ANT 2511 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Australopithecus, Gastrolith, Quadrupedalism
Document Summary
Name 4-5 types of locomotion in primates: clinging and leaping, terrestrial quad, arboreal quad, brachiation, knuckle walking. Quadrupeds have equal-sized limbs while brachiators have longer arms and shorter legs. *mold fossils (a fossilized impression made in the substrate - a negative image of the organism). *cast fossils (formed when a mold is filled in). *trace fossils = ichnofossils (fossilized nests, gastroliths, burrows, footprints, etc. The larger the eye orbits, we can tell that these creatures were nocturnal. Postorbital closure, short snout, same dental formula (2-1-3-3). The laetoli footprints were most likely made by australopithecus afarensis, an early human whose fossils were found in the same sediment layer. The entire footprint trail is almost 27 m (88 ft) long and includes impressions of about 70 early human footprints. 3. 6 million years ago in laetoli, tanzania, two early humans walked through wet volcanic ash.
