Biological Anthropology - Final Exam

What are the theories on why we evolved bipedalism?

- Carrying

- Thermoregulation

- Long Distance Traveling

- Foraging

- Visual Surveillance

- Provisioning

- Aquatic Ape

List the order of adaptations

Happened early on

- Foramen Magnum Position

- Sigmoidal Spine

- Medially angled femurs

- Bowl shaped pelvis

Happened after relative stability

- Increase in brain size

- Decreased facial prognathism

- Reduced cranial musculature

- Changes in foot morphology

What are body fossils?

Fossils that reveal body structures. Physical bones.

What are trace fossils?

- Reveal behaviors

- Ex. Laetoli footprints (footprints in volcanic ash)

Eugene Dubois

- First to study remains to talk about evolution

- Revolutionized the study of evolution

Pre-Australopithecine climate

- Mountains form which create rain shadows, less rainfall, increase aridity

- Climate shift to dryer, more variable climate

List the Pre-Australopithecines

- Sahelanthropus

- Orrorin

- Ardipithecus

Sahelanthropus

Debated hominin

- Small canines

- Little prognathism

- Small brain size

- Intermediate foramen magnum

Orrorin

First firmly established hominin

- Leg bones showed bipedal locomotion

- Arm bones showed arboreal locomotion

- Shows that bipedalism is slowly evolving

Ardipithecus

Most complete early hominin

- Has odd mix of features

- Small brain case

- Pelvis and foot show bipedalism

- HAS a divergent big toe

What are general traits of Australopiths?

MOST SUCCESSFUL

- Bipedal locomotion

- Reduction in body hair

- Small brain sizes

- Prognathic face

Australopiths climate

- Large rivers and lakes

- Less arid than savanna's

- Season shifts of dry periods and flooding

What are the two genre of Australopiths?

- Australopithecus

- Paranthropus

Au. anamensis

- Bipedal locomotion

- Ancestral form of Au.

- Concurrent with Au. afarensis

Au. afarensis

- Ape like features

- Bipedal locomotion

- Lucy

- Selam

Au. africanus

- Less prognathism

- More gracile

- More adapted to bipedalism

- Possible ancestor to Homo

- Taung Child

- Mrs. Ples

Au. sediba

- Closer to obligate biped (more so than H. habilis)

- Mosaic evolution (a plethora of derived features mixed with ancestral features. Very close to genus Homo but distinctly Au.)

P. robustus

- Slight sagittal crest

- Maybe Au. that gave rise to robust forms

P. aethiopicus

- "The Black Skull"

- Both ancestral and derived traits

P. boisei

- Most robust form

- Mild sagittal crest

Difference in features between Australopithecus and Paranthropus

Paranthropus

- Very robust, prognathic

- Large cheek molars

- Flaring zygomatic bones

- Large mandible

- Sagittal crest

Paranthropus evolutionary fate

- Dead end

- Think they became too specialized in their environment so when it changed, they died out.

General facts of the genus homo

- Direct ancestor unknown

- Smaller teeth

- Less prognathism

- Brain expansion

- Increase culture

Genus homo climate

Cycling climates

- Warm/wet (interglacial)

- Mammals disperse/migrate

- Cold/dry (glacial)

- Water captured as ice, sea levels lower

- Pathways between landmasses

- Too cold to relocate

List the genus homo

- H. habilis

- H. rudolfensis

- H. erectus

- H. heidelbergensis

- H. floresiensis

- H. naledi

H. habilis

- Nicknamed "Handyman" for its use of Oldowan Tools

- Wide distribution

H. rudolfensis

- Larger than H. habilis

- Debate on weather it is the same as habilis, or two separate species

H. erectus

- Increase body size

- Larger brains

- First obligate biped

- Use of Acheulian Tools

- First to use fire

- Migrated from Africa, to near east, to Asia, then lastly, Europe

What do the differences between H. habilis and H. erectus show?

- Shows proof of punctuated equilibrium

- Variable climate

- Cultural expansion (tools that help us change)

H. heidelbergensis

- Overlap with H. erectus

- Discontinuous brow ridge

- Uncertain how it fits into human evolution

- First hunters

- Tools: Levallois Technique

H. floresiensis

- Found in caves

- Contemporary with H. sapiens which caused controversy

- Why care? Because they back tracked and were 3.5 feet tall. Nicknamed "The Hobbit"

H. naledi

- Found in caves

- Obligate biped

- Small teeth

- Small brain size (we thought this died out. Not the case. Can no longer assume time periods based on brain size)

H. sapiens

- Our current self

- Expanded geographic region

- Magdalenian tools (most advanced)

- Spear throwers

Neanderthal general traits

- H. neanderthalensis OR H. sapiens neanderthalensis

- Tools: Mousterian Tool Industry

- Culture: May speak to each other

- Care for elderly

- Intentional burial

Neanderthal vs. H. sapiens

Neanderthal

- Large brain size

- Large brow ridges

- Occipital bun

- Mid-facial prognathism

- Robust

- Large body mass, but 5 inches shorter

- Barrel-chested

- All of this is thought so that they handle the cold

What makes a modern human?

- High, vertical forehead

- Widest part of skull is high parietals

- No post-orbital constriction

- Small brow ridges

- Smaller, flatter face

- Small teeth

- Presence of a chin

Pre-modern vs. Modern humans

Pre-Modern

- Sloping forehead

- Widest part of skull is low parietals

- Large browridge

- Slight prognathic face

- Larger teeth

- No chin

- Robust

Modern

- High, vertical forehead

- Widest part of skill is high parietals

- No post-orbital constriction

- Small brow ridges

- Smaller, flat face

- Small teeth

- Presence of a chin

- Overall more gracile

Climate/culture of humans

Rapid climate shifts

Age of innovation

- Fish hooks, arrow points, needles, bone, ivory, antler

Tools/Technology

- Spear-thrower (Atl-Atl)

- Bow and arrow

- Also for ritual use

Art

- Cave paintings

- Stone cultures (Venus of Willdendorf)

- Engraved tools (portable art)

- Clay figures

Agriculture in modern humans

Causes of agriculture

- Shift to warm, wet, stable climate

- Increased population

Superfoods

- Wheat, barley, corn, rice

Agriculture benefits

- Can feed large populations

- Increased fertility: All about species survival

Agriculture negatives

- Less varied diet -> missing nutrients

- Higher occurrences of infections and parasites

- Reduction in height

- More tooth defects

Domestication in modern humans

Dogs first

- Self-domesticated?

- Hunter and gathers

- Food scraps to attract predators

- Dogs as a warning system

Plants next

- Slowly incorporated into diet

- Jordan Valley: Oldest agricultural site

- Plants MAY have domesticated us

Other animals next

- Cats (hunted rates/mice)

- Goats, sheep, cattle, pigs for meat, milk, wool, and tools.

Correlation between neanderthals, denisovan's , and modern humans

- mtDNA shows no sign of connection between Neanderthal, Denisovans, and modern H. sapiens

- Nuclear DNA shows similarities between all three

What are the forms of adaptation?

- Physiological

- Developmental

- Genetic

- Cultural

Physiological adaptation

Acclimatizing (long term changes)

- Tanning for example

Acclimation (short term changes)

- Sweat/shiver for example

- Occur at any time

- Not inherited

- Can be reversed

Developmental adaptation

Ontogenetic

- Happen while you are developing

- From utero through childhood

- Periods of growth

- Not inherited

- Dependent on your environment

- Not reversible

Genetic adaptation

- Microevolutionary adaptations

- Inheritable

- Not reversible

Cultural adaptation

- Behavioral adaptations

- Clothing and shelter

- Diet

Solar radiation

- Dark skin - highest UV exposure

- Light skin - low UV exposure

Vitamin D Hypothesis

- UV radiation for vitamin D

- Rickets: (vitamin D deficiency)

- Light skin absorbs more UV radiation, more vitamin D

What are the problems with race?

Race = subspecies

Fallacy

- Humans represent a biological continuum (clines)

- Not every population fits into a neat category

- The environment influences many characteristics to determine "race"

- Interbreeding between "races" is common

- Racial categories change with time and culture

Therefore

- Race is not valid

- Race is socially constructed

Bone biology

- Bones form in utero

- Bone is a living tissue

- Changes with age

- Changes based on external influences

What are the four goals of forensic anthropology?

1. Provide a positive ID

- Look at time period

- Determine purpose of body modification

- Facial reconstruction of tissue thickness

- Distribute reconstruction to mass media

2. Determine cause of death

- Timing of injury

- Cause of death

3. Provide accurate physical evident for legal authorities

4. Be a reliable witness in court

Antemortem

- Happened before death

- Bones will show healing patterns

Perimortem

- Happened around the time of death

- Bone breaks are clean because bone was alive

Postmortem

- Happened after death

- Bones are more brittle and break in a jagged edge

Sharp force trauma

- Clean slice of the bones

Blunt force trauma

- Bone is indented

Projectile trauma

- Typically gun shot wound

- Clean small entrance hole, larger jagged exit hole.

What species participated in cannibalism?

- H. heidelbergensis

- Neanderthals

Island dwarfism

- H. floresiensis

- Isolated on an island, not as much food, so you adapt by shrinking in size

What are stressors?

Something that takes us out of homeostasis

What is plasticity

Our ability to adapt to stressors

Franz Boas

- Showed that race is not a biological concept

- Clines

What influences body decomposition?

- Location

- Soil acidity

- Hot/cold

- Clothed

Lucy

- Proved we walked bipedal

- Knee and pelvis like a biped

Selam

- Young child

- Found dental eruption

- Helped us find out how they aged and developed

Java man

- Found in Asia

- Up and to that point we had Neanderthals and thats it

- Also was the first fossil/hominin found outside of Europe

Taung Child

- First early hominin fossil found in Africa

Mrs. Ples

- Au. africanus

- Originally put into another genre

- Ongoing excavations at site

Turkana Boy

- Helped us determine how things aged

- Long bones unfused (11-13 years old)

- Dental measurements (8-9 years old)

- Developed slower than apes, faster than humans