Antro model 6

Analogous traits

Traits shared through convergent evolution.

Anagenesis

Species directly evolving into later ones, without branching.

Cladogenesis

The formation of new species through branching from a common ancestral species.

Homologous traits

Traits shared through common ancestry.

Phylogeny

Evolutionary family tree.

Homologous ancestral traits

Traits that appear before the common ancestor of a phylogenetic group.

Homologous derived traits

Traits that appear after the common ancestor of a phylogenetic group.

Absolute Dating methods

Methods used to determine the chronological age of a specimen based on a specific time scale or calendar, such as radiometric dating.

Carbon 14

A radioactive isotope that decays into Nitrogen 14 with a half-life of 5730 years.

Potassium 40

A radioactive isotope that decays into Argon 40 with a half-life of 1.25 billion years.

Radiometric methods

Techniques based on the known radioactive decay of elemental isotopes to calculate the absolute age of an item.

Relative Dating methods

Focus on determining the relative age (e.g., older versus younger) of objects, using methods including their position in a stratigraphic sequence, fluorine dating, and the use of index fossils.

Oldowan tools

Tools made from stones transported from miles away, suggesting that H. habilis was planning ahead, something we don’t have clear evidence of in earlier species.  Homo habilis is associated with Oldowan tools.  However, Australopithecus also existed when these tools started being made.

Acheulian hand-axe

The leaf-shaped tool developed by H. erectus that combined several different cutting edges into a single tool and was used for a variety of tasks from making other tools to butchering animals.

Mousterian tools

Stone tools used by Neanderthal’s that were based on the flakes removed from the stone rather than the stone core itself.  A large number of different tools could be produced from a single stone and the overall amount of working edge per stone was significantly increased.

Neronian tools

 Stone tools used by modern humans that were similar but smaller than Mousterian technologies.

Productivity paradox

The question of how mammals and megafauna survive on the expected low vegetation produced in colder, harsher environments.