Chapter 12 Flashcards
Anatomically Modern Humans
Homo sapiens with skeletal features characteristic of present-day humans, including a globular braincase, reduced brow ridges, and a prominent chin.
Behavioral Modernity
The suite of behaviors and cognitive traits, such as symbolic thought and complex tool use, that distinguish modern Homo sapiens from earlier hominins.
Gracile
Describes the lighter, more slender build of modern human skeletons compared to the more robust builds of archaic humans.
Globular Braincase
A rounded skull shape associated with modern Homo sapiens, accommodating a larger and more complex brain.
Mental Eminence (Chin)
A forward-projecting part of the lower jaw unique to modern humans, absent in archaic human species.
African Multiregionalism
A model proposing that modern Homo sapiens evolved from a network of interlinked populations across Africa, rather than from a single region.
Assimilation Model
A hypothesis suggesting that modern Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and then spread globally, interbreeding with local archaic human populations.
Generalist-Specialist Niche
The ability of Homo sapiens to adapt to a wide range of environments by developing specialized local knowledge and tools.
Middle Stone Age (MSA)
A period in African prehistory (~300,000 to 30,000 years ago) characterized by specific stone tool technologies associated with early modern humans.
Later Stone Age (LSA)
A period following the MSA (~50,000 years ago), marked by a diversification of tool types and increased symbolic behavior.
Jebel Irhoud
A site in Morocco where fossils dated to approximately 315,000 years ago were found, representing some of the earliest known modern Homo sapiens.
Omo Kibish
A site in Ethiopia yielding fossils of early modern Homo sapiens dated to about 195,000 years ago.
Herto
A site in Ethiopia where fossils of early modern Homo sapiens, dated to around 160,000 years ago, were discovered.
Foraging
A subsistence strategy involving the collection of wild plants and hunting of animals, characteristic of early human societies.
Egalitarian
Describes societies with minimal social hierarchies, often associated with foraging communities.
Agricultural Revolution
The transition from foraging to farming, leading to significant changes in human societies, including population growth and social complexity.
Cultural Complexity
The development of diverse and sophisticated cultural practices, technologies, and social structures in human societies.
Symbolic Thought
The capacity to use symbols, such as language and art, to represent objects, actions, or ideas, indicative of advanced cognitive abilities.
Mosaic Evolution
The concept that different traits evolve at different rates and times, leading to a mix of ancestral and derived features in organisms.
Transitional Fossils
Fossils that exhibit traits common to both ancestral and derived species, illustrating evolutionary change over time.
