˗ˏˋ archaic homo ´ˎ˗

Question 1

what is the caveman stigma?

Answer 1

• limited fossil evidence
• may be due to ethnocentrism and anthropocentrism

Question 2

what does it mean to be ethnocentric?

Answer 2

applying negative judgments to other cultures based on comparison to one’s own.

Question 3

what is anthropocentrism?

Answer 3

• way of thinking that assumes humans are the most important species and leads to interpreting the world always through a human lens
• species-centric science and thought

Question 4

what is the pleistocene epoch (2.58 mya - to 11,700 years ago)?

Answer 4

• fluctuation impacted temperatures and sea levels
• glaciation (glacial period, or time when a large portion of the world is covered by glaciers and ice sheets)
• interglacial (warmer period between two glacial time periods)

Question 5

what are archaic homo sapiens?

Answer 5

• name is to distinguish from homo sapiens
• shares species name but separated by time

Question 6

what are archaic homo sapiens characteristics?

Answer 6

• brain size of at least 1,100 cc (very large)
• less angular and higher skulls than h. erectus
• smaller brow ridges than h. erectus
• wider nasal apertures
• nasal aperture (opening for the nose visible on a skull) - often pear or heart-shaped
• midfacial prognathism (forward projection of the nose, or middle facial region, usually associated with neanderthals)
• robust postcranial
• regional variation

Question 7

what is the broken hill man?

Answer 7

• found at kabwe in zambia
• large brain (1,300 cc)
• taller cranium
• many h. erectus-like skull features (massive brow ridges, large face, thick cranial bones)

Question 8

what are the skullcaps from china?

Answer 8

• discovered in dali, china
• mostly what we’ve found are skullcaps (the upper domelike portion of the skull)
• large robust features
• heavy brow ridges
• large cranial capacity

Question 9

Atapuerca 5, Archaic Homo sapien, found in northern Spain

Answer 9

found in northern Spain
Nearly complete skeleton with traits that foreshadow Neanderthals
increased midfacial prognathism
thick cranial bone
an enlarged cranial capacity
intermediate cranial height
a more rounded cranium than seen previously

Question 10

what are neanderthals?

Answer 10

• named after neander valley
• found in western europe, the middle east, and western asia
• lived 150,000-35,000 years ago
• adapted to the cold climate of the ice age
• extreme and robust versions of traits seen in other archaic homo sapiens
• average cranial capacity: 1,500 cc

Question 11

what is la ferrassie 1 neanderthal?

Answer 11

• most “complete” neanderthal skull
• specimen with “classic” neanderthal features
• large brain
• large nose
• large infraorbital foramina
• large brow ridges
• robust postcrania

Question 12

what are mousterian tools?

Answer 12

• stone tool industry of neanderthals and their contemporaries in africa and western asia
• known for a diverse set of flake tools, which is different than the large bifacial tools of the acheulean industry
• named after le moustier site in southwest france (consists of two rock shelters in peyzac-le-moustier, a village in the dordogne, france)
• saved and reused their tools, rather than making new ones each time a tool was needed

Question 13

what is the levallois technique?

Answer 13

• distinctive technique of stone tool manufacturing used by archaic homo sapiens, including neanderthals
• involves the preparation of a core and striking edges off in a regular fashion around the core.
• a series of similarly sized pieces can be removed, which can then be turned into different tools

Question 14

what is a haft?

Answer 14

• a handle
• also used as a verb, to attach a handle to an item, such as a stone tool

Question 15

what were neanderthals like as hunters?

Answer 15

• glue from tree bark (found in europe)
• used spears for close-range hunting
• great hunters!
• tartar examined from neanderthal teeth in iraq and belgium reveal that plant material including wheat, barley, date palms, and tubers were also eaten by neanderthals and were cooked to make them palatable

Question 16

what are neanderthal burials?

Answer 16

• deliberate burials (one reason why we have so many specimens)
• in a flexed position (fetal position, in which the legs are drawn up to the middle of the body and the arms are drawn toward the body center, mostly associated with intentional burials)
• grave goods (iems included with a body at burial that may signify occupation or hobbies, social status, or level of importance in the community, or they may be items believed necessary for the afterlife, like pollen)
• ochre (natural clay pigment mixed with ferric oxide and clay and sand, ranges in color from brown to red to orange)
• pigments found at burial sites, possible evidence of art
  old man at la chap

Question 17

what is neanderthal inbreeding?

Answer 17

• some inbreeding with modern h. sapiens
• many were light-skinned, with red hair
• there is only one bone in the human body that could demonstrate if a hominin was able to speak, or produce clear vocalizations like modern humans, and that is the hyoid, a u-shaped bone that is found in the throat and is associated with the ability to precisely control the vocal cords

Question 18

what happened to neanderthals?

Answer 18

• cllimate change
• geological events (volcano in europe)
• cognition limitations (problem solving)
• delayed maturation led to slow population growth
• modern homo sapien expansion

Question 19

what are the denisovans?

Answer 19

• regionally adapted archaic homo sapiens
• found in the denisova cave in altai mountains, siberia
• distinct genetic differences from all known archaic populations
• adaptations for life at high altitudes
• many of these have been passed down to modern tibetans

Question 20

what is the out of africa model?

Answer 20

• states that modern humans originated in africa, replacing archaic populations found elsewhere in the old world
• theorists including christopher stringer (1996) argue that each archaic population comprised a separate species, making interbreeding between populations impossible
• admixture resulting from gene flow would not have been possible according to this model

Question 21

what is the multiregional continuity hypothesis?

Answer 21

• states that modern homo sapiens are directly derived from homo erectus and evolved in place after homo erectus left africa and populated areas in asia and europe
• milford wolpoff argues that interbreeding between regions and across regional boundaries contributed to gene flow that maintained homo sapiens as a single species throughout the old world, despite regional variation

Question 22

what is the assimilation hypothesis?

Answer 22

• draws on strengths from previous two hypotheses
• theorizes that modern humans originated in africa, spreading outward into asia and europe and interbreeding with more archaic forms they encountered along the way
• DNA evidence increasingly also suggests that, while limited, interbreeding between modern homo sapiens and beanderthals or modern homo sapiens and denisovans occured in at least three instances

Question 23

what is homo naledi?

Answer 23

• discovered in 2013 in south africa
• lived 335,000–236,000 years ago
• “underground astronauts”
• slender and petite
• entrance to where the bones were was incredibly narrow
• primitive features despite being a contemporary to modern h. sapiens

Question 24

what is h. florensiensis?

Answer 24

• discovered in 2003 on the island of flores in indonesia
• about 50,000 years ago
• insular dwarfing (form of dwarfism that occurs when a limited geographic region, such as an island, causes a large-bodied animal to be selected for a smaller body size)
• the “hobbit”
• height around 3.5 ft tall
• 100,000 and at least 60,000 years ago