Lecture 25
How are fossils formed?
★ an animal dies and eventually just bones remain
★ trampling, tumbling of bones may occur
★ covered by sediment
○ sand, silt, mud carried by water
○ dust or volcanic rock
★ minerals in water or soil replace bone mineral turning bone to stone (petrification)
★ later erosion uncovers fossil so we can discover it
Which bones get fossilized?
★ fossils are rare and represent a small fraction of past life
★ have to have unique conditions of preservation, volcano, flood
★ teeth and jaws more likely to be recovered
taphonomy: the study of what happens to the remains of an animal from the time of death to time
of discovery
➔ did damage on bones occur before or after death?
➔ what happened after the animal died? did scavengers have an effect on bone?
➔ did bones get moved by water, or are the bones found where the animal died?
➔ were cut marks on animal bones due to humans or animals?
stratigraphy: the study of the order of rock layers and the sequence of events they reflect
➔ sedimentary rocks are formed layer by layer
➔ over time these layers pile up on each other
➔ bottom layers are older than top layers
➔ geological processes can deform once horizontal layers
James Hutton
★ uniformitarianism - geological processes in the past same as those in present
Charles Lyell
★ synthesized Principles of Geology
Principles of Stratigraphy
★ Principle of Original Horizontality
○ all earth’s layers are laid down parallel to earth’s gravitational field
★ Principle of Superposition
○ older layers at bottom, younger layers at top
★ Principle of Cross-Cutting
○ geological features that cut through existing layers must be newer
★ Principle of Faunal Succession
○ the earth’s animals are laid down in predictable sequences of strata that contain
certain types of fauna, showing changes through time
Dating Techniques
★ relative: uses stratigraphy to establish relative age ○ lithostratigraphy
■ match up rock units from different areas to get relative ages
○ biostratigraphy
■ use biological organisms with a good fossil record to get relative age
○ fluorine and Piltdown Hoax
■ 1908 - fossil found in England
■ two different bones
★ chronometric: uses an absolute clock to provide an age estimate
○ radiometric dating
■ extra neutron in carbon 14 makes it unstable, it wants to get rid of that
extra neutron
■ radioactive atoms in the isotope change into stable atoms in the isotope
■ half life: the time it takes to reduce number of radioactive atoms by 50%
■ we can measure the ratio of radioactive to stable atoms to date
○ potassium-argon dating
■ potassium-argon has a very long half-life so can be used to date very old
things such as volcanic rock
■ because fossil hominids are often found between layers of volcanic rock
we can use this method
■ have to use a rock sample for potassium and one for argon gas
○ argon-argon dating
■ uses just argon and smaller samples
○ carbon 14 dating
■ when an animal dies, its bones contain a certain amount of 14c absorbed
from the air and its food
■ after 5730 years half the original 14c becomes 12c
■ after 11460 years ¾ of the original 14c becomes 12c
■ after 17190 years ⅞ of the original 14c becomes 12c
★ calibrated relative: compares a relative technique to absolute time scale
Climate Change
★ habitat analysis
○ c3 plants - trees and shrubs - make a 3 carbon compound during photosynthesis
○ c4 plants - tropical grasses - make a 4 carbon compound
○ look at ratios of these carbons in teeth to tell what animal ate and habitat
★ changes in oxygen measured in deep sea cores tells us of changes in temp and sea levels
★ continental drift
○ the position of continents plays an important role in evolution of species
■ oceans serve as barriers that isolate certain species (facilitating genetic
drift, allopatric speciation)
○ continental drift is an important engine of climate change
★ the climate in which earliest primates evolved was different from that in which early
humans evolved (warmer)
Lecture 26
★ flowering plants evolved at the end of the cretaceous period, led to increased insect evolution and abundance
★ asteroid hits earth - dinosaurs go extinct, small insect-eating mammals survive and
flourish
★ Plesiadapiforms
○ primate-like mammals
○ had cheek teeth like those of modern primates
○ but their anterior teeth are too specialized for primate ancestors
○ didn’t have postorbital bar
○ claws
○ mostly arboreal
○ small to medium size
○ NA, Europe, China
★ Purgatorius
○ early plesiadapiform
○ less specialized, generalized teeth
○ could have been primate ancestor
○ from late cretaceous period, Montana
★ earth become warmer in eocene epoch - primates
★ Adapids and Omomyids
○ larger brains
○ eye sockets face forwards
○ complete postorbital bar
○ opposable big toe
○ nails not claws
★ Adapids
○ diurnal
○ lemur-like skulls (no toothcomb)
○ strepsirrhines?
○ ate leaves
○ relied more on smell
○ premolar and molar shearing crests
★ Omomyids
○ mainly nocturnal
○ tarsier ish?
○ haplorhines?
○ ate insects and fruit
○ shorter snout
○ small species - sharp pointed molar cusps
○ large species - flat molar teeth
★ Anthropoids
○ earth becomes cooler and dryer at end of Eocene
○ led to faunal turnover called Grande Coupure
○ adapids and omomyids go extinct
○ monkeys evolve in oligocene (58-40 mya)
○ change in climate led to new niches and new foods to exploit
○ bigger bodies ○ mandible fused
○ orbits fully enclosed
○ enabled them to chew a tougher diet
■ more force with fused mandible
■ more protection of eyes during chewing allows you to see better and avoid
predators
○ Eosimias
■ early anthropoids or unusual tarsier?
■ late eocene of China (45-32 mya)
■ tiny animals, sharp cusped insect eating teeth and omomyid type ear
regions
■ anthropoid-like foot bones
★ Fayum Depression
○ Egypt
○ Parapithecidae
■ first occur in early Oligocene
■ 2.1.3.3
■ ring-like ear bone
■ could be ancestor to NW monkeys
○ Oligopithecidae
■ found in late Eocene
■ small monkeys with sharp-cusped teeth and big closed orbits
■ ring-like ear bone
■ 2.1.2.3
■ earliest catarrhines?
○ Propliopithecidae
■ late oligocene
■ 2.1.2.3
■ ring-like ear bone
■ ape-like molars
■ ancestral to all catarrhines
■ first definite catarrhines
○ Victoriapithecus
■ ate hard fruits and nuts
■ small
■ probably ancestral to all OW monkeys
★ all major platyrrhine groups present in SAby the miocene
★ Primate Evolution
○ hominoids evolved a different anatomy than earlier primates
○ more suited to a suspensory lifestyle
○ relatively short trunks
○ broad chests
○ long arms
○ flexible shoulder joints
○ no tails
○ skull and teeth of middle miocene apes also show that they had a more robust and fibrous diet than the earlier proconsulids
○ related to climate change, drier, more seasonal environment produced tougher
vegetation and harder seeds
○ many fossil apes and few fossil OW monkeys from the early/middle miocene
○ today we see few living apes and many living OW monkeys
★ Miocene fossil record
○ apes appear at the end of the oligocene and radiate in the miocene
○ one big change: the socket of the shoulder joint faces ventrally (toward the belly)
in the quadrupeds but more sideways in apes and humans
○ African forms - 23-14 mya
○ European forms - 16-11 mya
○ Asian forms - 16-7 mya
■ Proconsul
● African form
● multiple species
● lived in rain-forest environment
● sharing same features with living humans (no tail)
● arboreal quadrupeds
■ Oreopithecus & Dryopithecus
● European forms
● Dryopithecus probably an arboreal brachiator
● Oreopithecus may have lived in a swampy habitat
■ Sivapithecus
● Asian form
● related but not ancestral to modern orangutans
■ Khoratpithecus
● Asian form
● may be orangutan ancestor
■ Gigantopithecus
● a giant Chinese ape from middle miocene to 1 mya
Lecture 27
★ Bipedalism is the primary diagnostic trait that defines all hominids
★ footprints in Africa 3 mya - human
★ BipedalAdaptation - major anatomical innovation, involves reorganization of several
anatomical regions; must have provided a fitness advantage
○ Pelvis
■ the pelvis is composed of three elements
● 2 os coxae
○ each os coxa is composed of an ilium, ischium, pubis
● 1 sacrum
■ flatter, broader iliia
■ shorter pubic bones
■ more bowl-shaped pelvis
■ gluteus maximus (along with hamstrings) helps move thigh backward during walking
■ the gluteus maximus also helps stabilize our trunk
■ abductor muscles keep the body erect during walking
■ when you lift one foot, the deep gluteal muscles on the other side contract
to keep the unsupported side of the pelvis from dropping
○ Femur
■ longer limb overall
■ human femur is angled - bicondylar angle or carrying angle - helps to
position the lower leg directly under the body
○ Vertebrae
■ humans have distinct spinal curves to keep weight centered above pelvis
■ lower (lumbar) vertebrae are very large in humans (in order to support
weight of trunk, arms, head)
■ pregnancy - increased strain on spine
● to compensate for bipedal pregnancy, human females have
evolved:
○ more spinal curvature
○ reinforcement of lumbar vertebrae
○ Foot
■ the human foot has a longitudinal arch that helps to absorb shock and add
spring to each step
■ humans have transverse arch formed by tarsal bones of foot
■ humans also have an adducted hallux that helps us balance
■ toe bones are short, broad, and stout, especially big toe
■ toes less curved
○ Skull Base
■ in humans, the head is centered on the spine
■ the spinal cord leaves through a downward facing foramen magnum
■ in quadrupeds, the foramen magnum faces posteriorly and is farther back
★ Scenarios of Human Evolution
○ Carrying Objects
■ prime mover: need to carry objects, food, children, tools
■ evidencet: bipedalism would have given us the advantage of being able to
carry things
■ assumptions: was this enough of a selective force?
○ Long Distance Walking Efficiency
■ prime mover: need to cover large distances in search of food
■ evidence: climate change - led to greater distance between food; more
efficient than knuckle walking
■ assumptions: assumes habitat changed and needed to cover long distance
for food
■ bipedal humans use much less energy than bipedal apes
○ Thermoregulation
■ prime mover: need to dissipate heat on savannah
■ evidence: bipeds dissipate heat faster than quadrupeds because stand
farther away from ground ■ assumptions: assumes bipedalism evolved on savannah, would this have
been enough of a selective pressure to change locomotion?
○ Visual Surveillance
■ prime mover: need to see over grassland to look for foods/scan for
predators
■ evidence: not much
■ assumptions: assumes bipedalism evolved on savannah; would this have
been enough of a selective pressure to change locomotion? why not just
stand up?
○ Bipedalism in Trees
■ prime mover: more efficient locomotion and/or feeding posture in trees
■ evidence: gibbons and orangutans stand and walk bipedally in trees
■ assumptions: assumes change in tree structure of hominin ancestor that
selected for change in arboreal locomotion/feeding posture
○ Seed and Nut Gathering
■ prime mover: efficiency for feeding on seeds
■ evidence: baboons squat and shuffle when eating seeds on savannah;
evolved postural changes in pelvis as a pre-adaptation to bipedalism
■ assumptions: assumes evolved on savannah; were we eating seeds?
○ Reaching Fruit
■ prime mover: need to gather hard to reach food from trees
■ evidence: evolved standing first as a feeding posture
■ assumptions: why would it lead to bipedal walking?
○ Bipedal Wading
■ prime mover: bipedal wading to obtain fallback foods
■ evidence: baboons, all apes, and humans wade to get fallback foods in
delta areas, increasing evidence that these areas were an important part of
landscape for early hominids; obtaining tubers and rhizomes that also
match isotopic evidence of early
○ Avoidance of Predation
■ prime mover: need to move quickly to avoid being eaten
■ evidence: evolved bipedalism so could quickly move across open areas of
savannah
■ assumptions: assumes bipedalism evolved in savannah, enough of a
selective pressure?
○ Hunting
■ prime mover: need to stand and walk upright for hunting
■ evidence: bipedalism allows you to carry weapons and hunt more
efficiently
■ assumptions: hunting seems to have evolved after bipedalism
○ Male Display
■ prime mover: need to look more imposing - threat to other males
■ evidence: chimps and gorillas stand upright during displays; leads to
increased dominances and more mating opportunities
■ assumptions: why lead to bipedal walking?
○ Male Provisioning ■ prime mover: need to provision dependent offspring
■ evidence: as human infants more dependent mothers need help
provisioning; walking lets you carry food back to mother and baby
■ assumptions: no evidence of monogamy with bipedalism; assumes high
paternity confidence; assumes food was a type that can obtain extra to
provision others; others can provision, not just males; in most foragers
women provide more than 50% of calories
★ may have started off as a postural change as feeding niche changed
★ bipedal walking selected for because more efficient as needed to travel longer distances
as food sources became more dispersed
★ led to secondary benefits: better for thermoregulation, could start carrying things
Lecture 28
What makes a fossil a hominin?
★ paleoanthropologists use bipedalism as a diagnostic trait that defines all hominids - a
bipedal member of the evolutionary lineage leading to modern humans
★ parabolic dental arcade (vs. a U shaped in apes with parallel tooth rows)
★ less prognathism
★ lose cp3 complex - sectoral premolar complex
○ p3 lower first premolar is sectoral (bladelike) which hones (sharpens) the back of
upper canine; the upper canine fits into diastema (space) in lower jaw
★ thicker enamel
★ eventually develop larger brains - brain size unit of measurement is cc - cranial capacity
★ split from chimpanzees 6-7 mya
Ardipithecines: Earliest Hominins?
★ Sahelanthropus tchadensis
○ skull found in Chad in 2001 by Brunet
○ 6-7 mya?
○ relatively short and flat face
○ similarities in teeth
○ somewhat anterior foramen magnum
○ large brow ridges, chimp-sized skull and brain, sagittal crest
○ 320-380 cc
★ Orrorin tugenensis
○ fragmentary remains from several individuals found in Kenya in 2001
○ 6 mya
○ femur shows evidence of bipedality
○ lived a more forested environment than expected for early hominins
○ teeth show chimp-like features - honing complex: upper canine rubs against lower
first premolar - sharpening function
★ Ardipithecus ramidus &Ardipithecus kadabba
○ Ethiopia, 1990s
○ A. ramidus - 4.4 mya; A. kadabba - 5.2-5.8 mya
○ anterior foramen magnum ○ toe bones suggest bipedality
○ canine teeth are more primitive
○ thinner enamel on molars
○ more flexible hand than what a chimp possess - not a knuckle-walker
○ bipedal on ground - quadrupedal in trees
○ doesn’t show adaptations for brachiating
Australopithecines
★ beginning around 4 mya (pliocene epoch) hominids began to diversify
★ gracile and robust
★ 4.2-1.2 mya
★ mix of bipedal locomotion and ape-like features
★ small-brained creatures with lots of sexual dimorphism in body mass and a little in canine
size
★ some species had specialized dietary adaptations
★ small incisors/canines relative to body size
★ herbivores and possibly some meat eating
★ East and South Africa - first discovered - (southern ape)
Gracile & Robust forms - features are separated by dental and jaw morphology (dietary adapt.)
Gracile Forms Robust Forms
Australopithecus anamensis (EastAfrica) Australopithecus aethiopicus (EastAfrica)
★ found by Meave Leakey at Lake ★ 2.6 mya
Turkana in Kenya ★ Ethiopia
★ 4.3-3.9 mya ★ maybe ancestral to later robust forms
★ evidence of bipedalism based on ★ 410 cc
interpretation of bicondylar angle ★ prognathic face (like afarensis)
★ orangutan-like snout ★ large anterior teeth
★ (some say this is ardipithecus) - ★ sagittal crest
transition between the two? ★ large molar teeth
★ dish-shaped face
★ flared zygomatics
★ “the black skull”
Australopithecus afarensis (EastAfrica) Australopithecus robustus (SouthAfrica)
★ found in east Africa at Laetoli ★ 2-1.5 mya
(Tanzania) and Hadar (Ethiopia) ★ sagittal crest and other heavy chewing
★ 3.9-2.9 mya adaptations
★ bipedal but adaptations for climbing ★ 500-530 cc
★ 350-500cc ★ 70-90 lbs
★ mix of ape-like and human-like traits ★ hand/feet more modern
★ sexually dimorphic in body size
★ “Lucy” - 3.2 mya
★ subnasal prognathism (compared to
modern humans - orthognathic)
★ diastema like chimps
★ U-shaped dental arcade
★ canines less sexually dimorphic than chimps, more than humans
★ incipient cusp on premolar
★ ilium is flared - more human-like
★ 3.5 myo footprints - Laetoli - striding
gait - small bipeds
Australopithecus africanus (South Africa) Australopithecus boisei (EastAfrica)
★ 3.3-2 mya ★ 2.3-1.2 mya
★ firstAustralopithecus discovered ★ Mary Leakey, Olduvai Gorge, 1959
(Taung child, 3 yo) ★ sagittal crest and other heavy chewing
★ Raymond Dart recognized it adaptations
★ evidence for bipedalism, canine ★ 475-545 cc
reduction, slightly expanded brain size ★ very sexually dimorphic in body size
★ faster maturation than modern humans ★ extreme dish-shaped face
(ape-like) ★ hyper-robust
★ foramen magnum anterior
★ face a little flatter, canines more
reduced
★ some climbing adaptations (divergent
big toe)
Australopithecus ghari (EastAfrica) Kenyanthropus platyops (EastAfrica)
★ 2.5 mya ★ 3.5 mya
★ Tim White, Ethiopia, 1999 ★ Meave Leakey, Kenya, 1999
★ bigger cheek teeth and anterior teeth ★ 400-500 cc
★ proportionally longer lower limb ★ flatter, less prognathic face
bones ★ no definitive postcranial fossils
★ associated with antelope bones with ★ relationship toAustralopithecines not
cut marks and primitive tools clear - ancestor to homo?
Australopithecus sediba (SouthAfrica) Robust forms
★ 1.98-1.78 mya ★ larger cheek teeth/very reduced
★ South Africa lime cave site (melapa) anterior teeth
★ 420cc ★ highly derived chewing machines
★ small molars and canines ★ larger attachment sites for muscles
★ brain asymmetry involved in chewing
★ nose ★ sagittal crest
★ conical thorax, upward tilted scapula ★ broad, flaring cheek bones and
★ long arms postorbital constriction to
★ ape-like foot features accommodate size of temporalis
★ hand digits not curved muscle
★ long thumb ★ molarized pre-molars
★ pelvis - bowl shaped ★ the attachment area of the temporalis
muscle was larger in robust
Australopithecine forms than in
modern humans
★ sagittal crest for attachment of
temporalis muscle
★ masseter muscle - moved forward over teeth - attaches to zygomatic - moved
forward
★ dish shaped
Bipedalism came first
★ early theories of human evolution speculated that humans developed large brains early in
our lineage
★ people wanted large brains to have evolved before anything else because they thought our
intellect separated us from lower animals
★ although the firstAustralopithecus skull was discovered in 1924, people ignored the
evidence pointing to small-brained ancestors
★ instead, people latched onto finds such as Piltdown Man
Lecture 29
Reconstructing Behavior
★ paleoanthropologists use fossils and associated artifacts to make inferences about early
hominin behavior
★ interpreting fossils based on an analog - living species that we use as a model
★ we can analyze behaviors found in both chimps and humans: these are likely to be found
in the common ancestor of humans and chimps
★ behavioral features
○ culture
■ evidence that chimps possess cultural attributes
○ tool-use
■ a lot of evidence for tool use (manipulating a natural object to achieve a
desired goal)
■ associated with remains of butchered animals
■ wear patterns on animal bones - may have used as digging sticks
○ warfare
■ documented in chimps and humans
■ male chimps regularly patrol boundaries of their home regions
○ hunting
■ chimps regularly hunt vertebrates
■ hunting appears to be a cooperative effort
Australopithecus was a human biped but may not have walked like us
➔ differences in postcrania:
◆ pelvic shape
◆ pelvic width
◆ angle of knee
◆ proximal femur - smaller head, longer neck
➔ retained adaptations for climbing
◆ long, curved finger and toe bones
◆ small vertebral bodies (not as stable for walking)
◆ somewhat ape-like scapula
➔ compromised biped? ◆ retained some adaptations for climbing, so not as good of a walker
➔ walked just like us?
Social Structure
★ body-size dimorphism conspicuous in many catarrhines
★ a lot of sexual dimorphism
★ large differences in body mass and height between male and femaleAustralopithecines
★ high body size dimorphism, low canine dimorphism
★ implies body size dimorphism and canine size dimorphism no longer linked in hominids
★ stopped fighting with mouths - body now sexually dimorphic, especially upper body
★ because of high sexual dimorphism australopithecines were likely living in one-male or
multi-male groups
★ were not monogamous or pair-bonded
★ degree of dimorphism and social structure varied likely as result of diet
Birth
★ encephalization and bipedalism combine to make parturition a difficult and laborious
process for human females
★ constraints of human pelvis
○ shortening of distance between sacroiliac joint and acetabulum (hip joint)
○ sacrum is opposite pubic symphysis
○ pelvic inlet is widest in transverse dimension
○ pelvic outlet is widest sagittally
○ baby must rotate 45-90 degrees to exist pelvis
★ human birth
○ human fetal head must enter the birth canal with its head in the oblique or
transverse plane (sideways)
○ once head has passed pelvic inlet, rotates to align with sagittal plane so longest
dimension of head is aligned with widest dimension of midpelvis
○ once the head rotates, the shoulders remain in the oblique or transverse position
○ neck is twisted
○ head emerges
○ shoulders rotate sideways
○ head rotates sideways outside of pelvis
○ top shoulder emerges under pubic symphysis
○ bottom shoulder emerges
○ doula effect - birth support - supported mothers had fewer problems and shorter
labors
○ Australopithecines - difficult births (less difficult than now)
Lecture 30
★ 2.5 mya
★ environment became cooler, dryer, and more variable
★ oxygen enrichment
★ variability selection - when organisms encounter periodic remodeling of landscape and
resources some populations respond to these shifting selective conditions by favoring genes and phenotypes that build adaptive versatility
○ locomotor system designed to allow a wide repertoire of movement
○ dental structure or foraging strategy that enhances a shift to newly available foods
○ large brain that is effective in processing external data and generating complex
cognitive responses
○ species-specific social behaviors from which broad range of mating-systems or
grouping could manifest
★ Homo habilis
○ oldest known species of the genus
○ EastAfrica
○ fossils date to 2.3-1.4 mya (tools - 2.5 mya)
○ Olduvai Gorge
■ Louis Leakey found the first Homo habilis fossil here
■ A. boisei
■ first site where hominin species are found in association
○ no sagittal crest, smaller teeth, found in close association with tools
○ skull more rounded
○ 600-700 cc - larger brain thanAustralopithecine
○ less prognathic
○ smaller molars
○ parabolic dental arcade
○ less postorbital constriction
○ Koobi Fora, Kenya - solidified new genus and species (Richard Leakey)
○ more efficient biped - longer legs, robust heel bone
○ modern biped gait, fully terrestrial
○ increased manual dexterity - long, strong thumb; short, straight fingers; broader
fingertips
○ lived in savannah and woodlands
○ primarily vegetarian, somewhat more mixed diet
○ likely ate meat
○ Oldowan tools
■ Olduvai Gorge, Louis Leakey, 1930s
■ 2.5 mya
■ haphazard in design, made from locally available materials
■ core - stone source material, shows evidence of flake removal (small
fragments taken from core)
■ hammerstones - use to strike core or bones?
■ presence of tools tied into the Man the Hunter paradigm - however, meat
eating - association with animal bones with stone tools
● marks on bones indicate processing with tools
● sometimes before carnivores (hunting)
● sometimes after carnivores (scavenging)
○ hunting, passive scavenging, confrontational scavenging?
○ diet
■ stone tools preserved, likely still ate primarily vegetarian diet, incorporation of meat
★ Homo erectus
○ 1.8 mya
○ associated with more climatic variability
○ bigger, bigger brain
○ found outside ofAfrica
○ more advanced tools
○ Eugene DuBois, 1891 - Java
○ skullcap and femur
○ 1930s, Davidson, Black, Franz Weidenreich, Pei Wenzhong - Zhoukoudian
○ Lake Turkana, 1984 - Turkana Boy
■ 1.6 mya
■ 11-12 when he died
■ 5’3’’, likely to be 6’1’’
■ long, linear body shape
■ 900cc
○ 750-1250cc
○ more encephalized
○ large brow ridges, low forehead, broad at skull base, occipital torus, thick cranial
bones
○ switch to higher quality diet - big increase in brain size
○ dentition
■ shovel shaped incisors
■ much smaller molars
■ facial shortening
○ as tall as modern humans
○ more sexually dimorphic than modern humans
○ thicker long bones
Lecture 31
★ Acheulian tools
○ larger and more symmetrical than Oldowan tools
○ tear dropped shaped hand axes common: standardized forms
○ flaked on all sides = biface (includes hand axes and cleavers)
○ design consistent over 1.2 mil years
○ use
■ hold a sharp edge for longer
■ greater length for working edge
■ convenient size - less fatigue
■ assumed used to butcher large game
■ could be used for scraping plant material
■ digging roots, tubers, holes with small game?
○ rare or absent in EastAsia
■ didn’t need them? bamboo forests may have provided materials necessary
for making tools ■ could be from earlier wave of Homo erectus that leftAfrica before
Acheulean tools were invented
★ Diet
○ evidence that dramatic shift in dietary quality due to cooking of meat and
vegetables
○ likely ate largely plant-based diet like apes and modern foragers
○ incorporated more meat in diet
○ evidence of butchering large game - maybe obtained through aggressive
scavenging?
○ likely ate smaller animals as well
★ World Traveler
○ 1999 - Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia
■ 1.7 - 1.8 mya
■ Oldowan tools, migrated out ofAfrica with tool-making skills
■ H. georgicus?
■ earliest Homo erectus to leave Africa
■ very small skulls and brains - 630-800cc
■ within lowest range of other H. erectus
■ some skull features like even earlier Homo
■ 4’5’’
■ were there two waves with the second wave coming from a bigger and
bigger brained H. erectus?
■ one individual died with just 1 tooth left
■ must have had to have been fed soft food
■ cooking and fire?
■ Oldowan tools
★ Archaic Hominin Species
○ Homo heidelbergensis
■ 800-130 kya
■ pre-modern humans or archaic Homo
■ tricky to taxonomically classify
■ 1250cc
■ taller skull than earlier hominins
■ less protruding face
■ thinner cranial bones
■ no occipital torus
■ large, rounded brow ridge (forms arches)
■ larger brain
■ taller vault with more parallel sides (less rounded cranial vault)
■ wide nasal aperture
■ no canine fossa
■ Africa
● Kabwe, Zambia (Broken Hill)
● 300-130 kya
● 1280cc
● gracile postcrania ● defleshing?
■ Europe
● Steinheim, Germany
● 250 kya
● 1100cc
● wide parietal breadth
● thin cranial vault
■ Asia
● Dali, China
● 230-180 kya
● 1120cc
■ tools
● Acheulean hand axe
● 300 kya - Levallois technique - large symmetrical flakes
● hafted stone tools (attached to sticks)
● early wooden spears - coal mine in Germany
● 380-400 kya
■ Pleistocene epoch
■ controlled and used fire
■ built shelters and structures
■ exploited many different food sources
★ Modern Homo sapiens
○ Africa - 160 kya
○ 100-50 kya - spread throughout world
○ longer limbs
○ skeletons are less robust
○ vertical forehead
○ small face with protruding chin
○ less robust postcranial skeleton
○ small brow ridges
○ small incisors
○ pyramidal mastoid process
○ definite chin
Lecture 32
★ 1856 - Neander Valley, Germany - Homo neanderthalensis - original caveman?
○ distributed across the western part of Eurasia
○ found mostly between 130-30 kya
○ own species or subspecies
○ misperception of stooping, brutish individuals
■ a flawed reconstruction of one of the earlier complete Neanderthal
skeletons discovered
■ an oversight of the fact that the skeleton had severe, debilitating arthritis
○ short, robust, heavily muscled
○ barrel-chested
○ different hairstyle ○ anatomy points to cold-adapted species
■ large nasal opening and barrel chest allow for better warming of air during
respiration
■ short, robust stature conserves heat
■ limb proportions of neandertals resemble those of modern people living
above the arctic circle
○ midfacial projection
○ 1245-1740cc
○ maximum cranial breadth at different positions on vault (middle)
○ side walls parallel in humans
○ teeth
■ very large, worn anterior teeth
■ shovel shaped incisors
■ small posterior teeth
■ back premolars have extra cusps
■ molars have taurodont roots
● expanded pulp cavity
● fused roots
● can sustain more wear
○ several partial skeletons recovered in site in NE Iraq
■ Kebara Cave, Israel, 60 kya
● one male, 30-45, 5’7’’, 1600cc, paralyzed right arm
● survived despite injuries - compassion and community care
■ deliberately buried their dead?
● body is moved into fetal position
● animal bones and stones buried along
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