Anthropolgy exam 2

ANTH 1000 Exam 2 – Revie
• last common ancestor - ancestor that the two species are derived from
• taxonomy/phylogeny - Phylogeny – graphic representation that traces evolutionary relationships and identifies points when an evolutionary event or change occurred (such as speciation events)
• ethnoprimatology - Studying human and non-human
primate interactions
• anthropological primatology - Studying primate behavior, window into evolution of behaviors

• primate characteristics - prehensile hands and feet, nails, flexible hips and shoulders, big brains, social, decreased olfactory senses, stereoscopic vision,occasional bipedalism
• Strepsirrhini (lemurs, lorises, etc_ - “inward turned or curly nosed”, Rhinarium – wet nose, attached to their gums, Tooth comb, Grooming claw, Bicornate uterus –twins, Many are nocturnal, Vertical clinging and leaping, “Primitive” traits
• Haplorrhini (tarsiers, Old and New World monkeys, apes) - dry nose, upper lip, larger brain, diurnal, single chambered uterus
• Platyrrhini – New World monkeys - flat nosed, prehensile tails, arboreal, monogamy, omnivores, no opposable thumbs
• Catarhini – Old World monkeys and apes - outward facing nostrils, no prehensile tails, sexual dimorphism, diurnal, grasping hands
and feet
• Cercopithecoids – Old World monkeys - arboreal and terrestrial, have tails (not prehensile), frugivores, folivores
• Homonoidea – Apes - no tails, greater shoulder flexibility, long arms compared to legs Gorillas, chimps, gibbons, orangutans, humans
• Early theories about human evolution – Piltdown Man - Brain evolved first, body second
 Evolution of humanity occurred in Europe
• Relative dating - method that places artifacts, features, or sites in a sequence but without a determination of actual age for archaeological artifacts, features, and sites

absolute dating - dating techniques which provide an actual or absolute age in years or a range of years
Law of Superposition – in an undisturbed sequence of geological materials, the youngest layer is on top and the oldest on the bottom
Law of Uniformitarianism – the same natural laws and processes visible today, also operated in the past and throughout the universe
• Hominins – branch of the Homininae subfamily which is part of the family Hominidae (great
apes)
• Major trends in hominin evolution - bipedalism, dentition, increase in brain size, culture
• Bipedalism - walking on two legs
o theories about evolution - people moved from Africa after a flood. AND people originated in Europe
o physical changes - pelvis at a different angle, femur/knee, feet, spine at a different angle, skull

Sahelanthropus tchadensis - considered earliest probable hominin

Ardipithecus ramidus - transition between tree climbing and bipedalism
o Australopithecines - came out of Australia
▪ What is mosaic evolution? - changes take place in some body parts without change in others
▪ Australopithecus afarensis - has a small brain, a prognathic face, and full time bipedalism
▪ Australopithecus africanus - arger brain (400-440cc), rounder cranium, smaller
teeth (ie. more human-like) - gracile and Massive
mandibles and molars
▪ Australopithecus robustus - found in south Africa
▪ Australopithecus boisei - most robust
o Robust Australopithecines - larger teeth

gracile Australopithecines - smaller teeth, ate cooked food
o Why is there a gap between Australopithecus and Homo? Where does Homo descend
from? What is the “missing link” and why is it missing? - We do not know
▪ Homo habilis/rudolphensis - larger brain, mild prognathism, Oldowan tools
▪ Homo erectus/ergaster - first to leave Africa, much larger brain – Broca’s area present (language?), saggital keel and occipital bun, large brow ridges, Acheulean tools
▪ Homo floresiensis - had a genetic drift (maybe founder effect)
▪ Homo heidelbergensis - thought to be our predecessors, archaic Homo sapiens
▪ Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, very large brains, large midface (slight prognathism), occipital bun, large nose
• Mousterian tools - stone tools
• culture/symbolic behavior - neanderthal burials and care of elderly
• Language - hyiod bone
▪ Homo sapiens sapiens - flat face, big forehead, round skull, big brain, chin, less robust postcrania
• culture – Upper Paleolithic tools
▪ Hypotheses about the spread of H. sapiens sapiens - Came from Africa then walked alone a land shelf
• Multiregional hypothesis - spread out of Africa then branched off
• Out of Africa/Replacement hypothesis - Spread out of Africa then branched off TWICE
• domestication – genetic transformation of a wild species by selective breeding
o evidence for domestication - increase in plant size and change in animal size
o examples of domesticated plants and animals - carrots and cats
• domestication - over a long time

taming - just one animal

cultivation - growing food

agriculture - growing a lot of food in better ways
o Oasis hypothesis - during dry spells, the only places people could live was near an oasis
o Hilly Flanks hypothesis - the first cultigens were from uplands near early towns in the plains
o Population pressure hypothesis - population growth forced people to produce more food
• Neolithic revolution - the process of changing from hunting/gathering to agriculture
• Social and physical consequences of farming, agriculture, and sedentism - more specialization and more permanent communities and more disease
• Conventional scenario regarding the transitions to farming/agriculture and to village/city life - conventional wisdom
o domestication > sedentism > agriculture > hierarchy > cities > states
• egalitarian social relations - seen in early farming societies
• hierarchical social relations - seen in cities (sometimes)
• social complexity - social organization became differentiated
• Fertile Crescent - near Tigris and Euphrates rivers and had many resources
• Gebekli Tepe - ceremonial buildings but no one lived there, place where wheat was domesticated
• Natufians - staying in one place but did no agriculture
• Catal Hoyuk - large early neolithic site in southern Turkey with no hierarchy
• Poverty Point - 1700 BC
• Civilization - stage of human social and cultural development that is considered the most advanced
o V. Gordon Childe’s 10 Characteristics of Civilization - urban centers, full-time specialists, monumental public buildings, tax surplus, hierarchy, written language, predictive sciences (math), sophisticated artistic style, long-distance trade, and state formation
Social complexity - all of the different parts which comprise a social system
• How do complex societies emerge? - Food production and population growth, culture contact/diffusion, production
• Uruk - had trade, writing, and important temples with religious authority
• Indus Valley - large urban centers with organized cities (in a grid) with no elite