ANTHROP 2200H Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Piltdown Man, Mosaic Evolution, Yves Coppens
19 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
Bipedalism, archaeological context & dating techniques: great rift valley of africa, runs through ethiopia, tanzania, kenya, very seismically active area in past, coppen"s rift valley hypothesis. Possible hypotheses: free hands for weapons and tools. Earlier tools made of wood no fossils. Hunting / carrying objects made hunting more efficient. Hunting evidence comes later: seed nut and gathering jolly. Feeding from lower branches of trees and bushes. More efficient for bipeds during hunting/foraging: reproductive success / male provisioning lovejoy. Males provisioned females formed monogamous pairs carried back food to females. Problem: cannot explain female bipedalism, no evidence, monogamy very rare in primates, sexual dimorphism: feminist critique tanner. Problem: cannot explain male bipedalism, most primates carry infants other ways: temperature regulation / radiator theory wheeler. Beneficial in hot and dry areas: tool use washburn. Bipedalism, large brains and small canines = feedback loop. Problems: bipedalism 4. 4 mya, tools 2. 4 mya, larger brains 2 mya.
