Anthropology 1026F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Australopithecine, Taung Child, Gigantopithecus
21 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Superfamily hominoidea: apes, humans and extinct related forms. Appear in africa first, later in asia and europe. Earliest = ape teeth/no tails but small and quadrupedal. Many species and lines leading to modern forms appear eg: biological family. Asian species living in mosaic of grassland, bushes and woodland = largely terrestrial. Huge teeth found by g. h. r. von koenigswald in chinese drugstores = dragon"s teeth . China, pakistan, vietnam 9-1 million years ago = extend beyond miocene. Separate evolutionary lines leading to specific modern species established. 6-5 million years ago or so hominins or human line diverged based on molecular/genetic clocks . Real hard evidence of hominins/human line around 4. 2 million years ago. Most refer to genus: australopithecus = southern ape but are not apes. Are as many as 7 species of australopithecus and some place in multiple genera. Several species existed at same time so not single straight evolutionary line = bushy tree with some species dead ends (became extinct)
