Exam 2 Review Flashcards
1
Q
Bioarchaeology
A
- Scientific study of human remains from archaeological sties
- Started at 1980s
- Rarely concern about issues of MNI / NISP
- Concern with whether human remains constitute a burial population
> A set of human burials that come from a limited region and a limited time period. More limited the region and time period = more accurate the inferences - Can study a range of issues including:
1. Subsistence: means of supporting life, in particular by obtaining food
> Acquisition, distribution, and production of food
2. Nutrition
3. Occupational stress
4. Biological profile of populations
5. Mobility (migration and interaction)
6. Cultural practices: burial, body modification - e.g. Stillwater Burials and the local Indian community
2
Q
Age, sex and stature
A
- Age: determined by teeth; error factors > 5-yr age classes; difficult to pin down individual with age over 50
> Young individuals: pattern + timing of crown formation, tooth eruption
> Age over 25: patterns of bone fusion, tooth wear, and bone wear (pubic symphysis) - Sex: use characteristics of several bones (pelvis and skull) to determine
> Narrow notches of hips = male; wider = female
> Male skulls: more robust, heavier brow ridges over eyes, larger mastoid processes, more rugged muscle attachments, squarer chins and eye orbits - Stature: estimate to track changes in the quality of diet
> Relate length of certain long bones (femur) to height
> Diff populations = diff genetic capacities for height: measure of health for population across time
3
Q
Bone isotope analysis
A
- Within the study of osteology (study of bone)
- Ratios of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone: reconstruct directory importance of various kinds of plants and animals
1. C12, C13, C14
> Plants take carbon in 3 photosynthetic pathways (C3, C4, CAM)
> C4 plants (e.g. maize) take C13 and C14 isotopes > C3 and CAM
> Measure ratio of carbon isotopes @bone collagen
> Reconstruct directory importance of certain classes of plants
> Diet rich in maize: higher ratio of C13 and C14 - C3 plants: apple, barley, grape, peas, potato, radish, sugar beet, wheat; C4 plants: maize, millet, grasses, sorghum, sugar cane
2. N14, N15
> Plants absorb nitrogen frm air / soil
> Diff ratios of N15 to N14 in various plants
> Carnivores: lose N14 thru urine, retain N15
> Marine plants: higher N15 to N14 ratio (4%) than terrestrial plants
> Hot desert soils: higher N15 to N14 ratio - e.g. Population of Stillwater VS Ontario VS Pecos
1. Stillwater: few C4 plants, mixture of plant and animal foods
2. Ontario: fish, mousse, caribous (high N15, low C13)
3. Pecos: maize (hight C13, low N15)
> Stillwater: greater range of N-values
> NO association with age/sex; product of dietary variability
3. Sr / Ca - Seafood = rich in Sr
> Therefore higher Sr ratios = higher proportion of marine foods in diet - Ratio of Sr / Ca (Calcium)
- Animals “discriminate” against Sr; plants don’t.
- Animals use more Ca
> Can look at Sr/Ca ratio to determine proportion of meat in the direct
> Can compare human bone isotopes ratios in human bones to those in carnivores to those in vegetarian animals (browsers) to see where humans fall
4
Q
Nutrition and status
A
- Nonspecific indicators of stress: nutritional deficiencies and/or nonspecific infectious disease
1. Iron deficiency anemia: lack of red meat, chronic diarrhea, parasites
> Lack of iron: inadequate transport of oxygen by red blood cells
> Diseases: porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia
2. Vitaminosis
3. Growth disruption: altered growth curves, transverse arrest lines, dental growth disruptions, juvenile osteoporosis, premature osteoporosis
> Indicators: Harris lines (form in childhood, disappear later in life), enamel hypoplasias
4. Dampened fertility and fecundity
5
Q
Porotic hyperostosis
A
- A symptom of iron deficiency anemia in which the skull takes on a porous appearance
6
Q
Cribra orbitalia
A
- A symptom of iron deficiency anemia in which the bone of the upper eye sockets takes on a spongy appearance
7
Q
Enamel hypoplasia
A
- Horizontal linear defects in tooth enamel indicating episodes of physiological stress
> A growth arrest feature
> Indicate childhood periods of severe disease / malnutrition
> Tell how old a child was when the growth arrest event took place - Permanent: useful measures of stress than Harris lines
8
Q
Harris lines
A
- Horizontal lines near the ends of long bones indicating episodes of physiological stress
> A growth arrest feature
> Indicate childhood periods of severe disease / malnutrition
> Form in childhood: remodel as it grows > disappear later in life
9
Q
Dental calculus
A
- Diet on food processed on grinding stones = higher rates of tooth wear
- High frequency of dental caries = diet high in simple carbohydrates and sugars
> Diff btw agriculturalists and hunter-gatherer population - Abscesses:
10
Q
Occupational stress
A
- Bones respond to routine mechanical stresses placed upon them
> Patterns of osteoarthritis (joint disorder created by loss of cartilage, often caused by mechanical stress > eburnation: sign of osteoarthritis > painful to move) and long bone cross sections
> Point to diff patterns of workload btw sexes or to changes thru time - e.g. Still water population:
> Male: osteoarthritis @hip, ankle, foot > more distant walking
> Female: osteoarthritis @ lumbar vertebrae > child rearing + food processing (plants, fish, game within short distance of camps) - Under heavy mechanical stress: more oval cross section in long bone
- Repetitive motions, or body positions can leave permanent signature on skeleton.
- Most common examples are overdeveloped muscle attachments from manual labor/strenuous exercise
- e.g. See trends in Skeletal robust city during the transition frm hunting and gathering to agriculture, across the world
- Increase in humoral and femoral robusticity, esp in women
- e.g. Ear exostosis (a hard tissue in ear that can be preserved): surfer’s” ear @mid altitude population
> Affect hearing ability
> If: found @archaeological ppl
> Suggest: spend a lot of time on diving / cold water activity
11
Q
Cranial and dental modification
A
- Cranial modification (in skull) @Tiwanaku society, Maya:
> Fronto-Occipital, Unmodified Skull, Annular - Dental modification @Saint Martin Dutch Caribbean
> Chipping, fining the upper incisors, removed
> Diff modifications > diff traditions > diff populations
12
Q
St. Johnsbury Cemetery
A
- Old Burial Ground
- History: bodies removed and placed in other places (?)
- Site in Burlington
- An estimated 375-400 burials in the Old Burial Ground
- UVM studied 144 grave shafts identified within the area of courthouse explanation (ca. 40% of cemetery)
- 45% of the 144 (n=65) had been completely exhumed
- 35% of the 144 (n=50) were only partially exhumed
- 20% of the 144 (n=29) where completely intact
1. Age (frm remains): sub-adults 53.3%, adults 46.7%
VS Age (frm gravestone data): sub-adults 39.4% (55% of sub-adults under 1.5yrs); adults 60.6%
> Why difference btw % sub-adults excavated and % represented by gravestone data
> Possible reason: bones of sub-adults are smaller > smaller grave
> Original exhumes missed more small graves, hence more were “left behind” to be discovered archaeologically
> 55% sub-adults under 1.5yrs due to early mortality (medication)
2. Average age: - Including all individuals 30.7yrs VS including only adults 49.1yrs; male adults 52.1 yrs VS female adults
> Why such a low average for all individuals? Why differences btw men and women?
13
Q
War of 1812 Burial Ground
A
-Village of Burlington, VT, ca. 1812-1815
> Downtown near lake Champlain @Military burials, camp Burlington
1. Written record: identifying the war of 1812 soldiers
2. Adopt osteological analysis
> Construct biological profiling, preservation of age features
3. Found enlistment record
> Provide death record / background info
4. Preservation of hair
- Similar large stature:
> Selectivity for larger soldiers = higher survival rate > natural selection
> Farmers (occupation of regular army soldiers farmer = 55.3%)
> Heavier, active, food production
14
Q
Australopithicines (afarensis, africanus, garhi, robustus, sediba)
A
- Pronounce sexual dimorphism: males’ size > females twice
- H1: Proportionate long arms + ape like curved fingers > tree climbing
- H2: Bipedality: broad + short pelvis, long femur neck, angled knee joints arched foot
- No definitive evidence for creation of artifacts
- Skeleton found:
> 3-4 mya: Australopithecus afarensis - “Lucy” @Hadar, Ethiopia
> 2-3 mya: Australopithecus africanus - “Taung child” @ Cradle of Humankind, South Africa; trauma on skeleton caused by intra-species violence
> 2mya: Australopithecus garhi - probable maker of early Oldowan tools. Potential ancestor for the genus Homo
> 1-2mya: Australopithecus robustus - modest brain expansion, development of massive jaws + cheek teeth
> Sediba - possible transition from btw A. Africanus and Homo
15
Q
*Lucy
A
- The partial skeleton discovered in the 1970s @ Hadar, Ethiopia
- Female, Australopithecus afarensis, ca. 3.2 mya
- Represent relatively small-bodied (appx 1m), adaptation to bipedal walking
- Shorter legs + longer arms than modern human
- Ape-sized brains, skulls with prognostic (projecting) faces
- Large dentition (incisors + canines)
16
Q
Dawn of Humanity video
A
-
17
Q
Homo naledi
A
- Human remains frm the Rising Star Cave
- Fill the gap 237-335kya (mentioned in txt bk p.92)
- Co-existing with other animals
18
Q
**Rising Star Cave system
A
- Site @Africa
- Found: Homo naledi, Sediba
- Sediba found in Rising Star Cave: ca. 2mya
- Dental calculus reveals plant phytoliths!
> Of grasses, fruits, leaves, and bark or wood fruit - Skeleton reveals bipedal, but tree climber
> Transitional species: very genius Homo sapiens
19
Q
Lee Berger
A
- An American-born South African paleoanthropologist
- Discover the Australopithecus sediba type site, Malapa in South Africa
- Leeadership of Rising Star Expedition in the excavation of Homo naledi
20
Q
Becoming Human video (part 2)
A
-
21
Q
Bipedalism
A
- Human evolutionary pathway involved combination of unique traits:
> Bipedalism: walking on 2 feet
> Invovle numerous transformations in spine, pelvis, legs, and feet
> Combine with making of stone tools + significant increase in brain size
22
Q
Sexual dimorphism
A
- Txt bk p.58
* Difference in size btw male and female of a species
23
Q
Gradualism
A
- Txt bk p.48
- A model to describe the mode and tempo by which evolutionary changes have occurred in species
- Employ in many researchers since Darwin’s time
- Rather slow and steady (gradual) accumulation of small changes over a long period of time finally produces major changes in the descendants of a species
24
Q
Punctuated equilibrium
A
- Txt bk p.48
- Another model for species change
- More recent than gradualism
- Periods of more rapid, dramatic evolution over short periods of time are separated by longer periods of little change (or stasis)
- Apply to certain periods of dramatic environmental change, during which species underwent more significant natural selection processes, followed by periods of relative environmental stability, during which less profound evolutionary changes occurred.
25
Q
Olduvai gorge
A
- 100m deep, 50km long gash in Serengeti plain of northern Tanzania
- The earliest archaeological sites found with Oldowan industry
- Site worked by Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey
- Distinguish btw chopper-dominated Oldowan industry and the Developed Oldowan industry
- Beds:
1. Typical Oldowan tools (hand axes, picks, cleavers; 1.45mya)
2. Fossils of Homo ergaster/erectus + Developed Oldowan (1.35mya)
3+4. Overlying Masek beds: Acheulean + Developed Oldowan sites
5. Middle Stone Age + Later Stone Age sites
26
Q
Hadar
A
- Hadar, in Ethiopian Rift Valley
- Well-preserved remains of Australopithecus afarensis
- Project began in 1970s
- Found: Lucy (60% complete), the first family (13 adults + juvenile individuals), nearly complete male skull, Oldowan artifacts (2.3mya)
- Show range of variability and sexual dimorphism of this species
27
Q
Laetoli
A
- Abt 50km south of the Olduvai gorge in Tanzania
- Well-preserved remains of Australopithecus afarensis
- First explored in 1930s, and then 1970s
- Found:
1. A number of A. Afarensis fossils, ca. 3.7-3.5mya
2. A layer of volcanic ash (tuff) preserved a set of animal footprints (include 3 bipedal hominins walking in same direction)
> Fairly open grasslands (gallery forest along stream channels)
28
Q
**Homo erectus(Asian) / ergaster (African)
A
- Homo ergaster = ancestor along diff evolutionary branch
> An early form of Homo erectus btw 2-1.7mya
> Homoerectus originated in Africa > Migrated to Asia - Comparison:
> H. Ergaster: higher-domed + thinner-walled skulls, less massive faces + browridges
> More primitive / less specialized
> Study from fossils by K-Ar dating@Lake Turkana in northern Kenya
> Eastern side of lake: 2 skulls + 9 incomplete mandibles + 1 partial skeleton + some isolated limb bones; western side of lake: 1 skull + associated skeleton (The Turkana Boy) - Probably evolved from A. garhi
- Large brains (900cc), thick skull walls, large teeth, large and forwardly projecting faces, conspicuous browridges, receding foreheads, typical human projecting nasal bones, slim body, long limbs
- 1st human species to have forwardly projecting, external nose (condense moisture), nearly hairless skin (sweating efficiently)
- 1st species to colonize hot, truly arid, highly seasonal envt in Africa (thin trunk > heat dissipation)
- Taller + heavier than earlier hominins
- No major sex dimorphism: more muted male-male competition + more lasting and mutually supportive male-female relationship
29
Q
Turkana Boy
A
- Frm western side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya
- 1 skull + associated skeleton, true human 1.62m, ca. 1.56mya (most complete skeleton from hominin lived before 130,000ya), similar to lanky herders live ard Lake Turkana today
- Originally thought he was 14 (by skeleton); determined he was about 8 (by dental determination)
- Arms relative short to legs > Commitment to life on ground
- Barrel-shaped chest over narrowed hips > Maintain chest volume + lung function
- Narrow pelvis > increase efficiency of leg muscles of bipedal mvmt; reduce volume of digestive tract (improve food quality)
- Forehead: flat + receding + descend to merge at an angle with bony brow ridge over eyes
- Nose: typical human - forward project + downwardly oriented nostrils
- Jaw contained chewing teeth larger than modern human + chinless
- Think skull wall + 900cc brain capacity (vs modern human 1400cc)
- Existence of Broca’s area in the brain
> Ability for symbolic communication
> Bigger brain requires more nutrients and energy (25% more)
> Africa provides a variety of resources
> BUT homo = easy prey for the predators > Run as daily activity - VS more previous homo “Lucy” (bipedal but do not run much)
30
Q
Homo neanderthalensis (European)
A
- Txt bk p.92
- Evolved in Europe
- Last shared common ancestor with H. sapiens
> H. heidelbergensis (600,000-500,000mya)
31
Q
“Denisovans”
A
- Txt bk p.120-121
- Denisova Cave, Altai Mountains of south-central Siberia
- Found:
1. Denisovans: 1 finger bone, 2 teeth, neither Neanderthal nor modern human, ca. 40kya (later replaced by modern humans), late Homo erectus
> Occupied Central Asia
> Extended further east (contributed 4-7% DNA in living Papua-New Guineans and Australian Aborigines)
> Cross open water from Southeast Asia in middle of last glacial period
2. Neanderthal: 1 toe bone
3. Bone artifacts and ornaments made by modern humans - Denisovans, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens all occupied Denisova cave at one time or another
32
Q
Homo sapiens
A
- Migration:
- Human origins 200,000-250,000BP
- Southwest Asia 100,000BP
- Europe, Siberia 40,000BP
- North America 12,000-30,000BP
- Chile 18,000-14,500BP
- 3 possible routes: landward, coastal, oceania
33
Q
Zhoukoutien / Peking “Man”
A
- Txt bk p.98-99
- Zhoukoudian = 40km southwest of Beijing, China
- Specimens: >40 individuals of both sexes and various age + quartz fragments
- Peking Man = Skull of Homo erectus frm Zhoukoudian
- Similar to the Java (Indonesian) skull
> Shelflike browridges, receding foreheads, low-domed braincases, thick, inwardly sloping skull walls - Chinese Homo erectus: 800-400kya
- Artifacts occurrence: Homo erectus arrived China 1.6-1.3mya
34
Q
Trinil / Java “Man”
A
- Txt bk p.96-97, 106-107
- Trinil, Solo River in Central Java (Indonesia)
1. Dubois’s found: complete human femur (fully modern in anatomy) @ Trinil
> Named it as Pithecanthropus erectus
> Thought it was a transitional species btw apes and humans
> Transfer to Homo erectus: no differ frm Homo sapiens as much as Dubois believed
2. GHR von Koenigswald’s found: 2nd skull of Pithecanthropus @Mojokerto
> Child died at age of 2, incipient browridges, flat, receding forehead, angular occipital region
> Similar skull like the Asian Peking Chinese Man
3. Ngandong, Solo River near Trinil - Variant of Homo erectus
> Case 1: 53-27kya, support survival of Southeast Asian Homo erectus until replacement by modern human invaders aft 60kya
> Case 2: ca. 300kya, Southeast Asian Homo erectus on diff evolutionary track frm their European and African contenoiraries
35
Q
Oldowan tool industry
A
- Ca. 2.5mya, characteristics:
1. Simple core forms (hand axes, cleavers, picks)
2. Created frm river-worn cobblers / angular blocks of stone
3. Sharp-edged, angular flakes and fragments detached from such cores
4. Often battered hammer-stones
5. Occasional retouched pieces (strike off tiny chips to reshape / sharpen the edge) - Sites: small, low density, with fossil remains of animals; @riverine floodplain and channels, lake margins, river deltas, limestone cave
- Oldowan industrial complex divided into: chopper-dominated Oldowan industry and Developed Oldowan industry
- Developed Oldowan industry: more retouched elements (scrapers, awls), higher % of spheroid and subspheroids, small numbers of poorly made bifaces/hand axes
- Diff nature of raw materials @diff sites
- Least effort flaking strategies, w/o elaborate planning/sophisticated reduction strategies
- Species who made Oldowan tools:
> A. Garhi, A. Robustus (direct association with early stone artifacts in East and South Africa), H. Ergaster/erectus (mixed with Acheulean) - More technology, expand direct breadth to include higher-quality foods, process with the use of tools
- Males significantly larger than females, diet on plant foods and small portion of animal foods, uncertainty in use of fire, no site modification and symbolic/ ritualistic behavior
