Key steps in human evolution

Question 1

when did chimps and human diverge

Answer 1

5-6mya

Question 2

what has occured to climate in homo evolution

Answer 2

6-4.5mya - stable and slightly warmer than today

4.5-1mya - increasingly unstable and fluctuations

Question 3

when did the current ice age begin and the last glacial maximum

Answer 3

2. 58mya

11. 7kya

Question 4

what are the period called before and after the last glacial maximum

Answer 4

before - Pleistocene

after- holocene

Question 5

what are hominids

Answer 5

member of hominidae (great apes)

Question 6

what are hominins

Answer 6

bipedal hominids

the lineage that leaads to homo sapiens

Question 7

when did anatomically modern homo sap arise

Answer 7

200kya

Question 8

what are premodern homo

Answer 8

pleistocene homo that lack modern human cranium and post cranial skeleton
inc N
H.heidelbergensis

Question 9

what is the transitional homo

Answer 9

H.habilis (fingers could grasp)

Question 10

what are the archaic Homo and when were they pressent

Answer 10

Australopithecus africanus (3-2.4mya)
Australopithecus afarensis (3.7-3mya )

Question 11

what is some of the main difficulties in the field

Answer 11

rarity of fossils
what are en route to H.sap
homoplasy

Question 12

why is there a rarity of fossils

Answer 12

up until 2mya on African plane - scavenged

low population and frequent bottlenecks

Question 13

what is homoplasy

Answer 13

shared characteristics that aren’t inherited from LCA

Question 14

what is unusual about earth now

Answer 14

only one hominin

up until 13kya always at least two

Question 15

what hominins were present 60kya

Answer 15

N
D
H.floresiensis

Question 16

what is the earliest bipedal hominin

Answer 16

Ardipithecus ramidus

1. 2m heght
2. 4.mya

Question 17

what interesting about A.ramidus fossil

Answer 17

opposoble thumbs - like Chimp - evidence spent time in trees

suggets transitional phase

Question 18

what do A.afarensis fossils show about bipedalism

Answer 18

lucy - 3.6mya
same height as A.ramidus nut pelvis and muscle =
modern features = walk as we do
Laetoli footprint - suggets a gait and speed of walk sim
modern human

Question 19

what are some eamples of theories for the evolution of bipedalism

Answer 19

hands free -but this not sel pressure
thermoreg on savanna - but A.ramidus in forest
incr energy efficiency - especially over long distance/pot competitive adv over other hominins
aquatic ape theory

Question 20

what were the firt hominins to use tools

Answer 20

H. habilis

2.2mya

Question 21

what is the first tool culture

Answer 21

olduwan

split flakes from surface of pebbles - scavenging meat not hunting

Question 22

how is hommo tool use different from other animals

Answer 22

ability to improve/modify

Question 23

what are the tools used by H.erectus

Answer 23

Achuelean tools 
1.6mya -150kya little change
well balanced 
some shaped for hand axes
for hunting
more sophisticated

Question 24

what is speech and what does it require

Answer 24

ability for sound

anatomy inc low larynx/distorted tongue/large windpipe

Question 25

what is language

Answer 25

system for communication

Question 26

what do fossils of H.erectus show us about their ability for speech

Answer 26

similar windpipe to h.sap | threfore speech probs ev

Question 27

what do N fossils suggest about their ability for speech

Answer 27

probs lacked lower larynx- less ability/limits no of sounds

Question 28

what does cranial capactiy of hominins suggets about the evolution of language

Answer 28

in A.afarensis - 375-550cm^3 in H.habilis 650cm^3 and evidence of Broca area after this all more than 1000cm^3

Question 29

what is the problem with looking at brocas area on fossils

Answer 29

not human specific | not solely language role

Question 30

what gene has genetics studied for the ev of language

Answer 30

FOXP2 | assoc with diseases in which language affected

Question 31

what subsitutions present in H.sap of FOXP2 and what hominins present in

Answer 31

T303N N325S both in N and some studies suggest in Erectus

Question 32

what the effect of incr FOXP2 in zebra finch

Answer 32

incr dev of song = pot inv in reg song syst

Question 33

what the phenotype shown by mouse with the FOXP2 homo subs

Answer 33

incr neuron growth in forebrain altered patterns of ultrasonic vocalisations incr dendrite length and synaptic plastcity decr in dopamine conc

Question 34

comparison of genes in human and chimp

Answer 34

incr nerual gene in homo

Question 35

what evidence does tool use suggest about language

Answer 35

oldowan - tech stasis inconsitent with presence of language | pot a coev relationship would expect

Question 36

what have studies on the social transmission of tool use shown

Answer 36

imporve when laguage to teach not by imitation suggest pot a sel for language