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Human Evolution/Archeaolgy > Exam 2 > Flashcards

Exam 2 Flashcards

1
Q

What is archaeology?

A

The study of human cultures through the recovery and analysis of material remains and environmental data.

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2
Q

What is paleoanthropology?

A

The study of origins and predecessors of the present human species.

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3
Q

What is a fossil?

A

Any mineralized trace or impression of an organism that has been preserved in the earth’s crust from past geological time.

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4
Q

What is an artifact?

A

Any object made or altered by humans.

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5
Q

What is an ecofact?

A

Natural remains of plants and animals found in the archaeological recordE.g. shells, pollen, animal bones

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6
Q

How are fossils made?

A

After death, all organic parts of of bone are consumed by bacteria, and the microscopically porous, inorganic parts of the bone are left behind. Water that percolates through the soil dissolves mineral salts (silica, limestone, iron compounds) fill in the porous areas of the bone, making them increasingly more rock like.

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7
Q

Why are the details of excavations so meticulously recorded?

A

Because excavation results in the destruction of the site, so the location and context of everything recorded has to be recorded to aid research.

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8
Q

Define Prehistory?

A

A conventional term used to describe the period of time before written records.

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9
Q

Define material culture?

A

The durable aspects of culture, such as tools, structures and art.

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10
Q

What is Taphonomy?

A

The study of how bones and other materials come to be preserved in the earth as fossils. Comes from the Greek word for “tomb.”

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11
Q

Why are fossils often found in caves?

A

Caves are ideal for fossilization.- Cave clay and rock can contribute to the fossil process- Protects remains from scavengers, wind, rain

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12
Q

Why where the Bog Bodies in Europe preserved?

A

They were fully submerged in acidic, anaerobic wetlands.

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13
Q

What are the two major divisions in archaeology?

A
  • Prehistoric (or precontact)- Historical archaeology
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14
Q

What is historical archaeology?

A

Archaeology that has written or oral records to support it’s research.

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15
Q

What are some examples of primary sources that can support historical archaeology?

A

Sources written at the same time as the period in question.- Diaries- Deeds- photographs- letters- newspaper articles- land records- maps- census records- wills

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16
Q

What are some examples of secondary sources used by historical archaeology?

A

Historical works assembled from interpreting or presenting primary sources.- books- journals- magazine articles- dissertations

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17
Q

What do you have to keep in mind when using written records?

A
  • Errors- Biases- misrepresentation of populations who did not have written records- eg, most slaves were kept from learning how to read or write- secondary sources involve historical interpretation by authors
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18
Q

What are the two major categories of dating techniques?

A
  • Relative Dating- Chronometric Dating
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19
Q

What is relative dating?

A

Designates older than or younger than.- stratigraphy- fluorine analysis- seriation

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20
Q

What is chronometric dating?

A

Calculates yaers before the present with dates expressed as AD, BC, BCE, or BP- radiocarbon- dendochronology- potassium argon, thermoluminescence, fission track

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21
Q

What is stratigraphy?

A

Dating by means of soil strata-Relative dating - deepest layer is oldest- most recent layer is the newest and laid down last

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22
Q

What is fluorine analysis?

A

Measures the amount of fluorine in bones- relative dating technique- the older a bone is the more fluorine it will contain becaise of water seepage in the soil- nitrogen levels also drop as time proceeds- soils contain different amounts of fluorine, or none at all, so it can only be used to determine if bones at the same location or older, younger, or the same age as each other

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23
Q

What is seriation?

A

Sequencing cultural remains into relative chronological order based on stylistic features- relative dating technique- styles of cultural material change through time- recording differences in styles among sites and strata can reveal temporal associations

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24
Q

What is radiocarbon dating?

A

Carbon-14, C-14 measures the amouint of radioactice carbon left in organic materials- chronometric dating technique- all living organisms absorb carbon- C-14 is radioactive, C-12 is not- at death C-14 decays at a known rate, while C-12 remains stable- that rate is known as a half life- hald-life of C-14 is 5 730 years- the difference between the amount of C-14 and C-12 allows time since death to be calculated- after 50 000 years too little C-14 to measure

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25
Q

What is a half life?

A

A half life is the amount of time it takes for half the amount of atoms in a sample to decay

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26
Q

What are some of the drawbacks to radiocarbon dating?

A
  • can only be used to date organic objects- can only tell you date the object died, not necessarily when it was used, eg building materials- the more half life cycles pass, the less C-14 there is, and therefore date is less precise and more difficult to determine
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27
Q

What is dendochronology?

A

Measures time through tree rings- chronometric dating technique- trees grow each year depending how much water they get- different environmental conditions create different size tree rings- master tree ring sequences with known dates are used to get dates for other samples

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28
Q

What is potassium argon dating?

A

K-Ar, measures the ration of radioactive potassium to argon in volcanic debris- chronometric dating technique- half-life of 1.3 billion years- gives dates of artifacts found in the volcanic ash strata

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29
Q

What is thermoluminescence dating?

A

Measures the amount of light given off due to radioactivity when a sample is heated to high temperatures- chronometric dating technique- measures back from about 300 000 to 10 000 BP- developed for recent materials (eg Greek pottery)- ground up sample is placed in a special oven, then is rapidly heated to 400-500 degrees C- temperature causes energy emission from sample- the older the object the more light produced (natural radioactivity builds up since the last time the material was heated)

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30
Q

What objects can be dated by thermoluminescence?

A

Objects that were made with or affected by high heat- hearths- ceramics- fire treated flint- fire treated chert

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31
Q

What is fission track dating?

A

Measures the tracks left in crystals by uranium as it decays.- chronometric dating technique- can only be used on crystals- as uranium atoms decay they fission, leaving tracks in the crystal- measuring the amount of tracks will tell you how much uranium has decayed- used as a cross-check for K/Ar dates

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32
Q

What is macroevolution?

A

Evolution on a large scale that produces different species.

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33
Q

When did the first primates appear?

A

65-55 mya in North America and Eurasia (Joined, but Africa seperate- small arboreal, nocturnal insect eaters

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34
Q

When did monkeys and apes first appear?

A

-40 mya diurnal anthropoid primates- apes widespread in Africa, Asia, Europe by 23.5 mya

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35
Q

What is micro evolution?

A

The change in allele frequencies that occurs from one generation to the next

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36
Q

What is macroevolution?

A

The creation of new species, occuring over hundreds or thousands of generations.

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37
Q

What is gradualism?

A
  • Species can gradually evolve into other species over a long time.
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38
Q

What is punctuated equlibrium?

A

Evolutionary change that happens quickly after periods of instability.- Can be caused by climatic shifts (volcanic eruptions, droughts, ice ages), changes in food supply and predation changes

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39
Q

What is Anagenesis?

A
  • Sustained, directional shift in a populations average characteristics- Occurs within a single evolutionary line- gene pool continues to change over time for one population- from Greek “ana” up against, back, again and Latin “genesis” creation, beggininng- Speciation is inferred as organisms take on different appearances over time
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40
Q

What were the plesiadapiformes?

A
  • the first primate-like mammals
  • started appearing
  • 65 mya- roughly similair in size and appearance to squirrels and tree shrews
  • the (very fragmentary) fossil record suggests they were adapted to an arboreal way of life in warm, moist climates
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41
Q

What is cladogenesis?

A
  • speciation through a branching mechanism whereby an ancestral popilations hgives rise to two or more descendant populations- occurs as differnent populations become reproductively isolated
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42
Q

When do the earliest mammals start appearing?

A

190 mya

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43
Q

Why were the severe climate changes 70mya an advantage to mammals?

A
  • Mammal-like animdals were preadapted to these changes- the extinction of the larger reptiles and dnosaurs opened new environmental niches- Mammals underwent adaptive radiotion: a rapid increase in the number of related species to fill all the newly available niches
44
Q

What are the two theories about the Rise of the Primates?

A
  1. Arboreal Hypothesis2. Visual Predation
45
Q

What is the arboreal bypothesis?

A

Proposes that life in the trees was responsible for enhances visual acuity and munual dexterity in primates.

46
Q

What is the Visual Predation hypothesis?

A

Proposes that hunting behavious in tree dwelling primates was responsible for their enhanced visual acuity and munual dexterity.

47
Q

How is the spread of flowering plants rlated to the rise of the primates?

A

Flowering plants gave rise to pollinating insects, and early mammals were thought to be insectivorous.

48
Q

What is a derived feature?

A

A characteristic that define a group of organisms and that did not exist in ancestral populations.
Eg: walking upright is a defining characteristic of humans, and is only present in the human line, and is used to separate humans from other homonoids.

49
Q

What is an ancestral characteristic?

A

A characteristic that defines a group of organisms that are due to shared ancestry. Eg, humans are bilateral symmetrical because of shared ancestry with all other vertebrates.

50
Q

What is adaptive radiation?

A

Rapid diversification of an evolving population as it adapts to a variety a of niches

51
Q

How can evolutionary relationships be establusged in fossil species?

A
  • By comparing to other fossils to try and identify derived characteristics
  • By genetetics
  • And using observations about the biology and behavious of modern populations
53
Q

What is convergent evolution?

A

A process by which unrelated populations develop similarities to one another dye it similair function rather than shared ancestry.

55
Q

What is a datum point?

A

The starting point, or reference, for a grid system.

56
Q

What characteristics of plesiadapformes show that they were the first primates?

A
  • Nails and claws
  • ear structure with a tube like prosismians
  • anatomically similair to tree shrews
57
Q

What is succesive speciation?

A
  • Occurs within a single evolutionary line

- gene pool continues to change through time for one population

58
Q

What lines of evidence are there for speciation?

A
  • The fossil record
  • Genetic analysis of living species
  • Observations of similair living species
59
Q

What is the foramen magnum?

A

The opening at the base of the skull where the spinal colummn connects

60
Q

How is the foramen magnum adapted to walking upright in hominims?

A
  • in chimpanzees it is at the back of the skull, in humans it is directily above the spine
  • indicates that the head sat atop a body that was walking upright
61
Q

How is the spine adapted to bipedality?

A
  • it has a series of curves

- acts as a shock absorber

62
Q

How has the pelvis adapted to bipedality?

A
  • it has become shorter, wider, and bowl shaped

- it better supports the weight of the upper body

63
Q 
Ardipithecus ramidus
Dates
Locations
Discovery
Famous examples
Significance
A
  • 4.4 mya
  • Afar region, Ethiopia
  • 1992 by Tim White
  • Ardi
  • Bipedal, but with abductable toe and adaptions for quadrupedal walking
  • Thought to have walked bipedally on the ground and quadrupedally in the trees, with palms down
  • Shed light on a stage of human evolution we did not know anything about
64
Q 
Australopithecus afarensis
Dates
Locations
First discovery
Famous examples
A
  • 3.9-2.9mya
  • Eastern Africa
  • 1973 by Don Johanson in Middle Awash, Afar Depression, Ethiopia
  • Lucy, Selam, First Family, Laetoli footprints
65
Q

What were the Australopithecines and where did they live?

A
  • Genus of hominim
  • 4.3-1.1 mya
  • East, Central and South Africa
66
Q 
Ardipithecus ramidus
Dates
Locations
Discovery
Famous examples
Environment
Significance
A
  • 4.4 mya
  • Ethiopia
  • 1992
  • Ardi
  • Bipedal on ground and quadrupedal (palms down) on ground
67
Q

What are the characterics of the robust species?

A
  • saggital crest
  • huge molars
  • huge jaws
  • bigger body size
  • highl efficient chewing machines
  • specialized
68
Q 
Australopithecus africanus
Dates
Locations
First discovery
Famous examples
A
  • 2.04-3.03 mya
  • Southern Africa
  • 1924 by Raymond Dart in Taung, South Africa
  • Taung Child, Mrs Ples
69
Q 
Australopithecus boisei?
Dates
Locations
First discovery
Famous examples
A
  • 1.2-2.3 mya
  • Easten Africa
  • 1959 by Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania - Nutcracker Man/Zinj
70
Q

Australopithecus boisei?
Dates
Locations
Discovery

A

1.2-2.3mya
Kenya
Later robust form that coexisted with early Homo
Discovered by Mary Leakey 1959, Nutcracker Man

71
Q

What is a saggital crest?

A

a bony ridge on top of the skull that strong jaw musscles attach to.

72
Q

Laetoli

  • Age
  • Location
  • Discovery
  • What is it?
  • Significance?
A
  • 3.6 mya
  • Tanzania
  • Mary Leakey in 1978
  • fossilized footprints
  • footsteps in volcanic ash, rain cemented ash covered in time by more ash
  • Three individuals, probably A. Afarensis
  • Clear evidence of bipedality
73
Q

Australopithecus robustus
Dates
Locations
First discovery

A
  • 2.0-1.2 mya
  • South Africa
  • 1938 by Robert Broom in Kromdraai, South Africa
74
Q

What are the differences between the skulls of Gracile and Robust Australopithecines?

A

Gracile

  • No crest
  • face lower on skull
  • smaller zygomatic arch
  • front and ack teeth similair sizes

Robust

  • saggital crest in males
  • face higher on skull
  • wide flaring zygomatic arches
  • large molar teeth, unbalences
75
Q

Taung Child

  • Age
  • Location
  • Discovery
  • What is it?
  • Significance
A
  • 2.5 mya
  • Taung, South Africa
  • Discovered in 1924 by Raymond Dart
  • fossilized face and natural endocast of 3-4 year old individual
  • first australopithecine found
  • killed by eagle
76
Q

What is a diastema

A

Gap in between teeth in lower jaw to accommodate upper canines

77
Q

Law of competetive exclusion?

A

If two species are competing for the same niche, the better adapted species will survive and the other will become extinct

78
Q 
Ardi
Species
Age
Location
Discovery
What is it?
Significance
A
  • Ardipithecus Ramidus
  • 4.4 million years
  • Afar Depression, Awash Valley, Ethiopia
  • 1994
  • Mostly complete skull and teeth, pelvis, hands and feet of female
  • Shed light on a period in human evolution that we did not know much about
79
Q 
Selam
Species
Age
Location
Discovery
What is it?
Significance
A
  • Australopithecus afarensis
  • 3.3 mya
  • Dikika, Ethiopia
  • 2000 by Zeresenay Alemsegad
  • Skull and other skeletal remains of a 3 year old female
  • Hyoid bone similair to baby chimpanzee
  • shows that they probably sounded like chimps, and young eveloped more like chimps than us.
80
Q 
Homo habilis
Dates
Locations
First discovery
Significance
A
  • 2.33-1.44 mya
  • Kenya, Tanzania
  • 1960 by Mary and Louis Leakey in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
  • Mastered Oldawan tool set
81
Q

What is Olduvai Gorge

A
  • A ravine in the Great Rift Valley
  • Habited by H. habilis, H. erectus, and A. Boisei between 1.9m to 700 000 years ago
  • Stone tools
  • Bones with stone tool marks
82
Q 
Homo habilis
Dates
Locations
First discovery
Significance
A
  • 2.33-1.44 mya
  • Kenya, Tanzania
  • 1960 by Mary and Louis Leakey in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
  • Mastered Oldawan tool set
83
Q

Compare Homo habilis to Australopithecines

A
  • Tool use
  • Bigger brains
  • Meat scavenging, more generalized diet
  • Longer legs, shorter arms
84
Q

Dikika tool use article

1. What findings in the article?

A

Bones with stone-tool-inflicted marks were found that are dated to before 3.39 mya

85
Q

Dikika tool use article

2. Where and what was found?

A

Found in Dikika, Ethiopia. Animal bones were found with what are claimed to be marks made by stone tools. The marks included cuts from flesh removal, scrape marks, and percussion marks for marrow access.

86
Q

Dikika tool use article

3. What methods were used in this article?

A

Dating:

  • Argon-Argon dating on tuffs nearby
  • Stratigraphic dating scaling based on Ar40-Ar39 and other geological evidence

Analysis
- Low-poer microscope and electron microscope

87
Q

Dikika tool use article

4. What is the significance of these findings?

A

This pushes back the first direct evidence of tool use back by 800 000 years, and implies that A afarensis was a tool user and scavenger.

88
Q

Apart from the Dikika finds, when is the earliest evidence of tool use?

A

2.6 - 2.5 mya

89
Q

Oldawan tools

A
  • First type of tools
  • 2.6-1.7 mya
  • Simple tools, using unmodified flakes struck from larger rocks
  • used as choppers, scrapers, punders
90
Q

Homo erectus
Dates
Locations
First discovery

A
  • 1.8 mya to 200 000
  • Africa, Europe, Asia
  • 1891 by Eugene Dubois in Java, Indonesia
91
Q

What were the acheivements of H erectus?

A

First to:

  • leave Africa 1.8 mya
  • make fire
  • hunt
  • make clothes
  • Acheulean tools
92
Q

Physical characteristics of H erectus skull

A
  • Long narrow skulls with thick walls (wider than tall)
  • Supraorbital torus (brow ridge)
  • dentition nearl identical to modern humans but cheek teeth larger and jaw more prominent
93
Q

Describe H eructus body

A
  • increased body size
  • taller
  • reduced sexual dimorphism
  • longer legs
  • shorter arms
94
Q 
Ardi
Species
Age
Location
Discovery
What is it?
Significance
A
  • Ardipithecus Ramidus
  • 4.4 million years
  • Afar Depression, Awash Valley, Ethiopia
  • 1994
  • Mostly complete skull and teeth, pelvis, hands and feet of female
  • Shed light on a period in human evolution that we did not know much about
95
Q

What variations (ostensibly) of H. erectus are there?

A 
Homo ergaster (Africa)
Homo erectus (Asia)
Homo heidelbergensis (Europe)
Lies!!!!
96
Q

What variations (ostensibly) of H. erectus are there?

A 
Homo ergaster (Africa)
Homo erectus (Asia)
Homo heidelbergensis (Europe)
Lies!!!!
97
Q 
Turkana Boy/Nariokotome Boy
Species
Age
Location
Discovery
What is it?
Significance
A
  • Homo erectus (ergaster)
  • 1.6 mya
  • West Turkana, Kenya
  • 1984 by Richard Leakey
  • nearly complete skeleton of an 11-12 (current research says 8) year old boy. Age determined by eruption of molars and long bone growth.
  • shows that H. erectus grew fast than us, mature in 12 years
  • cranium shows developmen of a Broca’a area that controls speech
  • hyoid and thoracic vertebra show that he would not have had as much motor control of voice box as H. sapiens
  • indicates H. erectus could not have had a language as complex as ours, but probably a proto-language
98
Q

What is Allen’s Rule?

A

Species in warmer climates will have longer appendages. Creates more surface area to dissapate heat.

99
Q

What is Bergmann’s Rule?

A

Species in warmer climates will have lesser body mass. Keeps body cooler.

100
Q

When does early Homo arrive in east and south Asia?

A

by 2mya

101
Q

What about the Java sites?

A
  • 6 sites

- 1887 discovered by Eugene Dubois

102
Q

What about Zhoukoudian?

A
  • 600 000 - 800 000 ya
  • Dragon Bone Hill
  • Pei Wenzhong, early excavator
  • 250 00 years of occupation at one site
  • 40 individuals found
  • 100 000 plus artifacts
103
Q

Acheulian tool tradition

A
  • 1.7 to 0.1 mya
  • more sophisticated than Oldowan
  • uses prepared cores rather than flakes struck off rocks
  • distinctive oval shape of hand axes
  • used levallois technique
104
Q

Levallois technique

A
  • striking platform formed at one end
  • striking platform is formed at one end
  • core’s edges are trimmed by flaking off pieces around the outline of the intended flake
  • creates a domed shape on the side of the core, known as a tortoise core
  • When the striking platform is finally hit, a flake separates from the core with a distinctive plano-convex profile and with all of its edges sharpened by the earlier trimming work.
105
Q

Kah Poh Nam

A
  • Thailand
  • 700 000 ya
  • first clear evidence of controlled fire
  • roughly circular arrangement of basalt cobbles
  • nearby animal bones show butchering and burning
106
Q

Kebara cave

A
  • Israel
  • Most complete neanderthal skeleton
  • 60 000 BP
  • Hyoid bone preserved
107
Q

Shanidar cave

A
  • Iraq
  • 60 000 to 80 000 ya
  • Evidence of ritual burial
  • So-called flower burial
108
Q

La Chapelle

A
  • France
  • 60 000 ya
  • 40 year old man with tooth loss and advanced bone reabsorbtion

Human Evolution/Archeaolgy (3 decks)

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