic decomposition.

Evaluated at the assemblage level to reconstruct local vegetation canopies:

Grass short-cell forms: Differentiate grass subfamilies tracking open grasslands ($\text{C}_4$ grasses adapted to warm, tropical, open habitats vs. $\text{C}_3$ grasses adapted to cooler, high-altitude conditions).

Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM): Identifies arid succulent vegetation utilizing nocturnal carbon dioxide fixation.

Spheroids & Globular forms: Track arboreal woody tree cover versus open ground cover.

Know what biomarkers are in the context of the course.

Biomarkers are lipid molecular fossils derived from cell membranes and surface coatings that resist chemical degradation.

Evaluated using two analytical techniques applied in tandem:

Gas Chromatography (GC): Separates complex lipid extracts into individual chemical compounds based on differences in their volatility and retention time within a coated capillary column.

Mass Spectrometry (MS): Ionizes, fragments, and detects the separated chemical compounds by their specific mass-to-charge ($m/z$) ratios, generating diagnostic spectral fingerprints.

Know how to classify Core using length, width, and thickness.

Core: Blocky, globular, or angular mass exhibiting negative flake scars and striking platforms; thickness is often comparable to width (e.g., $9 \times 8 \times 7\text{ cm}$; lacks an impact bulb or smooth ventral face).

Know how to classify Flake using length, width, and thickness.

Flake: Detached piece that is thin relative to its length and width (e.g., $4 \times 3 \times 0.8\text{ cm}$; exhibits a positive bulb of percussion and striking platform).

Know how to classify Blade using length, width, and thickness.

Blade: Specialized flake whose length is at least twice its width ($\text{Length} \ge 2 \times \text{Width}$), exhibiting parallel lateral margins and longitudinal dorsal ridges.

Know how to classify LCT using length, width, and thickness.

Large Cutting Tool (LCT): Formal tool measuring $\ge 10\text{ cm}$ in maximum dimension, shaped by bifacial flaking with bilateral symmetry in plan and cross-section.

Handaxe: Teardrop or ovate pointed outline with worked continuous lateral cutting edges.

Cleaver: LCT characterized by a broad, unretouched transverse cutting bit formed by the intersection of two cleavage surfaces.