exam 3

Question 1

paleontology

Answer 1

study of extinct organisms, based on their fossilized remains

Question 2

paleoanthropology

Answer 2

study of fossil record of ancestral humans and their primate kin

Question 3

what is a fossil

Answer 3

preserved remnant of a once-living thing

Question 4

what can fossils tell us?

Answer 4

-species
-age
-activities

Question 5

taphonomy

Answer 5

the study of what happens to the remains of an animal from the time of death to the time of discovery

Question 6

context

Answer 6

-where is the fossil found
-why is it important

Question 7

provenience

Answer 7

location from where the fossil came from

Question 8

what percent of once living organisms become fossils

Answer 8

0.01%

Question 9

Why is fossilization so rare?

Answer 9

their formation and discovery depend on chains of ecological and geological events that occur over deep time.

Question 10

What does this mean for reconstruction of the past?

Answer 10

we are able to get a picture of what things looked like and the past and what coexisted

Question 11

best conditions for fossilization to occur

Answer 11

its body must be protected from decomposition

Question 12

What are the 2 basic categories of dating techniques?

Answer 12

-relative dating
-chronometric dating

Question 13

relative dating

Answer 13

stratigraphy
chemical methods: looking at half life and how much chemical is in the object (carbon)

Question 14

chronometric dating

Answer 14

tree rings
radioactive decay (potassium-argon)

Question 15

Which dating method is revealed the Piltdown hoax?

Answer 15

chemical dating

Question 16

geological principles (4)

Answer 16

stratigraphy
original horizontality
superposition
cross-cutting relationships

Question 17

stratigraphy

Question 18

original horizontality

Question 19

superposition

Question 20

cross-cutting relationships

Question 21

What are some techniques for reconstructing past environments?

Answer 21

-climate change
-adaptations in environments

Question 22

When did the mammal radiation begin?

Answer 22

190 mya

Question 23

why did mammal radiation begin

Answer 23

extinction of dinosaurs

Question 24

When do hominins first appear in the fossil record?

Answer 24

23-5 mya (miocene)

Question 25

what is a hominin

Answer 25

-humans -human ancestors

Question 26

What are the 4 key distinguishing features separating humans from the apes?

Answer 26

-locomotion (bipedalism) -dentition -brain size -language

Question 27

When do these differences appear in the fossil record?

Answer 27

skeleton structure and size

Question 28

skull of quadrupedal

Answer 28

foramen magnum positioned in the back

Question 29

skull of bipedalism

Answer 29

foramen magnum is in the middle near the eyes

Question 30

vertebral column of bipedalism

Answer 30

-curvature inward in lower back -larger vertebrae

Question 31

vertebral column of quadrupedal

Answer 31

-shorter -rainbow shape

Question 32

pelvis of bipedalism

Answer 32

-wider and shorter

Question 33

pelvis of quadrupedal

Answer 33

tall and narrow

Question 34

femur of bipedal

Answer 34

angled femur to bring knees and feet under body

Question 35

feet of bipedal

Answer 35

non-divergent big toe arches

Question 36

stride of bipedal

Answer 36

heel to toe

Question 37

arms of bipedal

Answer 37

-shorter arms and fingers -less curvature

Question 38

hypothesis for the origin of bipedalism in hominins

Answer 38

environmental changes: -distribution of food -thermoregulation

Question 39

Why are the earliest hominins hard to identify in the fossil record

Answer 39

The first members of the human lineage lack many features that distinguish us from other primates.

Question 40

what is mosaic evolution

Answer 40

that evolutionary change takes place in some body parts or systems without simultaneous changes in other parts

Question 41

what is diastema

Answer 41

a space separating teeth of different functions, especially that between the biting teeth (incisors and canines) and grinding teeth (premolars and molars) in rodents and ungulates

Question 42

who is lucy

Answer 42

a collection of several hundred pieces of fossilized bone representing 40 percent of a female of the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis

Question 43

what did Laetoli find

Answer 43

the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to Australopithecus afarensis

Question 44

what is Selam

Answer 44

the fossilized skull and other skeletal remains of a three-year-old Australopithecus afarensis female hominin, whose bones were first found in Dikika, Ethiopia in 2000 and recovered over the following years

Question 45

what did raymond dart find

Answer 45

first austra afri fossil (taung child)

Question 46

piltdown

Answer 46

paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human.

Question 47

what is Malapa

Answer 47

fossil-bearing cave located about 15 kilometres northeast of the well known South African hominid-bearing sites

Question 48

how do cranial features differ in Paranthropus and Australopithecus

Answer 48

p: increased size of chewing muscles and attachment on the skull

Question 49

oldowan

Answer 49

-tool -cores -flakes

Question 50

how do dental features differ in Paranthropus and Australopithecus

Answer 50

P: increased size of posterior teeth, reduction of front teeth

Question 51

How does climate change play a role in distribution of H. erectus?

Answer 51

follows the food supply (migrating animals)

Question 52

How does technology change play a role in distribution of H. erectus?

Answer 52

oldowan tools brought change in foraging strategies

Question 53

How does anatomical change play a role in distribution of H. erectus?

Answer 53

larger brains and bodies with modern proportions

Question 54

What is the tool industry first associated with H. habilis?

Answer 54

oldowan tool

Question 55

What were the oldowan tools used for?

Answer 55

processing meat, bone, wood, plants, pocket knife

Question 56

What are the 3 key components of the tool industry?

Answer 56

-flake -core -hammer stones

Question 57

what is flake

Answer 57

stone fragment struck from a core

Question 58

what is core

Answer 58

raw material source that flakes are removed from

Question 59

what is hammer stone

Answer 59

used to strike cores to produce flakes or expose bone marrow

Question 60

What tool industry is seen for the first time with H. erectus?

Answer 60

Acheulan

Question 61

acheulan tool

Answer 61

-biface (hand axe and clevers) -specifically designed -unchanged for 1 million years

Question 62

how does oldowan and acheulan differ

Answer 62

old- simple and easily mistaken for something naturally made

Question 63

What is the Movius line?

Answer 63

theoretical line marking presence/absense of acheulan hand axes

Question 64

What have researchers been able to determine about hominin activity based on taphonomic studies?

Answer 64

-hunting and scavenging activity more scavenging than hunting

Question 65

How can researchers determine whether hominins were hunters or scavengers?

Answer 65

tools are better used for cutting bone and meat rather than for killing

Question 66

What does this research tell us about hominin behavior?

Answer 66

confrontational passive

Question 67

sagittal crest