ANTH 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Most Recent Common Ancestor, Coprolite, Molecular Clock
14 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Paleoanthropology: the study of ancient humans: multidisciplinary: Dating - geology, paleontology, primatology, geophysics, chemistry. Ecology - paleontology, taphonomy, palynology (fossilized plants) What is a fossil: evidence of past life. Preservation - most bones don"t become fossils, many conditions must be met. Collector"s - some bones don"t get preserved as well as others. Taphonomy - how the fossils came to be buried there (what happens between death and discovery) Tell us whether something is older or younger than something else: absolute/chronometric dating techniques. Gives estimate of how old something is in actual years. Stratigraphy - the study of rock layers (strata) and the sequence of events they reflect. Law of superposition - in a stratigraphic sequence, the lower layers were deposited before the upper layers. Biostratigraphic - uses fauna to determine age and correlated sites based on presence/absence of particular species. Paleomagnetism - dates rocks using changes in the earth"s magnetic field.
