Chapter 8 Flashcards
Relative dating
Dating methods indicating that something is older or more recents than something else
Stratigraphy
The principle that undisturbed underlying geologic deposits are older than overlying geological deposits
Principle of superposition
In a stratigraphic sequence, the lower layers were deposited before the upper layers
Radio potassium-argon dating
An absolute dating technique of dating fossils especially those in very ancient volcanic rock by using potassium minerals in the same strata as a reference
Earliest stone tools dated to approximately?
2.6 million years old
If an isotope has a half-life of 4 billion years, then in 4 billion years what will happen?
Half of the original amount will still be present
Which would be best suited to the suited carbon 14 dating technique?
Certain organic materials less than 75000 years old
Where have Miocene hominid fossils been found?
Africa
Europe
Asia
By about 2 mya?
There were one or more species of the genus Homo present in east Africa
Hominin emergence is characterized by the simultaneous appearance of bipedalism, toolmaking, and a large brain
True or false
False
The A. afarensis hand, wrist, and foot bones are distinguishable from those of modern humans
True or false
False
Typical primate traits
Forward facing eyes Grasping hands and feet Five digits Opposable thumbs and big toes Orbital closure Nails Lesser sense of smell and hearing Bigger brains
Extinction of Miocene Apes
Climate change
Tropical forests changed to cooler dryer mixed woodlands and grasslands
Does who survived did by following the tropics, adapting to forested areas, others to woodlands, and one group eventually to the ground
Hominin traits
Larger brains
Non honing canines
Bipedal
Language
Paranthropus
4-1 MYa
The robust Australopithecus
Larger, flatter face
Large
