Bones, teeth & genes Flashcards
(209 cards)
1
Q
What fields does the American system split anthropology into?
A
Ethnology, linguistics, archaeology and biological anthropology
2
Q
What is “the great chain of being”?
A
The belief that God’s creation followed a plan and that humans were the highest form - this was permanent and unchanging.
3
Q
Who created the original taxonomic classification system?
A
Linnaeus
4
Q
When was On the origin of species published?
A
1859
5
Q
What is neo-Darwinism?
A
A combination of Darwin’s theories with modern understandings of genetics
6
Q
How are old world monkeys classified?
A
Cattarhines
7
Q
How are new world monkeys classified?
A
Platyrrhines
8
Q
When did the first hominins appear?
A
During the miocene, about 6mya
9
Q
What is a hominin?
A
- All great apes
- Large brain, bipedal and toolmaking
10
Q
What does the term derived mean?
A
Different from what was before
11
Q
What are the most widely dispersed early African hominins known as?
A
The Australopiths
12
Q
What are the major features of Australopiths?
A
- Small brains
- Bipedal
- Large teeth
- Lost 1st premolar
13
Q
When did hominins begin to move out of Africa?
A
2 mya
14
Q
When has the oldest Homo erectus fossil been dated to?
A
1.7 mya
15
Q
What era is usually associated with modern humans?
A
The upper palaeolitic
16
Q
What is Chatelperronian?
A
The idea that Neanderthals may have copied modern human tool use
17
Q
What is the regional continuity model?
A
The idea that humans evolved independantly in each region
18
Q
What is the complete replacement model?
A
The idea that hominin migration from Africa led to complete replacement of other species in other areas.
19
Q
What is the partial replacement model?
A
The idea that hominins expanded out of Africa and interbred with premodern humans leading to assimilation of DNA
20
Q
What did Adam Smith suggest?
A
That societies pass through stages: Hunting & gathering Pastoralism Nomadism Agriculturalism Commerce
21
Q
How did Georges Louis Leclerc define species?
A
Groups of organisms that could reproduce offspring that resemble parents
22
Q
When was on the origin of species written?
A
1859
23
Q
How many finch species did Darwin discover on the Galápagos Islands?
A
13
24
Q
What are the 3 stages of evolutionary development as suggested by Tylor?
A
Savagery
Barbarism
Civilisation
25
What are the 3 parts to Darwins theory of evolution?
Struggle for existence
Variation
Inheritance
26
When are the earliest primates dated to?
Palaeocene (65-56mya) - The plesiadapiforms
27
What do primates from the Eocene display?
Distinctive primate features.
| E.g. Teeth & flat fingernails
28
In what era are several species of anthropoids attributed to?
Oligocene (33-23mya)
29
What do hominin a encompass?
```
All great apes.
Name for members of the tribe hominini
Bipedal
Large brains
Toolmaking
```
30
What are the advantages of bipedalism?
1. Freed the hands for carrying objects and making tools
2. Wider visual field
3. Efficient way of covering large distances
4. Temperature regulation
31
What structural and anatomical changes occurred with the hominins?
1. pelvis becomes shorter and broader
2. Elongated legs
3. Forensic magnum underneath the skull
32
When was Australopithecus Africanus first discovered and by whom?
1924 by Raymond Dart
33
When did hominins first begin to move out of Africa?
2mya
34
What is the species name given to Homo in Africa?
Homo ergaster (may simply be geographical variation rather than a different species to homo erectus
35
What is a grade?
A grouping of organisms sharing similar adaptive patterns
36
How many glacial advances occurred in Europe during the Pleistocene?
15 major
| 50 minor
37
What characterises homo naledi?
1. Curved finger bones
2. Small brain
3. Human like teeth
38
Where does obsidian come from?
Volcanoes
39
What are the 4 types of Flint knapping?
1. Hard hammer percussion
2. Soft hammer percussion
3. Indirect percussion
4. Pressure flaking
40
Who came up with the modal system of classification in 1977?
Clark
41
What is relative dating?
Placing something in a sequence but to tied to a certain time
42
What is absolute dating?
Determining the time period to which something belongs
43
What methods are used in relative dating?
```
Architectural styles
Stratigraphy
Typology and seriation
Biostratigraphy
Pollen sequences
```
44
What methods are used in absolute dating?
```
Historical sources
Writing
Coins
Marine and ice cores
Glacial carve sediments
Dendrochronology
Amino acid racemization
Obsidian hydration
Paleomagnetism
Tephrachronology
```
45
What radio metric dating methods are used?
```
Potassium-argon dating
Uranium series dating
Luminescence dating
Electron spin resonance
Radiocarbon dating
```
46
What is a genotype?
A particular combination of genes or alleles that an individual carries
47
What is a phenotype?
The observable characteristics of an organism
48
How many amino acid molecules are there?
20
49
What infraorders are the Strepsirrhines divided into?
Lemuriformes and Lorisiformes
50
What infraorders are the Haplorrhines divided into?
Tarsiiformes, Platyrrhini and Catarrhini
51
What belongs to the Catarrhines?
Old world monkeys & apes and humans
52
What is included in the superfamily Hominoidea?
Hylobatidae (gibbons) and Hominidae (orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, humans)
53
What is potassium-Argon dating used for?
Dating the age of volcanic rocks found in association with fossils.
54
How does potassium-Argon dating work?
Argon gas is boiled out of the rock when it emerges from a volcano, this means any argon present must be due to the decay of potassium, which has a known half-life.
55
How does carbon-14 dating work?
When an organism is alive, C14:C12 is the same as in the atmosphere, but after death C14 decays into N14 at a known rate.
56
How does thermoluminescence dating work?
Heatng a rock relaxes the bonds that hold the atoms in a crystal lattice together, which means the trapped electrons can be recaptured by their atoms, this process gives off light.
57
How does electron-spin-resonance dating work?
- Used to age apatite crystals in tooth enamel.
Initially, these crystals contain no trapped electrons but when the teeth are subjected to a variable magnetic field, it is possible to estimate how many years its been since the tooth was formed.
58
What are angiosperms?
Flowering plants that spread during the cretaceous
59
What are gymnosperms?
Trees like pine, redwood and fir that dominated the mesozoic.
60
When was the Miocene epoch?
Between 23mya and 5mya
61
What was the climate during the Miocene?
It became warmer and Europe was dominated by evergreens.
62
What happened to the climate during the middle miocene?
Gradual cooling
63
When did the last common ancestor of humans, gorillas and cimpanzees live?
9-8mya
64
When did the last common ancestor of chimpanzees live?
7-5mya
65
It makes sense that the last common ancestor of chimps and humans would come from Africa as this is where the earliest hominin fossils are found. Why did this logic not fit until recently?
Late miocene apes had only been found in European sites until recently.
66
What features distinguish modern humans from other living hominoids?
1. Bipedalism
2. Larger brain
3. Slower development
4. Smaller canines
67
What is the earliest known hominin?
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
68
When was Sahelanthropus discovered?
2002
69
How many species are there in the genus Ardipithecus? And where were they found?
2. Ar. Kadabba (5.8-5.2mya) and Ar. ramidus (4.4mya).
| Ethiopia
70
Dentally, Ar. ramidus is similar to what? Which suggests what kind of diet?
Chimpanzees. Frugivorus
71
How can we tell that Ardipithecus was bipedal?
4 toes were apapted for bipedality, along with the pelvis which is much shorter and broader than chimpanzees.
72
There are several explanations for the evolution of bipedalism. What are they?
- Bipedalism first evolved among arboreal miocene apes as a feeding adaptation and was retained.
- Bipedalism allows harvesting from trees
- Cooling mechanism
- Hands free to carry things
73
How many species are included in Australopithecus?
5. Au. anamensis, Au. afarensis, Au. africanus, Au. garhi, Au. sediba
74
How many species of paranthropus are there?
3. P. aethiopicus, P. robustus, P. boisei
75
How many species of Kenyanthropus are there?
1. K. platyops pp.248
76
What is the main aim of geometric morphometrics?
To explore shape variability in organisms using multivariate statistical tools. It uses Cartesian geometric coordinates rather than linear, areal, or volumetric variables
77
Plotted points when using geometric morphometrics represent what?
landmarks, curves, outlines or surfaces
78
How can geometric morphometrics be applied to mutations?
It can be used to analyse the effect of a certain mutation on the shape of an organism or part of an organism.
79
What is the half-life of Carbon-14?
5730 +/- 40 years
80
What is isotope fractionation?
A process which results in a change in the relative proportions of the isotopes compared to the initial proportions of the substrates.
81
Which isotopes are studied in researching past diets?
C12, C13, N14, N15
82
What values are studied when distinguishing C3 and C4 plants?
delta C13
83
What photosynthesis pathway normally occurs in the ocean?
C3
84
How much of the nitrogen atoms in the biosphere is made up of N14?
99.64%
85
Why are C3 and C4 plants indistinguishable using nitrogen values?
Plants grown in a similar area acquire similar N15 values
86
When is Maize believed to have entered the human diet?
Late woodland period (AD 1000-1300)
87
Why might marine diets be confused with those rich in maize?
The delta 13C values are fairly similar in these diets.
88
Why are delta N15 values more positive than those in oceans?
More denitrification occurs in oceans than soil
89
What isotopes are used for studying migration?
Sr84, Sr86, Sr87, Sr88
90
How is Sr87 formed?
By the radioactive decay of rubidium-87
91
How many stable isotopes does Oxygen have?
3. O16, O17, O18
92
Which oxygen isotope is most abundant?
O16
93
How can Oxygen isotopes be used to display geographical patterning?
O18/O16 ratios in rainwater vary by region
94
How are isotope ratios measured?
Isotope ratio mass spectrometry
95
Which strontium isotope is most abundant?
Sr88
96
What does a high frequency of lactase persistence indicate?
A population that incorporates dairy into its diet which can be used to infer when dairying was first adopted.
97
Why is DNA important in biomolecular archaeology?
1. Identifying sex
2. Lactase persistence
3. Identifying plant domestication
4. Species identification of animal bones
5. Species identification of pathogens to understand prevalence of disease
6. Ancestry
98
Which bases are purines?
adenine and guanine
99
Which bases are pyrimidines?
Cytosine and thymine
100
What is the maximum number of base pairs that can normally be obtained from ancient DNA?
300
101
What are blocking lesions?
chemical modifications that block the progress of Taq DNA polymerase and prevent ancient DNA replication (this may lead to the death of a cell in a living organism)
102
What is a karyotype?
The organisation of DNA in chromosomes
103
Why does ancient DNA yield more mitochondrial DNA than nuclear?
mtDNA is more abundant than nuclear DNA i ancient DNA
104
When were efforts first made to sequence the human genome and when was it done?
1990 and 2001
105
What are triplets of nucleotides called?
Codons
106
What is a transition?
A pyrimidine become another pyrimidine or purine becomes another purine (e.g. A becomes T)
107
What is a transversion
A pyrimidine becomes a purine or vice versa (e.g. A becomes G)
108
What are polymeric macromolecules?
Large biomolecules, such as nucleotides
109
DNA is a polymer made of what?
monomers called deoxynucleotides
110
What characterises purines?
2-carbon nitrogen ring
111
What characterises pyrimidines?
1-carbon nitrogen ring
112
What is the approximate size of the human genome?
3.2Gb (Giga-basepairs)
113
When did pangea begin to break apart?
150mya
114
How can oxygen isotopes from ocean cores inform us about temperatures?
Concentration of O18 increases in seawater when the world is cold and decreases when warm
115
To what date is carbon-14 restricted when dating?
Can only date sites less than 40,000 years old
116
Why are radiometric dating methods problematic?
1. A site may not contain material that is suitable for this type of dating.
2. These methods have large margins for error
117
Why is there controversy over whether the plesiadapiformes should be included in the primate order?
They possess some primate traits but not others.
Most had claws and did not have binocular vision. Some researchers suggest they were to specialised to be ancestral to the primates.
118
When was the oligocene?
34-23mya
119
What molar shape characterises frugivores?
small, 4 cusps
120
What theories surround the appearance of primates in South America?
1. Fossil rodents rafted from Africa.
| 2. Descended from a North American primate
121
What were proconsulids?
1. Initially believed to be the oldest hominoids
| 2. Share several derived features that aren't seen in haplorrhines such as large grasping thumb.
122
When did the last common ancestor of humans, gorillas and chimpanzees live?
9-8mya
123
What distinguishes hominins from hominoids?
Bipedal motion. Hominoids belong to the superfamily Hominoidea include living and extict apes as well as humans
124
What is interesting about Sahelanthropus tchadensis?
It has a mix of primitive and derived features, it is the earliest known hominin and was found a long way from other early hominin sites.
1. Foramen magnum position suggests bipedal
2. Small brain
3. Teeth more human than chimpanzee
125
When did Ardipithecus kadabba occupy the middle awash region?
5.8-5.2mya
126
When have Ardipithecus ramidus fossils been dated to?
4.4mya
127
What is interesting about the feet of Ardipithecus ramidus?
They are adpted for bipedal motion but have retained the opposable big toe.
128
What characterises thar pelvis of Ardipithecus ramidus?
The ilium is shorter and broader than the chimpanzee and also has a sciatic notch, but the lower part of the pelvis is more apelike.
129
How do we know Australopithecus anamensis was bipedal?
The tibia was perpendicular to the ankle as in humans, while in non bipedal apes, the angle is oblique. Long arms and curved fingers also suggest they may have been good climbers.
130
What time frame is Australopithecus afarensis attributed to?
3.6-3mya (Lucy is 3.2mo)
131
What evidence is there that Australopithecus afarensis was bipedal?
1. Long femoral neck
2. Short and wide pelvis
3. Footprints preserved in ash dated to approximate time frame
132
When did Australopithecus garhi live?
about 2.5mya
133
When did Australopithecus africans live?
3-2.2mya
134
When did Paranthropus aethiopicus live?
Around 2.5mya
135
What time frame did Paranthropus robustus occupy?
1.8-1mya
136
When did Kenyanthropus platyops live?
3.5-3.2mya
137
Oldowan toolsbelong to what mode?
1
138
Why may selection have favoured larger brains, prolonged juvenile development, and longer lifespan?
These traits make it easier to learn complex foraging methods to acquire the most nutritious food.
139
When and where does the genus Homo appear?
2.3 mya in east Africa
140
When did the pleistocene begin?
1.8 mya until about 12kya
141
Which group adopted the Acheulian tool industry?
Homo ergaster
142
What evidence suggests Homo ergaster ate meat??
1. Skeleton of a woman with Vitamin A poisoning (likely from consuming large preadtors liver)
2. Hand axes suitable for butchery
3. Teeth suited for biting and tearing meat
4. Tapeworm ommon ancestor 1.7-0.8mya meaning we ate meat well before animal domestication.
143
When did Homo hedelbergensis live?
800-500kya
144
When did the Neanderthals live?
127-30kya
145
What did the anthropoids descend from?
The omomyids
146
When did the first Hominins appear in Africa?
8-6mya
147
What features does Sahelanthropus tchadensis share with homo species?
small canines and thick enamel as well as a large brow ridge and flat face.
148
When did Australopithecus sediba live?
1.9-1.7mya
149
What was the first member of the genus Homo?
Homo habilis
150
When are the earliest Homo sapien fossils dated to?
195kya
151
What are x-rays a form of?
electromagnetic radiation (light is as well)
152
What is the wavelength of x-rays?
about 1/10,000 that of light and this allows allows them to penetrate materials that would normally simply absorb or reflect visible light.
153
What was significant about the development of the CT scan?
1. It was digital and could be modified
2. It was sensitive to tissue density differences
3. Cross-sectional views
154
What other imaging method does CT utilise?
X-ray
155
When were the first clinical CT scanners installed?
1974-1976
156
What does MRI use to produce its images?
Magnetism and radio waves
157
What does a PET scan use to produce images?
Radioactive substances which are ingested or injected and can be detected by an imaging device
158
What biological processes can cause variation in shape of individuals or their parts?
```
Disease
Injury
Mutation
Ontogenic development
Long-term evolutionary diversification
```
159
What makes morphometrics an important tool?
It is a way of quantifying shape, rather than simply trying to compare it to another shape.
160
What provides information on shape in geometric morphometrics?
Principle component analysis
161
What is an advantage of analysing landmark coordinates in geometric morphometrics?
Its easy to draw relative pictures to illustrate the results (its a bit like a dot-to-dot)
162
What is the definition of shape?
the geometric information that remains when location, scale and rotational effects are filtered out from an object
163
What are the main issues when analysing ancient DNA?
Short fragments as a result of degradation
| Contamination with modern DNA
164
Describe a case in which contamination of ancient DNA occurred.
3 viking-age teeth collected.
Full protective equipment worn
Everyone involved had their DNA sampled
DNA amplified on different days by different researchers
Identical results obtained with contamination
Contamination did not match anyone that had been involved (
165
What needs to be present in bone for DNA to have a chance of being extracted?
Collagen
166
What equipment is useful in an aDNA lab for preventing contamination?
```
Bleach
UV lighting (although this can damage plastics so care must be taken with equipment used)
Isolation room for changing into scrubs
```
167
When do the first flaked tools emerge?
2.5-2.5mya
168
What is gradualisation?
Slow and steady accumulation of small changes over a long period of time produces major changes in descendants.
169
What is punctuated gradualism?
Periods of more rapid, dramatic evolution over short periods of time are separated by periods of little change (stasis).
170
What is adaptive radiation?
Members of a species radiate and branch out to occupy a range of niches in the environment.
171
What order do humans belong to?
Primates
172
What are the lower primates classified as?
Prosimii
173
What are the higher primates classified as?
Anthropoidea
174
What happened to the climate 10-5mya?
Major cooling and drying leading to spread of grassland - coincides with bipedalism emergence.
175
When is Orronin tuggenesis dated to?
About 6mya
176
When is Sahelanthropus tchadensis dated to?
About 7mya
177
When did the Australopiths live?
4.2-1.2mya
178
When did Homo Naledi live?
About 2kya
179
When does evidence of modern humans in Europe date to?
40-42kya
180
When do mode 2 (Acheulian) tools appear?
1.7mya
181
When do mode 3 (middle palaeolithic) tools appear?
350,000 years ago
182
What characterises acheulian tools?
Biface
| Large cores shaped on both sides
183
What characterises Oldowan tools?
Chopping tools
| Simple flakes
184
What characterises middle palaeolithic tools?
Cores prepared before flaking
185
What characterises upper palaeolithic tools?
Blades
186
What chracterises microlithic tools?
Small flakes and blades
187
What does tephrachronology refer to?
Layers of ash deposited by volcanic eruptions - used as a dating method
188
When was the Pre-pottery Neolithic A?
11,600-10,77 BP
189
Which 6 isotopes are common in archaeology?
Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Sulfur, Strontium
190
When was MRI invented?
1977
191
How do X-rays work?
1. X-rays emmitted from cathode
2. Scattered into fan shaped beam over area to be scanned
3. X-rays pass through body and react with silver halloid
4. Soft areas appear dark as x-rays can easily benetrate, dense bone is light as cannot pass through
192
What are the advantages of X-rays?
- Permanent record
- Higher spatial resolution than fluoroscopy
- Captures all bone and dental features
- Can be mobile (think delicate/fragmented remains)
- Quick & Inexpensive
193
What are the disadvantages of x-ray?
- 2D
| - Problems with superimposition
194
What are the advantages of fluoroscopy?
- Mobile
| - Rapid
195
What are the disadvantages of fluoroscopy?
- Narrow field of view
- Low resolution
- Difficult to get hard copies as take multiple images
196
What is a limitation of MRI?
Needs water and protons to produce image
197
How does CT work?
1. X-rays rotate around person lying on bench
| 2. Many 2D images stitched together to form 3D
198
What are the benefits of Micro CT?
Very high resolution
| Comparable detail to SEM
199
What are the disadvantages of Micro CT?
Time consuming
expensive
Availability
200
What is the principle of coalescent?
- All mutations can trace a common ancestor
| - At some point, some linneages will go extinct
201
What is genetic drift?
The change in frequency of a particular allele in a population. May be due to more or less offspring or selection.
202
What factors affect the nutrition you need?
- Occupation
- Sex
- Age
- Pregnancy/lactation
- Health
- Genetics
- Climate
203
What is stress?
A biological response to a stimulus/stressor that changes the normal or target state of an organism.
204
What is allostasis?
Maintenance of an adjusted 'set point' to better suit the environment.
205
What is Alollistic load?
The cost of maintaining an alternative state.
206
How is stress managed in the short term, longer term, long term and very long term?
Short term - homeostasis
Longer term - acclimatisation modifies homeostatic response, phenotypic plasticity (reversible)
Long term - Developmental plasticity (irreversible)
Very long term - Natural selection
207
4 examples of non specific stress markers
1. Harris lines
2. Enamel hypoplasia
3. Periostitis
4. Delayed maturation
208
Order of hominin species
```
Sahelanthropus tchadensis (7-6mya)
Orrorin tugenensis (6.2-5.6mya)
Ardipithecus kadabba (5.8-5.2mya)
Ardipithecus ramidus (4.5-4.3mya)
Australopithecus anamensis (4.2-3.9mya)
Australopithecus Afarensis (3.7-3mya)
Australopithecus Bahrelghazali (3.6-3mya) (and Kenyanthropus platyops 3.5-3.3mya)
Australopithecus Africanus (3.3-2.1mya)
Australopithecus Garhi (2.5-2.3mya) (and Paranthropus aethiopicus 2.7-2.3mya)
Homo habilis(2.4-1.6mya) (and Paranthropus boisei 2.3-1.4mya)
Australopithecus Sediba (1.9-1.8mya) (and Paranthropus robustus 2-1.2mya)
Homo erectus (1.8mya - 30kya)
Homo antecessor( 1.2mya-500kya)
Homo heidelbergensis (600-200kya)
Homo neanderthalensis (350-28kya)
Homo floresiensis (95-12kya)
Homo sapiens (200kya)
```
209
Why is mitochondrial DNA useful when studying aDNA?
It is generally more abundant as it is less likely to degrade than nuclear DNA meaning there is more chance of obtaining longer fragment lengths
