ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Rising Star Cave, Laetoli, Foramen Magnum
6 Mar 2017
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Paleoanthropology = the study of fossil humans. When and where did the first humans appear: hominid = humans and their direct ancestors, multidisciplinary. Social sciences: organ material is replaced by minerals from surrounding soil . Rising star expedition: cave chambers, looking for fossils, site requires a centralized time to get down into smaller chambers. Ardipithecus ramidus (~4. 4 million years ago: doesn"t have flexibility in big toe for grasping (not opposable, not certain that this was bipedal, but it"s possible. What does a hominid look like: small front teeth and large molars (especially compared to other apes, bipedalism and associated anatomical adaptations, have good manual dexterity. Australopithecus afarensis (~4. 3 million years ago: lucy is most complete example of afarensis, all features that are consistent with bipedal creature: s-shaped spine, broad pelvis, femur angled inwards, short (about 3 feet tall) Laetoli footprints found in tanzania (1978)
