Chapter 8 Flashcards
Australopithetcus Sediba (Au. Sediba)
- South Africa
- Last gracile australopithecus
- Smaller orbital gap
- Relatively long arms and curved finger bones
- Habitual biped
- Walked by shifting weight from heel to inside sole
- Not considered homo b/c of small brain size
Early Genus homo discovery in Ethiopia
- 2.8 to 2.75 mya
- Significance: 400k years older than previously known oldest specimen of genus homo
Homo habilis
- Gracile biped
- East and South Africa
- First recognized member of genus homo
- Australopithecus body (long arm, curved fingers); Homo head (larger brain size)
Homo Rudolfensis
- Gracile biped
- East Africa Kenya
- Sagital ridge
- Large molar teeth
- Largest of early hominids
Site Taphonomy
The study of the cultural and biological processes that surround the formation of an archeological site Cultural processes can be accidental or deliberate (i.e. plowing, looting, resuse of materials by later inhabitants) Natural Processes (i.e. erosion, floods)
Oldowan Tools
Stone age tools including relatively simple choppers and flakes
Significance: Opens up new meat-eating niche to hominins not acessible before
Older hominins better understood how to strike stones to create tools than monkey why?
Consider the grip of apes, their thumb is shorter
Mary Leakey
Interpreteed Oldowan stone tool inudstry as having a hunting role based on cut marks on animal bones
- Wrong b/c of site taphonomy
- FKL 22 site
Lewis Binford
- Believed early hominins were scavengers not hunters
- Suggested nutrient-ruch marrow extraction was more important than getting meat
- Passive scavenging
Passive Scavenging
Hominins remove bone marrow and remaining meat after a larger predator kills animal and consumes most of the meat.
Active/Confrontational Scavenging
Hominins chase large predator away from its kill and removes the bones with the most meat.
Supports Rodrigo’s belief that meat was most important
Ideas for Emergence of Homo Erectus in Africa
Ecosystem Variability; Interdependence Hypothesis; and the Social Brain
Ecosystem Variability
Rapid fluctuations b/w grassland and closed woodlands
-Desirability to retain knowledge of different resources led to increased brain size in hominins
Interdependence Hypothesis
Natural selection for cooperative behaviors and altruism
Social Brain Hypothesis
Increased brain size in hominins is due to:
- Larger social groups
- Larger networks (of other individuals)
- Control of emotions (moral network and responsibilities)
