Lecture 6/7

Question 1

provenance

Answer 1

the original location of a fossil artifact - must be done before identifying time frame

Question 2

Relative dating

Answer 2

method of dating that identifies fossils as being young/older of other known artifacts or objects
- doesn’t assign exact age

Question 3

Stratigraphy (Strata)

Answer 3

method of relative dating
- study of different layers (strata) that have been deposited over time
- works well with sites that haven’t been disturbed
law of superposition: within undisturbed geological deposits, strata are laid down from oldest to most recent
- this is reversed in sites of erosion, materials that are found in the water are on top, but they are oldest
- fossils buried lower in the strata are older than those buried closer to surface
- alterations from geological process such as folding and uplifting disturb a site

Question 4

Biostratigraphic dating (faunal correlation)

Answer 4

faunal: Animals, especially the animals of a particular region or period, considered as a group
- dating a fossil based on association of faunal remains that have been securely dated using other methods
- primate fossil found with remains of extinct species of pig known to have lived 35-40mya -> association = fall into the same range of time

Question 5

Flourine dating

Answer 5

relative dates based on amount of fluorine in bones

• bones and teeth absorb fluorine when animals dies from surrounding ground water.
• more amount of fluorine present = older specimen

Question 6

Absolute dating methods (Chronometric)

Answer 6

assigns a specific age and estimated error to a fossil or site
associated with dating error +/- differing from the actual day

Question 7

Radioactive isotopes

Answer 7

unstable isotopes that decay, emitting radioactivity

decay at a constant rate into more stable forms

Question 8

Radiometric dating

Answer 8

absolute dating method using radioactive decay of the isoptoe c14 into N14

• all living organism posses C14 from the environment
• when they doe it stops taking in C14 and turn it into 14N
• c14 has a half life of 5730 years +/- 40 years
• use to date organic materials: wood, bone, charcoal
• only usually for dating past 40,000 to 45,000 years ago

Question 9

Potassium-Argon dating

Answer 9

absolute dating to measure decay of K40 into argon gas Ar40
K40 has a half like of 1.3 billion years
- used for dating volcanic material - and not dating fossils you are dating time of events

Question 10

Atomic mass spectrometry

Answer 10

method of radiocarbon dating used to date very small samples

Question 11

Geological Times scale

Answer 11

evidence of climate change, precise radiometric dating
- division of the earls geological events into time periods such as eras and epochs. Based on temporal divisions defined by features of fossilized remained of extinct organisms

Question 12

Epoch

Answer 12

measure of geological time that partitions geological eras into smaller units, defined with regard to major climatological/environmental events

Question 13

Cenozoic era

Answer 13

included mammals and emergence of primates

Question 14

Oxygen isotope analysis

Answer 14

stable oxygen isotopes to reconstruct ancient climates using ice cores taken from polar icecaps and sediment cores taken from ocean floor
looking at ratio of O18 and O16
O18 is heavy so when water evaporates it gets left behind and makes sea water a high ratio
glacial period have O16 locked in, a low ratio = cold periods
ice cores with high ratio were warmer periods

Question 15

Crown group

Answer 15

last common ancestor of a clade plus all of its descendants including living members of the clade

Question 16

stem group

Answer 16

extinct organisms that are not part of the crown group

Question 17

Paleocene

Answer 17

Plasidapiforms and flowering plants!
After extinction of the dinosaurs and less proliferation of gymnosperms
first epoch of the cenozoic era
warmer climate which allowed for angiosperms to proliferate
primate like mammals with a low dental formula of 3.1.4.3, large procumbent (forward-facing) incisors, long snout, laterally facing orbits, claws, no post-orbital bar
- diet of insects and fruits

Question 18

Eocene

Answer 18

Strepsirhines and start of haplorhines
First euprimates - lemurs and lorsises
- very warm climate, tropical all over NA, africa, europe and asia
- foreword facing eyes, post-orbital bar, reduced snout
Omomyidae: tarsier like primates
- small, large eye orbits to be nocturnal, lack of tapetum, elongated calcaneus to leap branch to branch
- teilhardina asiatica found in china
Adapids
- lemur like primates
- larger than omomyids, larger snout, smaller eyes, teeth suggest leaves and fruit diet
Darwinius masillae
- small, arboreal quadruped that is debated to be either a strepsirhines or a haplorhine
Eosimias
- found in china
- looks alot like darwinius masillae
- tree-dwelling primate
- displays tarsier (omomyid) like features like the ankle bone

Question 19

Tapetum:

Answer 19

reflective layer behind the retina that increases the light capturing capacity of the eye
- omomyids do not have this, the large eye orbit allows for the extra light to allow them to still be nocturnal

Question 20

Oligocene

Answer 20

Anthropoids: Oligopithecidae, Parapithecids, Proliopithecis
Temperature dropped significantly - reduction in forest, extinction of many land mammals in europe
- Fossils all found in the Fayum depression in Egypt (very small area of land)
- includes haplorhines and strepsirhines

Question 21

Oligiopithecidae

Answer 21

2.1.2.3

ancestor to catarrhines - Old world monkeys

Question 22

Paralithecidae

Answer 22

2.1.3.3.
ancestor to platyrrhines - new world monkeys
low rounded cusps - fruit eating
small eye socket - diurnal
post cranial skeleton gives quadrupedal mode

Question 23

Proliopithecidae

Answer 23

2.1.2.3
ancestor to catarrhines - old work monkeys
dimoprhic canines which shows variety in mating system
type: aegyptopithecus: very large 6-8kg
y-5 patterns on lower molars
sagital crest which shows lots of chewing - leaves in diety
large brain

Question 24

New world monkeys

Answer 24

2.1.3.3.
Platyrrhines
Found in South America
Hypothesis: NWM arose from African anthropoid and spread to south america by rafting across southern atlantic on floating masses of vegetation
Oligocene had low levels of sea water so there were islands to make this possible
Morphological similarities between african and south american anthropoids to support hypothesis

Question 25

Carpolestes simpsoni

Answer 25

Plesiadapiform in Wyoming

Question 26

Old word monkeys

Answer 26

Egypt, Libia, Kenya colobines and cercopithecines sexual dimorphism 2.1.2.3

Question 27

Miocene

Answer 27

Planet of the Apes - hominoids Temperatures increased again to be tropical - Early Proconsulids: forest and woodland environments of africa 10-50kg, no tail, larger brain relative to body size, front and hind limb of equal length and limited wrist and shoulder region Y-5 patterns on molars diet: soft fruit

Question 28

Middle Miocene

Answer 28

climate cooled again, sea levels dropped, decrease in forest Bridge between Africa and Europe/Asia Robust mandibles, large flat molars with thick enamel - indicating diet of hard food Dryopithecus - 17 mya - Edward Lartent in 1856 - found in europe - larger than earlier apes, large canines, detention suited for fruit - teeth grew slow - long life span Pierolapithecus catalunicus spain 13 mya Salvador mona-sola and Meike kohler in 2002

Question 29

Late Miocene

Answer 29

``` a little colder and drier, decrease in forest, increase in grassland - hominoids move from Asia to SEA Sivapithecus - pongine - found in Asia - 12-8mya - resembles modern day orangutang - projection premaxilla, narrow nasal bones, oval eye orbit chimp resemblance post-cranial skeleton Gigantopithecus - 8-0.5mya - Blacki - very large asian ape - 300kg and 3 meters tall - terrestrial - not related to orangutang ```

Question 30

Paleoanthropology

Answer 30

study of human origins | collaborative study that involves geologist, palaeontologist, palynologists and anthropologists

Question 31

Neanderthal discovery

Answer 31

1829, but 1856

Question 32

Darwin

Answer 32

suggested that human origins lay in Africa

Question 33

Eugene Dubois

Answer 33

was uncovering evidence of early humans in SE Asia for the missing link from Ernst Haeckel pithecus = ape anthropus = man erectus = erect

Question 34

Older remains were found in

Answer 34

Europe | older than the Neanderthal man

Question 35

Pitldown Hoax

Answer 35

charles dawson - uncovered what appeared to be human remains human cranium, and a chimp mandible, strange orangutang's teeth thought he found the missing link between ape and man went on for 40 years from 1912-1949 radiocarbon dating was used to discovery this was a hoax in 1953

Question 36

Johan Anderson

Answer 36

Swedish geologist worked with chines national geological survey - wrote a book called children of the yellow earth - cave where he found lots of human remains that had been occupied several times over by human ancestors - human origin was likely to be in Asia from this discovery - Describe Yangshoa culture which was found along the yellow river - Found Zhoukoudian - same species as eugine dubois found - homoerectus

Question 37

Raymond Dart

Answer 37

Taung child specimen found in 1924 specimen had a child like cranium so it was hard to identify because it could grow up into any type of primate, it could have had that variation due to ontogeny Dated it back past homoerectus in SE Asia

Question 38

Robert Broom

Answer 38

1936 went to Sterkfontein in Africa Australopithecus africanus Had found a cave in sterkfontein that had fossils of leopards, primates, and ancestors Found adult specimen of human ancestors and now is the oldest specimen of human origin

Question 39

Louis Leakey

Answer 39

Inspired by Raymond and Robert to look in Africa looked for geological formations that have greatest likelihood for fossil bearing for emergence of human ancestors East African Rift Valley: kenya, Ethiopia, and sudan - studied modern day primates to serve as a good analogy for inferring behaviour in the past - data yielded evidence for hominoids in East african rift valley

Question 40

Mary Leakey

Answer 40

1948: found intact skeleton of a proconsulid 1950s: robust form of australopithecus

Question 41

Chronology and Telling time

Answer 41

- time if often linear for paleoanthropologists, consisting of a sequence of events that are arranged and ordered in a time line

Question 42

Terminus Post Quem:

Answer 42

suggest subjects are younger than the event | - earliest possible date for something

Question 43

Terminus Ante Quem

Answer 43

subjects are older than the event | latest possible date for something

Question 44

Law of Superposition

Answer 44

a law in natural sciences that stipulates that geological layers are deposited in a time sequence with oldest at the bottom and younger at the top reversed: erosion the loose materials by the water is reversed, fluidity born materials -> older even though they are on top

Question 45

Seriation

Answer 45

Oscar Montelius Aims to arrange objects based on physical attributes into an order that produces meaningful patterns, most often used to produce relative ages of artifacts compared to others when people manufactured specific materials, we are able to tell using seriation and we can correlate these dates with other material things all humans creations change through time ex: toothpaste, if you find a toothpaste tube you are dealing with after the 1870s. Used to tell relative time, not absolute

Question 46

Absolute Carbon Dating

Answer 46

Willard Libby 1949 looking at ratio of c12:c14 found in a dead organism Has to be calibrated because atmospheric ratio stays the same thoughout time, but ocean water has higher levels of C14 so if an organism drinks out of the ocean it will have more C14 in its body and will be dated later. Assumption: production of c14 must be constant and there must be no introduction of other c14

Question 47

Nuclear Testing

Answer 47

caused us to not be able to date before 1940's because of the amount of c14 it altered in the atmosphere

Question 48

Deandrochology

Answer 48

Andrew E. Douglas in Arizona tree rings 1) can be used to obtain absolute and calendrical dates 2) can be used to determine paleoclimates 3) can be used to calculate radiocarbon dates when different tree dates overlap they will respond to the environmental pressures the same and have the same pattern of tree rings can be used to calibrate radiocarbon dates because they are organic material so you can carbon date them - check if any environmental changes altered the amount of c14

Question 49

Potassium Argon

Answer 49

measure decay of K40 to Ar40 half life of 1.3 billion years volcanic materials - molten rock will become solid from it's liquid form and when it hardens we can measure the decay of K40 to AR40 you can date very old material but you cannot date young dating -> you are dating a geological event, not material only effective on volcanic rock formed before 100,000 years ago

Question 50

Wiggle room

Answer 50

gap between 40,000 and 100,000years ago we dont have a method to date during this time so it is difficult to date and be precise

Question 51

Lumpers

Answer 51

less speciose less bushy tree

Question 52

Splitters

Answer 52

Speciose classify new species, drawing distinctions to new species like behavioural patterns Because we are only looking at fragments of fossils, reconstructing past phylogenies can be problematic and continuous Only a small fraction of material fossilize and preserve itself Must extrapolate relationships and morphological structures between species

Question 53

First Mammals

Answer 53

Therapsida 251MYA mammals evolved in early jurassic period Gymnosperms: plants that reproduce without flowering seed, the seed is not in the ovary - conifers, yews, and gingkos

Question 54

Extinction

Answer 54

Wiped out dinosaurs and changed the floor plan of earth decrease in gymnosperms and increase in angiosperms (flowering plants) organisms had room to proliferate because there was a decrease in competition, the survivors took on no ecological niches Angiosperms started to cover boreal environments - trees, bushes, forests End of Mesozoic era - start of Paleocene

Question 55

Paleocene

Answer 55

Plesiadapiforms and Angiosperms warm weather plesiadapiforms were primate like mammals that were probably what primates were derived from Angiosperms - provided arboreal food for primates

Question 56

Arboreal Hypothesis

Answer 56

Sir Graton Smith and Frederick Jones 1905 primates evolved because as the forests became modified there was more ecological niches developed up in the canopies need nails to not get in the way of grasping, retention of clavicle to go branch to branch, stereoscopic vision to see next branch, and 5 digits problem: there are other organisms and mammals that live in trees that don't have these adaptions and survive

Question 57

Visual Predation Hypothesis

Answer 57

Matt Cartmill 1970s Earliest primates were insectivores, need to snatch and hold onto insects, need good vision to spot insects and move quickly through the canopy problem: Earliest evidence says that primates were not insectivores based on dentition

Question 58

Angiosperm Radiation Hypothesis

Answer 58

Robert Sussman 1980s Primates need to see the plants in color, thrive in arboreal terrestrial environments, see fruit and be able to pick it Environmental selective pressures need primate adaptation to be beneficial

Question 59

Carpolestes Simpsoni

Answer 59

``` Wyoming 60mya Fruigivore dentition opposable grasping toe with nail no foreward facing eyes Claws on from limbs Can't judge distance without stereoscopic vision so is this a plesidapiform or is it a primate? ```

Question 60

Eocene

Answer 60

Strepsirhines (Euprimates) First true primates 56-34mya temperature was very warm - tropical, proliferation of arboreal environments and primates Teilhardina asiatica - looked like a tarsier (omomyid) - looks more like a haplorhini, which did not proliferate at this time, but start to emerge Eosimias - fossil found that looked like a haplorhini, because it had a short calcaneus (ankle bone) - found in china Darwinius Masillae -very similar to eosimias - found in messell pit in 1983 Omomyids: Tarsiers - small body, large eye orbit, long calcaneus Adapids: Lemurs and Lorises larger than omomyids large snout, small eye orbit, small of teeth indicate leaves and fruit

Question 61

Oligocene Primates

Answer 61

Anthropoids: Olgopithecids, Parapithecus, Propliopithecus 34-23mya cooling All fossilized material in the Fayum Depression of Egypt Major geological and climate change. NA and europe separated, india drifted into Asia, primates gradually disappeared

Question 62

Oligopithecids

Answer 62

2.1.2.3. | catarrhines - old world monkeys

Question 63

Parapithecids

Answer 63

2.1.3.3. platyrrhines - new world monkeys primitive haplorhines

Question 64

Propliopithecids

Answer 64

``` 2.1.2.3 catarrhines - old work monkeys type: aegyptopithecus Zeuxis - very large propliopithecids - large sagital crest and relatively large brain ```

Question 65

New World Primates

Answer 65

platyrrhines 2.1.3.3. hypothesis that they got to South america from Africa via the Southern Atlantic via a floatation device

Question 66

Miocene

Answer 66

``` Hominoids 25-5.3mya Proconsulid: Dryopithecids, Sivapithecus, Gigantopithecus similar to oragnutangs, gorillas, and chimps Features: - reduction of lumbar region - no tail - brachiation - suspensory locomotion - longer gestation periods - folivores (leaf eating) ```

Question 67

Proconsulids

Answer 67

2.1.2.3 (OWM - catarrhines) proconsul major: large ape size of modern day chimp - 50kg 1909: Louis Leakey reduction of lumbar region front and rear limbs of equal length - more carpals articulated directly with ulna which limits wrist mobility - Y-5 molar pattern

Question 68

Morotopithecus bishopi

Answer 68

Flexibility of hands skeleton suggest flexible shoulder joint and a femur poorly adapted to quick arboreal locomotion less primitive, later in time, in east Africa

Question 69

Dryopithecus

Answer 69

Edward Lartet 1856 found in Europe lived 17mya larger than earlier apes with large canines and dentition for fruit longer life span due to slow teeth growth partly terrestrial primates due to being larger - they are subject to predation another type found in spain

Question 70

Sivapithecus

Answer 70

``` Found in Asia 12-8mya share similarities with modern day orangutang - projecting premaxilla, narrow nasal bones, oval eye orbit resembles chimps post orbital skeleton type: indicus ```

Question 71

Gigantopithecus

Answer 71

``` 8-0.5mya large asian ape 300 kg and 3 meters tall terrestrial Type: blacki ```

Question 72

Lithostatic Pressure

Answer 72

reconstructing human, primate, and hominid taxonomy and phylogeny pressure exerted on a layer, object or artifact by the weight of overlying sediment or deposits that mishaps or distort it • if it received that pressure before it was buried entirely • moisture will cause warping • pressure over time (fossilizing) will cause it to be distorted in a smooth way, no cracks, no impact related trauma

Question 73

Taphonomic processes

Answer 73

process of fossilization, you should consider 1) most fossilized remains do not remain intact - often only finding fragment 2) not looking at actual bone because it has been fossilized, so even size is not accurate there could be swelling or retraction 3) Fragmentation due to fossilization process 4) Distortion of element -> lithostatic pressure (no cracking just warping)