Chapter Two Flashcards
Biological Evolution
Inherited and cumulative change in the characteristics of a species, population, or culture
Patterns of Primate’s Social Groups
The most common social group among primates is the multi-male/multi-female group (MM/MF). It contains adults of both sexes and the females’ offspring. Females make up the core of the group and often have strong alliances with each other. Male membership is less stable.
The Great Apes
A category of large and tailless primates that includes orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans. All great ape species are endangered in the wild.
Fission-Fusion Group
A rare subvariety in non-human primate social groups with 50 or more individuals that regularly breaks up into much smaller subgroups for foraging. The fission-fusion pattern is important because it is found in chimpanzees and bonobos.
Chimpanzee and Bonobos vs Human Social and Cultural Patterns
Chimpanzees and bonobos spend 25% of their time in social interactions, compared with 10% for the great apes, except for humans. Grooming is the major form of social interaction, with most of the interactions occurring between mothers and offspring.
Chimpanzees live in large, fluid groups of up to 50 to 60 individuals, but they are rarely, if ever, together in one area. Adult males often travel together, whereas adult females travel with their offspring.
Patrilocal
A residence pattern in which males stay in their birth group throughout their lives. Females leave their birth group at reproductive age, between 10 to 15 years, to join a new group.
Chimpanzees are patrilocal. Bonobos are patrilocal, but migrant bonobo females are not.
Matrifocal
A residence pattern in which the mother is the head of the family or household. Migrant bonobo females develop strong alliances with females in their new group, forming matrifocal social groups centered on one or more adult females.
Lucy
The most famous hominin fossil in the world, found in Ethiopia. She’s famous because so much of her skeleton was preserved. Same and other species of her time suggest human evolution might not be a single line.
Archaic Homo
An extinct hominin species that lived from 2.4 million to 17,000 years ago. They had a more human-like body shape, smaller jaws and teeth, and larger brains. Stone tools are prominent in their culture. Paleoanthropologists can’t agree on whether they are our ancestors, interbred with later species, or all died out.
Neanderthals
Compared to modern humans, Neanderthals had heavier limb bones, larger brains, and distinctive facial skeletons. They were the only hominin species to tolerate the cold temperatures that affected Europe and Northern Asia. They were the first hominids to bury their dead regularly, so their fossil record (in quantity and quality) is better than the other archaic Homo species.
Homo Sapiens
The species to which modern humans belong. They first emerged in Africa between 300,000 and 160,000 years ago and then spread throughout the Old and New worlds. This era was the last period during which any evidence exists of significant morphological change. Compared to the Neanderthals, modern humans have steeper foreheads with smaller brow ridges, smaller faces, smaller incisor teeth, and thinner limb bones.
Neolithic Revolution
Around 12,000 years ago, people in several places in the Old World started changing their lives in ways that differed fundamentally from previous times. It was a time of rapid transformation in technology, related to plant and animal domestication, which includes tools such as sickle blades and grinding stones.
Sedentism
Residence in permanent settlements such as villages, towns, and cities, which began with plant and animal domestication and intensified during the Neolithic era and the emergence of farming.
Domestication of Plants and Animals in the Old World/New World
Domestication is a process by which human selection causes changes in the genetic material of plants and animals. It’s a big part of the neolithic revolution. The domestication of cattle was the first step in the transition to the Neolithic in Africa. The domestication of wild cattle supported the emergence of pastoralism.
Pastoralism
An economic strategy in which people depend on domesticated animals for most of their food and which continues to be an important mode of livelihood in the region today.
Cities and States
A city has a larger population and more occupational specialization, more elaborate architecture, and central services such as temples, government agencies, and trade organizations. A state is a centralized political organization encompassing many communities. States are typically bureautic; they have specialized units with authority over limited areas of governance.
