ANTH 2231 Lecture Notes - Foramen Magnum, Bipedalism, Tooth Enamel
Document Summary
Initial part of the process is to find out where the fossils fit. Evolutionary systematics looking at the morphology of the species, analyzing them and grouping them by their diff characteristics: produces hominin phylogentic tree, not everyone agrees, there are diff versions. Miocene to present: the primate family tree, looked at ancient primate species, now we are looking at the homo part of the primate evolutionary tree. Our line after the split from the chimps: last 7. 0 million years. Sahelanthropus tchadensis: toumai , 6-7 mya, only has the cranium, in chad, small brain, brain like a chimp (350cm^2, small canines. Allow you to pull back your neck without causing whiplash. In chimps, the line is higher up and in human it is weaker and it is directly on top on your body. In chimps, their heads are held in front of their body so they need a stronger nuchal line.