Human evolution

Question 1

Order of species (7)

Answer 1

Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, homo habilis, homo erectus, homo neanderthals, homo sapiens

Question 2

Australopithecus afarensis

Answer 2

Present 4-3 million years ago, Longest-lived and best-known early human species, Found in Eastern Africa

Question 3

Australopithecus afarensis adaptations

Answer 3

1-1.2 meters tall, Fully adapted to upright walking (bipedal), 25-30kg, Brain capacity of 400cc, Long, strong arms with curved fingers adapted for climbing trees, Small canine teeth like all other early humans, Body that stood on two legs and regularly walked upright, Apelike face proportions (flat nose, a projecting lower jaw) and a small brain (around 1/3 of a modern human brain

Question 4

Australopithecus afarensis shelters

Answer 4

Lived/slept in trees and bushes, Nomadic with home bases

Question 5

Australopithecus afarensis tools

Answer 5

Used materials at hand such as sticks and rocks, tools were unsophisticated with simple modifications, used found Oldowan tools

Question 6

Australopithecus afarensis diet

Answer 6

Herbivores- feeding on seeds and grains, fruits, roots, tubers, All hominids had the same teeth arrangement of 2,1,2,3 so can’t be used to differentiate, Size of the teeth, especially molars, was used for grinding tubers

Question 7

Australopithecus africanus

Answer 7

Present 3-2.5 million years ago, 1.3 meters tall, 30kg

Question 8

Australopithecus africanus adaptations

Answer 8

Anatomically similar to A Afarensis with a combination of human-like and ape-like features, Rounder cranium housing a larger brain and smaller teeth, Long arms and large prognostic jaw, Pelvis, femur and foot bones indicate they walked bipedally but its shoulder and hand bones indicate they were also adapted for climbing, Less pronounced brow ridge, smaller canines and large molars

Question 9

Australopithecus africanus shelter

Answer 9

Used nature around them for shelter such as trees, bushes and rocks, Nomadic with home bases

Question 10

Australopithecus africanus diet

Answer 10

Similar diet to modern chimpanzees which consists of fruit, plants, nuts, seeds, roots, insects and eggs

Question 11

Australopithecus africanus tools

Answer 11

Used found oldowan tools

Question 12

Paranthropus robustus

Answer 12

Present 2-1.5 million years ago, 1.5 meters tall, 55kg

Question 13

Paranthropus robustus adaptations

Answer 13

More massively built craniodentally and tended to contain gorilla-like sagittal crest on the cranium which anchored massive temporalis muscles of mastication, Brain capacity of 500-530cc, Sagittal chest, Massive lower jaw, Flatter face, Massive cheekbones (zygomatic arch)

Question 14

Paranthropus robustus shelter

Answer 14

Used nature around them for shelter such as trees, bushes and rocks, Nomadic with home bases

Question 15

Paranthropus robustus diet

Answer 15

Strong masticating features allowed individuals to crush and grind hard foods such as nuts, seeds, roots, and tubers in the back of the jaw, also ate fruit and insects

Question 16

Paranthropus robustus tools

Answer 16

Used and possibly made a range of pebble tools (choppers, scrapers, flakes and chisels) called Oldowan tools

Question 17

Homo habilis

Answer 17

Present 2.5-1.5 million years ago

Question 18

Homo habilis adaptations

Answer 18

Bulge in speech producing part of the brain (Broca’s area) shows that rudimentary speech might have been used to work in teams

Question 19

Homo habilis shelter

Answer 19

Usually on the move to find food meaning they didn’t stay in one place for very long, When they did need shelter, they used cliffs, hills and fallen trees, usually sticks being held up by rocks around the outside edges (wind brakes)

Question 20

Homo habilis diet

Answer 20

Main diet was fruit, nuts, root eggs, small dead animals, bone marrow and fish, Scavenger/hunter- gatherer of plants, small dead animals and fish

Question 21

Homo habilis tools

Answer 21

First to make tools (didn’t have any specific jobs, made for general tasks needed to sustain life)- Pebble tools (Oldowan tools)

Question 22

Oldowan tools (pebble tools)

Answer 22

Crudely fashioned with few hammer blows/few flakes removed, Usually had a core with a cutting edge, Made from materials some distance away from the Homo Habilis home base suggesting they planned the manufacturing in advance, Used to exploit the environment, cut, chop and scrape plants and small animals

Question 23

Homo erectus

Answer 23

Present 1.5 million-250,000 years ago

Question 24

Homo erectus adaptations

Answer 24

Brain capacity of 850-1200cc, Oldest known early humans to have possessed moder human-like body proportions (relatively eleongated legs and shorter arms compared to the size of the torso), Had features considered adaptations to a life lived on the ground, indicating the loss of earlier tree-climbing adaptations, with the ability to walk and possibly run long distances, First hominin to have a straight shoulder line, First hominin who used bipedalism efficiently and didn’t climb and hang from branches, Has a shoulder with a wide range of motion meaning the hand could be positioned almost anywhwere around the body, Have forceful, accurate throwing that is powered not only by the shoulder muscles but by elestic energy stored in tendons and ligaments when the arm is drawn back ready to throw

Question 25

Homo erectus shelter

Answer 25

Sometimes used caves as shelters, Built shelters out of tree branches using their chipping tools (poked branches into the ground in a rough circle, holding them in place by piling rocks against them), Didn't live together in villages- nomandic and travelled a lot, Built wherever the good feeding grounds/food sources took them

Question 26

Homo erectus diet

Answer 26

Eating meat and other types of proteins that could be quickly digested made it possible to absorb nutrients, making more energy available faster, Systematic hunting of large game was well organised indicating logical thought and the ability to communicate and work together, Fish bones found at sites indicate that this hominin fished

Question 27

Homo erectus tools and culture

Answer 27

Made archeulean tools, Worked in teams using rudimental speech, Have the earliest evidence of campfires (kept away predators, gave warmth and light, extended activities limited by day light, cooking, hunting animals)

Question 28

Archeulean tools

Answer 28

Consisted of the creation of large cutting tools like hand axes and cleavers, Increased reliance on a broader set of tools may have helped homo erectus survive during changing climates, Tear drop shaped and often referred to as hand axes, More sophisticated than Oldowan tools (more blows removed more flakes from the rock), Standard design with a slight bulge in the middle, Used for butchering animals and removing hides

Question 29

Homo neanderthals

Answer 29

Present 200,000-35,000 years ago, Closest extinct human relative

Question 30

Homo neanderthals adaptations

Answer 30

Large middle part of the face, angled cheek bones, huge nose for humidifying and warming cold, dry air, shorter and stockier bodies (adaptation to cold environment), more prominent occipital bun than homo erectus, Brains as large as us (homo sapiens) and often larger, proportional to their stronger bodies, Brain capacity of 1500 cc

Question 31

Homo neanderthals shelter

Answer 31

Some used caves as shelters, others constructed shelters of wood supported by mammoth tusks and covered with skins

Question 32

Homo neanderthals diet

Answer 32

Cold climates meant food availability was limited in winter forcing them to exploit other options like meat, Evidence that they were specialised hunters- sharp wooden spears and large numbers of big game animal remains have been uncovered (bones have a high frequency of fractures similar to rodeo riders who regularly interact with large, dangerous animals), Worked together in groups to co-operatively hunt large game meaning good communication and abstract thought was required, Hunted with thrusting spears that allowed them to kill large animals from a safe distance

Question 33

Homo neanderthals tools and culture

Answer 33

Used the Mousterian stone tool industry (for hunting and sewing), First early humans to wear clothing, Buried their dead on their sides with knees up around their chest and occasionally marked their graves with offerings, such as flowers (first species to do this, suggests beginning of a religious ritual), Scrapers and awls have been discovered- scrapers were used to clean the animal hide, awl was used to poke holes in it allowing for the use of animal tissue to lace together a loose-fitting garment

Question 34

Mousterian tools

Answer 34

Characterised by sophisticated flake tools that were detached from a prepared stone core allowing for flakes of predetermined shape to be removed and fashioned into tools from a single stone (first to show variety), Mousterian tools included fine points, sharp knives, scrapers, spear heads, Tools were made by striking the rock to make a core and then retouching on one surface (pressure flaking- pushing down on a rock with a bigger rock to make more precise flakes)

Question 35

Homo sapiens

Answer 35

Present about 300,000 years ago to the present

Question 36

Homo sapiens adaptations

Answer 36

Brain capacity of 1300 cc, high vaulted skull with a flat near vertical forehead (to house big brain), less (or no) heavy brow ridges and prognathism, less developed jaw with smaller teeth, defined chin

Question 37

Homo sapiens shelter

Answer 37

Lived in shelters- settled down when producing/farming food forming villages > towns > cities

Question 38

Homo sapiens diet

Answer 38

Ate a variety of animal and plant foods as they could control the growth and breeding of certain plants and animals through farming and herding animals

Question 39

Homo sapiens tools and culture

Answer 39

Prehistoric Homo sapiens made and used stone tools as well as smaller, more complex and refined tools such as fishhooks and bow and arrows and sewing needles, Used paleolithic tools , Exchanged resources over wide areas and created art, music, personal adornment, rituals and a complex symbolic world, First appearance of cave painting murals and sculptures

Question 40

Palaeolithic tools

Answer 40

Long thin flakes removed, Thin, E.g- drills, throwing sticks, needles, hammer stones and blades, Made of bone, ivory and antler, Types- Aurignacian, Solutrean, Magdalenian

Question 41

Aurignacian tools

Answer 41

43,000-26,000 years ago, Long blade stones with flakes removed, Used antler and bone, Used to hunt

Question 42

Solutrean tools

Answer 42

22,000-19,000 years ago, Made by pressure flaking on flint, Laurel and willow leaf shaped (surfboard looking), Ornamented

Question 43

Magdalenian tools

Answer 43

18,000-12,000 years ago, Used bone and antler over stone, Made using a burin, E.g- needles, barbed spear points, spear throwers