Early Hominins

Vocabulary flashcards about early hominins and related concepts.

Bipedalism

Habitual upright walking

Plesiadapiforms

Possible primate ancestors from the Paleocene epoch.

Adapids and Omomyids

Earliest definite primates from the Eocene epoch.

Parapithecids and Propliopithecids

Anthropoids from the Oligocene epoch.

Miocene

Age of Apes

Sahelanthropus tchadensis

A hominin species from Chad, dated 7-5.2 Ma

Orrorin tugenensis

A hominin species from Kenya, dated to 6 Ma

Ardipithecus kadabba

A hominin species from Ethiopia, dated 5.8-5.2 Ma

Ardipithecus ramidus

A hominin species from Ethiopia, dated to 4.4 Ma

What Makes a Hominin?

Major evolutionary novelties of humans, including bipedalism, specific dental characteristics, elaboration of material culture, brain size increase, and long developmental period

Characteristics of Australopiths

Reduced canine size; larger cheek teeth; thicker enamel; adaptations for bipedalism; not substantially enlarged brain compared to apes; smaller body size than modern humans.