ANTH 102 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Sivapithecus, Aegyptopithecus, Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act
Study Guide for Exam #2: 102: Introduction to Human Origins
A) Chapter 4: Primate Behavior
1. Primates as models for early human behavior.
2. The “Primate Analogy” related to baboons, chimpanzees and bonobos.
3. Behavior Ecology: the relationships between behaviors, natural environment, and
biological traits of the species.
4. Behavioral phenotypes: Individuals whose behavioral phenotypes increase
reproductive fitness pass on their genes at a faster rate.
5. Aspects of primate social structure.
6. Factors influencing status in the group.
7. Communication, reproduction, and mothers and infants.
8. Assignment #2: The question of ape language….Koko videos.
B) Chapter 5: Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology
1. Forms of preservation, taphonomy
2. Fossilization (exact processes involved, differential fossilization potentials based
on physical make-up, environment, political agendas, resources, knowledge of the
area; slice of history, very incomplete set of information)
3. Fossils can provide lots of information (skull features, stature, pathology, etc.)
4. Dating methods
a) Relative – stratigraphy
b) Chronometric – exact point in time (radiocarbon, potassium-argon)
5. Locating archaeological sites and how to properly excavate
a) Context is everything to an archaeologist (provenience, exact location of
artifact)
b) Consultation with neighboring groups and conflicting worldviews
c) NAGPRA of 1990
6. Continental Drift
7. Molecular Clock Hypothesis
C) Chapter 6: From First Primates to First Bipeds
1. Ancestral characteristics vs. derived characteristics
2. Importance of continental drift and plate tectonics in primate evolution
3. Earliest primates 60-55 mya, earliest Anthropoids in the Fayum 34 mya
(Aegyptopithecus), Miocene Hominoid radiation, natural selection and the
evolution and expansion of new species (Proconsul and Sivapithecus), 10-8 mya
gorillas split off, 8-5 mya humans and chimps split, etc
4. The evolution of bipedalism
a) Hypotheses regarding why bipedalism evolved in some of the Miocene apes
b) Anatomical adaptations associated with the shift from quadrupedalism to
bipedalism
5. Anatomical characteristics associated with early hominins
Document Summary
Study guide for exam #2: 102: introduction to human origins: chapter 4: primate behavior. The primate analogy related to baboons, chimpanzees and bonobos. Behavior ecology: the relationships between behaviors, natural environment, and biological traits of the species. Behavioral phenotypes: individuals whose behavioral phenotypes increase reproductive fitness pass on their genes at a faster rate. Assignment #2: the question of ape language . koko videos: chapter 5: field methods in archaeology and paleoanthropology. Fossilization (exact processes involved, differential fossilization potentials based on physical make-up, environment, political agendas, resources, knowledge of the area; slice of history, very incomplete set of information) Fossils can provide lots of information (skull features, stature, pathology, etc. ) Locating archaeological sites and how to properly excavate. Chronometric exact point in time (radiocarbon, potassium-argon) Context is everything to an archaeologist (provenience, exact location of artifact) Molecular clock hypothesis: chapter 6: from first primates to first bipeds. Importance of continental drift and plate tectonics in primate evolution.
